The Sundance Stomepde started small and developed incrementally as we added to it gradually. In this way we could be reasonably sure that we could handle everything. If a future event is considered, I recommend that it be reduced significantly in scope the first year, and expanded in subsequent years if desired.
Hoedown started in 1997 - Galleria Design Center.
Sundance Saloon started in 1998.
First Stompede 2001: Sat and Sun dances. 1 room of workshops added Sat/Sun. Host hotel Ramada/Whitcomb. 35 registered.
Workshop rooms increased to 2, then 3.
Friday night added.
2005: Hosted IAGLCWDC. Social events added.
2006: Thursday added. Friday workshops added.
2006-ish: Move to Holiday Inn and Regency.
Subsequently: Premium workshops, Boots Only Ball, brunch
Committee Structure
Probably the best way to divide up the work is to create definable committees.
Need two directors to oversee and coordinate all committees.
Directors responsible for any lapses.
Committees - 12 - recommend minimum of two people per committee.
Committee members - multi-year commitment with high priority. Stompede work must not take a back seat to work and social obligations. And it's not so helpful to commit to just one year.
Ingu’s involvement - ideally minimal, but some involvement will be required (e.g., materials).
The Sundance Association is the fiscal sponsor.
Need to make decisions about committee work benefits. Currently no one receives any benefits for their work, including free registration. Giving everyone a comp registration would be the equivalent of a $4,000 expense.
Possible committees: Hotel
Regency
Registration
Facilities / Materials
Event Coordination
Workshops/Instructors
Exhibitions
Volunteers
Finance
Promotion
Document Control
Optional: Social Events
Skip: Fundraising
Current Events Within the Stompede
4 nights of dancing
Thursday - Sundance Saloon
Friday - Hotel (Holiday Inn)
Saturday - Regency Ballroom (two floors)
Sunday - Sundance Saloon
3 days of dance workshops - Friday, Saturday, and Sunday
4 standard rooms
1-2 premium workshop rooms
Social Events - all events in the hospitality suite
VIP Welcome Social (for host sponors, volunteers, etc.)
Continental breakfast (Saturday & Sunday)
Women's/Trans-inclusive Social
After-hours Parties (Friday and Saturday nights)
Other Events
Boots Only Ball
Late-Night West Coast Swing
Brunch - we have elminated the brunch buffet at this year's Stompede
Simplifying the Stompede
Here are some suggested things to eliminate or change to reduce the scope of the Stompede while keeping the essentials.
Rent all dance floors. [We currently rent the main ballroom floor (36'x72'), and the two premium workshop room dance floors (24'x27'). The hotel provides one room's dance floor (30x30). We bring in and build our own 30'x60' dance floor.] Increased expense, but building our own dance floor is a lot of work and not without its own expense (e.g. truck rental, day labor charges). We could make the main ballroom dance floor smaller and eliminate at least one of the premium workshop rooms to subsidize the extra dance floor.
Reduce workshop rooms to three. Reduced expenses as well as workshop coordination.
Simplify decor.
Eliminate Boots Only Ball.
Eliminate Premium Workshops. Since instructors earn money from premium workshops, this might be harder to do. But we had many successful years without them. Our meeting on 5/7 seemed to disfavor eliminating the premium workshops.
Reduce/eliminate/simplify social events.
Eliminate raffle and silent auction.
No T-shirts.
No printed program.
Pros and cons of continuing Regency event. Including the Regency adds work and expense. But for some it is the focus of the weekend and feels to be an essential part of the event. The amount of work has decreased significantly in recent years, and the cost is partially offset by income generated from Saturday night.
This year's Sundance Stompede will not make any changes from previous years, with the exception of no brunch. (The hotel eliminated its $20,000 food and beverage minimum this year, so we have no need or desire to spend that money.)
If a future CW dance weekend is planned, we should think about skipping a year and plan for 2025 at the earliest. This would (1) allow Ingu to reorganize everything in storage, which is currently a mess and all over the place in his garage, in his house, and in our storage locker; and (2) give time to contract with the hotel and the Regency for dates, as a one-year lead time is probably not reasonable. We won't want to sign any contracts until we are sure we have enough staff committed to doing this.
Why Call This A New Event?
The new event should be called something other than the Sundance Stompede. Some considerations:
Lower expectations. Changing the name of the event makes it clear that the event will have significant differences from the Stompede folks have come to expect.
Gives us flexibility to make major changes to the structure of the event, or even buikld it from the ground up.
Events take on the characteristics of its leaders. Ingu and Dave have invested decades of effort creating their vision of this event. This new event will be someone else’s vision.
Any benefit to retaining the Sundance Stompede name disappears after the first year, after which the event will stand on its own regardless of its name.
We can still let folks know the new event is modeled after the Sundance Stompede. And we can use, for example, the e-mail distribution list for promotion.
One potential new name: The Harvest Stomp. You may reject this and come up with your own.
Proposed Committees
If we want to plan a future CW dance weekend in San Francisco after this year, we need to make sure that we have the people to do all of the work. And ideally these folks would participate this year, so they can learn what is involved. If you participate this year, you would learn how things are currently done. This year would not be the time to make changes, but in a future year, if you think you have a better way of doing things, that would be the time to implement those changes.
If you are interested in a committee, let Ingu know (info@sundancesaloon.org). You may want to include a statement about why this particular task appeals to you, and the skills you have to perform the work. It's unlikely that by chance we'll all choose different committees, so you might want to think about your second or third choice.
You can also click on this button to take you to a Google spreadsheet where you can enter your name in each of the committees that interest you. This is just a worksheet. You can enter your name in multiple categories. We will eventually pick one for you to focus on.
Directors
Oversee everything and everyone
Back-up to everything and everyone
Hotel
Negotiate contract
Troubleshoot questions/problems w/ hotel reservations
Track comp hotel rooms
Track total number of hotel rooms
Coordinate on-site hotel needs
Regency
Negotiate contract
Pre-event on-site planning and walk-through
Sort, produce, assemble all materials needed for event
Transport materials to Regency
Set-up at Regency
Fix problems during event
Tear-down at Regency
Transport materials back to storage
Sort, organize, clean materials and put away
Registration
Set up registration portal. Recommend an existing service such as Eventbrite.
Troubleshoot questions/problems with registration
Organize materials for check-in
Set up registration area at hotel
Supervise and monitor registration all weekend
Tear down registration area
Organize materials post-event
Facilities / Materials
Overlaps with Hotel, Regency and Registration
Plan all materials needed for event
Detailed floor plans
Dance floor plans
Gather all materials, create, sort, organize, pack
Rent truck(s)
Load truck(s); ttransport materials to hotel & Regency
Set-up hotel – sound system, registration, etc.
Monitor equipment and materials through the weekend
Tear-down hotel, pack up
Load truck(s) and return materials to storage
Sort, organize, clean materials and put away
Event Coordination
Overlaps with Facilities & Materials
Sundance Saloon Thurs/Sunday – changes to routine, and additional supplies
Hotel dance Friday
Regency dance Saturday
Oversee material needs, packing and transport
Oversee set-up, event management, tear-down
Oversee return packing and transport, sorting/cleaning/storage
Workshops / Instructors
Contact instructors for availability
Coordinate registration and hotel
Photos and bios
Instructor info: what/when they can teach
Create schedule
Monitor workshops through the weekend
Exhibitions
Solicit exhibition performances
Communicate parameters
Photos and bios
Create rehearsal and performance schedules
Active coordination during rehearsals and performances
Volunteers
Create volunteer schedule
Solicit volunteers
Maintain sign-ups and cancellations
Confirmations and reminders
On-site coordination
Last-minute cancellations, no-shows
Post-event thank you
Finance
Create budget
Monitor expenses
Coordinate w/ treasurer to write checks, make deposits
Documentation for all income and expenses
Reconcile
Promotion
Knowledge of Illustrator, InDesign, Photoshop
Design basic graphics
Design poster
Design flyer
Website design/maintain– Wordpress or Dreamweaver
Live promotion – program ads, displays
Social media promotion
Listings, local advertising and promotion
Document Control
Print voluminous amounts of materials
Coordinate with all other committees
Ideally has access to own color laser printer, tabloid printer
Can use Ingu’s printers if necessary
Social Events - recommend skip this the first year
My recommendation is to forgo social events the first year. Or have guest hosts where your involvement is minimal
Coordinate all supplies across all social events
Buy, organize, pack up all supplies
Transport supplies to hotel
Oversee all social events
Clean up after each event and prepare for the next