How To Write Blog Post Introductions That Hook Readers

How To Write Blog Post Introductions That Hook Readers There are eight  other people reading this post along with us. In just a few minutes, there will only be the two of us. Dont believe it? The challenge was already insurmountable.  People read about 18% of your blog post. Readers are overwhelmed with information and are  purposefully not reading  for their own sanity.  Heck, weve been bemoaning the death of reading since 1991, and even again in 2007. So what to do about getting readers to read? How do you keep people reading to the end? Master The Art Of Blog Post Introductions And Keep Your Readers Reading via @JulieNeidlinger A  Blog Post  Introduction Must Have A Hook Let me introduce you to introductions.  Introductions are first impressions.  You get to make them once. Your blog post introduction must have a hook. Here are six good hooks to use in your blog post introductions. 1. Start with an interesting fact. "Niagara Falls has traveled  7 miles upstream in the past 12,000 years. Let's hope you're growing your web traffic at a faster rate." Start with a fact that is interesting, because not all facts are. Facts that are uninteresting are facts that: Are overused and often repeated. Too common in your niche. Related perfectly to your topic in an unsurprising way. Pick facts that have nothing obviously to do with your topic (Niagara Falls and website traffic?), or are perfectly in line with your topic and thesis, but are so shocking as to be gasp-worthy.  Unrelated facts make the reader think "how is this bozo going to tie that into the topic at hand?" while shocking facts make the reader think "that CANNOT be true, can it?!" Either way, it's a hook. 2. The end of the story first. There are two ways to tell the end of the story first and have a successful hook. Find a way to tell the end of the story without giving away the surprise. "The 20,000 customer registered in our system, and the team let out a victorious yell. We'd hit our goal, thanks to the red button." How does the story end? Because that's a perfect place to start. In this example, the introduction tells the reader what happened, but it doesn't do so in a way that ruins the surprise. There's a lot of action, both by the final customer and the team. There's the suggestion of a competition and success (a goal was met). And there's a cryptic suggestion that a red button did something amazing. Plus, 20,000. That's impressive for anyone wanting lots of customers. This would be a less effective version of the introduction for that post: "After five months of intense A/B testing in which we tested different CTA button colors, we finally hit 20,000 customers. Red was the winning color." Yawn. There is jargon. There are unexplained acronyms. An inanimate button has become the winner instead of the people (customers and the team). What little action there is, is passive.  And you spilled the beans on what the post was about: A/B testing colors. Give a heads-up summation without giving away the surprise. This method gives your reader some respect by saying "hey, this is what I'm going to talk about with you today. If this is interesting, stick around."  Derek Halpern tends to get right to the point with his blog posts, and often introduces them by telling readers what they can expect if they keep reading. Adding "a quick request" is a fine bit of intrigue for the reader. "What in the world could Halpern want from me?" the reader thinks, and keeps on reading. Knowing what's coming and how things will end is helpful for readers. It gives them an idea of whether or not they should take the time and what expectations to have. The danger for you, the writer, is if you have an unexciting topic and give your readers a heads-up  to that. "Today I am going to talk about the value proposition of going paperless at your office, and ultimately prove that you will want to buy a small scanner and ban the paper." Meh. That's not an introduction to remember for all eternity. Halpern's version has a bit more intrigue and zip, though, admittedly, some readers will appreciate the above example. It has its place, but isn't the greatest hook. 3. Use an anecdote. "I once wrote a newspaper story that killed a man." That's the actual blog post introduction I wrote on a post for this blog. It's a one-sentence anecdote. That's an extremely short anecdote; most anecdotes are longer, like those you find in this post about social proof in which several anecdotes are used. Anecdotes are wee bitty stories that put a larger idea or thesis in a different context. Speakers know that starting with a story instead of a philosophical or fact-filled lecture is a sure-fire way to get people's attention. It's the same for your readers. What makes a good anecdote? Something that happened to you, in your life. This makes you the expert on how to apply the story and what it means. I would rather hear an anecdote about your trials and failures rather than the tired anecdote of how many times Edison tried to invent the lightbulb. Something either funny or poignant. Make 'em laugh or make 'em cry (or somewhere close). At the very least, end at a different level than where you