[Organizers] Re: Struggling to Revitalize the core post covid

In follow up to Jeff, my series is in the same general area but we differ a bit in type of crowd (Cambridge/BIDA = city/public transit/skewed younger, mine/Concord MA = suburbs/older professionals/car culture ~25 miles outside city) and timing (BIDA = weekend, mine = weekday) yet we have a similar logistical timeline for the most part. FWIW, by way of one example, here's the effective timeline for our suburban series (posted as a 7:30 - 10:30 dance): 6:30 organizers arrive, open hall, basic logistics and sound set up starts 6:45 door sitter arrives and prepares for admissions 6:50 most musicians have arrived and cabling/level setting under way, door ready for admissions 7:00 caller has arrived, connects with band and organizers 7:05 basic sound settings complete for musicians present, stage monitor mixing underway (good news is we have many repeating musicians and saved mixer presets for them) 7:10 published beginner lesson start (ideally, sound is now out of the way so caller can teach w/out mic on the floor) 7:15 latest beginner lesson start; critical mass of experienced folks in the hall and available to join 7:25 ideally beginner lesson complete; band plays warm up tune for mixing mains in the hall if not completed earlier, caller's level is set - ready for welcome and first walkthrough 7:30 dance start (~2/3 to 3/4 of final crowd size present, many coming after work/dinner) 9-9:10 break begins (many beginners leave, plus ~30% of crowd due to early morning start), ~10 min break 10:25 final waltz 10:30 dance ends, sound off, pack out begins 11:00 (hopefully) ready to lock hall Most callers fit 12 +/- 1 called dance slots into this timeline. Regarding the beginner lesson, note the short duration. In the early 2000s it was uncommon for area dances here to have a beginner lesson at all (yet with robust dance attendance) but most have added them now. I'm strongly of the opinion anything over 15 minutes for a lesson is too much - less talking, fewer moves and more repeats for body sense acquisition instead. By starting later we have more experienced folks available at what feels like a "normal" time for them to show up AND more of the beginners *actually present* to learn. If you have a larger % of beginners, my take is you don't really need a longer lesson because the first dances will need to be simple enough to keep everyone together (effectively more of the lesson, in the line context, in the moment). If fewer, you still don't need to overload their brains with additional moves in the lesson which may then not be needed until several dances in. Trust the experienced crew to help hold it together and serve as guides while the material strives possibly higher, but again teaching well any new bits in the moment & context of the line. This may expect a bit more from your callers to pull off. On Mon, Jul 17, 2023 at 8:47 PM Jeff Kaufman <jeff(a)alum.swarthmore.edu> wrote: