Hi Heitzso, This is REALLY cool to hear about .... awesome how you made a model work for yourselves. :)
I did something similar about 15yrs ago with volunteer managers/coordinators at folk festivals in Ontario. Organized it at my house and as long as people could get here, it was free (potluck food). We had a fantastic weekend talking about our work. Here's a handout that I pulled together in 2019 for CDSS on facilitating organizer discussions. It also includes some information on planning these events generally. https://cdss.org/wp-content/uploads/resources/CDSS-how-to-facilitate-organizer-discussion-2019.02.21.pdf Thanks! Emily On Sat, Mar 1, 2025 at 10:56 PM Heitzso via Organizers < [email protected]> wrote: > My wife, Jennifer Horrocks, and I hosted three weekend organizers retreats > for the southeast region in 2017, 2018, and 2023. I failed to track down > any prior organizer retreats to learn from them. That failure is on me. > Jennifer sells contra dance dresses that she sews at weekend dances, which > she goes to once or twice a month. It was at these weekend dances, in > discussions with their organizers, that the idea of a dance organizers > weekend retreat took shape. We've had organizers from Memphis, Baltimore, > Charleston, Greenville, Atlanta, Chattanooga, Knoxville, Berea, and others > attend (list off the top of my head). > > I'm bringing this up to note some of our decisions that we made in how we > structured these retreats in case there's any value in that structure to > others: > > - We would learn from one another. > - There would be no value judgements made. We've made choices in how > we've organized our dances. We talked about those choices and what we > thought worked and what didn't work. We shared that information. > - Effective human communication (shared, open communication) in a > group starts to top out with 12 people (from social psychology studies I > had read). We had 12 bedrooms in our facility so we limited the weekend > retreat to 12 organizations but allowed an organization to have a primary > and a secondary representative. We'd end up with 15 to 18 participants. > - The only cost to the participants would be their travel costs. We > provided housing and food. > - The facility (housing, dining, meeting) was a remodeled 150 year old > farm house on 100 acres an hour outside of Atlanta. > - Informal social time was as valuable as structured meeting time > (this we quickly learned). Over the weekend the two balanced out. > - The content of the sessions was set by the participants during each > meal, with Friday dinner a general meet and greet and lay of the land time. > For instance, over Saturday morning's breakfast we decided how many > structured sessions we'd have the rest of the morning and the topics that > would be covered. At the lunch after those meetings we'd decide what was > important to us for the afternoon sessions, etc. What we wanted to talk > about would change through the weekend. > - Sessions were facilitated in that one person was tasked with putting > any tangents on a parking lot board and ensuring that the discussion didn't > get hijacked by anyone. Also, any value judgements that crept in were > politely clipped. > - Sunday sessions were a mix of "what's important that we haven't > covered" and left over parking lot tangents that we wanted to discuss. > - Topics ranged from "how to keep dust down on the floor" to "what > fans make the least noise" to "how do you advertise" to "what sort of > contracts to you have with your talent" to "how do you handle the > terminology shifts" to "what forms of payment do you accept" to "does a > sliding scale work", etc. (etc. etc. etc. etc. etc. etc.) > - I covered the housing and food costs. The facility is owned by my > family and was available, so I only had utility and cleaning costs to cover > for its use. Jennifer cooked the meals for everyone. > > Jennifer has been asked by organizers to host another one of these, and > she's looking into whether the farmhouse is available this summer. > > The above grew out of a more local afternoon salmon, steak, & veggie > grilling for local dance organizers that we hosted for a couple of years > before the 2017 regional weekend retreat. > > Hope this is useful to someone, > Heitzso > > > > On 3/1/25 08:28, Emily Addison via Organizers wrote: > > Hi Shared Weight Organizers :) > > Sharing on behalf of the Puttin' On The Dance volunteer team! > :) :) :) > Emily in Ottawa > > ====================================================== > > Dear dance organizers, > > Today, REGISTRATION IS OPEN for Puttin' On the Dance 3: Dancing Forward > Together, the dance organizers’ conference on May 2-4 in Belfast, Maine. > > Our conference theme, Dancing Forward Together, reflects the commitment > we all share. Our dances create strong social bonds and positive uplift to > our communities, and in this time of uncertainty and upheaval, it is > especially important for dance organizers to support each other and > ourselves. POTD will nourish peer to peer connections and buoy our spirits, > helping us return to our dance organizations with renewed commitment and > vigor. Let’s join hands to move forward! > > Before you register, look at puttinonthedance.org/potd-3/ > <https://www.puttinonthedance.org/potd-3/> for important info on: > > - fees > > - scholarships > > - schedule > > - program survey > > - and more! > > Register Here: https://forms.gle/uUMWrebtrwJdBTJW9 > > The Fund Your Attendance > <https://www.puttinonthedance.org/register/fund-your-attendance/> page > has new information, including: > > - scholarship process > > - offsetting the exchange rate for Canadians > > - additional strategies to fund your attendance without stretching your > personal reserves. > > We’re getting some great input through the POTD3 Program Input Survey - > if you haven’t filled it out, here’s the form: > https://forms.gle/3gCBRuqodu9Z2RCV8 > > We can’t wait to be with you in May! > POTD Planning Team > > Patty Giavara, Chrissy Fowler & Emily Addison > > PS Check out these amazing photos from POTD2 to get a sense of the fun > and energy! <https://www.flickr.com/photos/puttinonthedance/albums/> > > _______________________________________________ > Organizers mailing list -- [email protected] > To unsubscribe send an email to [email protected] > > > _______________________________________________ > Organizers mailing list -- [email protected] > To unsubscribe send an email to [email protected] >
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