Ep 17 - Midyear Concerts - 5 Top Reasons You Should Have Them

Both of us LOVE holding Mid Year Concerts in our studios! They are such a fun, positive and happy experience for the students and their families 😁 In today's Podcast, you will learn:

• Why Parents love the Mid Year concert so much
• How to generate top Revenue from Midyear
• How uniform sales tie into our Midyear Concerts
• How your students' confidence grows from Midyear
• How to increase your Brand Awareness from Midyear Concerts

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Show Transcription: 

Well, hi, friends, we are so excited for you to join us on the Dance Principals United podcast today, if you're listening to this live, we are just about at the end of launch week for the tribe Tuesday at 3pm. The doors close to tribe and we are so excited to be welcoming so many new members to the group. Make sure you check it out on our socials if you still can. But today we're chatting about our five top reasons you should be doing Michi concerts, I'm obsessed with mijia concert spec, and you I'm totally obsessed. And it blows my mind that so many studio owners don't do it. We we talk to people in the tribe all the time. And they're like, Yeah, we don't do a media concert. And that's crazy. And I think after listening to this, you guys will see our reasons why for sure. For sure. We've been doing Mid Year concerts for about 19 years, I think we started them after our second or third year because I very early on could see that, you know, netball, the kids play netball, if they play football, or whatever it is, they have these, you know, the parents have a chance to watch them all of the time. And to keep seeing that like, you know, continuous improvement. And it just never made sense why dad, especially for our recreational dancers only got to do that one concert a year. It just seems silly. Yeah, totally agree. And I think as well with COVID. Now, we need to be so much more on top of being in touch with our parents and making sure that they are a part of that dance journey, because they haven't been for two years, and they're probably still not as much as they could have been three years ago. So making sure that they've got that opportunity to see their kids and be a part of that journey is it's invaluable. For sure. Totally takes us into our top five reasons. So reason number one back. Yeah, So reason number one exactly that parents love it. Parents love to see their kids. Yeah, they love to see their kids dance, they love to be involved in it. And they really, really enjoy it. Yeah, 100%. So we do our major concerts. And we'll go through this a little bit more. But both Beck and I do like a very low key major concert. We're talking, you know, a school hall or a community theater, or as we're using basketball courts now. So super low key, super easy. And we do really short concerts like we're talking 45 minutes, sometimes maybe an hour tops. So I think that parents love that format, where the tickets are cheaper. It's so much more casual. It's not that proper big theater atmosphere that takes you know, all the energy, I guess. Yeah, it's in and out. It's super convenient. But they still get that concert feel where they get to watch the kids and the kids still get the concert feel, to show that they're, you know, show what they've been achieving in the last six months really, for sure. And I guess back in the day, and probably some studios still do what we used to do, like, you know, come in and do a viewing class or something like that. But I found that at our studio, especially that just doesn't work. Because, you know, the dad wants to say it, the grandparents want to see it. And you know, normally they're at work that you know, that's a reason, you know that they're being dropped at dance class. And usually it's because most parents are working in the afternoon still, or have errands to run or whatever it is. And it means so many parents, family members, friends, whatever, miss out on seeing that child before, but on top of that COVID regulations just make that super hard. Yeah, totally. It's also great for the kids to have something halfway through the year where they know they've got that thing looking forward to when they've got the whole year to wait until that concert. That's a long time. Like, I can't imagine, you know, you were talking about football before. Imagine if they had to train in football for a whole year before they played one game. That's never going to happen. So why do we make that happen with our dads kids? Like I think obviously, they've got that exciting six months, and then the next six months to the bigger and better kind of concept. Yeah, it works beautifully. For sure. And, you know, back to that football analogy, you know, imagine how that footballer would feel if they put you know, trained every week for you know, six months or whatever it was. Then they played one game and they had a bad game, which happens at our concerts, it's no different, you know, something might happen. Perhaps they're sick on the day, you know, they might stuff up, they might fall over whatever happens. That's like a whole year worth of training gone. So giving them smaller, you know, shows it gives them more opportunities, especially like I love it for the preschoolers where they can you know, you can really see See the growth in that six months period from our mid year concept to our interview concept kids that wouldn't get on stage at mid year, but then love it at interview, you know, you can see that so quickly with a little person. Yeah, we also try with preschool immediate, the teachers are definitely in front yet. But then especially the older preschool classes, by interview, we want them to be able to do a lot more of it by themselves. And we really point that out to our parents as well that they can see that that independence in that confidence is starting to happen.

