Good morning, I hope you are well. Today Im going to post here a few topics that are of concern of those who are involved with belly dancing. Firstly, I would like to discuss about events, organisers who plan their events on the same date as others. I have had a break from events for about a year due to personal matters. But just before I went on a break, I organised a few events which clashed with others, the announcement were made well in advance but another dancer organised an event on the same day and claimed she had organised that before. Then a month after, another collaborator organised an event on the same date. I remembered I discussed this topic with the bellydance community and pointed out the fact that this was damaging and always requested the dancers not to perform at another events that were scheduled near mine but I was told that bellydance is a business and that I should not take things personally. Fair enough and then I kept up with my work. My events were sold out, of course, because Im badass and moreover, without any, lets say, diplomatic sponsorship. I dont really care about what others do, au contraire, I always promoted and supported belly dancing very fiercely. However I realised that promoting people that do not share values, are not interested in mutual promotion and growth, are only interested in taking advantage and using my events as a stepping stone can be really damaging as well. I have just found out that the issue is going on for a while and it is damaging the community. So I would like to share this post from Shira, which is spot on. You can join her page, full of interesting articles. #hayaam #bellydance Status Update By Shira DANCE BUSINESS TIP: HOSTING EVENTS. There is a serious problem in our dance community with event hosts booking their workshops, shows, etc. on the very same weekend as other local events that were already finalized and publicly promoted far in advance. Is this because the people booking on top of other events are too new/inexperienced to know this is a bad idea? Perhaps too new/inexperienced to realize that before booking an event, you should check to see what is already scheduled in your community? Or is it because the people doing it are just selfish and dont care who they hurt? Booking your own event on the same dates as another local event thats already scheduled and promoted is a very, very bad idea. Equally bad is booking the weekend immediately before or the one immediately after. Heres how it hurts not only you, but your entire dance community: * It creates divisions in the community as people take sides between the two promoters. You dont want drama, do you? * It runs the risk of BOTH events losing money, because theres a very limited amount of money to go around. You dont want to lose money, do you? * It can lead longtime event promoters to leave the business - you know that big wonderful event you have loved performing/shopping at every year? Your double-booking the same weekend as that event could be the straw that broke the camels back and cause the promoter to end it. You might think its too big to notice, but youd be wrong. Big events often have BIG expenses, and if you succeed in drawing 20 people away from it to attend your event instead, you could cause the other host to lose money, AND you could cause the organizer to decide its time to stop fighting the issue. * You hurt the vendors at the other event, because you bleed shoppers away from it. You could make those vendors hesitate to come back to your community to vend at future events. * Your own reputation can suffer - when word gets out that youve booked on top of another event already out there, people may think of you as clueless, predatory, rude, selfish, immature, sociopathic, only out for yourself... the list goes on. Do you want to see yourself talked about on Facebook with those words being used? All of this hurts the dance community, not just the other promoter, but the vendors, the other people who have to choose between the two events, etc. Why do it? If the workshop instructor you want to hire says s/hes only available on THAT ONE DATE, maybe its better to hire someone else for your first event, and plan ahead for next year with the original person. If the place you want to book is available only THAT ONE DATE, maybe its better to book a different venue this time, and choose a different place next time. There are ALWAYS choices - you dont HAVE to choose the path that causes turmoil for a lot of people. Id like to think the usual cause is inexperience. So, heres what to do: * Before you finalize dates with the workshop teacher or the facility, check around to find out whether other local dance events are already scheduled local to you the exact same weekend, OR the weekend before, OR the weekend after. If so, pick a different date. * If someone in your community usually holds an event around that time of year, check with that person to find out the exact date of her event. For example, I wouldnt want to schedule a dance event in New Jersey in October without first finding out when Rakkasah East is scheduled.
Posted on: Thu, 28 Aug 2014 07:39:30 +0000
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