I'm just home from the awesome dance organizer's conference that just took
place in White River Junction, VT.
My mind is buzzing and I want to share some of my thoughts.
First, I feel so validated in my choice to invest lots of time and energy
into our local dances. Giving people the opportunity to experience
community in the context of social dance is a worthwhile and valuable thing
to do. I knew that already, but spending time with 80 other organizers
helped me to see this again, with new eyes.
Second, I'm energized about our dances, and about broadening the team that
manages the events. I see clearly that being able to help with the dance is
a privilege and an honor. I can feel good about tapping a regular on the
shoulder and saying, "would you like to be part of the team that puts this
dance on"?
I'm so happy that we already have this venue of Shared Weight - Organizers.
Let's keep the energy and support that we had this weekend flowing.
Thanks to CDSS, NEFFA, DEFFA, New England Dancing Masters, MFS, and the
hard work of Chrissy Fowler, Delia Clark, Linda Henry and Mary Wesley.
--
<http://r20.rs6.net/tn.jsp?et=1103582272438&s=522&e=001yMXrq9ir0gBX7ESCD5f3q…>
lisa(a)lisasieverts.com
603-762-0235
Great ideas, Dana. I've always loved David Kaynor's flyers, and your work looks great too.
Interesting that there is a difference between logo and a term that I was unfamiliar with, a wordmark. As far as I'm concerned, either one would be fine with me. I just want something that would be recognizable when my "audience" sees the announcement for a dance in a beautiful space.
Paul Rosenberg
Albany, NY
www.homespun.biz
518-482-9255
>
>
> Today's Topics:
>
> 1. Re: Logos or flyer designs (Dana Dwinell-Yardley)
>
>
> ----------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> Message: 1
> Date: Wed, 17 Apr 2013 12:25:05 -0400
> From: Dana Dwinell-Yardley <danadwya(a)gmail.com>
> To: organizers(a)sharedweight.net
> Subject: Re: [Organizers] Logos or flyer designs
> Message-ID:
> <CAM1RjTtL6ZzJzM-xFAFYq6OCpLoCW34FOR46qrfiTMZfE_FYgw(a)mail.gmail.com>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=windows-1252
>
> Hi Paul,
>
> Sounds like a lovely series!
>
> I'm a graphic designer in my non-dance life, and the first thing I would
> recommend you consider is this: do you actually need a logo? Here's a great
> article that talks more about that:
> http://www.mcwade.com/DesignTalk/2011/11/does-this-need-a-logo/.
>
> Perhaps you just need a consistent look to your flyers ? our dance series
> in Montpelier, VT, doesn't have a logo, but has an effective flyer design
> that's been consistent for many years. Our regular dancers could all
> probably pick our flyer out of a table-full of flyers at 50 yards! :)
>
> I don't know if David Kaynor's on this list, but he creates beautiful,
> often hand-lettered flyers for his dances in Greenfield. Very elegant,
> old-fashioned feel that might fit really well with your historic spaces.
>
> I'd also be happy to work with you! I'm not an illustrator, but I do like
> good typography. Send me a private message if you're interested. You can
> see some of the stuff I've done here: http://danadwya.daportfolio.com/.
>
> Good luck with the series!
>
> Dana Dwinell-Yardley
> Montpelier, VT
>
>
> On Wed, Apr 17, 2013 at 12:00 PM, Paul Rosenberg wrote:
>
>>
>> Hi folks,
>>
>> I'm looking for suggestions for clipart, or for someone who is a good
>> graphic designer I could pay to make a design for a new dance series that I
>> am creating.
>>
>> The two series that I organize are family dances and community (easy, all
>> ages welcome, longways, squares, circles) dances.
>>
>> In addition to these series, I am hired for some special events that are
>> open to the public. My email list for of interested dancers is well over
>> 300 subscribers. For a while now, I've had an idea of getting people
>> interested in coming to these "extra dances" that are not part of my
>> regular series. Many of these dances are in beautiful, unique spaces.
