Re: [Callers] Recruiting new dancers

Message: 1 Date: Thu, 29 Apr 2010 12:47:43 -0500 From: Luke Donev <luke.donev(a)gmail.com> To: "Caller's discussion list" <callers(a)sharedweight.net> Subject: [Callers] Recruiting new dancers Message-ID: <o2p243d1eda1004291047if0260372ue7df1db3acba2618(a)mail.gmail.com> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1 The post on walk-throughs for new dancers got me thinking about recruiting new dancers. This straddles dance caller and dance organizer, but I'd like to hear people's responses. I'm curious about people's experiences recruiting new dancers. I've seen several dances that do a lower cost for first time dancers to try to lower the barrier for entry. Has any group tried doing a coupon for a discount when they come back a second time? I feel like the venues for dances are usually such that folks don't randomly wander in. If folks show up for a first time, they've decided to come (or were brought). Does knowing there is a discount for first timers help make them come? When there is a discount, how often do the first timers know that coming in? I'm pondering the scenario where you charge full price for the first time, when they've committed to coming out, and then give them a coupon to come back at a discount price their second time. I know a lot of people who tried contra once and were hooked, and I've seen people who try for a little bit and then never come back. Is it worth trying to up the likelihood of a second experience, at what fractional cost for the first? Or should the focus be on that first experience, and making the barriers for entry as low as possible? If a group has the resources, then it can just say that the first two dances are cheaper, but I feel like giving someone a reminder, business card sized, with the website to check for more information, is a nice way of having them think about the dance at least once more. Do callers doing one night gigs announce local dance options if they know them? Or do you only talk about it with the folks who come up and ask? Presumably if a caller has been brought in, the organizer of the party knows the folks at the party and the local dance scene. Is it on the caller or the organizer to spread information about other chances to dance? And do you broadcast wide, or focus on the folks who seem really in to it. I think culturally, at a societal level, we've lost the sense that we can dance after our 20s at things besides weddings, which is a real shame. -- Luke Donev http://www.lukedonev.com Luke.Donev(a)gmail.com