started. You start at ground zero with your reader. Your anecdote can't end there. It's no hook if it does. Something related to your thesis. Don't be that speaker that tells a random joke or story and then segues with an "but I digress" and launches into Yawnville. Your anecdote should illustrate your thesis in a new way, or start leading the reader's thought patterns towards where you want to take them with your thesis. A quote can work. Quotations can work, and sometimes make a fine opening. But people quickly get in the habit of using the words of others to boost their own, so watch out for overuse of this technique. And avoid quotations that are overused for your niche. Steve Jobs had some good things to say,  but after a while, those excellent words lose their power because they are overused. Find new quotations from surprising sources. And avoid quotations that are overused for your niche. Steve Jobs had some good things to say, but after a while, those excellent words lose their power because they are overused. – @JulieNeidlinger 4. Ask a (worthwhile) question. Yes, there are stupid questions, and a good share  of them are rhetorical. In their best use, asking a question is a fine way to force the reader to identify with the problem you are about to solve. Questions can be powerful. But some questions are a waste of time. Go easy with  rhetorical questions.   "What are we going to do about your low-performing blog?" Rhetorical questions cannot be answered by the reader. They are asked not to prompt thinking or discover knowledge, but to make a point. They are often dramatic. They can be insulting. "Have you stopped beating your dog yet?" is a classic example. The question assumes someone is being cruel to an animal. It can't really be answered. Or "How do you solve a problem like Maria?", which assumes first that Maria is a problem. It's similar to what I see  being used a lot in lead generation and calls-to-action where one button says "Yes, I want more traffic. Take my email!" while the other button says "No, I want to see my website die a painful slow death." Rhetorical questions set up the reader in a similar, psychological way. The reader has to accept the underlying assumption in order to answer. It can work, but if you make an offensive or insulting assumption, your reader leaves. Use rhetorical questions carefully. Don't ask questions intended to limit the answer. Pet peeve alert: I despise  when people speak in questions so they can pre-empt any difficult or real questions and give softball answers. Here's how it works (and I'm sure you'll recognize the technique): "Do I love web traffic? Yes. Did I mean to send my disgruntled blog readers a skunk in the mail? Of course not." By asking the questions you, the writer, want to answer instead of providing the answers the reader wants, you can create the appearance of forthright and complete discussion without actually doing so. Plus, you slip into passive voice of sorts, where you don't own the action and behavior. How does that work in an introduction? "Do I love web traffic? Yes. Do I know the secret to building it? You bet." Ok, we get it. But what a waste of your reader's time. "My love of web traffic is bested only by my ability to build it." Kind of a silly  example, but you get the idea: be direct, not passive. Do you want more traffic on your blog? Write better blog post introductions with these tips.Don't ask obvious questions. Every time I find myself tapping out an introduction that starts with "do you want more traffic on your blog?" I'm sure somewhere a philosopher dies. What I'm trying to do is tell the reader "yes, this is the post you were looking for" but what I'm really telling the reader is "I don't know how to write." "Do you want more traffic on your blog?" Really? That's your Bob Woodward? "98 percent of blog owners want more traffic. Yeah, we don't understand that remaining two percent, either." You can identify with your reader without asking them obvious questions that they skim over. 5.  Go for the  cliffhangers. Robert Bruce  (who is someone else entirely than Robert the Bruce)  is a writer and a tease. Once in a while but not too often, mind you he sends out an email of Unusually Short Stories. He also posts them on his web site. He is all sparseness and tortuous brevity, his unusually short stories impeccable. They hook, and leave you hanging off the cliff. One of Robert Bruce's unusually short stories. Take a page from Bruce's book: these are the introductory paragraphs that get readers hooked. I know, because I've sat and stared at them willing the next sentence to appear (which  will not happen). I'm a firm believer mimicking and dissecting the successful work of others as a form of practice. Artists often paint from the masters to learn about color, light, and technique (I've done it). While at a writers' conference a few months ago, best-selling author James Hall told of a class he taught his graduate students (which included Dennis Lehane) where they were instructed to find a novel they loved and write their own novel based on the structure of it. He later turned this class into a book called Hit Lit: Cracking The Code Of The 20th Century's Biggest Best Sellers. So let's look at Bruce's example. What makes it work? It's only two sentences, and I'm dying to read the next paragraph. The setup tells us there is a competition known only to us (we have exclusive knowledge). There is a setting, both in place and time. And we know the startling end result. The cliffhanger isn't what happened next, but what happened in between. How do you get from intriguing point A to hilarious and startling point Z? So. A cliffhanger can be either "what happens next" or "what happened in between." Let's say your headline was: How We Went From Zero To 10,000 Customers In Just One Year.   