Organizers

organizers@lists.sharedweight.net

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515 discussions

News on many new organizer resources coming out from CDSS!

by Emily Addison

Hello fellow organizers! Instead of writing with my usual Ottawa contra dance volunteer hat on, I'm wearing my CDSS hat as I wanted to share some really exciting announcements that have just come out of CDSS all of which relate to dance organizing. (Note -- the announcements also apply to trad song and music organizers.) If you are willing, please share this info with local organizers in your network who might not be on shared weight. We'd like to let as many people know about these resources as possible and word-of-mouth is so powerful in the trad dance, music, and song world. - *US organizers survey report out now! *CDSS has just released the report outlining the results the US organizers survey conducted this past spring. I'm guessing a few of you participated in that survey... here's the link to the report: https://www.cdss.org/community/us-organizers-survey - *New e-blast for traditional dance music and song organizers: *The goal of this free quarterly e-blast is to support, inspire, and connect organizers. Shared weight already does this so well but this is another avenue of support if you are interested! Check out the first Shop Talk e-blast here: https://conta.cc/2PlKAEr You can sign up to receive the e-blast at the bottom of the first Shop Talk. - *Online Organizer Resources Portal:* This is a very exciting initiative from CDSS that will hopefully add to the set of tools available to us all! The goal of the Portal is to hold as many of the best resources as can be found that will support local traditional dance, music, and song organizers in their planning and decision making. While we do this well within the Shared Weight community, the Portal is more of a permanent location where you can go look for subject-specific resources.... see here for the list of topics: https://www.cdss.org/resources/how-to/organizers-resources#resources-by-top… (Shared Weight is listed as an online resources and soon the Portal will have permanent links to subject searches from Shared Weight.) BTW - As one of the individuals working on the Portal, I know that it will only be as good as the resources it holds. ANNNND I laos know that us local organizers have so many of the best practices and ideas already figured out. So we'll be reaching out from CDSS, asking for organizers to share resources on particular subjects over the next number of months. If you're super excited about the initiative and want to start sharing your local resources now, you can fill out this easy form: https://www.cdss.org/share-your-resource - *CDSS's next online web chat - "Creating a Thriving Open Band": *CDSS held it's first web chat back in June which had to be capped because of the high number of people wanting to register! The next web chat is September 20th and is focused on Creating a Thriving Open Band. More information on the workshop and the registration form is located in the e-blast: https://conta.cc/2PlKAEr Note: I am sending this from my personal email account as I'm yet not connect to shared weight through my CDSS account. However, if you'd like to discuss Shop Talk (the eblast) or the Portal, please email me at emily(a)cdss.org. If you have specific requests or want advice from CDSS, please contact Linda Henry at linda(a)cdss.org. With thanks! Emily Consultant @ CDSS working on organizer supports PS - I will also post this on the musician and caller Shared Weight lists as well as the ECD list as I'm guessing there will likely be interest there as well. Thus, if you're on more than one list, apologies!

6 years, 9 months

Welcome email to new dancers --- following up finally :)

