Organizers

organizers@lists.sharedweight.net

18 participants
499 discussions

by Don Veino via Organizers

I'd sent this earlier but didn't see it in the archive - realize now I didn't copy the list. -Don ---------- Forwarded message ---------- From: Don Veino <redacted> Date: Mon, Aug 14, 2017 at 12:43 PM Subject: Re: [Organizers] Liability insurance To: John W Gintell <redacted> Included in NFO membership at very reasonable rate. http://www.nfo-usa.org/ insurance.htm On Aug 14, 2017 12:38 PM, "John W Gintell via Organizers" <organizers@lists. sharedweight.net> wrote: > I am wondering whether most dance series have liability insurance - > particularly small ones. > > Insurance for a dance series from CDSS costs $450, $550, … depending on > the number of dances plus $85 membership fee every year. I suspect other > sources would be more expensive. For a small dance with few financial > reserves, the extra fees each year could easily drive it to extinction. > > I know that sone venues require that the group has insurance, but not all > do. > > What is the risk of not having it? Any recent incidents in the past few > years? > > I’d think possible suits could be from dancers or musicians/callers who > got injured or thought they were treated badly, venues where there was > damage to the site. > > What about ASCAP copy infringement suits? Have there been any of these? > > Anything else? > > John > _______________________________________________ > Organizers mailing list > Organizers(a)lists.sharedweight.net > http://lists.sharedweight.net/listinfo.cgi/organizers-sharedweight.net >

7 years, 4 months

Re: [Organizers] Liability insurance

by Richard Mathews via Organizers

Our dance in Gainesville, FL had CDSS insurance - but I'm honestly not sure how much it helps if it were to come to someone trying to make a claim to cover an injury. Best I can tell, the CDSS insurance only kicks in *after* the organization or individuals have been sued & found liable (or otherwise found liable). From what I can tell about that process, the attorney's fees alone would be enough to put a massive hurt on any dance organization (and most individuals, if they were sued in their capacity as 'dance organizers'). The specific language from the CDSS website is, "This is a general commercial liability policy. It is not accident insurance. Liability insurance is for when you are sued, and negligence of some sort on the part of the group has to be proven." After thinking about that a bit, I did some research on other dance organizations and their offers of insurance coverage - and it turns out that some of them (specifically some square dance organizations) actually *do* offer actual accident insurance. Like, if an accident happens and someone gets injured, then they can get the cost of their injuries covered (up to a certain amount, and secondary to regular health insurance). If I recall correctly, one of the organizations had the insurance set up such that they'd need specific member rolls for the individual square dance clubs, to keep track of whose dues had been paid and therefore who was covered under the accident insurance. That wouldn't work too well for Contra obviously, since we tend to get lots of random new people - and we'd want them to be covered without having to make them sign up for membership. Anyway, I researched more, and it turns out that there's at least one insurance company (Francis L. Dean, fdean.com ) that offers no-fault accident insurance for dances, as well as combined participant liability. And you can get the accident insurance without the liability insurance - and it's reasonably cheap. I think it'd be great for CDSS to adopt this type of insurance product for the member organizations - because honestly, it seems a lot better than the current insurance that CDSS offers. But maybe there are other elements to the insurance situation that I'm not aware of. Richard Mathews On Mon, Aug 14, 2017 at 2:23 PM, 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: Liability insurance (Mac Mckeever via Organizers) > 2. Re: Liability insurance (Dave Casserly via Organizers) > 3. Re: Liability insurance (Donald Perley via Organizers) > > > ---------------------------------------------------------------------- > > Message: 1 > Date: Mon, 14 Aug 2017 17:27:28 +0000 (UTC) > From: Mac Mckeever via Organizers <organizers(a)lists.sharedweight.net> > To: Mary Anne Eason <maeason(a)gmail.com>, > "organizers(a)lists.sharedweight.net" > <organizers(a)lists.sharedweight.net> > Subject: Re: [Organizers] Liability insurance > Message-ID: <669200276.1428319.1502731648988(a)mail.yahoo.com> > Content-Type: text/plain; charset="utf-8" > > We had a problem where a dancer fell and broke her arm.? Her health > insurance covered her treatment.? They called her and demanded to know who > we were and who owned the venue.? She said OK - but if anyone asks I will > tell them I was a klutz and fell - it was my own fault.? AT that point the > insurance co dropped it. > I was told is it common for insurance companies to try to recover their > costs via law suits. > If you have any assets at all they need to be protected.? In our state, > officers of not-for-profit cannot be sued for liability issues - and we are > all volunteers.? Make sure your organizers are not vulnerable > Mac McKeever > > > From: Mary Anne Eason via Organizers <organizers@lists. > sharedweight.net> > To: organizers(a)lists.sharedweight.net > Sent: Monday, August 14, 2017 12:14 PM > Subject: Re: [Organizers] Liability insurance > > Our smallish dance has had liability insurance for the past several > years because the venue required it. We also had to have their name > added to the contract which cost another $30 on top of the other fees > you have already mentioned. I have been at a couple dances where > accidents have happened, and someone could have sued, but fortunately > didn't. I've felt better knowing we have the insurance, but we really > can't afford it and our bands and callers have suffered because we had > less money to pay them. (We try to hold back a little each month to help > cover those costs as well as the cost of the hall.) I don't know what > the solution is - sorry! > > Mary Anne > > On 8/14/2017 12:38 PM, John W Gintell via Organizers wrote: > > I am wondering whether most dance series have liability insurance - > particularly? small ones. > > > > Insurance for a dance series from CDSS costs $450, $550, ? depending on > the number of dances plus $85 membership fee every year. I suspect other > sources would be more expensive. For a small dance with few financial > reserves, the extra fees each year could easily drive it to extinction. > > > > I know that sone venues require that the group has insurance, but not > all do. > > > > What is the risk of not having it? Any recent incidents in the past few > years? > > > > I?d think possible suits could be from dancers or musicians/callers who > got injured or thought they were treated badly, venues where there was > damage to the site. > > > > What about ASCAP copy infringement suits? Have there been any of these? > > > > Anything else? > > > > ??? John > > _______________________________________________ > > 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, 4 months