Here's an example of a "what happened in between" cliffhanger: "We started with  three team members  and a plant in the window. One year later, we were taking sledgehammers to the office walls." The rest of the post talks about how you grew your customer base, and how it meant your team grew, too, and you had to expand your office space. (Or how things went poorly and you demolished the office in a fit of rage, but let's hope not.) 6. Gentle confrontation can be a friend. "You were getting 100 new sign-ups a week, and thought your email conversion rate was as good as it could get. But you were wrong, and I'll tell you why." Confrontation is sure to get a reader's attention. Of course, not all confrontation is created equal.  There is insulting and trollish confrontation (always wrong), and there is gentle confrontation. A gentle confrontation takes a soft  swipe at a controversy, or pokes a long-held belief of the reader in a way that encourages them to read on and reconsider. What happens when you do that? The reader feels indignant and keeps reading if only to prepare to prove you wrong. Or the reader is intrigued and keeps reading to see if it's true. The reader skips to the end and leaves a ranting comment never having read your post, meaning you have to gently say "but I said that later in my post." So in the case of the first reaction, gentle confrontation can be a friend. In the case of the second reaction...less so. Either way, introductions that are confrontational can often lead to active comment sections.

The four principles that should guide business negotiations Essay

The four principles that should guide business negotiations - Essay Example By applying these policies in business negotiations, one can be capable of satisfying the requirements and needs of consumers more adequately. For example, the first policy demonstrates that by understanding what a consumer needs one should be able to specifically manufacture what is needed by the customer and this eases negotiations between both parties which eventually ensures that the communities’ needs are met (Weiss and Hughes, 2012). The second principle shows that when you as a producer offers a wide range of products or take into account your consumers opinions, you enable the consumers to have the freedom of choice which ensures that they are able to choose wisely and adequately on what suits them best. The third policy explains that one should be able to provide accurate information about the product he is selling to the consumer and these lessens their questioning during negotiation which in the long saves on time and ensures that others are served in the business premises. Lastly, the fourth policy illustrates that when one is able to agree with the consumer on the product chosen they both ensure that a fair agreement has been reached since the consumer’s needs have been met, and these enables more service to the community since you meet their

Global warming by human caused Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Global warming by human caused - Essay Example In addition to this, several non-human activities, such as variation in the orbit of earth around the sun, rapid changes in atmospheric composition, volcanic eruptions and solar luminosity are also responsible for the global climate change. Global climate change has become one of the most challenging and critical issue that is affecting ecological and environmental balance of the globe. It is difficult to justify the major responsible reasons behind this global warming. Several scientists have argued that human beings’ unethical activities are responsible for this issue. On the other hand, some of the scientists around the globe are trying to illustrate that volatile change in natural and environmental structure is causing rapid global climate change. The essay will provide an argument on the topic i.e. â€Å"Can the humans be held responsible for global warming?