Speaker 1 0:00
Music. Hello friends. I'm Amanda Barr and I'm Rebecca Lew Brennan, and welcome to Dance principles united the podcast together.
Amanda Barr 0:10
We are passionate about helping studio owners with the business of running their studio
Speaker 1 0:14
Join us as we talk everything from marketing, systems, studio culture, motherhood, life and everything in between. This
Amanda Barr 0:22
is the dance principles United podcast, Hi friends and welcome to the dance principles United podcast, Beck, my friend, how are you? Have you recovered from Expo?
Speaker 1 0:36
I didn't even I have we're still on such a high. It was so amazing and epic. Everyone had the best time. Thanks to everyone for the amazing feedback about it. But yeah, still, still bouncing. It was so awesome, right? It
Amanda Barr 0:51
was so amazing. You know, we were talking off air before. It's kind of like an end of year concert, right? I always felt like it took me a good 10 days to come down after end of your concert to kind of recover because you spend the first few days, you know, still like riding that adrenaline high, still, you know, doing all the social posts and the thank you emails and all of those things that have got to go out and always feel it takes me a good 10 days to kind of recover from it. I feel the same for Expo.
Speaker 1 1:21
Oh, totally. I think it has been 10 days today, but it has. It's crazy, like it's just such a whirlwind event. But yeah, we met so many amazing people and just had the best
Amanda Barr 1:34
time. It was so awesome. It was so so good. But hey, we're here to talk about mid year showcases, because we're all moving on to the next thing in our studio. So we're super excited to talk about MIDI showcases, because it is the perfect time to start doing it. But should we start with a what is a MIDI showcase? Do you want to kind of dive into
Speaker 1 1:56
that? BEC, yeah, for sure. So we talk about like a MIDI showcase being a much lesser concert than your end of year showcase. So absolutely, yeah, some things that we talk to our clients about is like doing it with their uniforms on, instead of making parents buy a costume, maybe doing it in a lesser venue, like a school hall or a basketball court, and just still having a great event, but just making it more downplayed, right?
Amanda Barr 2:22
Absolutely, and I think a little bit more casual and fun. And I think sometimes our end of year concerts, you know, people see them as quite a formal event, right? Especially if you use a proper theater. You know, a theater is quite formal. The you know, even just having, like, the house lights off all of that kind of stuff, it makes it quite a formal event where people don't want to talk, they don't want to do too much cheering, except between dances. And I really love the vibe of a mid year concert or a mid year showcase, and it being a bit more like, Hey, we're at a football game, or, you know, that kind of a vibe. I really enjoy that. And I think it can be such a good thing for your business. It
Speaker 1 3:03
is and, like, connection is where it's at, and community. And, you know, at my mid year, Amanda, our parents get dressed up crazy for it. We have, like, dress up competitions. We have a dance off with the parents. Like, it's so fun, like, and I think parents do want to get into that, you know, because if you look at the football they all get dressed up in the colors of what they want their football team is, and they have the pom poms, and they do all the things for that, because they're fans, and you want your fans to be dressing up for your business. Absolutely,
Amanda Barr 3:37
I love that so much. I saw at yours last year, a lot of the parents had those little like, you know, like paddle pop sticks made with their student, their child's face. That was so cute, because they do that for the, you know, for the brothers, for example, when they're in the grand final. So why not let the dancers have that experience as well? That's so, so cute.
Speaker 1 4:00
I don't think you described that very well, but it's like, not a paddle pop stick. It's like a thing bigger
Amanda Barr 4:05
than your Yeah, like a mask.
Speaker 1 4:08
Yep, they got them printed out at easy signs and yes, so crazy. So with all
Amanda Barr 4:14
their like, they're, yeah, it's not a paddle pop stick. It's definitely massive,
Speaker 1 4:18
those massive heads. You know, the heads that they have that football, like those massive, yeah, core.
Amanda Barr 4:24
You'd be shocked to know I don't often go to the football back.
Unknown Speaker 4:28
I know, but like you've seen on TV,
Unknown Speaker 4:32
do I? Do I watch the football?
