Organizers May 2017

organizers@lists.sharedweight.net

1 participants
8 discussions

by Marie-Michèle Fournier via Organizers

Hi all, Both Montreal and Ottawa have seen lower attendance this fall and we got word that it's similar in Brooklyn. Are any other local dances seeing this too? Any idea what might be causing this? Since it happens to both Canadian and American cities I doubt it's the political climate. Thanks, Marie ContraMontreal

7 years

Catapult: One-stop shop for the next big thing

by Rob Harper via Organizers

Catapult showcases up and coming, festival-ready bands and callers from around the country. It is built to provide them a stage. And to provide organizers like you a dance floor to check out the future wave of contra dance talent. In one place. At one time. Come to Atlanta to see 6 bands and 6 callers thrill you on the contra dance floor and wow you with their other talents across 24 hours of workshops. You may have never heard them, but you will. Join us over Memorial Day Weekend (May 26-29) to try them on for size and take one (or more) home for your local festivals and tours. Registration and all the details at www.catapultshowcase.com. ciao, rah -- Rob Harper thatrobharper(a)gmail.com (404) 307-3444

7 years, 7 months

Ottawa contra - newcomer handout and stickers

by Emily Addison via Organizers

Hi fellow shared weight members, Sharing a bit of information on two new initiatives we're trying at Ottawa Contra to retain newcomers/convert them to regulars. (This is a big focus for us right now.) *Newcomer handout:* A few months ago on the listserve, I mentioned that Ottawa Contra was working on a newcomer flyer... I finally have a PDF copy to share! This has been in the works for over a year so it's great to have it done and out in our community. Just as a bit of background, our goal wasn't to replace all the community support from the reular dancers, messaging from the caller and organizer (announcements etc)... instead our goal was to have a handout that would provide that bit more of encouragement and information that might bring back the brand new folks and get them to stick with it. We aren't trying to teach newcomers what contra dancing is (moves etc) but about how to become part of the community, that it's worthwhile to stick with it, etc. We hand the newcomer handout at the door along with the second dance free card. In particular, I wanted to thank Luke Donforth.... our committee referred to docs from lots of other communities and we got input from a fair number of callers. However, Luke did an amazing job at editing the messaging in the handout... better than our whole committee all combined! The handout's only been out for two dances so hard to tell what people think quite yet but we're happy. *Newcomer stickers:* This are going over VERY well. We have smiley stickers about an inch wide - different colours for folks to choose from. They can add this to their sticky name tag (have a little note to this effect on the name tag table). We have also started doing a short announcement at the very start of the dance welcoming everyone with special messaging especially for the newcomers. As part of that, we tell newcomers about the smiley stickers and that if they want to self-identify, experienced folks will particularly look for them. Our experienced folks already look for beginners but this way, the newcomers are VERY easy to spot and the stickers remind experienced folks in a fun way. And some beginners seem to feel more confident self-identifying while others don't need to use the stickers if they don't want. It's been a real win for beginners and experienced folks, adding to the welcoming environment. Always keen to hear more ideas about welcoming and including newcomers!!! :) Emily

7 years, 7 months

Setting Up Accounts in Quickbooks

by Rich Dempsey via Organizers

Following a pointer from the minutes of the second *Puttin'* *on the Dance* conference, we have registered with TechSoup and are about to take advantage of their discount pricing for Quickbooks. We will be configuring it to support financial reporting for two weekly dance series and two special events with more complex expenses than the weekly series. In addition, we'll want to ensure it will easily report categories for IRS Form 990 filings which will also go to CDSS as needed to continue under their group not-for-profit status. Can anyone provide advice, tips, and/or pointers to good information that will help us set up Quickbooks right the first time? (or at least closer to "right" than we might have done naively. :-) ) Thanks! Rich Dempsey Country Dancers of Rochester

7 years, 7 months

Re: [Organizers] Organizers Digest, Vol 31, Issue 4

by Emily Addison via Organizers

Sorry that I've been slow on replying since my initial post. Consumed with family commitments. I've been catching up on what people have said and sounds like not much success. As per the question as to what boosting is - it's paying facebook money to feature your event/post. Here is some info: https://www.facebook.com/business/help/547448218658012 We haven't tried it for our local contra dance. It was my local community association that has done it twice for our events this spring. One was a spring cleanup where we usually get 40 people and we got 70... our biggest attendance ever. We don't think anything was different from what we've done other years (or weather) but maybe our memory is off. The thing with our community association is that the ad specifically targeted people within 1km to capture our neighbourhood only.... paid $10 for that one. This would be harder with a contra dance as you'd want to target your audience in a different way. (Supposedly there are various choices for targeting audiences but I haven't done it). Here is a comparison of five of our posts Post /// # of Post Clicks /// # of REactions, comments & Shares 1 / 42 / 11 2 / 7 / 0 3 / 132 / 78 THIS WAS THE BOOSTED ONE 4 / 6 / 0 5 / 14 /5 As you can see, the boosted one seemingly got a lot more attention. I have heard that the numbers can be off because of fake facebook accounts but given my limited knowledge, it's been really effective for my community association. Maybe we'll give it a try at Ottawa Contra and can report back. Anyway, good to know others haven't yet found it effective. And yes... .... so many other ways to reach out to new folks. Just checking out options! Emily in Ottawa > Message: 1 > Date: Fri, 5 May 2017 15:13:55 -0400 > From: Don Veino via Organizers <organizers(a)lists.sharedweight.net> > To: "organizers(a)lists.sharedweight.net" > <organizers(a)lists.sharedweight.net> > Subject: Re: [Organizers] Facebook boosts > Message-ID: > <CAAJTti+x8xLC9mXgxKQcnqVcMwtTNy-z_urj- > b8JEqm-9NKQUg(a)mail.gmail.com> > Content-Type: text/plain; charset="utf-8" > > I've tried FB boosting/Ads a few times for events locally. In summary, we > saw no return on the effort. And I do mean effort, as it is a relative > chore to set up the "boost" campaign (target audience, customized graphics > and copy, etc.) - at least the first time around. > > In my opinion, they have a pretty good scheme going - for FB. Their initial > estimated exposure never materialized with the actual campaign yet the > funds disappeared just the same. Their reports demonstrating "success" > (views/placements) I found to be very vague. Over a span of three > "campaigns", the only related post "likes" we got were from people well > outside our targeted audience and geography (e.g.: people in India don't > fit within 50 miles of Concord, MA). Follow up with new faces at the events > found no one sourced from the FB ads. > > We got better results from the local free toss-away "Action Unlimited" > weekly rag, via their free community events articles. I've found Craigslist > event listings have also worked - again for free. > > -Don >

