Organizers

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oups.... my email subject should have said volunteers rather than organizers

by Emily Addison

Sorry about that! Emily

5 years, 1 month

Chiming in from Ottawa regarding organizer recognition/compensation

by Emily Addison

Hi from Ottawa, I'm chiming in a bit late but thought I'd share some ideas from our local contra dance. We're a pretty big dance (attendance approx. 100-110 per evening). We let the following people in for free: -Floor manager (overseeing the whole night) -Sound volunteer (helps our sound man with set up and tear down) -One other volunteer that helps with set up and tear down. All other volunteers pay for entry. This includes: -All board/committee members -Volunteer responsible for snacks -Volunteers who welcome/help make sure shoes are clean (issue at our hall) -Door/entry volunteers (2 people from 7-8pm, 2 people for dances 1-2, 2 people for dances 3-4, 2 people for dances 5-6) -Others who help with tear down We recognize volunteers in a few ways: -Announcements from the mic -One free dance with local talent in May at the end of our season. Others can attend but they pay. Special snacks. I think there's so many other cool ways that volunteers could be recognized too... -website -thank yous in eblasts, maybe the odd feature of a volunteer Emily in Ottawa

5 years, 1 month

Global Terminology / Positional Calling with Brooke Friendly

by Brooke Friendly

Hi all, This Tuesday, July 21, the Historical Tea and Dance Society will present a special themed night on Global Terminology / Positional Calling with me (Brooke Friendly). 6pm PT / 9pm ET This is part of their 5 Things webinar series. It's free Here is a LINK TO REGISTER: https://forms.gle/Yz2wUK2yTZ8H4UBy8 Hope to see some of you there, Brooke

5 years, 2 months

Re: Volunteers

by David Kirchner

At Tapestry Folkdance Center in Minneapolis, we actually came to the conclusion some years back that we were OVERcompensating our volunteers. We were handing out free passes right and left, sometimes for pretty minimal effort, and one of our board members did an analysis that persuaded all of us that it was affecting income. We especially noted that large numbers of free passes were used when high-profile performers appeared, which cut into their income (because they got a straight percentage of the door). We put a reform into place when I was on the board. We stopped giving members a bunch of free passes with membership. For contra, if the volunteer effort allows one to dance (i.e. end-of-the-night cleanup), you get into the dance for free but don't get anything on top of that. If the volunteer effort significantly prevents you from dancing a large chunk of the dance (admissions, sound), you get a free pass for another time. Committee work doesn't get you any passes. Callers and musicians are considered paid performers and not volunteers, and get no passes. Our other programs also shifted along similar lines, but were modified to fit their circumstances. Our family dance, for example, has always operated on a shoestring budget and does not compensate volunteers at all -- and we initially paid performers so little it was basically volunteering. But by last year, we had developed a solid enough following that we were able to increase performer rates. Yay! David

5 years, 2 months

Volunteers

by Sarah Lee

We tried giving our regular volunteers-programmers and dance managers “golden ticket” passes to get in free to all of our dances for the year. Anyone who volunteered 4+ hours/month. They were given out at our New Year’s dance and the volunteers were thanked then. They were very grateful. The program lasted 3 years. I would have liked it to continue. Sarah(a)nbcds.org Sonoma/Marin/Napa Counties > > > > >

5 years, 2 months

Re: how does your dance do volunteers

by John and/or Jan Bloom

We pay musicians and callers a fairly small amount. (Our large "band" band plays for free.) Our sound techs, hall manager, kitchen manager, and door manager get in free (save $6). John in Houston

5 years, 2 months

How does your dance do volunteers?

by Karey Bacon

Hi Organizers, We in Philadelphia are working through some dissatisfaction with how we compensate our volunteers. We have the question on the table of compensation vs. recognition. We are a little bit stuck, so I'm looking for other ideas to get us out of our stuckness, to see if there's something that's working really well. A core issue with the dissatisfaction is a feeling that callers are valued more than other kinds of less-public but still-essential volunteers. I'm looking forward to hearing how it works in your communities. (Or if this has been covered before ad nauseam, please feel free to reach out to me off-list and tell me how to search the archives, thanks.) Thanks, *Karey Bacon* she/her/hers *267-437-5641*

5 years, 2 months

Upcoming CDSS web chat: Let's Talk About Reentry

by Emily Addison

Hi fellow Shared Weight organizers. I think some of you might be interested in CDSS's next web chat .. all details below! Thanks, Emily Addison Writing from Ottawa Ontario --------------------------------------------------------------------- Let’s Talk About Reentry: Recommendations and Q&A for Organizers Wednesday, July 8, 7:30-9:00 p.m. EDT Don’t miss this pivotal Web Chat! We’ll address the BIG questions on organizers’ minds: How can we keep our communities safe in a pandemic? When can we dance and sing in the same place again? What does it mean to be a dance/music/song organizer when we can’t be together? We’ll be joined by several guests providing their perspectives, including a dancing MD, a COVID contact tracer, and music, dance, and song organizers from far and wide. After hearing from these folks, we’ll open it up for questions, comments, and discussion with participants. And we’ll be ready with breakout rooms for smaller chats among organizers of like traditions. REGISTER online by July 6. https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZMvceirrj8vG93vJNlBhHT5YtVTc3aESU… Soon after you register, you’ll receive a confirmation email from Zoom with your personal link for joining the Web Chat. To keep track of this info, w e recommend saving the email and/or creating a calendar event. Please spread the word about this crucial Web Chat! Questions? Contact resources(a)cdss.org.

5 years, 2 months

Booking callers for the fall?

by Seth Seeger

Hello organizers, I’m curious to hear if you are starting to book callers for your fall and winter dances… Are you booking in hopes that COVID-19 has somehow been resolved? Are you waiting longer? It seems to me that it is going to be a while before we can safely have contra dances, given the close proximity to every one and the heavy breathing. Do we have to wait for a vaccine? Thanks for your input… Seth Fiddlers Green Contra Dance, Amherst, MA

5 years, 3 months

Facebook join requests

by bobfab＠aol.com

Hi organizers. The Rochester NY Contra Dancers FB page is getting a few join requests per week from people in other countries, from accounts that have very recently been created and have only a very few, if any, friends or other groups joined. We are leery of trolls who intend to disrupt the group, and have been rejecting them. I was wondering if other group pages are receiving similar requests, and what they have done about it. Thanks, Bob Fabinski

5 years, 3 months

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Organizers