- What is Kirkdale Christmas Pop Up?
- What is the programme?
- Can I pull out now that I am in the programme?
- Where and when do we meet on the day?
- Matching Pop Up to Pop Up Space
- Pop Up Costs
- Kirkdale Christmas Pop Up Promotion – Us
- Kirkdale Christmas Pop Up Promotion – You
1. What is Kirkdale Christmas Pop Up?
In short, we have asked everyone in the local community to share something, be it a skill, interest or talent; and we have asked businesses and organisations in the Kirkdale High Street to provide the venues.
The result will be people doing, for example, Pop Up singing classes in the dry cleaners, hula hooping in the Church, yoga in the Real estate Agent, DIY Christmas Crafts in the local gift shop.
2. What is the programme?
Overview
- On Friday 09 December (7pm-9pm) we kick off with a launch and Pop Up Pitch Party
- Saturday 10 December begins with the Big Breakfast (10am-10.45am), and the sessions themselves run 11am-3pm
- Post Pop Up: we hope soon to confirm a kids fancy-dress catwalk show at 3pm-4pm, followed by a break before the Trashion & Fashion Shows at 7pm-9pm.
Friday Launch, Network and Pop Up Pitching Session (09 December)
As well as just being good fun and getting people in the mood, the Friday launch Pop Up Pitch Party will work as a networking and promotion session.
We will give you a Pop Up activity badge so that people will know that they can come up to you and ask you about what you do. Also, for those up for it, we’ll give you 2 minutes on stage to pitch your pop up to our local community and the wider public.
Saturday Pop Up Programme (10 December)
The Pop Ups themselves start at 10 am and the programme is divided into 4 x 1-hour segments: 11-12, 12-1, 1-2 and 2-3pm. Each 1-hour segment will contain around 10 different pop up sessions for the public to choose from. Each of these will go for 45 minutes and finish 15 minutes before the hour to give people time to get to the start of the next pop up they have chosen in the following day segment.
3. Can I pull out now that I am in the programme?
We are going to promote you and try to get a buzz around you and what you do. Once we start, and we will be begging gently from now, we really hope you don’t pull out. We understand that unexpected things happen, but your withdrawal will cause a hole in a very tight setup – and if you think it is a possibility that you wont be able to meet your commitment then please, please warn us sooner rather than later, so that we can prepare something else.
4. Where and when do we meet on the day?
We will let you know shortly.
5. Matching Pop Up to Pop Up Space
Kirkdale is a small town centre - which is great for creating a sense of event that fills the area, but limited in how many spaces we can use. We’ll do our best to create the best match between your pop up and the available venues.
We are dividing the day into hourly segments so that different Pop Ups can use the same space to over the day – but for you, it will also mean that we have to suggest both the space and your time slot in that space.
You will be contacted very shortly with your space and time slot, and we recommend you try to pop by Kirkdale, check out your venue and meet the owner ASAP. Note: Hugh (or someone) will be in Fox’s pub between 6-7 on Wednesdays if you want to chat and have a general look around.
Do remember that a very large part of the fun of all this – and the thing that will attract media and public attention – is in the juxtaposition of activity to space. While the space may seem wildly unsuited to your pop-up, it may actually be the the space that will attract the most people to attend your session.
Time is always short in the Pop Up universe, and want to start promoting you ASAP. We will keep session times and locations on the website general to start with but we will generally proceed on the assumption that you are OK with the space and time we have given you until we hear otherwise.
6. Pop Up Costs (well, mostly zero)
Apart from things like launch event drinks, the Big Breakfast, a hospice charity stall, and possibly art materials for craft pop ups, all sessions are free to set up, and free to attend.
However this is about supporting you as much as it is about you supporting the event, and we really do want this to be a fantastic networking and marketing opportunity for you. So don’t be shy – go for it! Use the event to share your belief, sell that class you run, gather more members into your society, pitch that business idea, encourage attendance.
7. Kirkdale Christmas Pop Up Promotion – Us
We are aware of the importance of good promotion, and that – for you – getting people to your pop up on the day is what it is all about. We have marketing and media-savvy people in the core team with successful backgrounds in delivering Arts Festivals, Community Pop Ups, and both public and private sector campaigns. Make the most of us!
A press release has gone to all local and regional media and we have already had had good coverage in South London Press, and will soon be in Dulwich and SE22 Magazines. A Kirkdale Christmas event was also mentioned in the Evening Standard last week. Kirkdale Pop up is on most (if not all SE London) forums and we are active on twitter and facebook. We will also be included in local society newsletters (inc distribution to 6000 homes within Sydenham Society’s Network) and will be promoted nationally through organisations like, for example, the New Economics Foundation.
We are working on a scaling-up strategy that began with the initial activity call-out flyers sent out ten or so days ago. As well as hard-copy flyers, these were also distributed across Lewisham Council and community agency networks.
We begin listing individual activities on our website in the week commencing 14 November, and information will become increasingly detailed as we get closer to the event. We may set up a booking facility for certain pop ups – we’re working through the logistics of this at the moment.
From 20th November, the campaign moves to event promotion posters and flyers, starting with the immediate area; and this will build to a major Poster, flyer and social media campaign from the end of November. This will include volunteers distributing flyers at Sydenham and Forest Hill Stations during the week of the event.
8. Kirkdale Christmas Pop Up Promotion – You
This is a unique event in its collectiveness, and we are asking everyone involved to help create a real buzz of interest. All businesses are, for example, contacting their own networks, churches theirs and so on. It’s in your interest, too, to promote both your own pop up and the event as a whole across your own networks.
Also, by having the day divided into four Pop Up times, it means that we all share the collective audience. Just think: if every pop were able to attract ten friends, colleagues or clients, that by itself would be 500 people attending different pop ups over the day. You benefit from everyone else’s network, as they benefit from yours.
Is there anything we haven’t answered? Ask us in the comments below!
Are you going to this Pop-Up? Tell your friends!