Once you've reached the point where you have become a fairly skillful table tennis player, you might want to start thinking about putting on exhibitions. Why? Simple. It's good exposure. This is how the top table tennis players make a name for themselves. As good as you are there is nothing better than some good old fashioned public relations. If you do enough of these exhibitions eventually you will become a household name. But putting on an exhibition is not as easy as just saying let's do one. A lot of thought and planning needs to go into these. Below you will find some of the basic things you'll need to do and some tips that will make your exhibition go smoothly. For starters, you're going to want to make sure that people know about it. The last thing you want is to put on an exhibition and nobody shows up. So you're going to have to do a little advertising. If you don't have a big budget, try small local papers. If you have a little more money to spend you can try one of the more popular table tennis magazines. Only do what you can afford, but make sure you get the word out. Once you're at the exhibition, make sure everything is set up correctly. Bring a checklist to make sure that you don't miss anything. The last thing you want is to have to have somebody run out and get something that you forgot. Make sure you bring plenty of balls and extra paddles. Why? Simple. At exhibitions the people coming to watch may very well want to get involved. Audience participation is one of the best ways to build up a good name for yourself. Be friendly. Encourage those in attendance to get involved. To do that, you're going to need enough equipment to go around. While putting on your exhibition, use multi ball to show the audience how you train at the highest level. Don't be a show off but impress upon those in attendance how important it is to train hard for your matches. Also, it's a good idea when putting on these exhibitions to get some local help. If there are local table tennis players who are available, ask them to give you a hand. This will make them feel important and also ease the burden on you. Putting one of these things on by yourself is not easy. So get all the help you can. Keep an eye on the time. You don't want the proceedings to drag on for too long. An hour or so should be long enough to get your point across and get everyone involved. When playing with a member of the audience don't show off. Teach them and also give them a chance to play. You're there to try to build up confidence. If someone should challenge you to a real game, try to lob for a reasonable amount of time before going for the kill shot. You want these games to be entertaining and exciting. After you are all finished, allow people to take pictures and make sure you sign everyone's autograph request. When you arrive back home, send thank you notes to everyone who participated. Follow the tips above and you'll have an exhibition that everyone will enjoy. |