by Emily Addison

Hi All and especially Alex, Jonathan, Dela, Carol and John, Thanks for the comments and apologies for not writing back sooner regarding your comments on my initial post. Too many balls in the air here right now! I've followed up various parts below. Carol - I've included the 'old' and 'new' emails below. They're actually pretty close in content. I think the big difference is that the 'new' email comes from my personal email account (a real human!) and looks like a personal email rather than a 'form' welcome from mailchimp. Alex and John - awesome re your collecting new people's email addresses right at the front door when they arrive. Can I ask... 1. How many new folks do you have coming to your dances each time? 2. What's the percentage of folks who seem uncomfortable (or don't) provide their email addresses. 3. Alex - is it a requirement of getting the second dance free card that they provide their email address? How is that framed? (I'm not 100% positive but I think there are rules in Canada that prevent us for requiring addresses in lieu of a discount of sorts) Jonathan - way high tech re having a tablet right at the dance! Wow! Interesting stats over our last 10yrs of tracking 2nd dance free card returns... on any given year, we get about 22%-40% of cards handed out back. Seems pretty good but if all those folks became regulars we'd be overrun with dancers so we have more work to do on the 'after your second time' part. :) Delia - sounds like a really neat strategy. Unfortunately in Canada, our anti-spam legislation doesn't allow us to approach folks as an organization. But maybe we should be harnessing our regular dancers by creating an email invite that they can send out! Thanks for all this brainstorming. I really appreciate it as we tweak things further here in Ottawa! :) Emily NEW ================ > Hi Barbara, > Thanks so much for joining us at the contra dance this past Saturday. We > hope you had a great time! > > If you would like to share what you especially liked or didn't about your > experience, we always love hearing from new folks as we try to make the > dances as accessible and fun for new people as possible. (If we don't hear > feedback, we won't know what to work on!) > > You provided your email and checked off that you'd like to be added the > main contra dance email list so I'll add you now. We send out one email > a week so just watch for those. > > And here are few links in the meantime: > Our fun facebook group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/ottawacontra/ > Our website: http://www.ottawacontra.ca/view/default.asp?home > I've also attached our beginners handout. > > Our next dance is the last of this season.... it happens June 16th. We > start back up in early September for 2018-2019. > > Welcome to Ottawa Contra and I hope you'll join us on the dance floor > again soon! > > :) Emily > Emily Addison > President - Ottawa Contra/Old Sod Folk Music Society > > > <OCD2017_NewDancerBiFold.pdf> > > OLD through MAIL CHIMP ========================= *Welcome to the Ottawa Contra Dance email list!* Thank you for joining us at one of our recent dances, we hope you had a great time! At your request, we have added you to our e-mail list. We aim to send out just one message a week about upcoming contra dances and related events. *For more information on Ottawa Contra Dances you can..*. - Check out our website: www.ottawacontra.ca - Join our facebook group --- a great place to connect with other local dancers!: https://www.facebook.com/groups/ottawacontra/ - Follow us on twitter: https://twitter.com/ottawacontra If you are totally new to contra dance, a special welcome. While occasional dancers catch on immediately, some dancers take a little while to feel the groove and meet folks. We are a super welcoming group and all of us started from the beginning at one point so we know what it's like! We have created a special guide to help answer common questions you may have, you can pick up a printed copy at the dance, or download our "New to Contra Dancing?" guide <https://gallery.mailchimp.com/22cc49b4bbe8214fcc3352c05/files/16a73c0c-f702…> If you think you may have missed our most recent message and want to look back, check out the list archive <https://us11.admin.mailchimp.com/lists/designer/*%7CARCHIVE%7C*>. If you have any questions or comments, you can email us at outreach(a)ottawacontra.ca. We hope you'll join us again on the dance floor soon. The Old Sod Ottawa Contra organizing committee.

6 years, 11 months

Questions about booking performers for a series

by jim saxe

Hi, folks, I'd like to hear about different people's approaches to booking bands and callers for a dance series. For example: * Do you ask a bunch of bands and callers at once for their availability dates and then try to fill in the schedule based on the combined responses, or do you contact folks sequentially on an "if you're available for date X, you've got it" basis? * How far in advance to you seek to book your talent? Does it vary for different people (callers vs. bands; locals vs. out-of-towners; top-tier locals vs. others; musicians who don't want to commit too far in advance because they might get offered a wedding gig; ...)? * What if a band or caller asks you about some date and you were planning to ask someone else that you'd prefer but might not be able to get? or if you ask about availability of band X and your band contact comes back with something like "No can do, but what about (lower cachet) band Y?" or "... what about most of band X with substitute fiddler TBD?"? * Have you found ways to mix different approaches to booking so as to get "the best of both worlds" instead of the worst? * Are there other questions you think I should have asked and, if so, what are your aswers to them? It would be easy to go on at length about the *potential* plusses and minuses of various ways of doing bookings. What I'd prefer is to hear about *ideas that have worked well in practice* for other organizers. Thanks. --Jim