Amanda Barr 4:35
I don't have any boys in this house. This is an all girls house. This is not a football house in my house. But I'm sure our listeners know what we're talking about. And like, how cute is that? I love that so much. Your parents all had like signs like, you know, little Susie's number one supporter, go team eights, like, all of that kind of stuff. What a great um. A community environment that that's encouraging, you know. And I think Midge concert can be for so many things. It can be for that community engagement. It can also be a great profit center, right?
Speaker 1 5:13
Yeah, absolutely. I mean, you know, as long as you get a venue that's a bit smaller, I think you can charge less for your tickets, but probably sell more tickets. So yeah, I think it can make great profit, absolutely.
Amanda Barr 5:25
You know, we met with some of our studio growth club members, and some of them were doing, like, really decent amount of profit per student, which was really interesting to kind of know. So I think it's a great way to do that. It's also a great way to educate your parents, because you have them all like a captive audience in front of you. And I love nothing more than a mid year concert, than getting up and speaking on stage and speaking about, you know, the benefits of ballet, for example, or why the kids should do an acro class, or what is lyrical because educating your audience about that, you know, allows so many more upsells and allows for the kids to take more classes, because sometimes the parents just have no idea what lyrical is
Speaker 1 6:09
Right exactly. And I did this last year because we wanted to up our ballet and spoke to them about how ballet is the most important thing that they do if they ever want to dance, or if they want to get great at dance, and that it's a foundation, and told them all of that stuff. And guess how many people we had enroll into ballet after that? Amanda,
Amanda Barr 6:29
oh, you know, I want to know 3233 students that took up ballet because of the way you spoke about it, correct? That's insane, right? That is so incredible. And I think that shows the power of mid year showcase, because you can sit there with your, you know, with your grade four class, and talk about why they do the port de bras and what that means, and how that, you know, enhances their performance in their Jazz troop, or whatever that is for you, right? Like, there's so many great things to be able to talk
Speaker 1 7:07
about. And I, I was chatting to our SGC members about this yesterday, and I said, I feel like kids having to wait until the end of the year concert, and that's their one performance for the year. That's a long time absolutely wait for that. And I feel like I was thinking, you know, I always relate things back to Phoenix, but Phoenix hates training for soccer, hates it with passion, loves the games. So you guys happy to go to training to do the games, but I'm like, we aren't giving our dance kids the game experience unless they're competitive. So if they're a red kid. They only get one game a year at the end of your concert, so long time, and that's absolutely
Amanda Barr 7:47
and that's, you know, that's a shame for the kids, because they get bored with the training, right? Like inverted commas, the training, the class. It's the same thing. And it's also sad for the parents, because the parents want to see a child's progress. They want to see, you know, how they move along the scale, just like they do at a football game, right? Because at a football game, every single week, they get to see the progress,
Speaker 1 8:14
yes. So I think that, in itself, is a great reason to do mid year. I also don't think it's too late to start a mid year. Like, if you, if you're listening to this today, and you're like, oh, but it's, it's April, I don't know if I should do a mid year. You can just hire a little I feel like 10 weeks out is plenty of time to give a parent notice that they're going to do a mid year concert. Absolutely, one of the things we always teach is no opt ins, right? Amanda, like, don't ask.
Amanda Barr 8:42
Say they are doing it. Absolutely the opt in thing, like, for both mid year and end of year, you know, if you have signed up for the netball team, you don't get asked if you're going to the game. It is presumed that you're going to the game, that here is the time of the game you will be there, unless you tell me otherwise, because you're on a holiday, but you don't actually write that. That's just a like, presumption. So same thing with mid year concert, and I love that it isn't too late. It's April at the moment. You can get it together really quickly. End of term two is the perfect time to do a mid year. So if someone's listening to this Beck and they're like, Oh, but I can't, because, you know, we're working towards exams, and so I don't have time to teach my kids a dance, because we're working towards we've got our ballet exams in July, or whatever that is. What do you say to that? And how do you kind of get around that? Or what suggestions would you have from a teaching point of view? Yeah,
Speaker 1 9:34
for sure. I think you could just demonstrate two of the exercises. I think that would be totally fine, and that's it. That's all you need to do. Maybe they run from one place on the stage to the other, and you put a bit of Interlude Music in, and you practice that. We just edit
Amanda Barr 9:50
the music through, like put it on a loop, whatever that is that's
Speaker 1 9:54
even too hard. Just be on the microphone and say, okay, grade three ballet will now demonstrate their portal. Up. Grade Three ballet will now demonstrate their petiole grow, and now they'll demonstrate their Grand Ole grow at the end. See you later. Grade Three ballet like so simple parents would love I've seen that as well. I know my parents love to watch their exam work after they've done their exams. We make a big deal of that, and I think it's good for them to see what the kids are achieving and where they're at with that stuff.
