Over the past three months Pauline and I have been pulling together film clips and photographs from our 4,000 mile cycle across North America in order to create a talk that we would take on a tour round Scotland.
Friday just gone was opening night.
The key to people attending is of course, publicity. Lots of it. You name it, we did it: local radio and press, hundreds of posters, thousands of fliers, a giant three-foot wide poster on a disused phone box, Facebook, Twitter, cycle club forums, cycle shops, and lots of other websites such as Gumtree and The List.
I couldn't have done anymore, short of paying thousands for a TV advert. I did try. I approached The One Show, but alas they didn't pick up on it. Yet.
It took over a month to narrow down which theatres we would take the show to. We decided to concentrate mostly on small rural communities. Then it was a matter of finding out availability and trying to create a schedule with approximately two weeks between each show. Booking was next, signing contracts, assessing the technical needs and creating posters.
Of course we also had a script to write. Luckily we knew the story well, the key to any presentation. Using a great programme called Keynote, we assembled the photographs and the film clips from the feature film, then rehearsed, rehearsed, rehearsed.
It paid off. The first night sold out with sustained applause and cheering at the end. There then followed a great Q&A. A fantastic start.
Ten more venues to go, which you can find out about by going to the website. Click on the tour picture of us on the right, or here
In the final week of preparation we also created an online shop to sell the now complete DVD of the feature film. Within just six hours of it going live we had sold the first one and sold many more on the night of the show, including a CD of all the music.
Fingers crossed for a successful tour.
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