6 years, 11 months

Welcome email to new dancers -- bit of an exciting success story

by Emily Addison

Hi All, I wanted to report on a new engagement strategy that we've been using in Ottawa these past two months which seems to be working really well and I'm excited about! It's sending a personal email to new people as we add to our email list. (Full disclosure - this is an idea that Alex DL from Country Dance New York mentioned at the dance organizers discussion at the Dance Flurry in 2017. I loved the idea at the time but it took a while to implement.) ===================================================== Before I get onto the idea and implemention ---> a question for the group! Has anyone had success getting email addresses of most BRAND new people who show up at their dance? Right now, we get new dancer email addresses in two ways: 1. They sign up on our email sign up sheet at the front table. 2. They put their email address on the second dance free card AND check off the box saying 'add me to your email list'. (So they actually have to have come back a second time and hand in the filled-in card for us to get their email address.) ... ... ... I'd love to be able to figure out a way to collect the email addresses of more FIRST TIMERS without it seeming creepy. ======================================================== Anyway... here's what I wanted to share on adding new people to our email list. WHAT WE DID BEFORE: We would collect email addresses through one of two ways (see above). We would then go into mailchimp and add those email addresses. The new person would get a form welcome email from us (carefully worded but in mailchimp format). They would have to hit 'confirm' before being added to our email list. WHAT WE DO NOW: I send them a personal email from my personal account (which looks very different than a mailchimp message). I then go into mailchimp and add them but check off that I already have permission to add them to the list. (I also keep a photo record of them giving us permission) WHAT WE ARE NOTICING: - More email addresses are being added because people don't have to do the confirmation stage. (Yes... we do have to keep proof of permission to meet with Canadian email spam laws but the pick up is well worth it). - We are getting a fair number of emails BACK from new dancers with encouraging messages. They express how much fun they are having, offer suggestions and even say they want to volunteer. For instance, I added about 14 people last week and I got 6 responses back, two of whom offered to volunteer! I've included the responses we got last week as inspiration for y'all. It is work to send the personal message and to respond but it's also exciting and is part of building that sense of belonging for those new folks from the start. I've also included a copy of the "personal email" I've been sending out. Would love thoughts or suggestions!!! :) Emily in Ottawa, ON ================================== Hi, we love to take part in your dances. It's a very fun way to exercise and a great cardio workout. People are so friendly and supportive. The only thing that I would suggest is adding a few more fans on the floor (or walls?) Otherwise, everything else is great. Will be back for sure. ======================= Hi, Yes, I did have a great time both times I went. Everyone was so welcoming and I enjoyed the live band and the dancing was great. I have no suggestions re improvements as I felt included in all the dances, even though I was just learning. Have to miss the June 16th dance as I will be in Victoria but plan on enjoying Contra Dancing when it starts up again in the Fall. Thanks for getting in touch. Appreciate the opportunity to provide input. ====================== Thanks! I love how friendly everyone is, how accepting and willing to teach. Everyone has made me feel very welcome, I've been to 3 dances now and will definitely be back. I should have listened to Jane sooner and gone out when she first suggested it to me. If you need another volunteer anytime, let me know, I'm more then willing to help out. ============================= Thank you for your warm welcome! Unfortunately we will be out of town on the weekend of June 16th, but we will look forward to the next season. We have nothing but positive things to say – even though we were new to contra, we felt confident after the excellent instructions plus we enjoyed the happy friendly smiles from everyone, and loved the live music. See you in September. ====================== Thanks for all you do to make and keep contra fun. I love how welcoming people are, the mix of ages and “types” of characters, the non stop smiling. Having zero dance or memorization experience, I would love if the calling continued for the entire dance. Maybe for the first half of each event. Or even if it tapered off starting with the whole first song being called and then one round fewer each song, for example. My fervent wish is to become very comfortable with contra Eventually and to make it as absolute often as I can — and to stay the whole event. (Right now I can only tolerate up to half of an event.) I would be happy to volunteer either with set up or publicity committee etc next season. Let me know how I can help. See you June 16, ===================== Hi XXXX, Thanks so much for joining us at the contra dance this past Saturday. We hope you had a great time! If you would like to share what you especially liked or didn't about your experience, we always love hearing from new folks as we try to make the dances as accessible and fun for new people as possible. (If we don't hear feedback, we won't know what to work on!) You provided your email and checked off that you'd like to be added the main contra dance email list so I'll add you now. We send out one email a week so just watch for those. And here are few links in the meantime: Our fun facebook group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/ottawacontra/ Our website: http://www.ottawacontra.ca/view/default.asp?home I've also attached our beginners handout. Our next dance is the last of this season.... it happens June 16th. We start back up in early September for 2018-2019. Welcome to Ottawa Contra and I hope you'll join us on the dance floor again soon! :) Emily

