Need help figuring out how I can help! · AskSpot.ai User Community

Need help figuring out how I can help!

Let me start out by warning you - it's a long post. My apologies!

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So I've grown a big enough audience in social groups here in Toronto that a couple of days ago a travel expo organizer reached out and asked if I'd like to promote the expo to my audience in exchange for space at the expo. I got on a Zoom call with Greg, their Florida director of something, and here's the skinny:

They'd held these expos in Toronto until 2019, the pandemic derailed that, and after things opened up again, they just focused on the US for the past few years. So they need to rebuild an audience from scratch. 5 years is a long time.
Our mayor and the provincial ministry of multiculturalism are both enthusiastic about the project
Greg's looking for: local promotion, local businesses signing up for space (commission opportunity), exposure to my audience (of course)
I'm one of several group owners they've reached out to. And so far, several seem actually interested in helping.
I've offered to get them on TV, hopefully have them interviewed on a morning show, also on radio - maybe do an interview.
They asked if I have inroads into the Indian community (I'm of Indian descent) - I told them I could get them into the Indian, Sri Lankan and Italian communities, and potentially into the Jordanian/Middle East community as well, and get businesses booking space at the expo.
They also asked if I'd be interested in hosting a vendor/exhibitor event where the vendors and my audience can mix-and-mingle. Of course I said yes.
Incentive for my audience: TBD. We both agreed that free tickets, while they'd be snapped up, are often not valued and people don't necessarily show up. So we'll work out some incentive - a discount on entry fee, expo swag, discounts from vendors, whatever. My personal inclination is a 10% discount at every booth for the attendee plus a 5% commission to me. 😉

That all sound good, yes? Yes. But.

The challenge:

I've never taken on something at this scale. We're talking about 20k members in my audience, growing daily.
I've never approached TV/radio stations.
I need to introduce myself to a heck of a lot of businesses ASAP and tell them what's in it for them.

Greg has sent me the expo docs detailing the event, space rental fees, etc., so I have all of that collateral. I'm looking for advice on the most effective (and quickest) ways to drum up interest. I'd also like to be introduced to the mayor and the minister of multiculturalism, of course - that would be HUGE for my own businesses!

My current plan:

Figure out the contact info for local businesses, the local TV and radio stations, pick up the phone and call, email, etc.
Get co-organizers and incentivize them with non-cash goodies (suggestions would be greatly appreciated)
.... and I'm drawing a blank. All my ideas involve ME doing a lot of work, and I know there has to be a better way!

Any insights and advice would be greatly appreciated. Spell it out as if I'm your brand new intern who's clueless about marketing and promotion. I'm not looking to run ads - more word of mouth!

PS: Yes, I'll take this over to ChatGPT and Claude later today, but also wanted to get some crowd-sourced advice.

Thank you all in advice for patiently reading to the end, and for any advice and suggestions you have for me!

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