<div dir="ltr">Now, listen to yourself:<div><br></div><div><div style="font-family:arial,sans-serif;font-size:12px">It seems like many day spas get men through the doors but scare them off. The SalonBar has a slightly different problem - men simply never show up in the first place!</div>
<div style="font-family:arial,sans-serif;font-size:12px"><br></div><div style="font-family:arial,sans-serif;font-size:12px">Of the 750+ people who have come through our doors, perhaps ten have been men. I'm wondering how to increase this.</div>
<div style="font-family:arial,sans-serif;font-size:12px"><br></div><div style="font-family:arial,sans-serif;font-size:12px">I can't figure out why - our marketing mix of Twitter, Meetup organic traffic, flyer campaigns, word-of-mouth, and presenting at relevant Meetups/collectives have worked wonders, but are only bringing in females. None of these are really female-oriented, which makes the results odd.</div>
<div style="font-family:arial,sans-serif;font-size:12px"><br></div><div style="font-family:arial,sans-serif;font-size:12px">We run two open houses a week, sell off-the-shelf and custom at home personal care kits, have two beginner/intermediate classes on hair, nail, skin, etc care per month, and have a social/games night every month. Our members do nails, hair, massage, makeup, skincare, etc. Interest and attendance have been at an all-time high, but again, all female.</div>
<div style="font-family:arial,sans-serif;font-size:12px"><br></div><div style="font-family:arial,sans-serif;font-size:12px">So, I'm wondering what the SalonBar needs to do to get a better balance. Are there events/classes that attract more men? What marketing works/turns off men? Might our location in a busy mall be scaring boys away? Is this even a problem?</div>
<div style="font-family:arial,sans-serif;font-size:12px"><br></div><div style="font-family:arial,sans-serif;font-size:12px">Men of the salon universe, how did you find out about your current space? What event brought you in?</div>
<div style="font-family:arial,sans-serif;font-size:12px"><br></div><div style="font-family:arial,sans-serif;font-size:12px">For what it's worth, our 'stickiness' with men may even be better than women. Of those ~10 men who've shown up, one is a member and two are diehard class and open-house addicts who come back very often. Almost all of our members are married or in committed relationships; either way, we're a pretty classy and non-creeper bunch that I can't see scaring anyone away.</div>
<div style="font-family:arial,sans-serif;font-size:12px"><br></div><div style="font-family:arial,sans-serif;font-size:12px">It must be awkward being the only man at a salon, and I'd like to get a critical mass to make anyone, no matter what demographic, more comfortable.</div>
<div><br></div><span class="" style="font-family:arial,sans-serif;font-size:13px"><font color="#888888"></font></span></div></div><div class="gmail_extra"><br><br><div class="gmail_quote">On Fri, Jan 18, 2013 at 1:00 PM, Zack Freedman <span dir="ltr"><<a href="mailto:magikazoc@gmail.com" target="_blank">magikazoc@gmail.com</a>></span> wrote:<br>
<blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0 .8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex"><div style="font-size:12px">It seems like many hackerspaces get women through the doors but scare them off. The MakerBar has a slightly different problem - women simply never show up in the first place!</div>
<div style="font-size:12px"><br></div><div style="font-size:12px">Of the 750+ people who have come through our doors, perhaps ten have been women. I'm wondering how to increase this.</div><div style="font-size:12px">
<br>
</div><div style="font-size:12px">I can't figure out why - our marketing mix of Twitter, Meetup organic traffic, flyer campaigns, word-of-mouth, and presenting at relevant Meetups/collectives have worked wonders, but are only bringing in dudes. None of these are really male-oriented, which makes the results odd.</div>
<div style="font-size:12px"><br></div><div style="font-size:12px">We run two open houses a week, sell off-the-shelf and custom soldering kits, have two beginner/intermediate classes on Arduino, RasPi, etc per month, and have a social/games night every month. Our members do programming, woodworking, electronics, soft circuits, circuit bending, etc. Interest and attendance have been at an all-time high, but again, all male.</div>
<div style="font-size:12px"><br></div><div style="font-size:12px">So, I'm wondering what the MakerBar needs to do to get a better balance. Are there events/classes that attract more women? What marketing works/turns off women? Might our location in a converted warehouse be scaring girls away? Is this even a problem?</div>
<div style="font-size:12px"><br></div><div style="font-size:12px">Women of the hackerspace universe, how did you find out about your current space? What event brought you in?</div><div style="font-size:12px"><br></div><div style="font-size:12px">
For what it's worth, our 'stickiness' with women may even be better than men. Of those ~10 women who've shown up, one is a member and two are diehard class and open-house addicts who come back very often. Almost all of our members are married or in committed relationships; either way, we're a pretty classy and non-creeper bunch that I can't see scaring anyone away.</div>
<div style="font-size:12px"><br></div><div style="font-size:12px">It must be awkward being the only girl at a space, and I'd like to get a critical mass to make anyone, no matter what demographic, more comfortable.</div>
<span class="HOEnZb"><font color="#888888"><div>-- <br>Zack Freedman // MakerBar // Hardware Hacker from the Near Future<div><br></div></div></font></span><br>_______________________________________________<br>
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