7 years

mini-beginner contra courses - ideas? ... follow up

by Emily Addison

Hey Folks, Thanks for all the responses on the course idea! I was offline for four days so I'm catching up now... Again - if anyone has done something like this, please let me know. :) Paul -- cool you like the idea! I agree re parks&rec maybe interested... .. turns out that the two city community centres that I've talked to in the last week are both interested. It sounds doable here to get in as part of city programming! Jane -- agreed re home schools. We've tried engaging them before re our family dances but having the older home schoolers engage in this mini-course would be awesome. Great idea thanks! Simon - so true re experienced talent. Great reminder to see what we can do there. :) JD - our 'community talent dances' have been our monthly Tuesday dances where we've been building local callers and musicians (vs our 1st and 3rd Saturday dances were more pro/super experienced talent). Since our community talent dances have been going for 6yrs, some of the callers/musicians have actually built a fair bit of skills and aren't so beginner anymore. Got to rename the Tuesdays :) Merry - don't know about cost... will work with city re that. Re length... trying to keep it roughly in line with their other dance classes. Claire - Way cool idea re 'next steps'. That's kind of how we were rethinking our Tuesdays. Agree re creepy behaviour folks --- got a code of conduct and and etiquette poster for that stuff. Heitzso - couldn't see your text. :) Emily

7 years, 1 month

mini-beginner contra courses - ideas?

by Emily Addison

Hi Folks, Here in Ottawa, we're brainstorming new ideas for attracting brand new people AND keeping more of those folks. We get about 15 new people each dance and we think we're already doing lots to support them (2nd dance free cards, smiley stickers to ID so regular dancers even more supportive than usual, etc)... ... still we don't retain as many of those folks as we'd like. AND since we still haven't fully bounced back from a surprise drop in attendance September 2016, we're trying to get creative. One idea we'd like to try next year is a mini beginners course. Has anyone done this before? Any stories of successes? Tips of things to avoid? Course content? Advertising? etc???? Here's are a few initial thoughts that have been rolling around our heads: - Partner with the city - have it as part of their course offerings. (Or as part of a rec association) - Approx 4-6 weeks long. - Not only about moves but knowing where to be when, transitions, timing, culture, etc. Pros/Cons of doing something like this...??? There are many but here are a few thoughts: - Pro: Despite our community being super welcome (at least we think so), some people are just TOOOOO scared to try something so new/different in a big social setting. This could address those people who have been too scared to come out. - Pro: Some brand new people are ok with the steep learning curve. Others find the intensity of learning so much so fast 'too much'. We could let brand new people know that this is an alternative to learning the ropes. - Pro: Many adults look for new activities through things like mini-courses (e.g., learn how to dance!). We'd be finding a new pocket of folks. - Con: Don't want potential beginners OR regulars feel that beginners need to take a course before they are welcome. (e.g., like MW where have to take a course before welcome at certain dances.. .... this might encourage some experienced dancers who are focused on skill-level to push beginners to 'dance better') - Con: Having a room full of beginners would remove all the supportive help that experienced dancers can provide. (Solution -- have a few volunteer experienced folks come to the course) Another thing we're working on is having our monthly community talent dances be more beginner focused so that should be neat... ... but a little different than a condensed weekly course. Thanks! Emily