† Major Reasons behind Global Warming There are several reasons behind the climate and temperature change in the earth’s surface. The part of the essay will provide an argument about the real causes behind the global warming and rapid global; climate change. Non-Human Reasons The temperature of the earth depends upon the balance between the planet’s system and energy entering. When the energy from sun is absorbed, earth warms. On the other hand, when the energy of the sun is reflected back then the earth generally avoids warming. There are several non-human reasons that are affecting the global temperature. Green house effects, variation in the energy of sun and change in earth’s surface as well as atmospheric reflectivity are the factors responsible for global warming. Several scientists pieced a picture of the climate, dating back thousands of years through the analysis of various indirect measures like tree rings, glacier lengths, ice cores, and ocean sediments, changes in the orbit of earth and pollen remains. The valuable historical record shows that the global cl imate system varies naturally (Lawson 22). The output of the sun shows narrow variations over the course of a particular 11 year time cycle. These cyclic changes effectively correlate with the frequency and number of sun spot. It is known as solar cycle. This solar spot is growing slowly and gradually. However, the rapid increase of solar spot is affecting global climate. The climate is getting hotter and hotter due to this reason. On the other hand, position of the earth with respect to the sun slightly varied over a longer period of time due to the change in orbit of earth. However, this frequent change is termed as Milankovitch cycle (Shrivastava 109). According to the view of several scientists, these changes are major culprits for the global climate change since the Ice Age of earth. These changes have limited impact on the global temperature and climate change for a shorter time cycle. These changes have occurred slowly and gradually. This Milankovitch change has impacted the global climate and earth surface’s temperature. It has resulted in long-term climate and temperature fluctuations. Water vapor is considered as the most abundant green house gas in the atmosphere of earth although the changes in the water vapor’s concentration are generally the result of temperature changes. Consequently, this water vapor can significantly act as the part of feedback loop (Arnold 272). In the feedback loop, the increase in temperature typically triggers an effective increase in the evaporation of the water. The

McDonald's Health (choose a topic regarding health in mcdonalds) Research Paper

McDonald's Health (choose a topic regarding health in mcdonalds) - Research Paper Example This is despite great criticism that the corporate was selling junk foodstuffs. It should be noted that McDonald as a corporate is part of the larger community since they operate in serving the community. Being part of the society, they have all the legal rights to carryout their business independently. However, there is caution when some of the operation is causing more harm than good. It is unfair and selfish for corporates to dwell only on profit making and discard humanity (Bakan, 2005). It is sad for everybody to hold a negative impression against a corporate due to its unsocial impacts. For example, the McDonald 40% expenditure directed to kids (Bakan, 2005). This is an ethical since the kids are underage and they have not yet developed critical thinking skills that will help them evaluate media adverts. This forced the IOM (Institute of Medicine) to urge the government to insist on adverts directed to kids should promote healthy approved food (Schlosser, 2006). This policy nearly saw McDonalds corporate being closed up until they came up with rebranding their name and marketing healthy food. The questionnaire developed was entitled to gather respective reaction among people concerning the McDonald Corporation. In this regard, a total of 120 students of different grade filled in the questionnaire during the data collection. The target population was SDSU campus. According to the correspondents, there were more females (33) than males (27). Gender contribution was necessary to attain mixed feedback among people. The large sample size was aimed at eliminating possible errors likely to emanate. Considering different grades was also aimed at acquiring mixed response based on age factor. The questionnaire my group developed was composed of both closed and open ended questions. Closed questions were specific to the point and open ended question aimed at gathering descriptive responses from people.

My Teaching Philosophy and Goals Essay example -- Education Teaching E

My Teaching Philosophy and Goals My philosophical point of view is Essentialism. Although I agree with Benjamin Bloom’s Theory on â€Å"School Learning†(1976). In his theory Bloom states; that children bring to class a range of â€Å"entry characteristics†. He divides these characteristics into affective and cognitive behaviors. Affective behavior includes the student’s motivation to learn and cognitive behavior includes the student’s prior knowledge. According to Bloom the context of the learning environment and the quality of instruction will determine the learning outcomes. Parents play an important role in their children’s desire and motivation to learn. Parents instill values of the importance of education and provide learning to take place not only in school but also in their home. My grandchildren have provided me with this knowledge. The grandchild that has parents that encouraged the importance of education does excel over the grandchild that did not receive the same encouragement. The nature of knowledge in my opinion is relative. It is constructed and dependent upon per...

