| Suggestions for improving attendance at Saturday night Goal .. Identify 5 easy to implement ideas to improve retention and improve attracting new comers | |||||||||
| Ideas adopted by board | |||||||||
| # | Purpose | Easy to implement? | Sustainable? | From | Affects | Owner | Description | Added | Status |
| 1 | Retention | Yes | Yes | Program | Announcer | After dancing activities announced during dancing | 6/6/2005 | ||
| 2 | Retention | Yes | ?? | Robert / Lane | Programming / teaching/ equipment | Lane | Concurrent beginner and
intermediate teaching. From 7:30 to
8:15 beginners teaching in front room and intermediate in backroom (or visa
versa). 1. President to announce in advance. 2. Add to newsletter. 3. Same person cannot teach intermediate and beginning teaching. 4. Target: August. |
6/6/2005 | Target date to implement: August, 2005 |
| 3 | Retention | No | ?? | Robert / Genevieve | Programming | Genevieve / Bill / Robert | Top
favorite dance list. Create a list of
the top 50 dances based on input from dancers. Provide list to programmers for guidelines.
Genevieve Option 1: Review programmers play list for past few months. Option 2: Survey .. Have everyone identify their top 5 dances / what would you like to see more or less of? |
6/6/2005 | |
| 4 | Retention | Yes | Yes | Stephanie | Newsletter | Stephanie | Newsletter article on how to survive at dancing .. Short version of yellow flier. Stephanie | 6/6/2005 | Pulling from archives (Joan Bennett). Add "call to action" on each newsletter. |
| 5 | Retention | Yes | Yes | Bill | Culture | Ogilvie | Informal greeter who is at dancing from 7:30 to the contra to welcome everyone. Role should be rotated weekly. Between dances talk to newcomer and ask to join dances. Ogilvie | 6/6/2005 | End of July |
| 6 | Retention | yes | yes | Stephanie / Genevieve | VP | Genevieve | Special open house nights with just walkthroughs and $3 cover - at least twice a year. | 6/6/2005 | Develop schedule by end of July? Roll $3 plan into other strategies for cover. |
| 7 | Retention | yes | yes | Bill | Welcome table | Ogilvie | Newcomers welcome box .. To be put on sign in table. Dividers for: blue nametags, black pens, welcome brochure. Purchase container specifically for new name tags few newcomers and pens. Container should allow for easy put out and put away. Ogilvie | 6/6/2005 | Bill found a box and is configuring for this coming Saturday. |
| 8 | Retention | yes | ?? | Stephanie | Programming | Wally | Ask
Wally to communicate following suggestions to programmers (however he thinks
is appropriate - verbally, via notes at dancing, via redesign of the
programmer's list): 1. In order to get the good male dancers to dance with more women have ladies choice and after a mixer tell men to stay with that partner - programmer to play easy couples dance after mixer.. 2. Ask programmers to announce complexity, ethnicity, and formation of each dance. 3. Ask programmers frequently refer to the top favorite dance list (see item 3) once Genevieve compiles it. |
6/6/2005 | |
| 9 | Retention | Yes | Yes | Stephanie | Program | In some past years, teaching has often been
much less or not at all during the summer, when a lot of people are out of
town. It was replaced by playing easy dances during the early part of the
evening. Teaching started up again in September. |
6/7/2005 | ||
| 10 | Attracting newcomers. | Yes | NA | Stephanie (reviewing old newsletters) | Publicity | Ogilvie | In some years, January has been proclaimed by the mayor as Folk Music and Dance month (I noticed that you, Bill, were President at least one of those times). Can this be done again (or is it always done and we just don't tap into it?) and combine it with a well-publicized open house in January? | 6/7/2005 | Bill to look into. Coordinate with open house |
| 11 | Attracting newcomers. | Yes | Yes | Stephanie | Publicity | Ogilvie | Advertise in Daily Texan. Costs money but since we no longer have a feeder group on campus. | 6/7/2005 | Look into advertising in multiple publications |
| 12 | Attracting newcomers. | Yes | ?? | Ogilvie | Publicity | Genevieve | Every Saturday morning place listing in the Community listing of "CraigsList" ( http://austin.craigslist.org/ ) announcing folk dancing and what will be taught. | 6/7/2005 | Bill to train |
| 13 | Attracting newcomers. | Yes | NA | Anonymous | Publicity | Genevieve | Contact KUT to determine how to
do this. Have AIFD members staff the
phones during Folkways next time KUT has pledge week. |
6/9/2005 | |
| 14 | Attracting newcomers. | Yes | Yes | shirley Johnson | Publicity | Ogilvie | Particpate in "3rd Thursday's" outside of Movin Easy. Can coordinate with live musicians as it can promote their CDs. | 6/26/2005 | Also contact Mark Gilston and Don Weeda. |
