Live Event Troubleshooting: The Four-Stage Checklist for Leads, Appointments, Shows and Enrollments

Part of the martial arts marketing system by Grand Master Stephen Oliver. New here? Start with the complete guide and the full marketing library.

Updated November 9, 2026

After the Halloween weekend, our members reported everything from a downtown trick-or-treat that produced 25 appointments without anyone leaving the school, to a two-hour school Halloween night that produced 35 appointments, to a booth that collected 35 leads and zero appointments.

Same kind of event. Wildly different results. When a live event disappoints, the problem is almost always at one of four stages, and each stage has its own checklist. Work them in order.

What are the four stages of a live event?

Stage	The symptom	Where to look first	Target
1. Leads	Plenty of traffic, few forms filled out	Who was pulling people over, and the prize wheel	Every passer-by invited to spin
2. Appointments	Lots of forms, few appointments	What the booth staff thought their job was	90% or better booked on the spot
3. Shows	Lots of appointments, few showed up	What you handed them, and the follow-up	About half or better show up
4. Enrollments	Intros came, few enrolled	The floor, not the office	About half of intros enroll

Why am I not getting enough leads at my booth?

If nobody showed up to the event, that’s an event problem. But if there was traffic and you didn’t get forms, go down this list in priority order:

1. Was somebody out in front hustling people over? Not sitting behind the table chilling. Standing in front of the booth saying one line: “Would you like to spin the wheel and win a prize?”
2. Did you have the big floor-standing prize wheel? Not the little tabletop wheel from a party catalog. The big one, preferably with LED lights and sound. They run around $250, and Amazon alone has dozens of options.
3. Did anything else grab attention? A big inflatable kicker, a flat-screen TV with martial arts playing if you’re indoors, a custom printed tablecloth or tent. Years ago we spent something like $20,000 on a big trade-show booth. Today I’d be hard-pressed to spend $1,000 on a really nice one.
4. Did the person know the mission? Not passing out literature. Name, address, phone, email, and an appointment.

One of the best banners I’ve seen was a tall, narrow vertical banner with a picture of the prize wheel, the words “Spin the wheel and win a prize,” the school logo and “Two free weeks for everyone who spins.” Use AI to design yours from one you like and have it printed in 24 to 48 hours. But don’t wait for banners. Schools have pulled 150 leads with a bare table, a wheel and a stack of brochures.

Why are leads not turning into appointments?

Thirty years ago you could collect leads at a big event and book them by phone afterward. We once came home from a Boy Scout jamboree with black trash bags full of leads, put a phone bank on them on Sunday night from six to nine, and reached nearly all of them.

Today, between call screening and spam, you’ll reach somewhere between 5 and 10% of them on the phone. One member called us after a third event with the same result: 35 leads, nobody answering on Monday, no appointments. When Grand Master Jeff Smith asked why he hadn’t booked them at the booth, he said he didn’t know he was supposed to. He’d also been too embarrassed to mention it on our calls because everyone else was reporting wins. Share your failures. That’s how we fix them.

The appointment is made at the booth. The whole script is a few sentences:

• “Would you like to spin the wheel and win a prize?”
• Introduce yourself and the school. “Everyone who spins gets two weeks of free lessons plus whatever the wheel lands on. Fill this out for me.”
• Check the form. Is that a Y or a J? Anything left blank?
• They spin. “High five, you won a free uniform! When would you like to come pick it up and take your first class?”
• “I’ll have to check my schedule.” “We’re filling up fast, so let’s pencil you in. Monday or Tuesday? If it doesn’t work, just call and we’ll move it.”

With a halfway decently trained crew, including volunteers, you should book 90% or more on the spot. If you’re not, they’re not following the script. Train volunteers before the event, not when Mrs. Jones shows up Saturday morning. One member set up the booth in his dojo with the wheel and the real forms and ran his staff through it until they couldn’t mess it up. Make it harder in rehearsal than it will be at the fair.

Two details that matter. Put your intro schedule right on the form, so you can circle the class. And put birthday parties and pizza parties on the wheel. Each of those can bring you 10 to 20 more kids. For the full booth setup, see the event booth script.

Why do people book an appointment and then not show up?

