Grassroots Marketing

How and Why to Create Four Technical Tips for Zoom

1. Invest in a decent USB microphone. Your audio will sound more full and more professional. 2. Make sure you have a good camera. Many an Open Mic on Zoom built-in computer cameras are of great quality and work well, but if your camera is lacking, an investment of $70 for a USB camera can offer your audience a much better visual experience. 3. Create proper lighting. The light source By Miriam and Mike Risko should be behind the camera, not behind you.

Some years ago, we began offering live video to drive afterward. And, best of all, as This includes sunlight from a window. lessons via Zoom at our music store/school, so hosts, we had no setup or cleanup to 4. Keep the background noise to a minimum. we were well prepared when COVID-19 forced deal with. We simply logged in, ran the During an open mic, mute yourself while you are us to close our physical doors to customers in show and logged out at the end. watching other performances. March. We began moving other parts of our Our Zoom open mics have been such business to video, including our popular opena big plus for us that we intend to continue with them even after our stay-at-home order is lifted. mic nights. If you think something along the same lines might benefit you, here’s how you can create your

We’d long offered a free monthly open-mic own Zoom open mic at your music store or school. night to the community, because we’d found 1. Pick an evening that works for you, and be consistent. Consistency will ensure that you it to be a great way to bring adult musicians have a regular crowd every time. We find it’s best to hold the events after dinner, though you of all levels into our store. Now, though, with can also encourage people to eat during them. the store closed until late May and the com2. Make sure your open mic is presided over by a host who can keep things running smoothly munity under stay-at-home orders, we sensed and engage the musicians in conversations. We get a lot of singer/songwriters at our open mics, that musicians would be even more eager for and it’s fun to ask them about the material they’ve written. opportunities to display their talents, so we 3. Encourage musicians to attend even on nights when not enough time is available for decided to bring our open mics to computer all of them to perform. We find musicians as a group are very sympathetic and happy to screens immediately and to hold them once a listen to others. week instead of monthly. 4. Have some basic rules. Performers should restrict themselves to one or two songs. You

If anything, we underestimated the desire of should also have them register in advance and list what they plan to play, so you can introduce musicians to get together in this unprecedented them properly. We ask participants to e-mail us to reserve a slot and, when we have 10 musitime. Our first virtual open-mic night was met cians, we stop accepting more, though we continue to welcome audience members. Also, you with the most amazing enthusiasm. Not only should remind all audience members to mute their devices during performances. It’s nice did our local musician friends log on in great when people unmute at the end of a song so they can applaud the performer. numbers, we were also able to reconnect with 5. Encourage a little conversation among participants. Especially now, when people are musicians who had left the area, and even feeling isolated, this is a really good way for musicians to connect with their peers. some of the friends we’ve made over the years 6. Promote your open mic on your local Facebook pages. You may not find a lot of musicians at NAMM shows who live around the country that way, but you’ll find plenty of people who like to watch them. Encourage all participants to logged in to catch up with us. With all the follow you on social media, and be sure to take pictures and video and post them afterward, so guitarists, pianists, singers and ukulele players people can enjoy highlights of the show. who signed up to perform, we couldn’t have 7. Use a little time to promote your business during the open mic. Whether you’re telling been more pleased with the evening. audience members about a new product or a new program, these are people who are definitely

What a delight when our second virtual fans of yours and who are apt to be receptive to new offerings. Also, host your open mic from open-mic night doubled in size! Local musiinside your store, if possible (and if you’re allowed to), and do a tour of the store during it, so cians invited out-of-town friends to watch you can show off your gear. While we understand that some businesses might like to charge or perform, and the evening turned into a a small fee for participation in an open mic, we choose not to do that, because we find that the welcome break from an endless diet of panamount of goodwill these occasions generate more than makes up for the free admission. demic news. Participants were also able to We intend to keep these events going even after life returns to normal. Our plan is to do a enjoy a glass of wine in their homes during the combination of video and in-person open mics on a more regular basis than before the COVID-19 performances without worrying about having crisis, which, though it may have forced the closure of many doors, will never stop the music!