Westside LA Team In Training - Summer 2009 Marathon & Half Marathon Team

Archive for the ‘tools’ Category

I know it’s tough fundraising alone, so we recommend teaming up to help spread the word of your events and fundraisers. One place to start is your mentor group. Another is someone from your pace group. It doesn’t stop there.

It’s common to see fundraisers hosted by multiple teams within our Greater LA chapter of Team in Training. We’ve had large fundraisers with the Tri Team, and the Iron Man Team for the Bachelor Auction, Karaoke Nights, and Pub Crawls, but I just had a few thoughts while driving to work this morning. Hopefully it will spark up some new ideas for upcoming events.

How about joining forces with other teams and chapters? Do you know friends from the Valley, SGV, Long Beach, or Orange County Teams? Why not meet some over TNT forums and social sites? What kind of fundraisers are possible there? This way we’re not always marketing to ourselves, we can have a wider reach, and you get to meet other TNT participants from other areas.

How about having fundraisers with other non-profits? I think these type of events could get a lot more marketing coverage, and showing that Team in Training is willing to work with other organizations is a good thing. As far as donations go, just split it as you would working with another team member. Imagine a joint TNT and American Cancer Society event. The potential for this could be HUGE.

I think joining forces will ease your own stress. It’s beneficial because you can divide up your tasks to multiple people, and focus on things that you excel in. In brainstorm sessions you will see many different angles. The buzz for your event will be that much greater because you’ll cover many circles of friends that you normally wouldn’t get if you did all this alone.

Good luck and GO TEAM!

This site now utilizes Facebook Connect. What does that mean? Without being too technical, it allows us to integrate Facebook features. Like what? Well, you don’t need to re-register or keep filling out your name and e-mail on this site each time you want to comment. It’s one less username/password to remember. You just have to click on “Connect” on the lower part of the 2nd column of this site (see the facebook logo?), and login with your existing account.

You can also invite people from your Facebook friends list to come check out our site. You can tell them how great this Team is! As you can see in the Facebook Connect area, your profile pic and information will be posted for other TNT to find and connect with you. We’ve added this feature to make this site a little more interactive and fun.

One feature that seems to be buggy at the moment is being able to post your comment activity to your Facebook News Feed. Everything else seems to work. Please let us know if you come across any weird issues. Also, if you want to be a contributor for the blog section, just let us know too!

Please note: By connecting to Facebook on our site, it may leave you still connected to Facebook after you leave our site, so please be aware of your login sessions in and out of our website.

Let me tell you about my experience last summer season using Twitter. First, if you don’t know what Twitter is please watch this video first

I started a Twitter account about a year ago because too many interesting things were happening in my life that I wanted to document instantly. Twitter allowed me to do so because there were so many ways to update it, via text message, online through my phone, my laptop, and through various websites. Since I was starting my 3rd TNT season, I thought it would be a good way to let my friends & family know what’s going on with my training, and also my life. So I sent everyone my Twitter address (http://www.twitter.com/sketch678) so they could follow what’s up.

Throughout the season they would see my updates, from “We just ran 12 miles!”, “We’re eating a good breakfast at The Firehouse with my new teammates”, “Please donate to my page [link]“, “We’re having a fundraiser tonight! Come out!” to “7am is sooo early! I’m barely half awake!”. It was a fun way for my friends to see what I was going through. I also had Twitter followers whom I haven’t met in person, but were very encouraging throughout the season.

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