My RT Inner Circle Emails are way too long. What should I do?

It's a problem.

I know it.

I don't deny it.

Yet month after month I find myself starting out to compose the RT Inner Circle E-Notes with the clear intention of sending out something light and breezy and easy on the eyes.

And month after month I fail.

Why might that be?

I have some theories.

Because I'm weaning myself from all social media (I decoupled from Facebook after the 2016 election and have occasionally wondered whether I'd made a marketing mistake and so have allowed people to promote my workshops on the platform with serious reservations and angst). Twitter remains a mystery to me. LinkedIn, as I've said before, feels like the Cinderella to the wicked step sisters of social media (FB & Twitter) in that it's more transparent, less sexy and therefore gets most of my attention. Despite the fact that I don't know how many of you actually go there.

So every time I set out to send information about things I think are important in the world of theatre and filmmakers (including but not exclusively limited to workshops of my own) I feel a kind of burden cause I doubt folks are stumbling upon posts of mine on social media.

So that I think contributes to my unconscious need to put every possible dish on the menu on the table. Just in case. God forbid the one person who doesn't eat meat or gluten forgets that I always prepare a rice veggie medley no matter what.

Wednesday Gathering is a bit like this. Each Wednesday at 6:30PM I host a free open mic to just give creative people a reason to stay home. And it's free. And it's been a lot of fun. But it's every week and it's an open mic so each time I send out an email about something else I ask myself: Should I include a little blurb about Wednesday Gathering? Or are folks sick of hearing about it? See one thing I learned during my years on staff at the Dramatists Guild is that there are at least two patterns of readership for an e-Newsletter. Those who open every one and really dig for content they might find interesting. And those who only occasionally stop to open an email and so miss deadlines and then express frustration that they hadn't heard about a specific opportunity. It's the second group that makes me want to err on the side of repeating myself more. We're all really busy. Running around trying to survive. And it's easy to miss things. And some of my inner circle loyal pals have told me (in the kindest most loving way) that I have so many different programs and offers these days that it's kind of hard to keep track of what's what.

Here are some amusing and super helpful facts that MailChimp provided with me about my latest email, which if you missed it, you can click through to here.

I wonder if people have thoughts about this.

I'm pretty sure we're living in a period of great flux in terms of the flow of information. Twenty years from now this may all have worked itself out. In the meantime, I'm not really sure how best to handle this cause I don't want my Inner Circle members to tire of these lengthy emails. Still, I personally don't mind deleting emails from organizations I love (such as the Dramatists Guild for example) when the content one month isn't really of interest. To me unsubscribe is a last resort reserved for senders I know never interest me. Like Facebook. 

 

Comments

[Rolando Teco]

1.

Bill, I bet you have some thoughts about all this.

[Bill Crouch]

2.

Yes, I do have some thoughts, but yours are right on point. I use Facebook because it's so user friendly, whereas if I had better tech skills, I might use other platforms to reach out. Your integrity around all of this is amazing and very thought provoking, buddy!

[Linda Eisenstein]

3.

I'm glad you posted this on the Dread FB because apparently I'm not getting your emails & this is the first I have heard of your Wednesday gigs. Please add me. Social media makes us think about Branding!!! which I find egregious for creative people. It will take a long time for it to shake out.

[Rolando Teco]

4.

Thanks, Linda. Unfortunately, I cannot add you. You need to do it yourself. (All in the name of preventing unwanted SPAM). So there are two things you'll want to do:
1. Join the RT Inner Circle to receive my emails. That's here:
https://www.rolandtec.com/contact

2. Visit the Wednesday Gathering page at RolandTec.com for a link to pre-register with Zoom.
https://www.rolandtec.com/wednesday-gathering

[Rolando Teco]

5.

And for anyone reading this who's curious about this Wednesday Gathering thing, this PDF kind of sums it all up.
https://mcusercontent.com/9040151143351aeca85a7f83b/files/31dd4f52-7846-979a-1710-e39fbf67daa7/What_is_Wednesday_Gathering.pdf

[L A Brooke]

6.

Hate facebook or "Meta". Avoid it like the plague.
Think your word limits are good advice. My trick is to describe what I want to say in one sentence. I need to take that advice with the poem I read on Wednesday. When you have the one sentence you know how much "decoration" is needed.
- Lucy