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.)

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.

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