| 15 | Attracting newcomers. | Yes | NA | Brenda | Publicity | Ogilvie | Particpate in Jan 1 show. Dead;ine 7/11 . | 6/26/2005 | Depends on whether it interferes with our New Year's Eve party |
| 16 | Attracting newcomers. | Yes | NA | Stephanie (reviewing old newsletters) | Publicity | Ogilvie | In some years, January has been proclaimed by the mayor as Folk Music and Dance month (I noticed that you, Bill, were President at least one of those times). Can this be done again (or is it always done and we just don't tap into it?) and combine it with a well-publicized open house in January? | 6/7/2005 | Bill to look into. Coordinate with open house |
| 17 | Retention | yes | yes | all | Pamphlet | Ogilvie / Steph | Modify pamphlet .. OK to say NO and do dance with others. (part of Phil factor). Add snipets from pamplet to flyers and newsletter. | Bill .. Send flyer to Steph | |
| 18 | Retention | yes | yes | all | Pamphlet | Stephanie | Resurrect pamplets .. Tips for parents with kids .. Add to newcomers box. | ||
| Ideas being collected for consideration | |||||||||
| # | Purpose | Easy to implement? | Sustainable? | From | Affects | Owner | Description | Added | Status |
| 19 | Attracting newcomers. | No | yes | Stephanie (reviewing old newsletters) | Publicity / Teaching | Offer a 6-week beginner class for $20. This will give beginners a discount for committing to more than one night, give the teacher a chance to get them over the initial learning curve, and ensure that they come back at least for 6 weeks. We could have a person sitting at | 6/7/2005 | Encourage regulars to go to Monday night | |
| 20 | retention / attracting newcomers | ?? | ?? | all | culture | Name tags. | 6/25/2005 | Discuss at next meeting | |
| 21 | retention | ?? | ?? | all | Teaching | Suggestion box .. What you want taught | 6/25/2005 | See #31 | |
| 22 | retention / attracting newcomers | ?? | ?? | all | teaching / programming | Two step and swing for the rest
of us.. Dancing afterwards .. |
6/25/2005 | ||
| 23 | retention | ?? | ?? | all | culture | Photo albums of current and past dancers. Find owner for 2005. Take pictures, biography, update album with new people, make album available. | 6/25/2005 | Album in box at HRC . Put out during setup. | |
| 24 | retention | ?? | ?? | all | Programmi | Memorial party for Janet Cook. Theme party. | 6/25/2005 | ||
| 25 | retention | ?? | ?? | all | ?? | Backup CDs | 6/25/2005 | ||
| 26 | retention | ?? | ?? | all | Programmi | Backup notebook | 6/25/2005 | ||
| 27 | Attracting newcomers. | ?? | Ann McCr | Programmi | castiron@gmail.com,SLC,att_new,,,community,,Contact
UT professors teaching foreign languages from countries we do dances from,
and arrange with them to bring their classes one night (maybe have them come
free?); we can focus on dances from the particular country, and if there\'s
someone especially knowledgeable, they can talk about cultural aspects of the
dances. (Modern Greek is being offered through the Classics department this fall; Germanic Studies offers Norwegian and Swedish; Middle Eastern Studies offers Turkish & Hebrew; Slavic Studies offers Serbian/Croatian.) |
7/18/2005 | |||
| 28 | Attracting newcomers. | ?? | ?? | Ann McCr | ?? | ,Have AIFD folks staff the phones at KUT during pledge week -- maybe during Folkways? | 7/18/2005 | Done in Fall, 2005 | |
| 29 | Attracting newcomers. | ?? | ?? | Sharon | ?? | Get together with some other local groups and do a Cajun Dance Night to raise funds for Katrina victims | 9/2/2005 | Consider doing as part of "3rd Thursdays". Ogilvie sent email to Movin' Easy accordingly. | |
| 30 | retention / attracting newcomers | yes | yes | Chuck Roth | Newsletter | Add link to suggestion form to ( http://www.yastreb.com/tifd/aifd/board/aifd_suggest.htm ) to newsletter. | 1/5/2006 | ||
| 31 | retention / attracting newcomers | yes | ?? | Chuck Roth | Setup | Ogilvie | Put out suggestion box at AIFD | 1/5/2006 | |
| 32 | Retention | ?? | ?? | Chuck Roth | ?? | Compare insurance roster from 2004 and 2005. Identify those dropped from roster in 2005 and contact them to find out why they left dancing. | 1/5/2006 | ||
| Programming | Keep new blank sheets. Need to clean out notebook. | ||||||||
| Cleanout box at HRC .. Get music we play onto Ibook. | |||||||||
| Ibook back up. | |||||||||
| Way items are indexed .. Lots of items embedded in name. Modify to search by name, country, type, etc. | |||||||||
| Databackup for Ibook. | |||||||||
| Larger notebook .. Easier for programmers to read. | |||||||||
| Don't wait until ibook breaks before we have to plan for a backup. | |||||||||
| Find group of people who want to work on ibook - including - replacement, backup, data indexing. | |||||||||