How To Make Senior Night Unforgettable

The final year of high school is rich with memories. We’ve got some outstanding examples of how you can make Senior Sports Night memorable for the class of 2013.

Welcome the seniors and their families with Personalized Vertical Banners showing pictures of your school’s athletes in action.  Create a life size stand up from a picture of their freshman year or a giant 3-foot Big Head Cutout of their face for friends and family to wave when they are being honored.

You will also want to include a goodie bag filled with both fun and keepsake items such as personalized water bottles, key chains with the team photos. Personalized items create a memorable token for your seniors.  Let your imagination run wild with Do It Yourself treat bags that you can fill with either candy or healthy snacks. Or both! Make Senior Night for the class of 2013 one that they’ll be talking about in 2023 at their 10-year reunion!

Make Your Stadium More Fan-Friendly – Ideas from top General Managers

Back in 2001, a marketing agent created loads of hype for the Baltimore Ravens when they faced off against the New York Giants during the Super Bowl in Tampa. The hype was created by placing tons of Ravens advertising support all along the route from the airport to the stadium, to the effect that then-president of the Ravens David Modell said that “it really made the players feel like they were at home, that this was a home game.” While this was the Raven’s first time at the Super Bowl, they certainly didn’t act like it, destroying the Giants in the process.

Peace, Love, Spirit!

While it’s certainly true that in the minor leagues (and high school or grade school), there’s no event with quite the away game/home crowd draw like the Super Bowl, promotional directors and general managers still have plenty of advice to give.

Keep it fun and affordable

Paul Taglieri, general manager of the St. Lucie Mets, says that “We’ll do basically anything as long as it’s not stepping over the line that we draw for ourselves. We just try to stay with fun, family, affordable-type atmosphere. That’s where our promotions are centered.”

Theme night

In that vein, one of the promotions the St. Lucie Mets undertake is 70s night, complete with 70 cent dogs and drinks, and fans are encouraged to wear clothing mimicking the look of the 70s. You could make your theme night stand out a Tie Dye or 80s Water Bottle Label. Perhaps offer drink refills for 80 cents for fans with a theme night stadium cup.

Light it up!

Oklahoma Sooners encourage their baseball fans on “Cheer like a Champion” night, handing out special spirit apparel to the first 50 fans in the door, encouraging team support. You could recreate that with personalized #1 Spirit hand mitts.

Make it a holiday

Celebrate Earth Day like the Sooners and other college and national teams, and have personalized travel mugs for cold or hot drinks.

It’s St. Patrick’s Day! Get the crowd going with these green hand clapper necklaces and inflatable bam bams.Use green drink cups for refreshments and don’t forget to offer special treats for those wearing green (or your team colors), like fun lighted spirit poms or lucky candy bars.

Be a helper for your mascot!

How old is your mascot?

Finally, the St. Louis Cardinal’s celebrate Fredbird’s birthday – why not celebrate your mascot’s birthday? It’s a terrific crowd draw for a theme as well as providing great incentive to get pumped up during halftime. Make a week out of it like the Cardinals.  Students can walk in under a reusable archway and compete to become the mascot’s helper, as he probably needs it in his old age.  Finally, the night of the big game (and the big birthday bash!), create a banner for your mascot to run through as your fans herald the mascot (and your team) with fun stadium horns.

Effective Uses for Noisemakers During a Basketball Game

Everybody knows the feeling: a tight game, incredible suspense, emotions running high. With this scenario comes the question of how to put your team over the top and the answer is to create a sound that cannot be denied!

Here are ideas for using sound and noisemakers the most effectively.

Coordination. We have many options for noisemakers including voices, bodies or “special equipment”. Select sounds for the various team actions and situations and use them consistently. For example, foot-stomping and/or hissing can be used during free throws, whistles for bad plays, cowbells for scores and so on. You probably already have some conventions (which may differ from these examples) and that’s great! You don’t have to change the routine, just build on it for a better, well-coordinated repertoire.

Rhythms. Speaking of coordination, we recommend teaching fresh rhythms to use with percussion-type noisemakers such as bams. The classic rhythm example to use is the opening of Queen’s “We Are the Champions,” but there’s nothing wrong in finding your own catchy rhythm to use with percussion, with or without voice. We like these routines for warming up the crowd, for your team pulling ahead, or for any other celebratory situation.

Visual pairings. We are visual creatures, so don’t neglect the visual as well as the audio. Pair them up! One easy way is to use color, with as many fans as possible wearing team color shirts, morph suits and team supplies such as signs. You might also provide wearable props, such as hats, for a row or block of spectators. Wearable props might be about team colors, or it might consist of a visual salute to a holiday game or tourney, such as Valentine’s or a Mardi Gras event theme. (Imagine, for example, a block of fans or band clad in Mardi Gras glitter top hats next month.)

Another visual to pair with noise is dance moves, which has reminded us of the Interlude Dance. Below is the video, which includes step-by-step instructions as well as group shots in various settings, making it fun to watch whether or not you already know the dance.

Your fans needn’t get as involved as the Interlude people but having a few good moves is a wonderful thing, is what we’re saying.

Got a few good moves yourself? Share them in the comments!