>>
>> For example, in 2 weeks we are playing in a hall that is over 100 years
>> old, and very much looking like it probably did in 1900. Lots of nice
>> woodwork, pretty stage, etc. Then, 2 weeks later, we are playing in the
>> "Octagon Barn", built around ten years ago (it's about 100 years newer than
>> the other hall). Gorgeous floor, ceiling, windows, etc. We have some
>> other annual or occasional or one-nighter events like these in all sorts of
>> incredible spaces.
>>
>> So, my idea is to have a series of dances with a name like "Unique Spaces
>> for Delightful Dances" or something like that. Any ideas for a better
>> title?
>>
>> Does anyone have a nice design they can share that we could use as a logo,
>> clipart, or does anyone want to create one that I can use?
>>
>> Paul Rosenberg
>> Albany, NY
>> www.homespun.biz
>> 518-482-9255
>>
>>
>
>
> ------------------------------
>
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>
> End of Organizers Digest, Vol 43, Issue 7
> *****************************************
Hi Paul,
Sounds like a lovely series!
I'm a graphic designer in my non-dance life, and the first thing I would
recommend you consider is this: do you actually need a logo? Here's a great
article that talks more about that:
http://www.mcwade.com/DesignTalk/2011/11/does-this-need-a-logo/.
Perhaps you just need a consistent look to your flyers — our dance series
in Montpelier, VT, doesn't have a logo, but has an effective flyer design
that's been consistent for many years. Our regular dancers could all
probably pick our flyer out of a table-full of flyers at 50 yards! :)
I don't know if David Kaynor's on this list, but he creates beautiful,
often hand-lettered flyers for his dances in Greenfield. Very elegant,
old-fashioned feel that might fit really well with your historic spaces.
I'd also be happy to work with you! I'm not an illustrator, but I do like
good typography. Send me a private message if you're interested. You can
see some of the stuff I've done here: http://danadwya.daportfolio.com/.
Good luck with the series!
Dana Dwinell-Yardley
Montpelier, VT
On Wed, Apr 17, 2013 at 12:00 PM, Paul Rosenberg wrote:
>
> Hi folks,
>
> I'm looking for suggestions for clipart, or for someone who is a good
> graphic designer I could pay to make a design for a new dance series that I
> am creating.
>
> The two series that I organize are family dances and community (easy, all
> ages welcome, longways, squares, circles) dances.
>
> In addition to these series, I am hired for some special events that are
> open to the public. My email list for of interested dancers is well over
> 300 subscribers. For a while now, I've had an idea of getting people
> interested in coming to these "extra dances" that are not part of my
> regular series. Many of these dances are in beautiful, unique spaces.
>
> For example, in 2 weeks we are playing in a hall that is over 100 years
> old, and very much looking like it probably did in 1900. Lots of nice
> woodwork, pretty stage, etc. Then, 2 weeks later, we are playing in the
> "Octagon Barn", built around ten years ago (it's about 100 years newer than
> the other hall). Gorgeous floor, ceiling, windows, etc. We have some
> other annual or occasional or one-nighter events like these in all sorts of
> incredible spaces.
>
> So, my idea is to have a series of dances with a name like "Unique Spaces
> for Delightful Dances" or something like that. Any ideas for a better
> title?
>
> Does anyone have a nice design they can share that we could use as a logo,
> clipart, or does anyone want to create one that I can use?
>
> Paul Rosenberg
> Albany, NY
> www.homespun.biz
> 518-482-9255
>
>
Hi folks,
I'm looking for suggestions for clipart, or for someone who is a good graphic designer I could pay to make a design for a new dance series that I am creating.
The two series that I organize are family dances and community (easy, all ages welcome, longways, squares, circles) dances.
In addition to these series, I am hired for some special events that are open to the public. My email list for of interested dancers is well over 300 subscribers. For a while now, I've had an idea of getting people interested in coming to these "extra dances" that are not part of my regular series. Many of these dances are in beautiful, unique spaces.
For example, in 2 weeks we are playing in a hall that is over 100 years old, and very much looking like it probably did in 1900. Lots of nice woodwork, pretty stage, etc. Then, 2 weeks later, we are playing in the "Octagon Barn", built around ten years ago (it's about 100 years newer than the other hall). Gorgeous floor, ceiling, windows, etc. We have some other annual or occasional or one-nighter events like these in all sorts of incredible spaces.
