Maria Lloyd (00:00.271)
Hello everyone and welcome to the My Local Marketer podcast. I'm Maria and today we're trying something a little different. I'm going to speak with you with a couple of different hats on. So first of all, as chair of Reading Film and Video Makers and how we're changing up the group this year because the 2025-2026 season is about to start. And secondly, I want to speak with you as the My Local Marketer podcast host because I thought it would be good to look at how

Different groups have different formats in Reading and look at different points that you can take and hopefully apply to your own groups or businesses. So as a caveat, as with all advice that you hear on this show and any other shows, different things apply to different groups and people at different times. So please take what you hear, but adapt it to your own circumstances. If you need any help with this, then please don't hesitate to get in touch with me. So that's it for the intro. Let's jump straight in.

So yes, firstly, the Reading Film and Video Makers actually was founded in 1957 under a different name. That was Reading Tape Recording and Cine Society. And those were the days of 35mm colour slides and 8mm cine film. Members then migrated in the mid-80s to videotape and then again migrated in the noughties to a more digital technology approach.

The group's had many evolutions as the tech has developed over the years. However, since COVID, the group has suffered a different non-technical problem. And this is with membership, because membership numbers dropped off with COVID obviously, and then with group members not returning because they were older, they were not so mobile, they didn't want to go out. But with an older membership, group numbers have declined. So that's why this year we're looking to change up the group.

And as with any group, I look at three main points when I look at how to develop a group. So the first one is V, second is O and P. So this is basically point of view POV in reverse. And this for me is the order of importance because the first and most important point is value. The group first and foremost has to provide value for members. If it doesn't provide value, then none of the other points are going to help. It has to provide value first and foremost.

Maria Lloyd (02:23.703)
In order to provide value, it's important to understand two points. First of all, who your audience is, and second of all, what do they need? So for reading film and video makers, it's serving local filmmakers. So that is filmmakers with little, no experience right the way through to professional filmmakers. So we need to provide that wide range with value. Now, previously, we've had an in-person session every other week, and that's included

talks and competitions, but this didn't seem to be suiting the needs of the wide range of audiences. So this year we're changing things up. So we are going to do talks online so we can get experts from further afield. And this will hopefully provide value to the inexperienced members who are looking how to do things, as well as the experienced members who can then speak to these experts and ask them more in-depth questions.

So that's on the lineage side. For the second part, this is more practical. So obviously for filmmaking, it's a practical exercise. So how can we help members develop their skills and those experienced members actually do group projects? So there's also going to be practical in-person sessions. So that's how we're providing value to that wide range of members that we have. So that's V, value. Now the second point is O, which is for operations.

So if you have something that's offering value, the second thing is you need to have the operations in place in order for the group to function effectively. Now this ranges from how you hold in-person sessions, how you hold online sessions. Do you have a website? Do you use different platforms for your newsletters? Are you a member of different professional bodies? Do you need certain costs in order to cover the group memberships and platforms, et cetera?

So those are various points that come under the operations with how you operate the group. Now previously for Reading Film and Video Makers, it's been held, like I said, in person in a church hall in Caversham. And this in-person session, that was the largest outgoing cost, which was the cost of the church hall. So this year we are changing it up. Again, there's going to be one in-person session a month and one online session a month.

Maria Lloyd (04:44.215)
Now the beauty of this is the online sessions increases access, so it opens it up to people who can't make it to an in-person session and still provides them with value. They can listen to the recordings in their own time. The in-person sessions, we are moving from Caversham to Reading Centre, where in theory this is going to be much easier for people from across Reading to make it through to that one central point due to the bus routes, train routes, parking for cars, anything like that. So it's going to be much easier for group members.

As for communications, we are having one email a month and that's going to be via the platform MailerLite. And this is free because we have below a certain number of subscribers. So that's what we're going to do for communications. I'm also using a WhatsApp group and this is broadcast only so people don't need to worry about being inundated with messages. These are more often and infrequent than the one.

email that they receive every month, so can receive ad hoc messages. There is a Slack channel that we used before, which is not going to be a focus, but I'll still be dropping messages in there to keep in touch with group members because there needs to be that transition from a previous way of doing something to a new way of doing something. So we're going to be communicating via the Slack, the WhatsApp and the email as well. And then we have the social media channels. We have Facebook and Instagram, which are the two main channels.

but then I use my personal channel to connect with potential speakers on LinkedIn. So there's a wide range of channels there and there is obviously keeping the website up and running. There is also insurance that we pay, which I'm going to look into because that was previously to cover our sessions in the church hall, which I'm not sure if we need anymore or if that covers the group if we do group filming sessions out and about because you do need to think about insurances to cover different group activities.