come check out upcoming weekend dance ...

by Heitzso via Organizers

I'll be glad to comp in any weekend dance organizer reading this list with a plus-one to our upcoming dance Aug. 11-13. We call it "Fly the Coop" since Gainesville, Georgia, was the poultry capital of the world for a couple of decades. If you want to take me up on this offer: let me know via email and let me know the name and email of your plus-one you're on your own w/ food and housing (we have 16 talent+1s at our small home ... yikes) (and, if you've already registered w/ $, I'll refund your payment -- let me know if ...) Why you may want to come from some far away land to our corner of the universe ... -> for good music and dancing -> to scope out exciting combinations of top contra musicians Our music is provided by "On the Fly" which is an ad hoc collection of top national musicians with every dance set a different combination of musicians (!): Ed Howe (Perpetual e-Motion, Barefoot, JEMS, ...) Rob Zisette (Toss the Possum, Playing with Fyre, Rob Z and the Trustees, ...) Cailen Cambell (Joyful Noise, Cailen Campbell and the Gypsy Hicks, ...) George Paul (Avant Gardeners, Playing w/ Fyre, Joyful Noise, Potent Brew, ...) Tristan Henderson (Pete's Posse, Atlantic Crossing, ...) Jamie Oshima (Barefoot, JEMS, Oshima Brothers, ...) Sean Oshima (Oshima Brothers) Callers are Emily Abel and Emily Rush. Emily Rush will also call a "Rushfest" Sat. afternoon. It is an experiment. But what an experiment! http://atgaga.com/flythecoop Heitzso musicians: Ed Howe w/ Jamie (Barefoot): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j6453yammGE Rob Zisette (Rob Z ...): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WbSWI1PnfaE George Paul w/ Rob and ...: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZYWdrZ6KdBc Jamie Oshima (solo, playing 6 instruments, layered audio/video): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8hYgk5wwBGA Jamie shredding (single take, just him and a guitar): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BUZohDrd3jc Tristan Henderson (w/ Pete's Posse at Glen Echo): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6-enCvxHfZ0 Cailen Campbell w/ George Paul (Joyful Noise): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_EpRwwoqsXs Oshima Brothers: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ne-7_2_pL1U&list=PLz0f8bn2s5q0CmfkZ5PzpRPtJ… callers: Emily Rush: Rushfest: http://www.rushfestcontra.com/ Emily Abel calling for Maivish and George Marshall: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IGmJ0-v8tx4

7 years, 4 months

pay parity for callers & musicians

by Katy Heine via Organizers

I've been booking performers for dances for many years and just recently encountered, for the first time, an expectation that the caller (booked separately) be paid the same amount as each band member. Is this a new thing? What's the practice in YOUR community? Thanks, Katy Heine

7 years, 4 months

Pay parity for musicians and callers

by via Organizers

In respose to Katy Heine's question: The Rochester NY weekly Thursday dance has a set rate for callers and bands, and we add a set travel honorarium for "Regional" and "Far" travel of $40 and $80. (special arrangements are made on occasion) There is a profit sharing after we cover expenses, so if the band and/or caller are drawing more people, they get more money. Break even is somewhere between 45-55 dancers. When we drafted this policy we considered that unless the band and caller are touring together, the caller generally has no say in how many folks are in the band they are paired with. (Of course they can decline the gig, but that's not really a "SAY") Our policy makes it so that regardless if the band has 2, 3 or 4 members, the caller gets paid the same. It seems to work for us. Your mileage may vary. The rationale is that the caller is doing the same job the whole night regardless of the number of musicians. If a band has more members, they can share the work...drop out for a time or two through the tune, so a set fee is practical. They are also probably carpooling, so the travel cost is less per person. Airfare or Busfare is one of the reasons for exceptions to the standard rate. Another reason for exception is a BIG name band, and a third reason is a touring Band+Caller pairing. We have been able to schedule touring bands from "FAR" in conjunction with other regional dances, so the traveling musicians are really traveling similar distance as a regional band to our particular dance, and this helps the travel honorarium cover actual expenses. They also are offered hospitality at the home of a dancer on the evening of the dance (and sometimes the day before or after). The policy does make it challenging to book larger bands, but we are now at the point with attendance that we are consistently paying slightly above the guarantee, generally about 55-60 dancers per evening. Highly weather dependent, and it is a weeknight dance so...we think that is ok...always want more! That said, we have had requests for equal pay for Band members and caller for larger events in the past, but not for the weekly dance series. Those larger events are waaay less frequent and the negotiation is not a burden. Bob

7 years, 4 months

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

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