13 Mar
2023
13 Mar
'23
9:45 a.m.
Newbies are not returning my thoughts...
Why? not feeling welcome?, feeling intimidated/too hard? Coming late to
lesson and being lost/confused during dance? Lack of feeling of
mastery/learning? Need follow up lesson since we only dance 1x/month? One
month is a long time to wait for another lesson. Not enough younger
dancers like themselves?
Ideas:
1. Use beginner friendly buttons
2. Ask experienced dancers to dance with beginners for first 2 dances at
least. Board members lead by example.
3. Encourage experienced dancers to come for the beginner lesson to
welcome/socialize with new dancers.
4. Have caller or one of us give out free passes (pass for next dance) at
the lesson so we don't have to remember to do it at the table. We gave out
15 free passes to new dancers in Feb and did not get any to return in
March. (March dance was on 2nd sat instead of our normal 3rd sat and it's
spring break. Feb attendance 61, March 38 (paid dancers, not including 3
listeners). Also there was a local magazine article about LBDA in February
and we had our most experienced and popular contra dance band (Kaw Creek)
playing.
5. Our Lesson is at 7:00, Dance 7:30. Should we use start time 7:00 in
advertising bc experienced dancers will figure it out and adjust to coming
at 7:30 more easily than new people knowing they need to come at 7:00 for
the lesson. New people attending and being on time for 7:00 lesson is
important for a smooth dance so do we need to advertise that way? Want
experienced dancers to be there to meet and socialize with them so they can
be better integrated into the community and not feel so awkward. I have
suggested this to our board before, but was told that would be manipulative
toward experienced dancers who would be upset that they came too early and
wasted their time. That feels like a very unwelcoming attitude, and I
would like to encourage all our dancers to consider that 7:00 is our start
time because beginners are important and we need to be there to greet them
and socialize.
6. Schedule a 1 hour lesson or series of lessons led by experienced callers
Lisa and or Jill and a couple new callers... before the dance? On a
different day? Through Parks and Rec this summer?
7. New dancers are far outnumbering experienced dancers. Need to do
advanced dance to pull back in some dancers who drifted away after the
pandemic. Contact individually by phone/email?
And then getting younger people to attend is a whole other but strongly
related topic we need to address more effectively. We are not getting
enough young people at dances. It appears to me that when a young person
comes they often decide to not return because there aren't enough people in
their age group.
Please tell me if you like/encourage these ideas I have come up with so far
and add others.
Especially I want to know how to get new people to come on time for the
lesson.
Is it ok to advertise dance for 7:00 even though first 30 minutes is
lesson? It's frustrating for our callers and then they don't get a full
lesson which is not good for anyone.