Getting Girls to Sign up!
Outreach is an IMPORTANT part of coding events. No participants = No event. But how do you reach the right people?
Note: only ~50% of sign-ups show up. Try to aim for sign ups to be 2x the amount of people you want to attend. The more the marrier!
1. Emailing Teachers
1) Find schools within a 30 mile radius (through Google Maps) and visit their websites.
2) Search for the staff/faculty directory and email all STEM teachers / homerooms.
3) Make the email applicable to them. (TIP: If your Director of Education has an email blast, ask them to include yout event in the newsletter.)
Checkout the Resources Tab for email templates!
2. Local Organizations
How many Hack Clubbers are part of FIRST Robotics? VEX? Other Hackathons?
Reach out by shooting a quick DM or emailing local organizations / community groups asking if they could help you advertise!
For example:
- Robotics Teams
- Previous high school hackathon organizers/participants
- CS Clubs
- Student Council
- Local Libraries / Community Centers
... or any other youth groups! (Girl Scout, DECA, etc)
3. Social Media
It is a truth universally acknowledged that Gen Z (and Gen Alpha) are glued to their screens. Use that to your advantage!
1) Post your first post.
2) Follow people
- Go to schools, robotics teams, CS clubs, etc accounts
- Follow them and their followers
- Repeat!
3) Post regularly
- Post small tibits of info (what to bring, faw, beginner-friendly, how fun it'll be, etc)
- Add visuals (maybe even do a video!)
- Check out the Branding Tab for branding and post templates!
Use Canva or Figma to make posts (it doesn't matter, just post regularly!)
4. Reach the Parents
"Mom, can I go to a Hack Club event?" sounds like you're about to hack into the government... But if the mom sees it first on her feed or if another mom tells her about it, it goes from A Bad Influence to the Best Educational Event Ever.
Doing this step right will get you 30-40% of your signups, especially if your city hasn't had many coding events before.
Ask your parents if they can post a short bit in their Facebook Groups / WhatsApp / etc to promote your social. Or, go post them yourself on Facebook Parent Groups, etc.
Example Parent Post:
Your child interested in coding? On August 29th, we're organizing a 12h ALL-GIRLS high school social coding event called Sunbeam for 50+ girls at [venue].
The social is open to teen girls 13-18 years old. They'll get to:
- Get into teams of three and create a website or game from scratch with help from other girls.
- Have fun! Everything is FREE, including meals, snacks, drinks, T-shirts, prizes and more.
- Learn to code: any girl in any field can be techy!
For more information and sign up: [link]
Your child doesn't need any previous experience; all they need to bring is a laptop, a charger, and a good mood!
[image of poster]
5. Posters!
Yes, people still touch grass.
So, put up some physical posters around your town. You can put them up in schools (ask friends and teachers to help promote), on poles (with permission), in gyms, your car, your face...
IMPORTANT:
To make it as beginner friendly, and girl-pleasing as possible: remember to market your Sunbeam as a SOCIAL girls only event where you get to code and hang out with other cool girls. This will attract more girls who might be scared to attend a 'nerdy' hackathon.