7 Keys to Success for Social Events in your Community

Communities often have difficulty attracting residents to their social events, which can make it difficult to justify the effort and cost. Imagine a family-oriented HOA with 500 homes – with a healthy social budget of $50,000 per year. A community can do a LOT with this amount of money, but it is still only $100 per home per year. One of the most common challenges in this situation is when there are a lot of free or low-cost events that do not get a lot of community participation. In a community of 500, if it is the same 50 people attending all the time, that means the other 450 owners are funding the social activities for a small group. It’s important to gear your social events towards attracting the participation of a wide variety of people and making them cost effective.

Here’s what you can do:

1. Offer diverse events that attract a wide variety of people.
2. Get owners and committees involved to increase interest through word of mouth.
3. Promote the events – well in advance, via flyers, emails, newsletters and meeting announcements.
4. Measure performance to determine success. How many people participated? What was the cost per person?
5. Consider small fees for certain events to cover the costs.
6. Evaluate your events on an ongoing basis, do not repeat events that don’t have a high ROI (Return on Investment) - (FUN X PEOPLE) / COST
7. Over time, establish a standard set of events that you can repeat every year. Figure out which ones have the best ROI – the most fun, with the largest group of people for the lowest cost.

What social events work best in your communities?

Which ones have failed?