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Organizers' Resources

For almost ten years, CDSS has co-sponsored regional conferences for dance organizers throughout the U.S. (NW, SW, Midwest, SE, NE) and Eastern Canada. Three of these conferences have websites that provide archived materials from all workshops held at those events.

In the Resources tab below, you'll find a handy index to the available conference information along with CDSS resources. In the Additional Resources tab, you'll find links to CDSS "How-to" information specific to individual genres, as well as a link to the Make It Happen! Manual.

Resources

This index will guide you through a wealth of valuable workshop materials that can be found on these websites:

Puttin’ On the Dance (POTD1):  http://www.puttinonthedance.org/potd1materials/
Puttin’ On the Dance 2 (POTD2):  http://www.puttinonthedance.org/potd2-conference-notes/
Southwest Regional Organizers Conference (SWROC):  http://cdss.org/swroc/post-conference/archive/

In addition, we have included some links below to CDSS information for organizers.

For more on CDSS co-sponsored conferences, see our Conferences section.

These materials are presented in three overarching sections — Strengthening Our Dance Organizations, Improving Key Elements of Our Dances, and Growing and Sustaining a Healthy Dance Series.


STRENGTHENING OUR DANCE ORGANIZATIONS

Successful organizations keep seeking ways to stay fresh and relevant. Whether your dance is run by a board, committee, or just you, these workshop sessions provide support for building a strong infrastructure.

VISION

  • POTD1    Vision: First things first
  • SWROC   Vision: First things first
  • CDSS website: Crafting a Vision

 

INFRASTRUCTURE

  • Committees, Boards, etc.
    • POTD1    Organizing Your Committee
    • SWROC   Organizing for Success: Crucial aspects of building a strong infrastructure for your dance
    • POTD2    Happy Dance Boards and Committees: Growing a thriving, productive, and fun dance committee
    • POTD1    Formalizing Structures: Non-profit Status and Insurance
    • POTD2    Non-Profit Management: Updating and strengthening our administrative foundation
    • POTD1    Leading Effective Meetings
    • SWROC   Can We Talk? Effective organization through meaningful interpersonal connection
    • CDSS website: How to Structure Your Organization
  • Volunteers
    • POTD1    Building and Sustaining a Healthy Volunteer Base
    • SWROC  Happy Volunteers: Finding them, keeping them, sustaining them and using them effectively
    • POTD2    Creating a Happy, Healthy Volunteer Base: Ways to engage and retain volunteers to sustain our dances
  • Facilities
  • Finances
    • POTD1    Dance Money Mechanics
    • SWROC  Managing Your Money: Your series is bringing in money. Now what do you do with it?
      POTD2    Dance Finances 0 to 999: Deepening our understanding of sources and uses of fund
  • Technology
    • SWROC  Tech Tools: Technology can help organizations be more effective
  • Dances in Transition
    • POTD2    Navigating Transitions: Strategies for evolving from a “one-person show” to an organizing team


DANCE WEEKENDS

  • SWROC  Working on Weekends: Organizing your dance festival
  • POTD2    Dance Weekend 101: Streamlining the organization of weekend dance events


IMPROVING KEY ELEMENTS OF OUR DANCES

Here’s a variety of resources for working with callers, musicians, dancers, and sound operators to create thriving dances across the genres.

WORKING WITH CALLERS, MUSICIANS, AND SOUND TECHNICIANS

  • POTD1    Booking and Working with the Talent
  • SWROC   Using Your Talent: How to book, work with, and help improve your callers, musicians, and sound techs
  • CDSS website: Finding and Hiring Callers and Musicians
  • POTD2    Behind the Scenes: Building constructive relations between performers and organizers
  • POTD1    Developing and Nurturing English Country Dance Musicians in Your Community
  • POTD2    Sound Design for Social Dance: Understanding the challenges of engineering sound for live music
  • CDSS website: Doing Sound: A variety of resources and advice for sound operators

 

WORKING WITH DANCERS

  • POTD1    Positive Solutions for Problems in your Dance Community
  • SWROC   The Unwanted Element: Preventing issues from arising on the floor and dealing with them when they do
  • POTD2    Problem Dancers: Proactive management and response; creating a dance environment safe for all
  • CDSS website: Dance Etiquette: Policies from numerous sources to help you craft a policy for your dance
  • POTD1    Shaping the Dance Experience: Influence dance style and manners through community involvement
  • SWROC   From Beginner to Advanced: How to keep everyone happy
  • POTD2    Welcoming Diverse Populations: Examining ways to make a welcoming dance community for everyone
  • POTD1    Building Community Through Gender Role Free Dancing
  • SWROC   Unstraightening Contra: Community building through Gender-free dancing
  • SWROC   Building Community: How to keep the dance going when the music stops
  • SWROC   Come Let’s Be Merry: Developing and nurturing English Country Dance
  • POTD1    Intergenerationality: A Big Word — A Big Value
  • POTD1    Successful Family-Community-Barn Dances
  • SWROC   Barn Raising: Sustaining Square, Family, and Barn Dances
  • POTD2    Engaging Families in your (not necessarily “Family”) Dance: Exploring the best strategy for a successful dance series


GROWING AND SUSTAINING A HEALTHY DANCE SERIES

Successful organizations don’t stand still! Here are valuable approaches and practical tools for expanding our outreach, increasing our attenDANCE, building our financial base and more.

PUBLICITY AND BEYOND

  • POTD1    To Market, To Market… Jiggity Jig
  • CDSS website: Publicity
  • SWROC   Marketing 101: Finding and keeping the crowd you want
  • SWROC   Marketing 102: Putting your knowledge to work
  • POTD1    To Facebook and Beyond: Online marketing for dance series
  • POTD2    Beyond Publicity: Getting new dancers to come and come back
  • POTD2    Beyond New Dancers: Upping your attendance by preaching to the converted\
  • POTD1    Promoting Youth Participation: Ideas and practical tips
  • SWROC   Attracting Younger Dancers: Creating and maintaining a multigenerational dance
  • CDSS website:  College Organizers' Handbook


FUNDRAISING

  • SWROC   Money: How to get more!
  • POTD2    Fundraising Strategies and Tips for Dance Organizations: Broadening our views for supporting dances

GROWING TALENT

  • SWROC   Cultivating New Talent: Ways to find and grow callers and musicians
  • POTD2    Growing Local Talent: Helping our budding callers and musicians grow and succeed

REGIONAL NETWORKING

  • POTD1    Organizers Unite: Continuing our connections and sharing resources with organizers throughout the region and beyond
  • SWROC   Crossing the Border: Connecting groups within each state and throughout the region
  • POTD2    Hands Across the Borders: Keeping the POTD connections going

LOOKING TO THE FUTURE

  • POTD1    The Dancing We Do: Past, present and future!
  • POTD2    Growing Younger: Engaging youth for a sustainable future
  • POTD1    Carrying On the Traditions: Cultivating new callers and musicians
  • POTD2    Shoot for the Moon: Organizers’ roles in shaping the future of traditional dance

 

 

 

     
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