7 years, 1 month

Re: [Organizers] mini-beginner contra courses - ideas? (Emily Addison)

by Claire Takemori

Hi Emily! I like the idea and think it maybe helpful to some despite the Cons listed. One thing I am working on at South Bay Contra in the SF Bay Area, is to have a quarterly workshop called “Next Steps”. This happened once so far (the next quarter had a weekend workshop called "Contra College” that is about 30 min away from South Bay and has about 15 newer dancers with some “angels”). I’m hoping to have another for summer and fall. The idea came from Jean Gorrindo in San Luis Obispo CA, who runs a quarterly free workshop followed by pizza then the usual contra dance. She feels it is helping some of the newer dancers. Our session luckily had one to one “angels” helping with newer dancers, with about 20 total. I had a very experienced caller teach the workshop for 80 min before the usual dance, followed by ice cream and snacks. I had a separate band (new young musicians who are eager to play) as the usual band didn’t want to extend the gig to 5 hours. We used a large classroom downstairs of the hall, as it was affordable and available earlier than the main hall. We got the support from our BACDS to pay the band, caller and rent. The snacks were donated. I got only positive feedback from the dancers. I had really great angels (who know how to help silently and model listening to the caller, and dance both roles). The downside was that I offered the workshop for donations to get more attendance (though some would argue that paying for something makes it more valuable to some) and only got $20 from one person. The other thing I would check on is “creepy behavior” in your community. A lot of folks feel they don’t have it, but if you ask some younger dancers you might find that they are uncomfortable with a few dancers’ behaviors. Some of the offenders in our community swing just fine with other experienced dancers, but when they get a young new dancer, they hold too close and are too flirty for a stranger (both lacking consent). I’ve only discovered this by watching known offenders. Then when I see a new dancer looking uncomfortable, I ask them after the dance, and almost always I’ve gotten a reply like “that was horrible and I’m never dancing with him again”. We only just got our code of conduct re-written and lost our Safety committee board rep and our board President, so we’ve got a few folks to address in the community still. I’m not sure, but feel this might have a big impact on having new dancers return. Regards, Claire Takemori Dance Caller & Organizer Campbell CA Message: 1 Date: Sat, 21 Apr 2018 11:22:39 -0500 From: Emily Addison <emilyladdison(a)gmail.com> To: organizers shared weight <organizers(a)lists.sharedweight.net> Subject: [Organizers] mini-beginner contra courses - ideas? Message-ID: <CAD7WKUUd5_y5VepHfmfyvu26icZaUJBuTyye+ejAoKmAFNy+Ww(a)mail.gmail.com> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="utf-8" Hi Folks, Here in Ottawa, we're brainstorming new ideas for attracting brand new people AND keeping more of those folks. We get about 15 new people each dance and we think we're already doing lots to support them (2nd dance free cards, smiley stickers to ID so regular dancers even more supportive than usual, etc)... ... still we don't retain as many of those folks as we'd like. AND since we still haven't fully bounced back from a surprise drop in attendance September 2016, we're trying to get creative. One idea we'd like to try next year is a mini beginners course. Has anyone done this before? Any stories of successes? Tips of things to avoid? Course content? Advertising? etc???? Here's are a few initial thoughts that have been rolling around our heads: - Partner with the city - have it as part of their course offerings. (Or as part of a rec association) - Approx 4-6 weeks long. - Not only about moves but knowing where to be when, transitions, timing, culture, etc. Pros/Cons of doing something like this...??? There are many but here are a few thoughts: - Pro: Despite our community being super welcome (at least we think so), some people are just TOOOOO scared to try something so new/different in a big social setting. This could address those people who have been too scared to come out. - Pro: Some brand new people are ok with the steep learning curve. Others find the intensity of learning so much so fast 'too much'. We could let brand new people know that this is an alternative to learning the ropes. - Pro: Many adults look for new activities through things like mini-courses (e.g., learn how to dance!). We'd be finding a new pocket of folks. - Con: Don't want potential beginners OR regulars feel that beginners need to take a course before they are welcome. (e.g., like MW where have to take a course before welcome at certain dances.. .... this might encourage some experienced dancers who are focused on skill-level to push beginners to 'dance better') - Con: Having a room full of beginners would remove all the supportive help that experienced dancers can provide. (Solution -- have a few volunteer experienced folks come to the course) Another thing we're working on is having our monthly community talent dances be more beginner focused so that should be neat... ... but a little different than a condensed weekly course. Thanks! Emily

