Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Alan Vaughters. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.
Alan, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. So let’s jump to your mission – what’s the backstory behind how you developed the mission that drives your brand?
West Town Social Club was created with the mission of bringing people together for friendship and fun times. Through West Town Social Club, I create events where people of different backgrounds can meet and connect.
It all started with my upbringing. At 8 years old, I moved from a diverse community in the western suburbs of Chicago to an overwhelmingly white community near Buffalo in Western New York. As a minority, this came with some challenges, as I could never really “blend in”. However, this turned out to be a blessing. In my quest to find my place, I started hanging out with people all over the region…the burbs, the hood, and even the country (after one of my good friends moved there). After a while, I started inviting people in all of these places to do whatever it was I was doing wherever that may be. I wasn’t going to exclude my country friends from my hood friends, my hood friends from suburban friends, etc. In these moments, folks were able to put aside their racial/ethnic differences, socioeconomic differences, and perceived stereotypes to connect over the things they had in common. At the end of the day, people want to connect with whoever is around them; they just need the opportunity.
In spite of this ability to connect people, I had trouble connecting when it came time to move back to Chicago in 2010, I mostly kept to myself for the first three years I lived in the city. It wasn’t until I lost some weight and came across some recreational sports leagues that I started to make friends. Most of these leagues were on the North Side of Chicago, where I lived at the time. I later moved to the South Side, back to the North Side, and then finally settled in West Town. Once in West Town, I couldn’t really find any means by which to connect with people in the area, nor could I convince my mostly North Side-based friends to come to my neighborhood for fun, in spite of all the great bars, restaurants, breweries, and other fun that it had to offer. Additionally, it was hard to find events where people could meet outside of the downtown and the North Side. That’s how West Town Social Club was born–I wanted to create opportunities for people in West Town, the West Loop, Wicker Park, Logan Square and other nearby neighborhoods to be able to connect, and for people outside of the area to see what great fun there is to be had west of the Chicago River!
As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?
I’m a former special education teacher who taught in Chicago Public Schools on and off over the course of 11 years. During the “off” times, I spent time living overseas. While living in Melbourne, Australia, I attend a number of events operated by New to Melbourne, where I connected both locals and fellow expats. The gentleman who ran New to Melbourne, Cameron Burns, was absolutely phenomenal, and he put together a wide range of events–he had weekly language exchanges, walking tours, bar crawls, and day trips by bus to see some of the region’s best natural offerings. Additionally, I spent time in Melbourne working in hostels and led a couple of walking tours. These experiences were a huge inspiration for West Town Social Club
West Town Social Club offers a wide range of activities for those who want to connect with new people. These include mixers (such as traffic light parties and singles nights), sports outings, bar crawls, and more! I’m always looking to add more programming to our offerings–I have always wanted to put together day trips out of the city to places that are hard to get to without a car. All of these activities are geared towards helping attendees connect with one another and, hopefully, forming new friendships.
I’ve been mixing things up since I first starting putting events together. There are couple of reasons for this. First, I want to prevent boredom/stagnation. Doing the same things every week, two weeks, or every month isn’t exciting for attendees nor myself. While I do love setting up outings at bars some weeks, it becomes all the same when you’re doing it week in and week out. The second reason is practicality. For example, getting space for a volleyball tournament on a Saturday can be quite the challenge, and trying to put on one of these tournaments on any other day of the week would put West Town Social Club in direct competition with sports organizations, which is not a goal of mine (especially when many people who sign up for these tournaments also play in leagues during the week). Finally, the less frequently each events occurs, the more special it is!
Any insights you can share with us about how you built up your social media presence?
In the second half of 2024, West Town Social Club’s Instagram following more than doubled! I did this by putting out targeted ads with a range shorter than I had previously; some of these were geared towards signing up for specific events, but others were simply geared towards getting people to visit WTSC’s page. I started putting out more reels, and also posting less frequently; I found that posting 3x per week is more effective than posting daily. Further, creating posts that capture what WTSC is about instead of just promoting events helped strengthen the page’s audience.
Where do you think you get most of your clients from?
Eventbrite has been a game-changer! Prior to 2024, I used other outlets for event registration. I spent a lot of time and resources on marketing; I was spending countless hours and money printing and putting up flyers all over Chicago, in addition to social media ads, just to bring people in. Many people who attend West Town Social Club events now simply find these events on Eventbrite, and I can minimize the amount of flyers I put up; this also allows me to minimize WTSC’s environmental impact.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://linktr.ee/westtownsocialclub
- Instagram: @westtownsocialclub
- Facebook: https://facebook.com/westtownsocialclub
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/91316869/admin/dashboard/
