[Organizers] Building Contra

Greg Allan via Organizers organizers at lists.sharedweight.net
Mon May 16 11:35:58 PDT 2016


Hi,

I'm a fairly new organizer in Winnipeg Manitoba. There are some folk
dancing groups here, such as international and English, who are familiar
with contra dancing, and they have been the bulk of my attendees for the
two dances I put on this season. I also do all the calling and hire/play in
the band. It's certainly not a one man show, as I have had lots of help,
from volunteering, to spreading the word about events, and great teachers
along the way, but I AM the only person in the city promoting contra
dancing to such an extent, or putting on contra-only events.

I have come up with a few ideas that are helping to build the contra dance
community in this city:

1. I offer my services to other organizations as a dance fundraiser. I have
put on a very successful fundraiser for a friend of mine doing missions
work. You simply approach an organization, like a church or other community
group, and offer to do a fundraiser for them. They do most of the legwork,
like renting a hall, advertising the event, getting volunteers, and
handling the money. I prepare (or arrange for someone else to do) the
calling and the music. Viola. In this way, you're able to mix the group of
people wanting to support the fundraising organization and the group of
people who already like contra dancing and just want to have a good time,
even if it means paying a little extra. Be aware: you typically get a very
unexperienced crowd, and should program accordingly. Two other
organizations have agreed to do this, which are set to happen in the fall.

2. Get in touch with other dancing groups and offer to do a "themed"
week/month, where they take a small amount of time out of their regular
schedule in order to try something new. Again, music of some kind must be
provided, and calling. I have done this with the English dancers, and I
volunteer teach at the international group, always contras. Other groups,
like Scottish, or sqaure dancing, might be interested.

3. Other ideas might be to host a special dance in a public location, like
a busy park or a university center, to get some exposure and get people
talking and asking questions.  Generally, a younger crowd is more likely to
attract more younger folk, but do keep it all ages and family friendly, as
well. Get creative with your advertising. I'm not a social media buff, but
making artistic handbills that make people wonder and intrigue them is a
good technique. Host an event, like a typical house party, and make sure
there's dancing and folk music, just to give people exposure. And of
course, you must always put on a good show so as to not leave a bad taste
in people's mouths. You want them waiting in anticipation for the next one.

All in all, if you want to build, you have to reach out - in order to take
in more people in, you have to give of yourself. Don't forget to let us
know what's happening and how things are working out for you :) I'll do the
same.

Greg

On Mon, May 16, 2016 at 8:10 AM, via Organizers <
organizers at lists.sharedweight.net> wrote:

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> Today's Topics:
>
>    1. Re: Admission Table "Cash Register"?
>       (Claire Takemori via Organizers)
>    2. building contra dance (Claire Takemori via Organizers)
>    3. Re: Admission Table "Cash Register"? (Dan Pearl via Organizers)
>    4. Re: building contra dance (Paul Pindris via Organizers)
>
>
> ----------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> Message: 1
> Date: Sun, 15 May 2016 14:01:09 -0700
> From: Claire Takemori via Organizers
>         <organizers at lists.sharedweight.net>
> To: organizers at lists.sharedweight.net
> Subject: Re: [Organizers] Admission Table "Cash Register"?
> Message-ID: <64AEC47F-7B5B-465A-A120-FA82C0A2FCD6 at mac.com>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii
>
> Hi Don,
>
> What the Bay Area Country Dance Society uses is a sign-in sheet for
> insurance purposes.  Each person signs in and checks the column if they are
> a BACSD member, not, or a student.  No mark hopefully indicates a student
> or under-income donation.  This ideally gives us a head count as well as
> indication of how many member, public, student rates were paid.  No current
> way to track donation amounts.
>
>
> Claire (Campbell CA)
>
>
> Message: 1
> Date: Sun, 15 May 2016 15:36:47 -0400
> From: Don Veino via Organizers <organizers at lists.sharedweight.net>
> To: Lou Echeandia <lecheandia at aol.com>
> Cc: A list for dance organizers <organizers at sharedweight.net>
> Subject: Re: [Organizers] Admission Table "Cash Register"?
> Message-ID:
>         <CAAJTtiKNd99_MOK6S8=vPKN6ybqm6F-rAp_4Y=
> B+8gixkDYeUg at mail.gmail.com>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="utf-8"
>
> Thanks Lou, I like your gizmo!
>
> We have a somewhat similar approach built into our accounting sheet (see
> link below).
>
> One side is for the door sitter's use and includes a tally area where they
> make hash marks for attendance by type and record the various amounts
> including the final cash box content at the end of their shift.
>
> The back side is our committee accounting and talent, etc. payment records.
> Each data element labeled with a [XX] code in bold on that sheet gets
> entered into a google form -> spreadsheet for long term tracking and I've
> built some basic error checking in there.
>
> In my experience, the need to manually record the attendance is sometimes
> forgot (particularly at the influx peak), resulting in deviation between
> the counts and the final revenue. I usually end up back-calculating
> attendance figures as a result.
>
> Thanks again for sharing your approach!
> -Don
>
> Our accounting sheet is maintained at
> http://mondaycontras.com/media/MonCon_Accounting.pdf
>
> On Sun, May 15, 2016 at 2:17 PM, Lou Echeandia <lecheandia at aol.com> wrote:
>
> > Hi, Don,
> >
> > Our dance organization has chosen a low tech solution that seems to have
> > worked well.  We put together a cash box and four tally counters (shown
> in
> > the photo) that yields statistics for correct count for attendance as
> well
> > as a means for determining correct attendance recieipts - or at least an
> > means of determining error.  The associated Dance Cash and Tally Box
> Record
> > sheet provides a record and means of attaching any receipts for expenses
> > that might have been necessary for the event, as well as the receipt for
> > the cash deposit at the bank.
> >
> > Hope that is useful,
> >
> > Lou Echeandia
> > Treasurer,
> > Oakland County Traditional Dance Society  (OCTDS)
> >
> >
> > -----Original Message-----
> > From: Don Veino via Organizers <organizers at lists.sharedweight.net>
> > To: A list for dance organizers <organizers at sharedweight.net>
> > Sent: Sat, May 14, 2016 8:46 pm
> > Subject: [Organizers] Admission Table "Cash Register"?
> >
> > Hey all,
> >
> > Do any of you have/use a program for your door sitters which acts as a
> > cash register?
> >
> > I've done some research to find a suitable simple program or app and have
> > not found one yet. Most of the truly simple ones are targeted at
> > restaurants/bars. There are some ticketing applications but they're aimed
> > at theatres, etc. and nothing inexpensive at all.
> >
> > Need to keep it super simple for the door sitters and am hoping to use a
> > touch screen Android tablet as the interface. Would love to greatly speed
> > up the tally and cash box/accounting process for the night, improve
> > accuracy and potentially create single use volunteer passes on the spot.
> >
> > I've started hacking up something on my own but before I spend too much
> > time there I thought I'd ask what others have done.
> >
> > -Don
> > _______________________________________________
>
>
>
> ------------------------------
>
> Message: 2
> Date: Sun, 15 May 2016 14:05:34 -0700
> From: Claire Takemori via Organizers
>         <organizers at lists.sharedweight.net>
> To: organizers at lists.sharedweight.net
> Subject: [Organizers] building contra dance
> Message-ID: <EFC9D035-E973-48F0-84EA-F43FE8DF5B5A at mac.com>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=utf-8
>
> Hi everyone,
>
> I just joined the list.  I?m a new programmer (I book band, caller, sound)