Leisure and Recreation in Action Essay

Unit 6: Leisure and Recreation in action is a mandatory part of my AVCE Leisure and Recreation Course. This unit includes planning, organising and hosting a leisure and recreation event. We found out at the end of July 2005 that we were going to have to hold an event for a certain customer group. We would have to decide on this customer group and then brainstorm some ideas for events that we could organise for them. Once we have done this we will have to make a business plan and present it to school officials. Then we would also have to think of advertising the event. Our first meeting included brainstorming different ideas for the event that we could organise. Below is a copy of this brainstorm. Once we had brainstormed the event we wrote down our ideas and put them into a tally table. Once we had done this we went round different classes around the school and asked which event they would prefer to go on. It turned out that the preferred event would be to go to an England football match. We thought that this event would be quite easy to organise, as there were 2 England World Cup qualifier matches coming up. We tried to order the tickets for both of the upcoming matches but found out that our request would be put into a ballot as there were many different groups of people who wanted to go to these matches. We wouldn’t find out if we had succeeded in getting the tickets until 6 weeks before each match. This was a problem, as we would have had to rush organising the rest of the event. E.g. Transport, Customers. We were unsuccessful in getting tickets to either of the matches. This was a blow to us because we had designed posters and already done some organising. We had to decide on another event that would be quite easy and quick to organise. Read more:  When Leisure is Defined as Recreational Activity We decided to organise and host a Senior Citizen Christmas Lunch, as it was near to Christmas. We decided on our customers because we decided that the senior citizens of Darlaston had done a lot for our community, and we wanted to give them something back for their help and support. Our customers would also be ex-employees of our school. This wasn’t even in our list of brainstormed ideas, but with a little help we thought of it. First we had to come up with aims and objectives for our event, and also all other details. We decided on the aims and objectives by thinking about the customers’ wants and needs and also our own. This included finding a venue for the event, finding out if the Senior Citizens would want to come to our event and other aspects such as our budget. We had to consider our budget as we would have to provide the Senior Citizens with a high standard of cuisine, and also provide them with entertainment and make their time with us enjoyable. We found out that the school wouldn’t be able to provide all of our funds for the event, so we had to find a way of making enough money to pay for it. We came up with a number of ideas such as bag packing at ASDA, Football Cards; Guess the number of sweets in a jar and to hold a football tournament. We decided to do the football card because the other ideas would take a while to conduct and also host. The football card was really successful. We had 48 teams and people paid à ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½1 for a team name, a team name was then picked out of a hat by an unbiased volunteer, and the person who had the name of the team picked out won à ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½10. From this fund raiser we made à ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½38. This was enough to pay for some of the shopping for the event. On our second meeting we had to decide on committee roles for each member of our group. We decided on these roles by looking at everyone’s strengths and weaknesses. These roles are listed below: * Chairperson – Mathew Bayley. As the chairperson Mathew would have to make sure that everyone was doing their jobs right, and if they weren’t then they would have to tell them to try harder. We selected Mathew for this role as he is a strong minded person who everyone listens to * Secretary – Krystle Larkin. As the secretary Krystle takes down notes from each of our meetings and turns them into minutes, then she gives them to us as soon as possible so we know what our weekly jobs are. We selected Krystle for this role as she is the most organised person of the group * Treasurer – Ben Hall. As the treasurer Ben looks after all of our funds and receipts. We selected Ben for this job as he is good with money and knows how to budget money * Marketing Person – Donna Hawkins. As the marketing person it is my job to market the event through invitations and/or posters. I was selected for this job as I have done marketing for 1 year in business and am also quite creative * Staffing/Human Resources – Leigh Griffiths. As the person in charge of staffing it is Leigh’s job to recruit more staff members if we need them. Leigh was selected for this job as he is quite persuasive