Downtown South Committees – Promotions
Promotions Committee – Chelsea Bettmann, Chair
send@downtownsouthorlando.org
The purpose of this committee is to promote Downtown South’s commercial district through creative marketing, public relations, advertising, and signature community events. If you have a background in any of these areas or are just enthusiastic about Downtown South and want to get involved, the Promotion Committee would love to have you.
- Create and Implement New Events
- Use Marketing Tools
Meetings:
4th Tuesday of the Month, 1pm
Peach Valley Cafe, 2849 S Orange Ave #310, Orlando, FL 32806
NOTE: Please call 407-715-3315 to let us know you’re coming. We want to save you a seat 
Want to know what Downtown South’s Promotions & Special Events Committee is up to in 2016? Check it out below:
TEDx Salon: TEDx Salons will be coming to Downtown South, once every other month. Like TED, this cultural event is focused on “Ideas worth spreading” and is appealing to a wide audience. During TEDx Salons, TED Talks are shown and discussed in groups. Sometimes a live speaker is invited.
Downton South Sunday Shuffle / Seersucker Sunday Brunch & Shuffle: This event is new to Downtown South and still being explored. The focus here is to activate one of our great, but still relatively unknown public spaces: The Beardall Center and its shuffle board court. There is already an active Orlando Shuffle club that meets twice a month, though not as large as St. Pete Shuffle Board Club, which sees about 200 patrons of all ages, every Friday.
For this Downtown South event, the space provides for both active engagement (“shuffling”), as well as passive engagement with a parking lot for food trucks, other vendors, and even live music. This event would be one-of-a-kind and could become an annual tradition if successful. It could also helping to build the Orlando Shuffle club’s membership.
Chow Down Tuesday (Food trucks at Sodo): Soon, food trucks will be available for lunch on Tuesdays at Sodo. In the surface parking lot south of Sodo’s Target, food trucks will rotate on a weekly basis to provide lunch from 11am-1pm.
Ladies Night Off: This monthly girls’ night event is about enjoying a fun and stress-free time at one of Downtown South’s businesses. The programming is provided by the business, while each event’s promotion is managed by Downtown South. We are also exploring additional perks for Downtown South residents that participate in these Ladies Night Off. This is a monthly event will begin in March.
Daddy-Daughter Dates: Similar to Ladies Night Off, Downtown South’s Daddy-Daughter Dates are aimed at having fun and exploring what Downtown South has to offer. We are looking for family-friendly businesses and opportunities for these monthly Daddy-Daughter events. The first one will happen in April.
Yelp 2 Week Passport: Yelp is partnering with our Main Street to host 2 weeks of programming with Downtown South businesses. This 2-week series will take place during the final two weeks of May and end with a finale party at a local venue. Yelp-Orlando’s community manager will work directly with businesses to tailor their programming and offers for this series. A Yelp 101 Business workshop will also be scheduled for business owners interested in getting more active with their Yelp listings. The Yelp 2-Week Passport will be promoted through Yelp-Orlando’s newsletter and social media, and posters will be provided to participating businesses. Downtown South is helping Yelp-Orlando curate this 2-week series and we will also be promoting each event through our channels.
Summer Scavenger Hunt: This is a great opportunity to help people discover some of the great businesses and amenities in Downtown South. This Summer Scavenger Hunt will include an online and printed map, but most of the action will happen through social media using a special hashtag (ex. #DTSOsummer). Once participants complete the map by visiting the locations marked, and posting about it online, they will be eligible for prize(s). We’re looking for participants and sponsorships. It’s a Summer Scavenger Hunt and we want to get this started in June and roll it through August.
Downtown South SOUP: SOUP is an event that has grown out of Detroit to cities throughout the country to help crowdfund hundreds of community-driven ideas. We are bringing this concept to Downtown South. SOUP is a large soup and salad dinner for about 100 people. Participants will pay about $10 for the meal and program. Any money not spent to organize the event is pooled together into a fund to support a community initiative, typically about $500-$700. Individuals or organizations seeking funding for their projects will apply before the event. Three of these ideas will be selected to “pitch” during the meal and voting will happen after the final group. The idea here is to help support community engagement and improvement projects in Downtown South.
Light Up Downtown South: Our signature Downtown South holiday event is in its 4th year and ready for a bigger venue and amplified impact. Our Light Up event already does a wonderful job of bringing the community together in the holiday spirit. The long-term goal of event is help small businesses in Downtown South get ready for the holidays. We hope that as our event grows, we can begin to provide grant opportunities for small business owners to purchase lights for their storefronts and offices. In this way, our Light Up Downtown South event really does light up Downtown South. We are currently exploring moving the event from Lake Beauty Park, to Sodo. This creates more space for holiday activities, as well as more merchants and vendors.
Click below for more information about our four committees.
Promotions Committee