Yeah, for sure. And you can see that huge growth in them. So parents love mid years, like, it is absolutely the highlight of most of my parents. Yeah, most of my parents love it even more than interview, I think, totally. So number two is additional revenue. Like, that's a no brainer, really. And you know, you definitely should be making money off your concerts, Amanda, and I do a lot of tutorials in the tribe about this. But yeah, just getting that additional revenue in is so important, for sure. And, you know, we're a business, we've got to make money, and having that chance to make some additional revenue in the middle of the year, you know, it can really help, whether it's a small amount or a large amount, and obviously, depending on your studio, is, is going to change that. But you know, we need that to sustain our businesses. You know, we've talked about before that our businesses are so different to any other type of business where most of us are closed 12 1314 weeks a year. So having something like the concert, which is basically going to, you know, create a couple of extra weeks revenue, I guess, for you, in turn and help you pay the rent through those close periods. Yeah, totally agree. And, you know, you can make lots of you can make money, different ways through your concert as well. So, you know, with your uniform sales, for example, which is our number three tip, I think that Amanda and I both run our concerts so that we sell to the kids wear uniform instead of wearing a costume. So it's not that extra expensive for parents then. But it also means that every single kid in your school is now going to be in uniform. Yeah, and just making even extra money through that is great, right? Oh, for sure. And, you know, we do the same. So we do a uniform for mijia concert that they have to wear. So then we can sort of say, you know, there's no extra expenses in in terms of that. But we do usually lease a new item, or something exciting coming up to media and all the parents want the new one for that they don't have to have it. Of course, if their budget doesn't allow it, they can wear the old one. But you know, if we've got a cool new T shirt, or the kids are gonna want that for mid year, so that really helps. Yeah, we do the exact same. And even like for the preschoolers like just bringing out it sounds silly, but just some extra scrunchie or bows that they haven't had before yet. Or the parents want to put the bow in their hair or want to put the scrunchie in or whatever it might be. So even thinking that much of what accessories they might like to have on stage I think is can be a game changer with that stuff, too. For sure. I was chatting to someone the other day who doesn't have uniform compulsory in their studio. And we're talking about, you know how they could start bringing it in. And perhaps this might be you perhaps at the moment uniform isn't compulsory in a day to day class. But if you do, maybe it's a great way to bring it in. And if this is something you're thinking of doing, you might like this tip, you know, where you start a major concert. And yes, uniform is not compulsory in class quite yet. And maybe it's moving that way. But you make it compulsory for the major concert, and then they're all going to have it anyway. So it just makes sense to keep moving that way. So it's a great way to introduce that uniform component into your studio as well. I love that. That's so smart. And look, those of you who don't have uniform, like really start to think about it because it is such an amazing extra revenue stream. I also think it creates our community it creates belonging. You know, I'm so big on uniform, I talk about it a lot because I feel like everyone deserves to be equal within that school. And I was the kid I always tell this story, but I was the kid at my dance school who was in the crappy Kmart leotard because I went to a ballet school and everyone else was in their beautiful block Capezio leotards and that's because my mum couldn't really afford it. And that's why I want everyone at my school to be in the same thing so that you don't have kids feeling that way. Like you want everyone to feel equal. And people love to be a part of things. Also, it's great advertising for you because when they leave dance class and go to the grocery store, they're wearing your stuff all the time. I know you always talk about your preschools in their purple tutus, we end up always we get so many people call up and go oh, you're the place where I always see the kids with the purple tutus walking around Woolies, you know, and I think that's such good brand awareness. But yeah, if you don't have a uniform and you know, maybe it's something you're thinking about bringing in perhaps just like a T shirt that they all have to wear for their major concert could be a great start. You know that they just have this you know, one t shirt, they're all wearing it instead of costume for big concert just with both like buy pants or whatever that is, it can be a great way to introduce uniform into your studio. So our top three tips so far have been the parents love it. Oh my gosh, they absolutely love it. extra revenue for you because we all need it sometimes and uniform sales. What's our tip number four big.