and also good at deciding on good workers with good character * Health and Safety – Matthew Bray. As the health and Safety person it is Matthew’s job to do a risk assessment of the event. Matthew was selected for this job as he is good at finding out what problems could occur during events We had a good marketing structure which meant we were all on the same level as each other and we were all given fair shares of the jobs. Our management structure is below. I think that the group worked really well together, although there were a few problems along the way. We worked well throughout communication, although because of the stress of organising our event we did argue quite a lot. Mathew Bayley coped really well being our leader. He managed to keep us on track with all of our work and also our set tasks. We interacted well with each other, keeping each other informed on how well we were getting on with our jobs and tasks. There was some tension between myself and Krystle, because we kept getting in each others way and taking over each others jobs. But overall, we worked really well together. As a team we really enjoyed planning and organising the event. Until the day of the event we helped each other with our tasks and also with any problems that occurred with the tasks that we were set. We managed to keep out of each others way most of the time, although there were a few problems and hiccups during the planning and organising of the event. However, apart from the few problems that occurred we all worked well together. Moxhull Hall Hotel I think that our visit to Moxhull Hall Hotel went really well. We had to dress smart to make a good impression on Andreas, the manager, and the rest of his staff at the hotel. We learnt a lot off the chefs at the Hotel, than if we had of prepared meals ourselves. On 7th December 2005 at 11.30am we travelled to Moxhull Hall Hotel. This visit was to help us learn to set up covers and serve our guests properly and also how to prepare food properly. Our group was split up into two teams. These were the front of house team and the catering team. My team (the catering team) were taken into the kitchens and the front of house team was taken into one of the restaurants. First we had to get acquainted with the members of staff who would be helping us. There was John and Neil, the two chefs. They then split us up into two teams of four. One of the teams went with John, whilst my team stayed with Neil. We were allocated different jobs. I had to mix up the flour, butter and sugar to make the dough for the mince pies that we were going to cook. My group also had to make a salad, potato salad and also coleslaw. We had to chop up the vegetables from fresh and then mix them up with mayonnaise to make the coleslaw and potato salad. We had cooked this meal for our and the rest of the group’s lunch. Once we had finished cooking for the group we then had to clean the side units and table tops that we had gotten dirty whilst preparing the food. The day of the event We started the day of the event by meeting up at our school at 8.15 and collected all of the equipment and accessories that we needed. We then walked up to the venue of our event and started to set up our equipment. The front of house staff set up the main hall and the kitchen staff, which consisted of me, Matthew Bray, Leigh Griffiths and 2 other helpers from a year 11 leisure and tourism class, went into the kitchen to set up. We took all of the food into the kitchen and started to prepare the food. We all washed our hands first and also washed up the saucepans and cooking utensils that we would need. I had to prepare the parsnips, while Matthew and Leigh prepared the carrots. Reagan and Emily prepared the sprouts whilst Mrs Lavender prepared the potatoes. Below is a photograph of me peeling the parsnips After we had prepared the food and put it on the stoves to cook we had to tidy up and clean the sides. We also had to set out the small plates for the starter. We decided to do a prawn cocktail for the started and while the main course was cooking I prepared the prawns whilst the others tidied up and washed up any bowls and cutlery we had used. Below is a photograph of me preparing the prawns After preparing the prawns and setting them out on the plates the front of house staff came through to collect the starters and serve them to our guests. When our guests had finished eating the plates were brought back in and the main meal was served. It was my job to serve the sprouts, as the picture at the side shows. Once the plates had been taken out then we had to wash up the starter plates and prepare the desert. Because 2 of our guests were diabetic we couldn’t serve them the traditional dessert of Christmas pudding and custard, so we served them a variety of cheese and biscuits instead. Once all of the food had been served the washing up and clearing away had to be done. This was done whilst the front of house staff were setting up the entertainment equipment. The washing up and cleaning away was done by all of us in turn. Below is a photo of me cleaning