So, my idea is to have a series of dances with a name like "Unique Spaces for Delightful Dances" or something like that. Any ideas for a better title?
Does anyone have a nice design they can share that we could use as a logo, clipart, or does anyone want to create one that I can use?
Paul Rosenberg
Albany, NY
www.homespun.biz
518-482-9255
Does anyone have any experience with accounting for PayPal donations to
your dance group? We're a registered non-profit, and we recently started
accepting donations over PayPal. Our treasurer has some questions about
how
to account for them, because PayPal takes a fee.
Any help would be appreciated!
Thanks,
Meg (Chicago)
Recognition:
Once a year we celebrate the "birthday" of our monthly series - at our December dance. We always verbally recognize by name a few key/crucial/regular volunteers, make a written poster naming all of the volunteer musicians who played during that year in the All-Comers Band for our community dance portion (70+), usually give some sort of minor but nice tangible appreciation to key/crucial/regular volunteers (and some years committee members) - ranging from chocolate to CDs to gift certificates. To appreciate the 7 years of service of two extremely crucial volunteers, we gave them each a hefty gift certificate to a local business they frequent (yarn/hardware). We also ask for a show of hands of folks who've helped throughout the year with clean-up, set-up, door, etc. (All those things that help keep the dance running happily.) (And we also do this each month, but we just give a big shout-out again in Dec)
Admission question:
Every month, certain key/crucial/regular volunteers do not pay admission to the dance (same goes for committee members) and we don't do anything about any "lost" income for the band/caller. We also give discounts for bringing a fan, or for sitting a dance set at the door. The work these folks do ensures the health of the series, which then benefits the talent via our good guarantee and usually substantial bonus.
Volunteers are crucial to our monthly series. We appreciate them immensely and try to show that.
Chrissy Fowler
Belfast, ME
[This is a topic I brought up a couple weeks ago on the
trad-dance-callers list. Discussion on it there seems to
have died down, so I'm seeing if I can get some more ideas
here.]
I'm wondering what any of you, or other organizers of local
dance series that you know about, do in the way of special
events for volunteer recognition. For example, you might
have an occasional (annual?) volunteer appreciation dance.
Or maybe at some point during a popular event like a series
anniversary dance or holiday ball, a key organizer takes
the mike and publicly distributes small gifts (things like
compact discs, custom mugs, ...) to people who have helped
the dances happen over the past year. Perhaps you do other
things.
Whatever you do, I'd be interested in significant details.
If you have an special event (dance, dinner, ...) is it open
to all or just to volunteers. If participation is limited,
how do you draw the line? How does the funding work? (E.g.,
if volunteers get free admission to the volunteer appreciation
dance, does the organization pitch in to help compensate the
band for lost revenue?) If there's work involved, who does
it? The same volunteers who are ostensibly being honored?
(And is that a problem?) What else should I know?
Of course I realize that there are many ways to show
appreciation to volunteers, not the least of which is by
lots of people pitching in to help, so that, for example,
the person officially responsible for closing the hall on
a given night isn't in there alone for an hour sweeping the
floor, stacking chairs, putting away flyers, and doing all
sorts of other things that would go much faster with a few
more pairs of hands on the job. But my current query is
about the kinds of things organizers might do once a year
or so rather than week to week.
Thanks for any suggestions or experiences you have to share.
Cheers,
--Jim
Hi Dave, Jeff, Jerome, Don, John, & Paul (+ others),
A belated thanks for all of the sound advice! I've been pulled in many
directions the last month so I put the sound equipment research on hold but
I'm getting back to it now. :)
You all brought up some really good points... the noise of the room/band,
multiple handlers of equipment, various options for micing, etc.
The challenge we're facing is that we're a community band that anyone can
join but we're also a group who are wanting to work on arrangements, hear
different voices etc. We're quite new so we may grow to 20+ players but
right now we're around 8 and so we're wanting to really hear the nykelharpa
or quiet fiddler do solo work.
