Promoting the Square Dance activity is currently the most important thing on our Callers Association's agenda. The combined Associations in NSW are about to spend up to $30,000 to promote Square Dancing. If this is as successful as we believe it will be, it will benefit callers from all parts of Australia, with focus on NSW, by generating beginner interest that hasn’t been seen for many years.

During the callers meeting held at the NSW State Convention in 1997, it was concluded that numbers in Square Dancing have been shrinking at an accelerated pace over the last few years. In fact many clubs in NSW are teetering on extinction, and other states have reported significant numbers of club that have gone beyond this and closed over the past year. It was decided that we need to act NOW while there are still funds available within the activity, and while we still had dancers to carry out demos'.

What has Happened So Far?

During April this year, a survey of over 500 non square dancers was conducted in Sydney and several country areas. In essence, the survey showed that up to 40% of the non square dancers surveyed would be willing to give square dancing a try under the right circumstances. This result applied for all age groupings! The survey also brought out a number of interesting results that should allow individual callers to gain a bigger share of the existing potential dancer market. One copy of the survey results along with my explanatory notes is available for loan through Andy Lown (you pay postage)

The survey results show that Square Dancing would benefit greatly from a formal PR program. The most common comments were ‘I thought Square Dancing died out years ago’ or ‘I am not quite sure what square dancing is?’ In fact, the survey results were much better than anticipated - so positive in fact that the PR firm believes that they can make Square Dancing as well known as Line Dancing or River Dance (even 1/100^th of this would be beneficial). Specifically the desirable goal is to double the number of dancers by the end of the six months. The thrust of the promotion is threefold 1) to raise public awareness of Square Dancing, 2) to generate interest and excitement and 3) to update our image so that it is acceptable in the 90’s world. Basically, this will be achieved by convincing key people in TV, radio, magazine and newspapers that a Square Dance Boom is on the way, and that this revival is a ‘New Square Dancing’. Even if we change nothing from the way we conduct square Dancing now, the media likes to report on things they can call ‘New’

The NSW Callers Association has approached the NSW Square Dance Society and the Competition Society and both have embraced the project. The three Square Dancing bodies will jointly finance and run the six-month PR program, each having committed significant funds to this initiative. We have set up a joint committee who will oversee the project, while allowing the PR firm to implement their strategy on a day to day basis.

The start date has not been set, but could be as early as this July, hopefully with callers able to take advantage of increasing beginner interest as early as September.

The cynical view says that all that money spent could have little impact. The view we have taken in NSW is that irrespective of result, we have to proceed now - before it is too late.

The NSW Round Dance Council, NSW Cloggers, and the Canberra Society have also been involved in the initial implementation and continue to keep up to date with the developments. The news was delivered to the other Australian States at the meetings at the National Convention and in more detail at the Minilab. Other States were not asked to assist with funding, but were informed that the campaign would be featured in both NSW and national media, hence they should be aware of what is going to happen. If the PR firm's results are as good as we expect, then it may be possible for other states to financially join the campaign while it is still running, for a more focused and complete message within their home State. Their may also be potential to extend the length of the overall program for continued impact.

The PR firm should be able to raise public awareness of Square Dancing, generate excitement and interest, and give our activity a more positive image. They cannot however transfer this into new dancers in your club - that is up to you.

Some clubs are already at a size that the caller is happy with, some clubs are already attracting enough beginners and some clubs may not want the 25 to 45 year old age group in their memberships, but for most clubs new dancers would be welcome.

In future issues we will pass on recommendations from the PR firm and the committees working on this promotion for you to have maximum success in roping in interested potential dancers.

In broad terms, remain flexible as to when to take beginners, retain options for adequate size beginner halls and/or extra nights, review your flier or advertising wording.

It is too early to tell them too much, but it is worth alerting them to the impending ‘revival of Square Dancing’ PR campaign. They should be made to feel part of the process, initially by getting them to start thinking about how they can help, and by advising them that people may be required to help in various ways at demonstrations for the media as early as August.

The PR program will present Square Dancing as New and different. At the appropriate time you will need to assure your dancers that this does not mean their activity is changing from what we know and love. Modern Square Dancing is different from the ‘Oh Johnny’ 40’s and 50’s perception the public has.