the sides of the kitchen Once all of the cleaning and washing up had been completed we had to go and get changed into our front of house uniforms. We did this because we were going out the front to the guests to help with the entertainment. Below is a picture of me in my front of house uniform Our first lot of entertainment was a few games of bingo. Ben was the caller for the bingo, and the rest of us helped our guests with the games. After the games of bingo we had a few different quizzes that some of the group had composed. These were played in teams of two. After the quizzes had been completed we then played a game of catchphrase, which was performed by Leigh and Ben. The quizzes and the bingo went down really well with the senior citizens, as did the game of catchphrase. After the entertainment was finished it was time for the guests to go home. While Mathew Bayley and Leigh were seeing the guests out the rest of us started tidying away the tables and chairs and all of the equipment that we had used. This took about 20 minutes to do. Afterwards we had to take all of the equipment back to the school and pack it all away. Overall the day went extremely well. There were a few problems, such as 2 people turning up early and uninvited. Also the cooking utensils from the venue went missing, so I had to go home to get some from my house that we could use. All of the entertainment went down well and the meal was enjoyed by all of the senior citizens. The atmosphere of the venue was really good and Christmassy too, which made us and the guests feel good about ourselves, and also really happy with each other. This made us better people to be around and we worked better together because of this. Improvements If we were to do this event again then I would recommend making some improvements. We would have to make sure that people didn’t turn up uninvited. Because of this we had to make room for extra people and also share the food out more than we thought we would have to. I also think that we could have made more money from the fund raising. We could do two fund raising events to make double the amount of money so we don’t have to struggle so much keeping within our budget. I also think that we could improve the attitudes of the extra staff that we recruited. The year 11’s that worked in the kitchen didn’t pull their weight and they stopped working for a chat at anytime they could. We had to keep telling them to get back to work. I think that we could split them up and make them work with one of our group to keep them in check and stop them from slacking off. I also think that we could improve the running smoothness of the quizzes. We did have 4 quizzes, so we had to do them quickly. However, some of the guests thought that the quizzes were read out too slow and the others thought that the quizzes were read out too fast. We could improve this by practising how to read out loud to guests properly. I think that we could also use a bigger venue. Everyone did seem quite cramped up and there was not much room to move about in the kitchen area either. The kitchen was small and there were 6 people in there all together. This made it very cramped and quite uncomfortable for us to work in. I think that we should also only have 2 courses instead of 3 if we do the event again. Originally we had only planned to do two courses, but the manager of Moxhull Hall Hotel gave us some prawns to make a starter as he knew our budget was limited. We thought that this was a nice gesture, but we should have checked if any of our guests were allergic to seafood. It turned out that one of our guests was allergic to seafood, so she didn’t get to have starter. She did state on her invitation reply that she was allergic to seafood but they weren’t checked properly, so in future we would have to make sure that we checked the invitations more than once. I think that the project was successful. We kept to our objectives throughout the planning the event and also conducting it. We worked well as a team throughout the event, with only a few arguments occurring. We found solutions to possible problems, such as the arguments and also problems with decorating the venue. We provided our guests with a high standard of cuisine and entertainment. We know this from the witness statements that they produced for us. We all enjoyed the experience and we provided the elderly with a memorable event. We know that we enjoyed it from talking to each other and finding out what we thought went good and bad on the day. We know that our extra staff enjoyed themselves too, as we found out when we questioned them about it. We know that our guests enjoyed the experience from the positive comments we had, witness statements, our guests facial expressions on the video and also one of the guests took the time to write in to the local newspaper about how much she enjoyed the event. This statement was sent into the newspaper by Mrs Doris Robertson. These are all included in my work. We came in on budget, but we had to keep things to a minimum and also add a few extra pounds ourselves to