So the insurance is something I'm looking into and we're also members of the IAC, that is the Institute of Amateur Cinematographers and we get some magazines and we get to be seen as part of a professional body. So there are a couple of more admin costs to cover. Now the group is free and we do have money in the bank already, which by the way, the bank account, because it's a business account does have a cost to it too, but we should have enough, or we will have enough I should say, to cover us for the cost of this year.

Maria Lloyd (07:09.165)
which is phase one and then phase two for the 2026-2027 season, we're going to look at doing paid courses and other activities which will hopefully then start generating revenue for the group. But because we're changing quite a lot this year, we've decided just to go ahead and get the group up and running and then we can think about generating funds and that's part of phase two for the next season. So that's the operation side that we're doing. Now the final point is

which is promotion and marketing. And yes, I have put this in the least important position. And that's because, as I said before, you really need to be offering value, delivering it well, and then you can start promoting. There's no point promoting something if you're not delivering something of value. So the other two points are crucial to get into place first. So as for promoting the group, we haven't really promoted the group so much previously. We've done paid advertising when we've done the introduction to filmmaking.

course and that's been paid Facebook ads. We've also had leaflets have been distributed around town at specific points and there have been the social channels and the website. But apart from that, there really hasn't been much focus on promoting the group. So this year what we're looking to do is continue to use social channels, use the website a bit more so we can actually put valuable resources and content on there which will hopefully drive people towards the website.

And we're going to look at making connections and doing collaborations with other groups around the town. So for example, looking at doing something with Progress Theatre, where we can borrow the theatre for our end of year competition viewing and in return we will do a promo video for them. Now this obviously is mutually beneficial for both parties and for the filmmakers it also gives them a chance to do a practical activity together. So lots of benefits there and that's something that I'm really a fan of, mutually beneficial.

collaborations and tapping into different networks. That really is the easiest way to get word of mouth out there and promote something that you do is to tap into existing networks and groups. So those are the things that we're looking to do this year. I'm also hoping that we can do press releases and start to do articles for different publications, but that is further down the line once we've got the existing practices up and running. So that's what we're doing this year for the group to change things up.

Maria Lloyd (09:34.849)
So that is how we're going to provide the group with value, how we're going to change the operations and how we're going to promote the group. So that's the first part I wanted to speak with you about. Now, putting my second hat on as host of the My Local Marketer podcast, I wanted to speak with you about how other groups in Reading are doing what they're doing, because obviously this is what's working or what hopefully will work for our group, but what are other groups doing? So looking at value.

The first group want to jump to straight away is Caversham Writers run by Adrian Raffel. Now, I interviewed Adrian back in episode seven and Caversham Writers has just celebrated its seventh birthday. So happy birthday to Caversham Writers. And this is in 2025, just in case you're listening to this at some point in the future. Now, Adrian provides the group members with a lot of value. First of all, because there are weekly sessions and every session has a different

overarching theme or topic. And these vary from having a prompt night where Adrian will give everyone a prompt night, then everyone will go off on the online call to write about that prompt and then come back and people have the opportunity to share what they do. There is also a work on your writing session where everyone joins a call and has a bit of a discussion and then leaves a call to work on whatever writing projects they're working on at the moment. So it just gives you a bit of accountability and helps you to progress a project.

that you're working on even further and then to get feedback from the group if you'd like feedback. Speaking about feedback, Adrienne also does feedback sessions where people, one or two people can submit chapters of what they're working on and then group members can read it and give feedback on a call. And there are also author talks that happen intermittently every now and then. And finally, there is a social meetup where people meet up in person and we can have a meal and...

talk about anything writing or anything else related just to keep that social aspect there. So Adrian provides a lot of different sessions each with their own different value points which is what writers need and this is based on feedback over the many many years that Adrian's been running the group for. So that is Caversham Writers. CADRA, that is Caversham and District Residents Association. One the most valuable things they provide is a monthly roundup

Maria Lloyd (11:52.991)
of information about a range of points. This is anything to do with planning, conservation areas, safer neighbourhood meetings, traffic, transport, licensing or special projects that are going on. This is anything that residents may find useful and want to submit their opinion or thoughts on. And CADRA are tapped into various local associations and groups, so there is a lot of valuable information going into that one monthly roundup.

And to be a member of it's only £5 for the year. So I highly recommend you join just to get that information. If for no other reason, if you're not even based in Caversham, it's really interesting just to see the type of information that could be available for your area and where this different information is coming from, which I'm sure will be valuable for you for different reasons. So that was CADRA and I interviewed Helen and other members of the board from CADRA back in episode 28.

The final group that I want to mention and devalue is Science in Reading with Simon Morris. And I interviewed Simon back in episode 38. Now, Simon does a brilliant job of organizing Science in Reading. This is again a free group. And for Science in Reading, you have a speaker who comes to speak to the group on a STEAM subject. So STEAM, if you're not familiar, it's Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts and Mathematics. And Simon gets speakers from

University of Reading, University of Oxford and other really established bodies. And this is a good opportunity for the speaker to practice communicating their material to an audience and also for post-grads to practice talking about their research and answering questions. So it's a great opportunity for the speaker, but then also for the audience members to hear about cutting edge research and what is happening in the academic world. So yeah, really interesting stuff. Simon, I should say, also does reading.