Tip number four is it gets the kids more confident, because the kids are going up on stage yet again, twice in the year if they're right kid, maybe but you know, the more you can get them up there, the better and the more confidence that it's going to grow in those kids, for sure. And that's what all of us AM. I know, we're business owners, but most of us are dance teachers at heart as well. And as a dance teacher, when you put that hat on, rather than a business owner, we want those students to be becoming better dancers becoming more confident becoming more confident humans, and you know, you know, growing their dance ability, and by putting them on stage more times a year, that's what's gonna happen for sure. Yeah, totally. And I think they look forward to that so much as well. You know, I teach in primary schools, as well as at my own school. And the thing that kids want the most is absolutely to get up on that stage. And you can make such a great big deal about it, you know, getting up on the big stage, I always say, and it's such an exciting moment for them be there in uniform or costume. It's, it's such an amazing feeling for them. And you know, the feeling they're going to have when they get off that stage. And they've achieved that you really, you can't even compare that like it's it's such an amazing experience for them. So number four is definitely those kids getting more confident and loving that experience. Oh, so so important, because that's what we want for our kids. We all loved performing, you know, as kids. So as much opportunity to do that for these other students. It's great. Yeah, and let's be honest, it's great for retention as well. We all know that, you know, sometimes kids are getting a little bit sick of things by the end of year concert, for example. And then you know, that concert is going to get them over the line to come back next year. But imagine if you did that mid year, of course, that's going to get them over the line for term three, which is absolutely perfect. So a very, very last thing is brand awareness. And I know you're all about this, Amanda. So let us start. For sure. And I love the content that we produce at mijia. I absolutely love it so much more than our interview. You know, we all love the you know, proper stage photography with the beautiful tutus and the awesome Hip Hop costumes and all of that, of course, however, at mijia concert, my kids have uniform on so I can use them to promote my studio so much better. Also, because of the different venues with back when I was talking my where we have our interview concert is you know, a proper theater. And they don't allow, you know, parents to take photos or videos in the theater as an audience member. But when we do it for mijia concert in a sports stadium, or a school hall, or whatever it is, I let the parents go nuts with taking videos and photos and they put it all over their social media, what better way of free advertising than that? Yeah, I couldn't agree more. And I think like it's, it's so important for us to remember that you can still get students in midway through the year, it's, you know, we have we have this mentality in Australia that you can just relax if the whole year but I'm a big believer in the media intake and how many kids you can get in there. And if all their friends are posting on social media about this amazing media concert that they've just done, and how much fun they've had, that's a great way for you to get all of those extra kids in in the middle of the year for sure. So we strategically place ours because we do our big week of intake for media the week after a big concert because everyone sees it all over socials and then all of a sudden we're advertising that we're open again, for enrollments and that really really helps us as well. So if you and I know it's hard because back and I've talked about this before as well that sometimes it's dance teachers you know, we feel quite protective of our choreography and all of that and don't allow parents to video things I'm so not all about that at mijia concert because Why stop them you know? Why not just say hey feel free we're so all about it. Grab your phones this is gonna be a great moment take photos, take videos and share them because you're giving me free publicity. Yeah, I'm I'm so all about it. In general, though, I think you know, it holding on to that means that your business isn't going to grow as much as it could. And if people are going to copy then they're the copier. And I said this in a call today like Mako pansy said to me the Paris cab, who's Steven tunnels trying to be like Steven Turner's like, Be your own cell over him try to copy you take it as a compliment, really, but I think putting yourself out there more especially letting your parents put you out there more is it's you're just going to get so much benefit from that for sure. For sure. So

we have a parent Rational photographer calm and just take so many, like, behind the scenes photos and make those magic moments at media concert, you know, the teacher high fiving the student backstage or giving them a hug, you know, the them running over to the parent who's been congratulating them, you know, we do the media walls and the balloons and the presentations and red carpets and all of the things and, you know, allow so many Instagrammable moments, I guess, because to me that content that you create, there is gold, and I use that for a whole year. Yeah, and let's be honest, that's what parents love. I know, that's what I love with my kids. You know, anything where we can take those photos and have that memory on Instagram, or Facebook is really what parents are after these days. And if you can help create that your brand is permanently on their Instagram and Facebook. You can't ask for more than that really? For sure for sure. So if you haven't thought of immediate concert before, we would love for you to consider it. Both Beck and i It's the highlight of our years. I love big concert so much more than interview because it's so much less stress. It's so much easier. Everyone feels more relaxed. So yeah, I love mijia concerts. If you haven't thought about it, we would definitely suggest that you think about a you know, even to starting a small version. It's not too late to get ready for it. Even if it's just a smaller one to start with or just you know certain students or whatever it is, but feel free to drop us a DM on Instagram dads, principals united. If you've got any questions about major concerts, we would love to help you with it. Have a great week. Friends, we can't wait to see you on next week's podcast. Thanks everyone. Bye