7 years, 1 month

mini-beginner contra courses - ideas?

by Jane Ewing

Emily - I suggest you discover all the home schoolers in your area and issue an invitation to them. There are usually associations listed on the net if you do not know anyone who is active in a group. Jane Ewing Grant, AL

7 years, 1 month

Ideas/resources on the benefits of contra (and generally trad social dance)

by Emily Addison

Hi fellow shared weight organizers :) I hope you're doing pretty well. It's snowing here in Ottawa but the red-wing blackbirds showed up in our yard this morning for the first time so spring is pushing through! I was wondering if any of you have resources that provide information on benefits of contra dance (or trad social dance generally). This could be as simple as your list of benefits, it could be newspaper articles, videos, scientific studies... or other! Why? It's interesting generally I thought we might all enjoy as tools for advocacy. However, the question initially came up for me as I am working on letter to our Finance Minister in Canada about some issues around non-profit taxing ($50,000 income we have to charge tax.... ugh... it's turned out to be quite difficult for our organizer which is all voolunteer run and already cash strapped.) Anyway --- would love to hear your ideas!!! :) :) :) I've also posted this question on the FB Organizers of contra dance group. So if you're on both, you'll likely see it there too. Thanks so much! Emily Addison in Ottawa

7 years, 3 months

CDSS news - US organizers survey + new organizers e-blast starting up

by Emily Addison

Hi fellow shared weight organizers, Some of you may have heard about this but I wanted to share some exciting organizer information from CDSS. *Please share it with other organizers in your area! *This information is for ANY traditional dance, music or song organizers (e.g., contra dance; old time jam sessions; scandinavian dance; trad song circles; etc). *SURVEY of TRADITIONAL DANCE, MUSIC and SONG ORGANIZERS in the US:* CDSS wants to hear from you in order to inform their work in supporting local organizers throughout the US! What you are organizing? What challenges do you face? What support/connections would help you in the work you do? CDSS recently conducted a study of Canadian organizers (article here <https://www.cdss.org/images/newsletter_archives/columns/CDSS_News_Spring_20…>) and has taken the findings to further improve their support of local organizers. The US survey available until April 13th: https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/DCSRMZG Note that multiple individuals from the same organization can fill out the survey. Please share widely with organizers in many traditions! *NEW CDSS E-MAIL BLASTS for ORGANIZERS* CDSS has just launched a new organizer email newsletter to support local organizers of traditional dance music and song. The e-news will be emailed out four times a year. Expect notifications about new resources, upcoming training opportunities, inspiring success stories and more. To join the email list, click here: https://visitor.r20.constantcontact.com/manage/optin?v=001l2jBILRzRVh_qG9X8… Again - please spread widely! Emily Addison CDSS Canadian Initiative+

7 years, 3 months

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