Always nice when things go right

[jducoeur]

The call for "Everyone Come To Dance Practice Night" went quite nicely -- I'd guess that we got about 30 people there over the course of the evening. That was actually a bit crowded (the room only has space for about 24 dancing at a time), but such problems we should have. It's unlikely to remain that crowded, but I hope folks had fun and continue to come back -- I thought it was a real blast...

Comments

[cvirtue.livejournal.com]

Congratulations on success!

Does this prove, disprove, or "other" your view on personal invitations vs. broadcast ones?

[jducoeur]

"Other", mostly. This one was pretty carefully designed for success: a fifth Wednesday, a few weeks before a dance event, and so on -- I picked a good opportunity. A large number of the people there were either either sometime dancers who took the opportunity to come back, or new folks who were specifically looking for a good place to start. And I did talk to some people individually and encourage them to come. So the data is pretty muddy, and hard to draw general conclusions from.

Mostly, I think it demonstrates that broadcasts *can* have some success if you get them right, but I don't think it negates the basic point that personal invites tend to be more successful if done in a disciplined way. It's worth noting that I had absolutely *no* clue how many people were coming until they did, and wouldn't have been surprised if I'd only gotten half as many...

[metahacker.livejournal.com]

Speaking personally, I had intended to go, but forgot. If I'd had a personal invite, I wouldn't have forgotten, because I would have marked it differently. But that's just one data point.

Sounds like you got a great turnout, really! Were these mostly the same folks that have been coming once every few weeks, or did it drag in new dancers too? I grow a bit nostalgic for the days when carloads of Wellesley or Brandeis students would show up 30 minutes late...

[jducoeur]

Actually, it drew a surprising number of new people (demonstrating that the broadcast approach does have its own strengths), as well as large numbers who haven't made it to dance practice in an age. On the new front, we got a small contingent from Southbanke (yay!), as well as at least one lady who had encountered the SCA at my Worldcon dance demo the other year and had been meaning to check it out. On the old friends one, we got folks from Jasmina (who hasn't been there in a fair while) to Larissa (who hasn't been there in a couple of decades). And we also got some folks who have been in the SCA for a while but never tried dance practice, like a small group from Lochleven.

Overall, quite a bit of fun. The interesting question is how many of those folks become regulars or semi-regulars. The underlying objective here is to get the regular weekly dance practice back up to what I think of as "full strength" (20 or so). But it was successful enough that I'll clearly need to do it from time to time just for its own sake. (Preferably with a slightly bigger room...)

[calygrey.livejournal.com]

We were freed from Goddesses a little early so I came. I hadn't been for a decade and a half anyway. You are a wonderful teacher and I enjoyed myself greatly for the three dances I'd arrived in time to do! I'll certainly come when Goddesses is over -or if we are released early again!!