Flyers for TRC Rallyes

Objective

The purposes of a rallye's flyer are

• to inform (or remind) prospective rallyists of the details of the rallye -- theme, rallye type, date, time, and anything special.
• to explain to first timers what a rallye is or what the rallye will be like, if a rallyist provides a flyer to a prospective first timer.
• to convince both to attend or to seek more information about rallying and about the club.

TRC's flyers are posted online and printed onto paper. Paper flyers are offered (for free) at prior rallye events and are snail-mailed to members who request hard copies and to nonmembers who have run a rallye in the past many months (in hopes they will return). Mailed flyers are normally printed in black and white. Flyers at events are sometimes printed in color, but are not reimbursed at a rate that fully covers the expense. Ideally, consecutive rallyes' flyers are printed on opposite sides of the same sheets, to save paper.

Guidelines

Do not assume that every rallyist will have seen your flyer. Therefore a flyer can not set up a gimmick for your rallye, unless it is also set up in your rallye's registration packet.

(One could include a flyer for February's rallye in January's registration packet, however, including some gimmick for January's rallye, such as a NOTE or BONUS instruction.)

TRC Gimmick Rallye Rules describes the requirements for a flyer. Specifically, flyers must include:

• date and start time
• start location
• type of event
• entry fee
• classes, or an indication that there are multiple classes
• rallyemaster name(s) and contact info
• TRC name and/or logo
• TRC URL (web address TheRallyeClub.org)

Rallyemasters are encouraged to use a rallye-specific email address hosted on TheRallyeClub.org as their contact information. These email addresses are in the form mmmyy@TheRallyeClub.org (e.g., dec11@TheRallyeClub.org is the address for the December 2011 rallye), and will forward email to your real email address. Any phone numbers provided should include area codes.

It is also useful to include:

• finish time
• time of the beginners school and/or Q&A session
• map of the start location
• type of event (especially if it is not a CM gimmick rallye)
• awards offered
• availability of preliminary GIs

Ideally, flyers should go beyond the factual data described above, and sell potential rallyists on the idea of running the event. Most flyers include some sort of artwork (if only theme-related clipart), but it is possible to do more. For example, you could briefly describe how the theme is woven into the rallye. Or perhaps you could use a catch phrase that hints at how the theme is woven into the rallye. Or perhaps you could include a review-style quote (e.g., from a respected prechecker who especially enjoyed your rallye).

But consider how you might encourage someone to attend your rallye when you meet them at the finish the month before. Or how you would encourage someone who has heard about rallyes to finally attend a rallye--specifically, to attend your rallye.

Resources

Resources#To_Prepare_a_Flyer contains parts from which you can construct a flyer.

Format

The rallye flyer should contain something (like a photo, drawing, or large text) to attract attention when the flyer is posted across the room.

It may also contain "fine print" to be read by someone directly in front of it. See also the Guidelines of what the flyer should include.

Submission

An electronic copy (in PDF) should be sent via email to the webmaster. The person assigned to print the mailing may also request a copy. (If you don't know, simply CC it to the president and secretary.)

File naming convention

Mail your PDF as an attachment named yyyy-mm-dd-TYPE-NAME.pdf where:

• yyyy-mm-dd is the date the Rallye is to be run
• TYPE is one of "Flyer", "PreGI", or "Results" (case matters)
• NAME is the name of the Rallye

For example, the preliminary instructions for Ghostchasers, a rallye that was run on October 6th of this year, the preferred filename is 2012-10-06-PreGI-Ghostchasers.pdf