7 Common Telethon Mistakes

Question: If 60 percent of your personal income depended on you doing well in one 7-day period of your life, would you "wing it"?   Would you rely solely on your memory to raise the money you need? You can always tell when a programmer hasn't attended ...

I'm continually surprised when listening to WRUW during the fundraiser. Every year, I hear programmers who think they can just "wing it" on-mic when talking about the fundraiser. I guess they assume that since they can ad-lib their play lists, the...

Do you remember when you were a kid, and you saw something you really wanted? Maybe it was a toy, a video game, or some other object that you just had to have? So you asked your parents for the money to buy it. Your mother or father would ask you...

You can learn a lot about how to talk about telethon premiums by going to a restaurant. Imagine this scenario ... You get seated at your table at a restaurant and start looking over the menu. Then the waiter arrives and starts to tell you the specials...

A few years ago, I was hosting a “How to Beg” session on a weeknight before the telethon. One of the attendees, no longer with the station, said the following statement: “We need more premiums at lower donation levels. Our listeners can’t afford to give...

Every year during the telethon there are people on our station who just don’t “get it.” They don’t pay attention to what to say about the telethon. They don’t attend “How to Beg”. They don't attend the required staff meetings. They don’t prepare...

During your telethon show you will experience an entire spectrum of emotions. When you start the fundraiser you'll experience nervousness about asking for money, and anxiety as to whether or not people will call. Once you get your first pledge,...