buy the prizes for the quizzes. I think that if this event is done again then more fund raising could be done. This way products will be brought comfortably without any worry of not having enough money to buy the necessities for the meal. Customers were satisfied with the event and we have the proof of this from witness statements. Such quotes include ‘ very polite, willing and helpful. All cheerful and pleasant’ and also ‘ very good meal†¦ efficient service all round’. The ambience of the venue worked really well with event. We made the venue look Christmassy by putting up decorations and we also played Christmas music into the hall where the meal was to be served. All of the front of house staff were dressed professionally in black trousers, white blouse/shirt and a black bow tie. Once the kitchen staff came out, we also changed into smart, professional clothing. Good things of the event included: * Making the senior citizens happy and cheerful * Giving ourselves the satisfaction of making other people happy * Everything running quite smooth * Positive feedback from the guests and members of staff Bad things of the event included: * Venue being too small * Extra people turning up * One member of the kitchen team turned up late * I had to go home to get some cooking utensils as the ones from the venue were missing

Hallie Quinn Brown Harlem Renaissance Figure

Known for: popular lecturer and dramatic elocutionist, role in Harlem Renaissance, preservation of Frederick Douglass home; African American educator Dates:  March 10, 1845?/1850?/1855? - September 16, 1949 Occupation:  educator, lecturer, club woman, reformer (civil rights, womens rights, temperance) Hallie Quinn Brown Biography: Hallie Browns parents were former slaves who married about 1840. Her father, who bought his freedom and that of family members, was the son of a Scottish plantation owner and her African American overseer; her mother was the granddaughter of a white planter who had fought in the Revolutionary War, and she was freed by this grandfather. Hallie Browns birth date is uncertain. It is given as early as 1845 and as late as 1855. Hallie Brown grew up in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and Chatham, Ontario. She graduated from Wilberforce University in Ohio and taught in schools in Mississippi and South Carolina. In 1885 she became dean of Allen University in South Carolina and studied at the Chautauqua Lecture School. She taught public school in Dayton, Ohio, for four years, and then was appointed lady principal (dean of women) of Tuskegee Institute, Alabama, working with Booker T. Washington. From 1893 to 1903, Hallie Brown served as professor of elocution at Wilberforce University, though on a limited basis as she lectured and organized, traveling frequently. She helped promote the Colored Womans League which became part of the National Association of Colored Women. In Great Britain, where she spoke to popular acclaim on African American life, she made several appearances before Queen Victoria, including tea with the Queen in July 1889. Hallie Brown also spoke for temperance groups. She took up the cause of woman suffrage and spoke on the topic of full citizenship for women as well as civil rights for black Americans. She represented the United States at the International Congress of Women, meeting in London in 1899. In 1925 she protested segregation of the Washington (DC) Auditorium being used for the All-American Musical Festival of the International Council of Women, threatening that all black performers would boycott the event if segregated seating were not ended. Two hundred black entertainers did boycott the event and black participants left in response to her speech. Hallie Brown served as president of several organizations after she retired from teaching, including the Ohio Federation of Colored Womens Clubs and the National Association of Colored Women. She served as a representative of the Womens Parent Missionary Society of the African Methodist Episcopal Church at the World Missionary Conference in Scotland in 1910. She helped raise funds for Wilberforce University and helped initiate the drive to raise funds to preserve Frederick Douglass home in Washington, DC, a project undertaken with the help of Douglass second wife, Helen Pitts Douglass. In 1924 Hallie Brown supported the Republican Party, speaking for Warren Hardings nomination at the Republican Party convention where she took the opportunity to speak up for civil rights. She published a few books, mostly connected with public speaking or famous women and men. Background, Family Mother: Frances Jane Scroggins BrownFather: Thomas Arthur Browna fifth of six children Education Wilberforce University: B.S., 1873, salutatorianWilberforce University: honorary M.S. 1890, honorary doctorate of laws, 1936 Organizational Affiliations: Tuskegee Institute, Wilberforce University,  Colored Womans League, National Association of Colored Women, International Congress of Women Religious Association: African Methodist Episcopal Church (A.M.E.) Also known as Hallie Brown.