Amanda Barr 10:19
Absolutely and I love a mid year concert so much more than like a viewing day, because a lot of people go, Oh, we have a viewing week, so therefore we don't need a mid year concert. But what about dad that's working at four o'clock on Tuesday afternoons, like, because that's what most parents like. They've dropped their kid at dancing and they're trying to juggle work around. And what about the fact that there's not really enough room for the grandparents to come in at the studio, or they're still at work, or, you know, the grandparents don't want to come five days to watch five different dance classes because you or, you know, the last 10 minutes of different classes that are all spread out across the week, like that's all really, really hard to manage. I can't think of anything worse, like my my girls usually do. You know, four classes in a row. If I was invited to the last 10 minutes of every class, I'd have to sit there in between. Like that is so annoying. As a parent, I'd so much rather go on a Sunday for an hour and watch all their like performances. But
Speaker 1 11:18
even sitting there for four hours. How boring? Like, that would be so boring, like, if you were allowed to watch the entire class, that is,
Amanda Barr 11:29
that is torture, and, you know, like, obviously, you'd do it, but you wouldn't be bringing other people. You wouldn't be bringing the siblings. You wouldn't, you know, it, that's really, really hard. So I think really think about it from a parent's perspective and what they want to see. And to me, I'd so much rather go to a Sunday at a basketball like, you know. So this is how we do it a basketball court on a Sunday. It's an hour show. It's really fun for the grandparents, for the siblings. It's like a bit of a vibe. It's fun. I'd rather go do that and see all of my children's routines in that one show, and then be like, done with it. Then have to sit there and go to all of their classes for the week, for example. Yep,
Speaker 1 12:11
absolutely. And I think as well, like parents, you know, it doesn't feel like it's the game. Then either, if it's just done in the classroom, it doesn't feel like it for the kids, not exciting or special. Exciting. It's nothing special about it. Exactly. I think parents would rather see their kids get up on stage and do something that's a bit out of the ordinary. If that makes sense. I agree. I agree, something special and giving it a moment. All right, so what some of your top tips for making a mid year showcase incredible back I think my best top tip is to make it Instagramable. So, you know, make sure that there's places where the kids can get photos, doing a photo wall, or doing some balloons, something like that. Make sure there's places for parents to tag and ask the parents to tag you. That's such a thing that lots of people we talk to don't do, but just asking for the tag is so, so important. And then I have a really random top tip. Amanda, okay, blew people's minds the other day, but it is so random. So putting tap shoes on children first, especially preschoolers, because they're the hardest shoes to get on. I know that sounds so simple, but it's such a like, it's such a game changer to not have to do the buckle and the tap shoe and to actually have them start in that. And then my teacher the other day was like, why don't we do that in class? Why are we doing jazz then tap when it's so hard to put their tap shoes on. Why aren't we asking children to arrive in tap shoes? And I was like, popping that is so obvious.
Amanda Barr 13:46
Absolutely, that makes so much more sense, right? Especially when they're doing like a tap jazz combo class or something like that. Did you always do the jazz first in a tap jazz I didn't do, I didn't do jazz tap combos. So I've never had that issue personally, right? But, yeah, I can totally say why? Because tap sheets are hard to do up. Like, yeah, really hard. Absolutely. So, so good. I love those top tips. And you know, to me the Instagrammable moments. The big thing for me is doing it in uniform, like I've spoken to people before, where they're like, oh, but I'd love to do costume. My parents love costume. I'm like, Yeah, cool. But my biggest benefit of mid year showcase for me was the fact that the I could use that content, I could use those photos for promotions for an entire year, because they were in uniform. And so I actually didn't get a photographer at the end of your concert like, which is, you know, shock horror. Some people are like, Oh my god, I'm like, because I can't do anything with those photos myself, because I don't love using promotional photos on stage like that. That didn't work for my brand. I don't think it's actually a great way to because I think it like scares people off. It's a bit dance, mommy, right? Um. Think photos of kids in uniform, that's a bit more natural work. So much better for promotional so Midge concert was like my content day, where I would have professional photographers taking, not so much on stage photos, some of those, but more so behind the scenes photos, photos of the kids, you know, giving a high five to their teacher, photos of them saying hi, like all of that stuff, and in their uniform and in their branding like that is such gold for marketing, right?