7 years, 7 months

Facebook boosts

by Patti Maxwell via Organizers

Hi ~ I am the organizer for Seacoast Contra in Newfields New Hampshire. We are a small-town group with a big heart :) I've boosted our dance with Facebook approximately 3 times. The budget I set was very low, as we're on a very tight budget ($15) We've polled new people how they found us...and we received no response from a Facebook ad. Most found us multiple ways, including signs we place near our dance a week before and a sandwich board outside the dance, referral from friends, posting on our FB page, email list and Meetup posts to multiple groups. Multi-faceted means of advertising our group has made it a viable dance. We just celebrated our one year Contraversary. Our group has grown steadily. I do think there is value in boosting our group....it gets us noticed, and planting that seed is essential. I think that a bigger budget for a larger group would be a great way to get noticed and bring in new dancers It just can't be the only way. Patti ~~~~~ Patti Maxwell Seacoast Contra at Newfields, NH Our website: www.seacoastcontra.com Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/SeacoastContra/

7 years, 7 months

Re: [Organizers] Facebook boost

by Claire T via Organizers

I paid to boost a family dance at a free folk festival that I was calling. The only hits were from possible pedophiles..... really creepy appearing guys with only young cute girls as friends. So it does not help to boost kid activities. Claire Takemori SF Bay Area CA. Sent from my iPhone On May 5, 2017, at 8:17 AM, via Organizers <organizers(a)lists.sharedweight.net> wrote: Send Organizers mailing list submissions to organizers(a)lists.sharedweight.net To subscribe or unsubscribe via the World Wide Web, visit http://lists.sharedweight.net/listinfo.cgi/organizers-sharedweight.net or, via email, send a message with subject or body 'help' to organizers-request(a)lists.sharedweight.net You can reach the person managing the list at organizers-owner(a)lists.sharedweight.net When replying, please edit your Subject line so it is more specific than "Re: Contents of Organizers digest..." Today's Topics: 1. Re: Facebook boosts (Alexandra Deis-Lauby via Organizers) 2. Re: Facebook boosts (Laur via Organizers) 3. Facebook boosts (Patti Maxwell via Organizers) ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Message: 1 Date: Thu, 4 May 2017 16:13:42 -0400 From: Alexandra Deis-Lauby via Organizers <organizers(a)lists.sharedweight.net> To: carol.geisler(a)nyu.edu Cc: Emily Addison <emilyladdison(a)gmail.com>, Shared Weight Organizers <organizers(a)sharedweight.net> Subject: Re: [Organizers] Facebook boosts Message-ID: <690C807D-5F60-4050-94EF-84838FD1936C(a)gmail.com> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" Boosting is when you pay Facebook to promote your event. Emily, can you clarify. Ottawa did try it and it worked? or a different local dance of yours tried it and it worked? Or none of the above? Sent from my iPhone > On May 4, 2017, at 1:30 PM, Carol Geisler via Organizers <organizers(a)lists.sharedweight.net> wrote: > > What is "boosting"? > >> On Thu, May 4, 2017 at 1:16 PM, Emily Addison via Organizers <organizers(a)lists.sharedweight.net> wrote: >> Hi Fellow Organizers, >> >> I was wondering if any of you have had boosted facebook events for your dances??? >> >> My local community association has done it twice this spring and we've seen significant pick up in our events. Given, we've got a very defined geographical area for our neighbourhood! >> >> Ottawa Contra is now thinking about trying boosting for a few dances but we're curious --- any success elsewhere??? >> >> :) Emily in Ottawa >> >> _______________________________________________ >> Organizers mailing list >> Organizers(a)lists.sharedweight.net >> http://lists.sharedweight.net/listinfo.cgi/organizers-sharedweight.net >> > > _______________________________________________ > Organizers mailing list > Organizers(a)lists.sharedweight.net > http://lists.sharedweight.net/listinfo.cgi/organizers-sharedweight.net

7 years, 7 months

Facebook boosts

by Emily Addison via Organizers

Hi Fellow Organizers, I was wondering if any of you have had boosted facebook events for your dances??? My local community association has done it twice this spring and we've seen significant pick up in our events. Given, we've got a very defined geographical area for our neighbourhood! Ottawa Contra is now thinking about trying boosting for a few dances but we're curious --- any success elsewhere??? :) Emily in Ottawa

7 years, 7 months

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Organizers May 2017