You put up flyers. You posted on Facebook. You told the local sports council. Saturday arrives, and 35 curious visitors walk through the door. What you do in the next three hours determines whether any of them become members.
Open days are your best acquisition channel when done right. They compress the entire guest-to-member journey into a single afternoon. But most clubs treat them as "come and have a hit" sessions with no structure, no follow-up plan, and no way to measure success. The result: a fun Saturday that produces zero new members.
Before the Day: Promotion That Reaches the Right People
The goal isn't maximum attendance. It's attracting people who are genuinely likely to join. A hundred curious onlookers who never pick up a racquet again are worth less than fifteen people who were already thinking about joining a club.
Existing member word-of-mouth is your best channel. Ask every current member to invite one friend. Give them a reason: "Bring a friend and their first three sessions are free." Members pre-qualify their invitations naturally because they only invite people they think would enjoy it.
Local partnerships work. Talk to other sports clubs, community centres, workplace wellness programmes, and schools. A shared email to their mailing list reaches people who are already active and looking for new activities.
Social media with specifics. "Open day Saturday 2-5pm" is forgettable. "Come try competitive table tennis. No experience needed. Free coaching, real matches, and you'll leave with your first official rating" gives people something to picture.
Community boards and local press. Physical flyers still work in gyms, libraries, and coffee shops. A short listing in the local paper costs nothing and reaches people who aren't on social media.
The Three-Hour Structure
An unstructured open day feels like chaos. A structured one feels like a well-run club night, which is exactly the impression you want to leave.
0:00 to 0:15, welcome and orientation. Greet every visitor at the door. Collect their name and email (this is non-negotiable for follow-up). Give a two-minute overview: here's what we do, here's how the afternoon works, here's where the tea is.
0:15 to 1:30, structured play with ratings. This is the core. Don't let visitors just knock around. Run short matches, three games to 11, rotating opponents every 10 minutes. If your club uses a rating system, enter the results live so visitors can see their first rating building in real time. This is the hook. A visitor who finishes the afternoon with a rating of 847 now has a personal stake. They want to see that number go up.
1:30 to 2:15, social break and demo. Refreshments, conversation, and a demonstration of what a regular club night looks like. Have your best players show what competitive play looks like at a higher level. Let visitors ask questions informally. This is where relationships start forming.
2:15 to 2:45, open play and sign-ups. Free play for anyone who wants more court time. Meanwhile, have someone available at a registration desk to answer questions about membership and take sign-ups on the spot. Don't pressure anyone. The structure of the afternoon should do the selling for you.
The Staff Plan
An open day without assigned roles is an open day where nobody does anything because everyone assumes someone else is handling it.
You need four roles, minimum:
- Greeters (2 people): stationed at the entrance for the first 30 minutes. They welcome visitors, collect contact details, and point people in the right direction.
- Match organizers (2-3 people): run the structured play session. They manage the rotation, enter scores, and keep things moving.
- Floaters (2-3 people): experienced club members who mingle, answer questions, and make sure no visitor is standing alone looking lost. These people are your culture ambassadors.
- Registration desk (1 person): handles sign-ups, answers membership questions, and distributes any promotional materials.
Brief everyone the night before. Make sure each person knows their role, their timing, and the key message: "We want every visitor to feel welcome and to leave knowing exactly how to come back."
The Follow-Up Sequence
The open day itself is just the beginning. The follow-up is what converts interest into membership.
Within 24 hours: Send a thank-you email to every visitor. Include their rating if you tracked results ("You finished with a rating of 847. Come back Thursday to see if you can break 900."). Include the schedule for regular sessions and a trial membership offer.
Within 48 hours: A personal text or message from the member who played with them most. "Great meeting you Saturday. I'm playing Thursday if you want to come along." This personal touch converts more visitors than any email.
Within one week: Invite them to the next regular session with a specific time and date. "We play every Thursday 7-9pm. This week is a drop-in night, perfect for new players." Remove every possible barrier to returning.
Platforms like ServeLeague make this follow-up systematic by tracking guest visits, storing contact details, and sending targeted communications, but a spreadsheet and a dedicated volunteer can achieve the same thing if the process is consistent.
The One Metric That Matters
Track many things, but care most about this: if a visitor plays three sessions in the first month, they are 80% likely to become a long-term member. That's the number. Everything else, the flyers, the Facebook posts, the refreshments, exists to get visitors to that third session.
After your open day, count how many visitors returned for session two. Then session three. If 35 people came to the open day and 10 played three sessions in the following month, you've just added 8 members. That's a successful open day. If only 2 came back for a third session, the problem isn't the open day itself. It's the follow-up and first-visit experience that needs work.