Speaker 1 15:30
So smart. And I know like that you always did a merch release just before mid year, and we do too something special, because one lots of people will buy it to wear at the concert. So it's great profit. But two then, you know, they're all in the cool new uniform as well. Like, it's just no brainer, really, right?
Amanda Barr 15:51
Absolutely, it's such a good choice to do it. And you know, we always had so many parents. You know, I was talking to one of our members the other day that so many of our parents, when they had, like our preschool tutu, for example, they would always time it. So they bought a new one right before mid year concert. So it was always like a fresh like, if they did three years worth of preschool, for example, they always wanted the fresh one, you know, the mid year week, so that it looked really good for the mid year photos. Sounds like I loved that. It was such a thing that kind of became and so many parents would go that I always buy a new one for mid year concert. I always want one that because they lose their stiffness and all of that kind of stuff of the of the chore. And I think that's such a clever thing. So I think if you're ever bringing in a new uniform to bring it in for mid year concert is such a vibe, because the kids all want it. They're like, oh, I want to look good for mid year concert. So it's the perfect time to buy it, right?
Speaker 1 16:48
I love it. It's like, how you always buy the new school uniform for school photos. It's the exact same thing, right? Like, yes. So, so smart. Any other tips for Amanda? Um,
Amanda Barr 16:59
I think it's important to make it really casual and fun. I think, number one, I think the studio owner should be emceeing it always, or someone in that position, because it should be casual. And you know to me, and I think you do the same back at yours, I was always the one on MC going, and it was okay for like, little mistakes. Alright, Susie's just changing her shoes. She won't be a second. All right, the jazz class, oh, look, now they're ready. Let's hear it for jazz grade two, whatever it was, I think that really brings your personality and brings you to the front of your studio as the figurehead, which is so important for your sales and your standing in the community. So I think that's really, really important. I do, like, you know, giving all the kids special moments. So we do a red carpet. You do that as well at the end, where every child has a moment to come down. So as well as their, you know, performance in their routine, they have another moment to shine, and whether that's a finale or a one at a time red carpet kind of moment, I think that's such a a special thing for
Speaker 1 18:09
our families, don't you? Think? I also think trying to let everyone have a turn in front like, yes, just at mid year concert, it should be everyone has a turn, and allowing that opportunity for them to get that turn, because parents do want to be able to see their kids, and absolutely they don't, their kids stuck at the back the whole time. So training your staff on that's really important,
Amanda Barr 18:30
absolutely. You know, I had a whole session the other day about making sure that you put your expectations on your teachers. The choreography expectations and putting that on them. Now, if you're planning your mid year concert, everyone must, you know, for me, it was everyone must have a turn in the front. No one is allowed to be off stage at mid year concert. Routines have to finish on stage because I want that photo at the end. You know, I had very specific things that they had to hit. It it had to be between two minutes and two minutes 30. And they were like, what I put in, you know, and whatever it is for you, right? But, you know, training your staff on hitting those goals, I guess, and also explaining the why to that, you know, I didn't love having small groups on stage, even though, like, let's be honest, usually visually that looks better sometimes, and it's a great choreography tip for, you know, performance groups or whatever. But mid year concert isn't the time for that.
