SWOSDA

Club Leadership Training   The follow-up to the Information Gathering Workshop

 Club Leadership Program

Program Description

Part A – Spring, 2012

Introduction to Leadership and Teamwork

An introduction to club leadership; what is it, and why is it important to successfully managing a club? What are the key challenges facing a dance club leader today and what can you do about it?

Leadership – nature or nurture? While some individuals are more adept at leadership than others, there are key elements of leadership that can be learned by anyone. What are these key elements and what do each of them require from you as a dance club leader?

This unit will also cover the role of an executive committee, including key positions and the role of and expectations for each of those key positions.

This unit will include discovery and practice exercises around leadership concepts.

Recruiting New Dancers

Recruitment is the life blood of a club. Without it your club is on a slippery slope to extinction. Numerous recruitment ideas will be presented, from which participants will develop a comprehensive recruitment strategy for their club. Recruitment statistics will be presented, and while discouraging on the surface, they clearly state the magnitude of the task at hand.

The workshop will deal with why it is so difficult to recruit new dancers and why a constant and consistent effort is required. Participants will evaluate their club readiness for recruiting and learn ways to create a welcoming atmosphere for new dancers. What should be a typical class plan and what recommendations should your club consider in attracting and integrating new dancers into your club? Should your club consider a New Dancer Bill of Rights? What are the responsibilities and duties of existing club members in attracting and retaining new dancers? How do you engage everyone in recruiting?

This unit will consist of short presentations, discussion groups, readiness exercises and surveys, as well as the development of a Recruitment Strategy for your club.

Promoting/Advertising Square Dancing in your Community

This unit will focus on ways in which a club can promote itself in the community through promotion and advertising. Content will include sample advertisement flyers and brochure, press release, newspaper advertisements, and a script for a radio commercial. Also included will be a sample business card and a short “sound byte” that you can teach your club members to use when discussing square dancing with a complete stranger. Suggestions will be presented on how to get someone’s contact information for follow-up. Participants will be encouraged to include some of these ideas in their club recruitment strategy.

Conducting Dance Demonstrations

Many clubs currently conduct dance demonstrations to promote square dancing and attract new members, but with limited success. This unit will discuss the pitfalls and perils of this approach if not done properly. Suggestions will be made to standardize this approach and avoid the pitfalls that may, in fact, discourage observers from getting involved! Particular attention will be given to choice of music, dress code, gender and age representation, observer involvement, and gimmicks to get contact information from observers for follow-up.

Suggestions will also be presented as to where and when to do dance demonstrations, and what community events and venues to consider in your marketing plan.

Club/Caller-Cuer Relations

One of the most critical positions to the success of a square dance club is the Caller-Cuer. Establishing a good working relationship with the Caller-Cuer is most important. This unit will focus on that relationship.  It will focus on how to best utilize the experience the caller-cuer has to offer, including involving the caller-cuer when deciding what program(s) a club may wish to follow.  Also, callers and cuers need to realize they are not in charge and need to be considerate of those elected to be in charge. The caller-cuer must also reflect and support the atmosphere the club wishes to foster. This is critical to the retention of new and experienced dancers.

Club Newsletter

This unit will discuss the role of a club newsletter to communicate with active, inactive, and absent club members. It serves to bond all club members and keep them informed of the activities of your club and square dancing in general. A club newsletter informs, announces, reminds, advises, instructs, advertises, and communicates with club members. It keeps everyone engaged and may undermine club membership erosion. A sample newsletter will be discussed.

Part B – Fall, 2012

Managing an Executive Committee

Too often the co-Presidents try to do everything themselves. While the role of the co-Presidents is critical to the smooth functioning of a volunteer Executive Committee, learning how to engage everyone in managing the club will be discussed. The role and expectations will be reviewed, but the focus will be on process. That is, holding an executive meeting, including preparing an agenda, meeting leading, recording minutes, making a motion and holding a vote, building consensus and commitment, and dealing with dissention will be discussed.

Club Finances

Participants will learn that properly managing the finances of a club is more involved that simply collecting gate receipts and paying the Caller-Cuer. This unit will present a brief but important approach to maintaining appropriate financial records and managing club finances. Participants will learn how to use various financial instruments such as Income Statements, Balance Sheets, Pro-forma Statements, and Cash Flow Projections to  manage club finances. Maintaining appropriate financial records and ensuring financial integrity will form part of this unit.

Introduction to the World of Square Dancing

Square dancing is more than showing up once per week for a dance lesson. It is important that your club take the time to properly introduce new dancers to the world of square dancing. Through a series of short 10-minute discussions during a dance class, new dancers will learn about the history of square dancing, club and organizational structures, various associations, and levels of square dancing. New dancer will also be coached in the art of smooth dancing, common courtesies and protocols, do’s and don’ts, square dance attire, rules for visiting other clubs, banner stealing, square dance conventions and special events, and publications/resources.

This unit will discuss each of the above topics and provide appropriate handouts for new dancers. How to incorporate these ideas into a dance lesson will also be discussed.

Dancer Retention

There is no point in expending considerable time, money, and effort to recruit new dancers if they only stay for a short while and then leave! However, retention extends to not only new dancers. If you do not make efforts in your club to create an appropriate atmosphere and maintain a level of interest among all dancers you will lose them.

This unit will introduce you to club check lists and surveys that will allow you to gage the pulse of your club. Dancers have choices in many geographical areas, so why are they staying with your club? Why are they considering moving on? What can your club do to motivate them to stay? What issues need to be addressed? What can your club do to retain dancers?

What follow-up strategies should your club implement for dancers (new and old) that leave your club? Learning why dancers leave will help you develop a strategy to retain existing dancers.

This unit will consist of short presentations, discussion groups, club checklists and surveys, and follow-up strategies.

Partnerships in the Community

Building on numerous and excellent ideas presented in the Lambeth Workshop, this unit will suggest possible groups and organizations to partner with in your community. Participants will develop appropriate strategies for fostering these partnerships to the mutual benefit of both parties. Partnerships may be perceived as benevolent work, but properly developed they can produce significant gains for your dance club. The who, what, when, and how of partnering will be fully explored and participants will be encouraged to include at least one partnership initiative in their club marketing plan.

Conducting Club Special Events

Conducting a successful and profitable Special Dance or Event is no small undertaking. This unit will present a comprehensive plan for conducting a special event, including various roles and functions from planning, advertising, ticket sales, venue selection, decorating, refreshments, welcoming and farewell protocols, and financing. Success stories from the hosting of the Canadian National Square Dance Convention, to the T&D annual convention soon to be held in Guelph, to Christmas Quackers, to caller sponsored special events such as Port Glasgow or Tweed could be discussed.

ABC Dance Program and other Ventures

The ABC Dance Program is an excellent, if currently underused, approach to introduce non-dancers to square dancing. This unit will discuss this program in detail and suggest ways to plan, organize, and conduct a successful ABC dance program. Promotion ideas and sample advertising literature will be provided to assist with the recruitment of participants.

Other development initiatives such as youth programs and singles clubs will be briefly discussed.