I need to have RSVPs for calendar events for our playgroup. I have used a "poll". Any other suggestions?

Question

I need to have RSVPs for calendar events for our playgroup. I have used a "poll". Any other suggestions?

Answer 1

Have a call chain. Three days (or however much time advance you need) call everyone on the list to give them a friendly reminder about the time and location. Ask them at that point directly if they are planning on coming. If your group is small, call them all yourself. If it is large, have three or four other parents in the play group that are steady participants be in charge of sections of the call chain.

Here is what I would say:

Hi, Amanda! This is Sue. I was calling everyone in our play group about our field trip to the park on Tuesday. We will be meeting at 10:30 am by the pond. You will need to bring sack lunches for Tommy and Julie, if you'd like. We will need to purchase the tickets for the boats in advance, so I'm trying to get a head count. Do you think you'll be able to make it?

If they can make it say:

Great! We'll see you there at 10:30, then. Bye!

If they can't, say:

I'm sorry you can't make it. I hope things will work out for our next outing. We'll see you soon! Bye!

The call chain will be helpful if the event needs to be rescheduled or canceled as well.

Hope this helps!