Speaker 1 19:32
I agree. I agree. I love that. And I love that you're thinking about training your staff in that and putting those expectations. Also love that you said two or two minutes 30, like, I just feel like sometimes if routines drag on and on and on for no reason,
Amanda Barr 19:45
I hate long routines. I'm
Speaker 2 19:47
such a like, two minutes 30 tops and get off the stage,
Speaker 1 19:51
literally, like, that's enough. That's plenty for them to see their child do a few things. I think we overthink that parents don't think. That longer is better. They get bored and they actually get over it. You want them. You'd rather leave them wanting more, right, than sitting there going kill me. Now, get me out of here. Like it's just such a nightmare having to watch things for so long, right? Oh,
Amanda Barr 20:15
absolutely, absolutely. Hey, I'd love to ask you one more question, what do you charge for your mid year concert ticket wise? Is that a hard question to answer, and it's going to be dependent on your venue?
Speaker 1 20:29
Yeah, we do so many of them, um, my preschool, I'm pretty sure we charge 35 but it is quite a high end venue. Yeah. And then my troop, I think we just charge 20 because it's quite a low end venue. We do a circus acro mid year as well, and that's probably in between those two. So sorry, that's a really random answer. I think
Amanda Barr 20:50
that's great to know, because people need to know the price, because obviously it is dependent on your venue and your costings for that and what's appropriate,
Speaker 1 20:59
yes, and I think that's where people go. Oh, how much are you charging for mid year? And then they want to copy each other. But you actually do need to work out what your venue cost is, your staffing cost for the day, all your other expenses that are going to happen. Then make yourself a profit. Work out how many kids you've got. How many tickets do you think they'll sell each three each usually is what we would work it out to be. And then you can actually make an educated decision on that, instead of just going, Oh, well, Joe blogs down the roads charging 20. So I'm going to charge 20 because that's not really relevant.
Amanda Barr 21:33
Absolutely. I love that. I think that's so so valuable. And personally for me, I think that, you know, the venue choice is really, really important. I think, I think I see too often studios just going for, like, an easy venue choice, right, which isn't always the best or the cheapest. So really, like, do your research. Go see a heap like take the time go and look at a whole heap of venues and think outside the box. Because, you know, the profit can be very different based on which venue you choose. The vibe can be very different. What you can charge for tickets. I loved being able to charge less for mid year concert tickets. I really loved that I could keep it quite low, yeah, so, but I do think, like, you know, think a little bit outside the box, like, you know, for me, I ran ours in a basketball stadium, and I loved that. That worked really well because it had the tiered seating that was, like, you know, the bench seating, kind of tiered seating, and we put target down, and we built wings and a back stage, and that worked really, really well for us, because we could keep it low. It was like, different kind of vibe, and then the theater experience at the end of year was very different. But yes, yeah, I don't know. I think sometimes you've got to go, like, searching for those venues, whether that's a church or a school or a basketball stadium or a community center. You know, it's not just like googling theaters in my area. Oh, there's just that one theater I always go to.
Speaker 1 23:06
Yep, yep, exactly. I've been chatting to so many different clients about this this week, Amanda and giving them different ideas. But you know, a lot of schools have halls, like you said, we use a basketball court for one of ours as well. So yeah, there's lots, there's, there is lots of options out there. If you go looking absolutely
Amanda Barr 23:24
if you're watching us on YouTube, I've got like, something buzzing around my microphone, and I'm, like, spent the whole time trying to, like, squat, flap it away. So you'll have to
Speaker 1 23:34
excuse me. I thought, No, you're fanning yourself. No,
Amanda Barr 23:38
I've got, like, a bug that's, like, keeps flying into the light because I've got a light on me, and it's just not working for me today. So you'll have to excuse me anyways.
Speaker 1 23:49
To finish that's a great way to finish up with your big bug,
Amanda Barr 23:55
absolutely. Hey, we'd love to know if you've thinking about doing a mid year concert, and you're inspired by this. We have heaps of tutorials in dance, principles, United tribe about mid year concert. And we hope you've we've inspired you to do a mid year showcase Absolutely
Speaker 1 24:11
guys. So have a think about it. Inbox us if you need any help, we're always here for all of you. And yeah, we will chat to you all next week. Have an amazing week. Bye. See
Amanda Barr 24:20
you. Bye. We hope you enjoyed this episode of the dance principles United podcast. If you'd love to learn more from us, we have a special offer just for our podcast listeners, go to the link in the show notes right now to get two weeks free in dance principles United tribe. We would love to see you there you.
Transcribed by https://otter.ai