I can have one event with 120 appointments and another with 25, and both end up with 20 people walking in. The difference is what happened at the booth and after it. Here’s the checklist:

1. What did you send them home with? A business card with a link doesn’t work. A real brochure does. Our Mile High Karate booklet has a map, the staff names, the phone number, and a space on the back to write the appointment time and the prize in Sharpie. It costs $3 to $4 a copy. Is that worth it on 100 appointments? Yes.
2. How much rapport did you build? Ask a few questions. Find out what they’re interested in. Even when the organizers want the line kept moving, pull people to the side and do what you need to do.
3. Is your contact card in their phone? More on this below. It’s the item most schools miss.
4. Did the electronic follow-up fire? An immediate confirmation text, then a text the day before, the morning of, and an hour before. The same sequence by email, with a link to reschedule themselves. GoHighLevel or OnceHub can automate it.
5. Did they get something in the mail? Since the 1980s my booth staff have had 100 stamped postcards on hand to hand-address during the lulls, and they drop them in the mailbox on the way home. Today you can queue the brochure to mail automatically.
6. Did a live person confirm? Call the night before and the day of. And confirm a 7 p.m. appointment in the late afternoon, not at 10 a.m. Eight hours is plenty of time to forget.
7. Did they see a walkthrough video? A short personal clip (“Hi Joey, we’re so looking forward to seeing you today”) or a tour that starts in the parking lot, walks in the door, shows a class and introduces the front desk. You can shoot all of it on an iPhone.

Why should you share your contact card at the booth?

Both iPhones and Android phones now screen or silence calls from numbers that aren’t in the contacts. I recently missed five calls from my own plumber because my phone wasn’t ringing for unknown numbers.

So once they’ve booked, get the school into their phone before they walk away. Use an NFC tap card, a QR code, or share a contact from your phone to theirs. Include the school name, the people they’ll meet, every number you might call or text from, the email address and the street address. “Tap this. Now when you come in, it’ll map you right to us, and when we call to confirm, you’ll see it’s us.” Your calls ring through, your texts aren’t flagged, and your email is more likely to land in the inbox instead of the promotions or spam folder.

What is a live event appointment actually worth?

Everything on that checklist costs maybe $10 per appointment, plus ten minutes of someone’s time. Here’s why it’s worth it.

Take last year’s gross and divide it by last year’s enrollments. That’s your thumbnail lifetime value per new student. Our million-dollar schools tend to run $8,000 to $10,000, which works out to an average of about $350 to $500 a month per active student. A newer school with no renewal system may be closer to $2,000.

At $9,000 lifetime value	Value
Each enrollment	$9,000
Each intro that shows (about half enroll)	$4,500
Each appointment booked (about half show)	$2,250

Would you spend $10 and ten minutes to protect a $2,250 appointment? Every time.

Why do intros show up but not enroll?

Occasionally it’s the audience. I’m a family school, and if the event turned out to be ten college fraternities, that’s the wrong pit. We had one festival in Denver we kept doing that never produced anything. But short of that, the reason people don’t enroll is almost always on the floor.

• Were they greeted within three feet of the door, by name? Or did they stand at the desk for ten minutes?
• Did they have a great class with a charismatic, empathetic instructor they can’t wait to see again, or a boring class with no visible benefit?
• Did you prep them for the second lesson?
• Did you scare them off with money and contracts before they decided they wanted it?

Grand Master Smith calls it selling from the floor. After the first lesson, every new student leaves with a sheet listing what they have to do to earn their white belt next class, such as learning the student creed and doing two or three things around the house without being asked. Then he ties on the belt in front of the class: “Remember, a black belt is just a white belt who…” and the whole class finishes, “…never quit!” You don’t sell in the office. In the office they either want to join or they don’t.

What if six intros from one event show up at once?

Good problem. A member running adult cardio kickboxing had six people arrive for their first class with 30 minutes to spare, and couldn’t get through everyone’s goals, schedule and budget. Triage on the way in the door, about 20 seconds each: “Is this something you’ve been thinking about for a while?” “I’ve been meaning to do this for a year” is a buying sign. “I came because I spun the wheel” is not.

Enroll the ready ones after class, or during a water break if someone else is teaching. Schedule the rest for a second lesson and prep them to decide then. And never throw money at someone before they’ve decided they want to do it. It doesn’t matter if you charge $10 a month or $500. Talking monthly payments too early only dampens enthusiasm.

Quick Answers

What percentage of live event leads should book an appointment on the spot?

90% or more with a trained crew. If you’re well below that, the booth staff aren’t following the script.

How many live event appointments should show up?

Roughly half or better, if you hand out a real brochure, build rapport, share your contact card and run electronic, mail and live-call follow-up.

How many people do you need to run a booth?

Two can do it. Three is better. Many schools use one paid staff member with trained parent and student volunteers.

Should I call event leads the next day to book appointments?

Book them at the booth. Today only 5 to 10% of people answer calls from unfamiliar numbers.

For the full system, grab the free book at FillYourSchool.com, or call or text 1-720-256-0208 and ask Bob Dunne about a free evaluation of your school.