This is a basic plan which has been followed at a few such events. Feel free to mould this to suit your organization.
1. Posters – Its a good idea to build the tempo with the help of posters. Post up some attractive posters announcing the event a week before the actual event. Be green and try to reuse posters (the hard copies). You can contact us at admin@bumsonthesaddle.com to get the posters. If you have printed any of your own and would like to share it with the biking community please do deposit them back with us.
2. Get a bunch of enthusiastic bikers – it would be best if you can find some from within your company. It helps when colleagues talk about biking rather than some unknown individuals. Another good option is to post up on the bicycling communities in your city and try and get some bicyclists to join you on the day of the event.
3. Get some bicycles – see if you can get your colleagues/friends to get their bicycles. Nothing sparks interest like a bunch of bicycles to play with. Speak to some local dealers and coax them to get some demo bikes – its good for their sales too and they would love to comply. Let folks ride them – most folks would not have touched a bicycle since their childhood.
4. Get answers to Questions – There are many commonly asked questions. Try and read up on this and keep some handly links ready. Best would be to get some experienced commuters to come and talk about their experiences.
If none are available there are some places you can look at
A common question is – “why does a ‘cycle’ cost 20k?” :)
5. Lots of patience & less expectations – people don’t get converted easily. Don’t be surprised if some of them just pose with the fancy cycles for a photograph. All this is fine – you have planted a seed. It sometime takes a lot of time to grow.
6. A few sheets of paper to record all the email ids of ppl who visit so that we can bug them after the workshop. Feel free to spam them info about the local communities, biking FAQs, local events etc etc. Just to pique their interest.