Who, What, and Why...what's missing?

I heard about a dog show in the next town over from us starting on Friday, put on by the American Working Dog Federation. My husband and I were really excited about this, and wanted to go.

Well, whether we get there or not is a matter of some debate. First, the original advertisement, in a small local weekly advertisement paper, had the dates wrong (Friday, May 21-Sunday, May 23). I wanted to see whether it started on Friday or Saturday, so I went to the AWDF's website, where I found that the show actually starts on Friday, May 22. Perfect for our schedule. But, since the dates in the original ad were wrong, I wanted to confirm the venue.

The AWDF's website lists the venue as "The Lehigh Valley, PA." Wow, thanks guys. There are probably about thirty little towns that make up the Lehigh Valley. The site tells you what airports are closest, and which hotels are offering discounts, but it doesn't actually say WHERE the event is taking place.

Since the original ad listed the venue as Northern Lehigh School, I visited the school's website. Nada. They don't even HAVE an events page.

So then I simply Googled, "American Working Dog Federation show Slatington." You'd figure I'd at least pick up a local news article, a blogger's page, something. The only thing I did find was the transcript for Northern Lehigh School District's board meeting, which has notes on the AWDF's application for the event.

So, my husband and I are going to take a chance and drive over to the school tomorrow, and hopefully there'll be dogs doing cool stuff.

But for those of you who plan your own events, ACCURATE publicity is crucial. Most people probably would not have tried as hard as I did to track this event down, and yes, the "dog crowd," probably knows all about it, but they're missing out on lots and lots of people who would have checked the event out, had it been better advertised. So remember, folks: Who, What, When, Where and Why.


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