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So you want to be a Seminar sponsor?


The Glamorous Job of Seminar Sponsor

 

I may not be able to help you avoid taking out the trash, but I can save you from making some costly mistakes!  The buck stops with the sponsor...and sometimes that's big bucks.  Avoid the pitfalls, learn from a pro.

space.gif (810 bytes)This article first appeared in and is copyrighted by The Caravan Magazine, reprinted in its entirety by permission. Subscriptions to The Caravan Magazine can be obtained through email: caravan@avana.net  or visit the  Caravan Magazine website

by Zarifa Sa'id

I begin my association with Caravan with excitement as it provides me the opportunity to interact with a larger audience than has been possible. After 22+ years in government as an economist and manager, I took early retirement so that I could spend more time dancing. I've spent approximately the same number of years performing and teaching Middle Eastern Dance, organizing workshops and shows, directing a troupe and starting up the Washington Area Mid East Dance Association. In spite of that, I've always looked upon my dance related activities as a hobby--one which my "career" job often had to pay for in spite of my efforts to make money.
That was OK, after all, we all do this for the art, not the money. Right? Well, I took my "early-out", packed my bags (and furniture and cat and so on) and moved to a lower cost area where I have family. Being panicked at suddenly having nothing to do, I immediately set up dance classes at a local exercise studio, scheduled three (possibly four) major workshops, began vending costume accessories and attended local seminars to promote my events. Lots of fun! Then reality set in. My retirement income would not provide enough to pay for living expenses plus dance activities. My dance program would have to pay for itself and hopefully add a small amount to my income as well!
Consequently, I am now in the process of reorganizing my thoughts about my dance business--that's right. I'm now beginning to think about my dance activities as a business rather than as a hobby. This means planning, instituting financial controls, developing a marketing strategy and thinking about each step in a businesslike way. In addition to improving the bottom line, developing business skills and professionalism in behavior should help achieve another of my goals which is to increase the recognition and acceptance of this art form.
Shalimar has asked that I share this thought process by reviewing various aspects of the business of producing seminars and seminar shows, especially the pitfalls. I'd like to think of it as a dialog with you. I would appreciate comments and suggestions for this series. Please contact Shalimar at Caravan. In general, I'll address the question: how do you take this workshop from a gleam in your eye to a lump in your throat as people congratulate you on the wonderful experience you provided them? The series will cover topics such as dealing with vendors, performers, hotels, bands, and so forth.
I'll begin in this issue with some thoughts on the planning stages. The first step in developing the gleam in your eye is to think long and hard about why you want to produce this workshop. Do you enjoy long hours and hard work with little potential financial return and considerable financial risk? If so, step right up. In twenty plus years of producing workshops, I've never made enough to consider that I earned minimum wage for my time. I have on a couple of occasions lost a few hundred dollars. Over that same time period, I have observed a few persons net in the neighborhood of $1500 or maybe more, and I have twice known of people to lose $5,000+, enough that one of them needed a second mortgage on the house to pay the bills.
So be very clear with yourself about why you want to undertake this effort. My personal reasons for producing workshops begin with the fact that I consider the process of putting together a successful workshop and show to be creative. I enjoy creating professional, attractive flyers, creating tables and spread sheets to track dancers and money, designing a show format that helps the performers do their best and that receives accolades from the audience, and dealing with the personality problems and last minute glitches that make you tear your hair out. I enjoy overcoming all that and bringing things to a successful conclusion.
Consequently, I achieve artistic satisfaction without respect to financial reward. Also, I enjoy being recognized as a good workshop producer and get some ego gratification out of that. The second reason why I produce workshops is that I feel that in some small way I am contributing to the improvement in standards for Belly Dance by creating educational opportunities and that I am educating the general public by producing high quality shows. Finally, in looking at the total picture of running a dance business, seminars provide the opportunity for people to perform which in turn gives them incentive to take classes and buy costume apparel. In addition, a good seminar elevates everyone's morale (including mine) and gets creative juices flowing for a period of time by providing cross fertilization of ideas. I believe workshops provide the lifeblood of this art form by stimulating communication of styles, ideas and technique. If this makes sense to you, possibly you should continue to plan a workshop. If it doesn't, then you might think twice about proceeding.
The second critical step is to think very carefully about the size of workshop that the market in your area will support. I can't emphasize this point enough. Failure to recognize the limitations of one's market area is the major cause of people losing money on workshops. It is tempting to think that one can do it bigger and better and that others attract only 20 workshop attendees because they are doing something wrong. But, if workshops in your area have only drawn 20 or so participants in recent years, planning a workshop that has costs beyond the income that 20 people will provide is folly. It is very important to research and pay attention to the history of workshop and show attendance in your area. Only if you can figure out a way to attract a market segment that no one else has should you plan for more. For example, suppose you have a connection with an ethnic community that no one else has and consequently could expect to draw the usual crowd plus some people from the ethnic community. You might legitimately expect to draw a larger audience than have others. In general, though, you should be guided by the past in establishing your expectations. After determining the expected size of your workshop and a price that the market in your area would bear (again consider what others have done), you will have some idea of the total amount you can plan to spend (or a budget). This will affect all other decisions, including choice of artist, choice of space, and frills you can provide.

Next issue, I'll review considerations connected with having vendors at your workshop.

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