[Tower Ravens] Spiel for pubs when organising a crawl

Hi All A few times I promised to send round a script for securing pubs for crawls. This is by no means the only way of asking, & everyone will have their own spiel, this is just vaguely what me & Janet say. 1. Ask to speak to the manager 1st, but in a relaxed smiley way so they don't think you're going to complain. This saves you saying your piece twice - once to bar-person & again to manager. Only if they say manager isn't around do you say 'maybe you can help me. 2. 'I've got an unusual favour to ask (big smile)... Me & my friends do a traditional English pub-based dance called rapper.' (don't mention swords, mention it's 'designed for pubs' early on. Don't go into loads of detail about origins of rapper at this point unless they ask). 3. We go round pubs in different areas of London every few weeks & on xxDAYxx we're in this area. So we just wanted to check that it's OK to pop in here & do a quick dance. (Say it in a way that suggests you're checking rather than asking permission, as if it's kinda standard for pubs to say yes). OR for pubs we've been to before... 'you might remember we came in & did a little dance about xxMONTHSxx & got a great reception!' 4. If they ask for more info about what it involves underplay everything apart from how much punters like it... 'Its really easy - we do a really quick dance - about 3-4 mins, all we need is a tiny bit if floor space, & the music turned down for a couple of minutes. And we always get a really good reception from punters'. 5. If they say they don't have enough space we say... 'The dance is designed to be danced in really busy pubs, in tiny spaces. We hardly need any floor space. We know this pub gets busy, so how about we rock up on the night, & if it's too busy to dance we won't. But if we (us & them) think there's a big enough gap we'll just do a quick one?' Other tips: It can be good to show them one of our films, or photos if they want to understand better what it is. If they ask how many people say - just 5 dancers (I don't even mention musician now unless specifically asked). Sometimes we say it's 'like Riverdance but even more high-energy - & we always get a really positive response from punters.' (Everyone knows Riverdance!) :-) We don't mention the collecting unless they ask & we position it as 'We usually do a collection afterwards, so punters can show their appreciation. But if that's a problem we don't have to - mainly we just want to dance.' If they say they don't have a licence for live music, say they don't need one - this is like a flash mob, no sooner have we started then we're done. (No idea if this is actually true, but if you say it with authority they tend to believe you, unless they're a Wetherspoons or Sam Smiths who have strict directions around this). If they ask you to leave a written message for the manager, we try & capture the spirit if the spiel in it - just to get them 'excited'! So leave a very quick, 'fun' description of your request as well as contact details. Also ask if you can call the manager back & when would be a good time. MAIN POINTS TO GET ACROSS: Really quick, no hassle for you, really good fun. Say it like it's not a big ask & they might just believe you! :-) Sent from my iPhone