I like the mic'ing some people approach! Our oboe/bombard player doesn't
need a mic, that's for sure. :)
We're also experimenting with seating arrangements and are going for a
tight semi-circle as we don't have monitors for folks. ... ... having a
small sound system to experiment on before we buy is proving helpful.
I'm going to go hunting in that yahoo groups link you sent Dave.
Thanks!
Emily in Ottawa
On Sat, Mar 9, 2013 at 12:00 PM, <organizers-request(a)sharedweight.net>wrote:
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> Today's Topics:
>
> 1. Re: Organizers Digest, Vol 42, Issue 1 (John W Gintell)
>
>
> ----------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> Message: 1
> Date: Fri, 8 Mar 2013 12:09:14 -0500
> From: John W Gintell <john(a)gintell.org>
> To: organizers(a)sharedweight.net
> Subject: Re: [Organizers] Organizers Digest, Vol 42, Issue 1
> Message-ID: <23655727-DC54-4F44-B1AE-B06A01ACB12A(a)gintell.org>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii
>
>
> > Date: Thu, 7 Mar 2013 13:47:24 -0500
> > From: Jeff Kaufman <jeff(a)alum.swarthmore.edu>
> > To: A list for dance organizers <organizers(a)sharedweight.net>
> > Subject: Re: [Organizers] Soundsystem question for community band
> > On Thu, Mar 7, 2013 at 1:20 PM, Emily Addison <emilyladdison(a)gmail.com>
> wrote:
> >> we have tested and would like to purchase a soundsystem
> >> that mic's kind of like a choir (pencil mics etc).
> >
> > A choir has a quiet audience while a dance band has a noisy one. Most
> > singers in a choir are about the same volume (and where they're not
> > that's a problem for the choir director to fix) while some dance
> > instruments are much louder or quieter than others. So while a choir
> > can do well with mics that are far away from the singers ("area mics")
> > that often doesn't work well for dance bands.
> >
> > Approaches I've seen work are, in descending order of difficulty,
> > effort, and expense:
> >
> > 1) Mic no one. Hard on the caller to be loud enough.
> > 2) Mic only the caller.
> > 3) Also mic a couple anchor instruments like piano and fiddle.
> > 4) Also mic some quiet instruments like mandolin or jaw harp.
> > 5) Individual mics for everyone.
> >
> > I think #2 and #3 are a good choice for a lot of situations.
> >
> > Jeff
>
> To me the basic three musts for sound are:
>
> 1) can you hear the caller?
> 2) can you hear the beat and phrases?
> without these dances may fall apart
>
> 3) are the musicians happy?
> happy musicians play better
>
> Thus I recommend 3) or 4) - depending on musician style.
>
> ------------------------------
>
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> End of Organizers Digest, Vol 42, Issue 2
> *****************************************
>
I have a question for organizers who use Facebook to publicize
their dance events: How far in advance of an event do you send
out a Facebook invitation?
Sufficient advance notice can give time for some buzz to build
as people get to see that other people have marked themselves
as "Going" or posted replies. But with too much lead time,
people could decide not to plan that far ahead, and by the time
the event draws nearer they could have forgotten about it. How
much lead time is a good compromise?
The frequency of dances might also be a consideration. Sending
invitations two or three weeks in advance might make more sense
for a monthly dance than for a weekly dance. I'm currently one
of the organizers for a dance that runs on 2nd, 4th, and 5th
Saturdays, so dances are usually two weeks apart but occasionally
only one week apart. A similar situation would apply for a dance
that ran on, say, 1st, 3rd, and 5th Saturdays (or Wednesdays, or
whatever). I know one series that runs on 1st and 3rd Saturdays
and 4th Fridays, so that about once ever seven years they have
consecutive dances on Friday, February 28 and Saturday, March 1.
Dances could also be closer-spaced than usual if a special-date
event is *added* to the calendar (instead of *replacing* a
regularly-scheduled dance). Organizers could want to get timely
word out for whichever event happens second, but not want to
stomp on the earlier one. With a calendar on a regular web page,
you can just list all the events, with as much or little
special emphasis on any particular ones as you choose. But what
do you do about timing the Facebook invitations?
Thanks.
--Jim