Geek Night and these are on the first and second Tuesdays of the month and you can find them as with Cabbage & Writers on Meetup. So that's where all the events for them are listed. So those are just three examples I wanted to mention under value. Moving on to operations, I'm going to start again with Science and Reading because like I said, Simon has been doing this for many years and it's so impressive. He's got this bag of wires, he's got different microphones.

Maria Lloyd (14:18.763)
because as he says, you can go to somewhere to set up, but if there isn't the right wire, then instantly you're stuffed basically. So he's accumulated this great kit that he takes around with him. He's even got some portable speakers in case he needs them. So really good stuff. And that just goes to show that when you do something over time, you'll refine your toolkit that you need. So if you're in a similar position, I highly recommend you go and find someone who has walked this path before.

They will be able to provide you with advice on what software to use, what kit you'll need, what challenges you'll come up against and how you can avoid them. So yeah, really good stuff. So that again is science in reading. Now, Toastmasters and the Professional Speakers Association. These are national, international bodies with local branches. But again, they've got some stuff that you can take and apply to your own local group because they are very well organized.

So Toastmasters, for example, this is a group that teaches you how to develop your speaking. So they've got an online courses that you can go through and help you to develop certain aspects of speaking. And then you can then go to these weekly sessions or bi-weekly sessions and use them as an opportunity to practice your speaking. Then you get feedback from a member who is evaluating you. So that is really useful if you want to develop how to practice speaking.

Now for professional Speakers Association, this is slightly different because this is not teaching you necessarily how to speak, although I do pick up a lot of points on how you speak from watching these professional speakers, but this is more how you can generate money from speaking and how you can start to do speaking professionally. So this is if you want to go to conferences, if you want to eventually do keynotes, how you can develop the business of speaking professionally. And they have

Again, an online hub where you have access to talks done by different professional speakers and they have very interesting and valuable topics as well. So again, from both of those groups, I've learned a lot on how you structure a group and what goes on behind the scenes. And it goes to show just how much effort it takes because Carolyn, our wonderful chair of the Professional Speakers Association at Thames Valley, she is going to be stepping down.

Maria Lloyd (16:35.583)
after this year, but she's pointed out there was so much that goes on just for that chair role. So she's actually dividing the chair role into different aspects. So there is the social media part of it and the taking photos part. the promotion side of it, which is what I'm hoping to help them with next year. Then there is the organizing speakers part because you need to reach out and organize different speakers for each of the sessions that go on. Then there is the more general admin and managing the group.

aspect of things. So if you're struggling for time, then there is an opportunity to take a role and divide it amongst people. So everyone takes a little bit of that role. So that is the operation side. And I haven't interviewed any of Toastmasters or PSA yet, but they are on the list. Now jumping ahead to the final point, which is P, which is for promotion, history of writing. I've got to mention history of writing.

because they appear to have a very good and engaged email list. Again, they're on my list to interview. I haven't interviewed them yet, but all the sessions tend to be very well attended and they seem to have tapped into a network of networks in order to distribute what they do. So that is another way of really promoting what you do. As I said before, if you tap into different networks, it's so much easier to distribute what you do and to get the word out there.

So that's the history of Reading Society, which again meets at the Baptist Church in Reading Center. As well, and Pete, I wanted to mention the wonderful Richard Stevenson from Treading Sam. Now he is very good at reaching out and finding opportunities to promote the group. He reached out to me over a year ago when the podcast was still very young, wanted an opportunity to speak on the podcast, and that was way back in episode four. He also goes on different local radio shows.

reaches out to different groups to ask them to engage and do different collaborations. So yeah, he's always looking for ways to collaborate and work with different groups and to get the message out there. So there you have it. That is three ways in which you can view a group and look at ways to inject a new lease of life or add a new aspect to the group to help you promote it, add value or streamline your operations even further. So that's the OP value operations and

Maria Lloyd (18:56.683)
promotion. So I hope that you found this episode useful. Let me know if you've enjoyed this, if you would like more episodes like this in future, or if there's anything else that you'd like to hear from this podcast in future, because like I said, I'm all about providing value and whatever is valuable to you, I'm sure I'll find valuable as well. If you're interested in video, then please don't hesitate to come along to one of the Reading Film and Video Maker sessions. Like I said, we now have online

and in-person sessions. I'll also include on the landing page links to all the episodes and other groups I've mentioned in the episode today. In the meantime, I hope that you have a great and productive week and I'll catch you in the next episode of the My Local Marketer podcast next week. Thanks for now. Bye.