ED2014 News ED2014 Week2 Edition

How do you flyer? Editors’ Award winner launches training workshops for flyerers

By | Published on Monday 11 August 2014

Fionn Flyering

For newer acts at the Festival a daily dose of flyering the streets of Edinburgh is as much a part of the Fringe experience as warm-ups, scene changes and curtain calls. Each year a forest of flyers are distributed across the Festival City, but does all that effort actually result in any ticket sales? Well, many a Fringe veteran will tell you, that depends on how you go about your flyering.

“Last year I came to the Fringe as a punter and I was shocked at how many performers seemed to be putting people off their show as opposed to attracting them” says actor Fionn Gill, who’s done his own fair share of flyering over the years as an actor in, amongst other things, the ThreeWeeks Editors’ Award winning show ‘Keepers’ in 2010.

“There was actually one girl in particular who was shouting ‘Five Star Sell-out Show’ outside the Pleasance Dome whilst furiously waving flyers around. She was getting through to no-one and I wanted to help her. Then I started to think about all the other ineffective flyering you see. The subtle flyer drop on your table. The ‘sales pitch’. The mimed performance piece. The loud performance piece. Or worst of all, looking bored, looking anxious and just handing someone a flyer”.

Wanting to help those failing at flyering, Gill has now launched a new company that sets out to do just that. “Having seen ‘Five Star Sell-out Show’ girl last year, and with many years flyering on the Fringe under my belt, not to mention a background in street charity fundraising, I decided to start Flare Flyering. I’m now in my first year of training people to be much better at flyering and it’s going well”.

Gill offers a variety of training sessions for those bound for flyerer duties, and reckons people can come on leaps and bounds in just an hour or two. He told ThreeWeeks: “We run training that is sometimes behind doors or on the street, or both, and either as a group or with just with one person or company. We look at how you can best sell your show, what are the best things to say, how should you say it, how do you ‘hook’ people, and much more”.

For more information on Gill’s services check www.flareflyering.com, meanwhile here he provides his top three tips.

1. Have fun and enjoy yourself. If you’re having fun you’re more likely to engage people because warm positive energy is attractive.

2. Connect with people. Establishing a rapport includes someone in what you are doing and makes them feel much more special. Just handing out flyers or rattling off a spiel leaves people feeling cold and bombarded.

3. Choose the right places at the right times. Learn where your audiences are for your show. Where do they hang out? At what time? Are they waiting to see or coming out of other similar shows? Blanket flyering on the Mile, or around Bristo Square, may hit numbers but fewer, more targeted interactions will always be more effective.

Photo: Vincy Leung



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