> for South Bay Contra in the Bay Area, CA.  I?m also helping lead the team
> of volunteers that manage the dance.
>
> We are trying to turn our dance into a sustainable one, as the past was
> often only about 20 dancers and it was not making ends meet.
>
> If you have ideas on how to bring new dancers, get advertising at
> colleges/schools,  create a dance that is welcoming and safe, I?d love to
> hear them!
>
> I?m also interested in what signs & policies you have for your dance for
> dancer safety (Creepers, unfriendly comments, etc)
>
> Thank you!   Looking forward to learning from your experiences!
>
> Claire Takemori (Campbell CA)
>
> ------------------------------
>
> Message: 3
> Date: Sun, 15 May 2016 21:54:08 +0000 (UTC)
> From: Dan Pearl via Organizers <organizers at lists.sharedweight.net>
> To: "organizers at lists.sharedweight.net"
>         <organizers at lists.sharedweight.net>
> Subject: Re: [Organizers] Admission Table "Cash Register"?
> Message-ID:
>         <152418869.3059305.1463349248497.JavaMail.yahoo at mail.yahoo.com>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="utf-8"
>
> 1. Unless one has a trained small staff to work the admission table, I
> would recommend going as low-tech as possible.
> 2. If you MUST have a breakdown between different classes
> (member/non-member, adults/kids, etc.) a tally works with reasonable
> accuracy.? If you want more accuracy, consider having TWO people work the
> table (especially if lines tend to build): one to do the cash, the other to
> take the tally.? An alternative would be to use numbered tickets (for a
> drawing during the evening) with different colors for different classes.?
> Just be sure to record the first number at the start of the evening!
> 3. Consider not bothering with the tally.? At the dance I help run, we
> have adult/youth rates and don't bother to take a tally.? We operate on a
> basis of trust with our door-sitters and the mix of adult/youth varies
> during the year in unsurprising ways -- we just don't feel like we need to
> capture that information.
>
> 4. Any system can be compromised by crooked door-sitter.? They can wink at
> their friends and wave them in for no fee.? They could pocket some money
> and not click the tally counter or put a tick-mark on the paper.? Anything!
> In summary, I'd say a) don't collect data unless you need it; and b)
> K.I.S.S !
> Dan
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> Message: 4
> Date: Mon, 16 May 2016 09:10:38 -0400
> From: Paul Pindris via Organizers <organizers at lists.sharedweight.net>
> To: Claire Takemori <cht at mac.com>
> Cc: organizers at lists.sharedweight.net
> Subject: Re: [Organizers] building contra dance
> Message-ID:
>         <
> CAFwDPfjpWD2dac_KwNEZ5fX6GAqrsyj5Fp6YNEVWCr3gXKhKhA at mail.gmail.com>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="utf-8"
>
> Claire, I have attached a brochure I put together for the contra dance in
> Deerfield, NH, for which I took on the responsibility of chief organizer
> this season. I am proud to say that this dance has doubled its attendance
> since last season, from what had been an average of 35 dancers, to now
> consistently drawing 70. I attribute our success to linking our monthly
> dances to meetup groups -- online groups, typically of single people,
> looking for events of all kinds where they can be active and meet others.
> The one issue I had with these particular newcomers was that they were
> unfamiliar with contra dance culture, so that there were some minor
> instances of bothersome behavior which indicated a need for providing basic
> information. I did a bit of investigation online about what other dances
> around the country had in place to address similar concerns, and I also
> polled my experienced dancers about what they considered important to
> include. The end result of my efforts may be a helpful starting point for
> you in what you are hoping to accomplish -- 2 pages, printed back-to-back
> then folded into thirds, which makes for a compact brochure.
>
> Best wishes with your work!
>
> Paul Pindris
>
> On Sun, May 15, 2016 at 5:05 PM, Claire Takemori via Organizers <
> organizers at lists.sharedweight.net> wrote:
>
> > Hi everyone,
> >
> > I just joined the list.  I?m a new programmer (I book band, caller,
> sound)
> > for South Bay Contra in the Bay Area, CA.  I?m also helping lead the team
> > of volunteers that manage the dance.
> >
> > We are trying to turn our dance into a sustainable one, as the past was
> > often only about 20 dancers and it was not making ends meet.
> >
> > If you have ideas on how to bring new dancers, get advertising at
> > colleges/schools,  create a dance that is welcoming and safe, I?d love to
> > hear them!
> >
> > I?m also interested in what signs & policies you have for your dance for
> > dancer safety (Creepers, unfriendly comments, etc)
> >
> > Thank you!   Looking forward to learning from your experiences!
> >
> > Claire Takemori (Campbell CA)
> > _______________________________________________
> > Organizers mailing list
> > Organizers at lists.sharedweight.net
> > http://lists.sharedweight.net/listinfo.cgi/organizers-sharedweight.net
> >
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