Before we decided to proceed, the Callers Association recognised and accepted the down side, that a successful PR program, as well as providing new dancers, would generate instant ‘new untrained callers’ chasing the pot of gold. These may be Line Dance, Ball Room or other dance teachers or even entrepreneurs off the street.

To turn this into a positive, the Callers Association is poised to run intensive caller schools at short notice. You will be able to help by identifying such individuals, and by helping us bring them under the influence of the callers association and the two societies, to best protect our codes of ethics, our standards and Square Dancing’s wholesome reputation.

Our Executive’s new training and education officer is putting "finishing touches" on a schedule of short seminars for existing NSW callers. These will be timed to address each issue at the time it arrises, for maximising the beginner intakes during this promotion, and then to subsequently keep the dancers. Written summaries of each seminar will be available for all callers from around the state who cannot attend.

If you are aware of training topics that you or others could benefit from please let Peter Offord know ASAP

The PR firm will come up with many novel things to catch the media’s attention. They have not asked for ideas or help because they are not aware that many NSW callers and dancers are highly skilled at dreaming up novelties and fun events. Any ideas, old or new, that you think of should be forwarded to the combined PR committee as soon as you think of them.

Things that are fun for us may be presentable by the PR firm to make them highly appealing to the media and general public. The sorts of things they are considering are: a Sinatra tribute dance (one night show style for the mass public); a New Square Dance Dress competition run in TAFE Colleges throughout Australia (we don’t have to use the result, just for publicity to a younger age group).

The second phase of the PR program involved (Callerlab Chairman) Laural Eddy-Moseley’s three week media tour. The full list of the extensive number of PR engagements at which Laural spoke or performed during her three week stay will be printed in the October Square Dance Review, along with the results achieved. I don’t know how she kept up the pace, seven days a week (I had to take breaks from the program). Our cap goes off to APR for handling the complex logistics, with only short notice of the confirmation of Laural’s visit.

Many thanks go to those that took significant time off work, provided sound equipment, transportation for Laural and the dancers, and provided accommodation. For many of us, the effort meant we completely lost three weeks of our lives for the benefit of all dancers and callers in NSW. Special mention to David Todd, Kevin Little, Wilma Flannery, and of course the many young dancers who unselfishly took time off school or work to attend any promotions they could get to, not just for their own areas or clubs.

If your club has been called on to provide dancers, would you please thank the dancers for their efforts. If you were not, the PR program is not over yet. The media kept forcing changes to the planned schedules to compliment other news events, even on the day, making it difficult to keep rescheduling the movements of too many demo dancers from too many clubs.

There has been an unexpected benefit for the clubs that have provided dancers. After performing, the dancer mind-set changes to one of desperately wanting to find ways to seek out new beginners to "save" Square Dancing. This is good because word of mouth remains our best recruitment tool. I encourage you to listen to these driven dancer’s ideas, and use them. If they are suitable for the benefit of multiple clubs, even better. Please pass any PR ideas on to me or to the others on the committee, for the benefit of all.

To remain in the face of the public we need to generate newsworthy situations, ranging from club level events, to things such as the current fund raising at all clubs for the Wollongong floods that may have statewide media interest. Any ideas from you and your dancers that we can run with are not only welcome, they are essential for the success of the program. I want you to do the following as your bit to the campaign:

1. Explain to your dancers that for the long term continuation of this activity that we all love, we need to promote and grow it now, before it is too late.
2. Ask for them to think up ideas to help promote Square Dancing both State wide, and for your club.
3. If you see anyone in Square Dancing expressing negative comments re the PR program, Stomp on it. A positive image for Square Dancing starts from within. Ask them to channel their thoughts to help the promotion - suggest they call me and ask how they can contribute.
4. Tell dancers there are no changes to what they wear to any major Square Dance Function. What you expect them to wear at your club, and at your new beginner’s classes, is your choice alone - assure them accordingly. In the PR campaign we are promoting what most clubs expect beginners to initially wear - casual clothes, rather than what they will wear several months into the activity when they are dressing up to go to major dances. Some dancers are thinking that the resulting "new dress style’ PR hype is directed at them, it is not, except when they are helping at beginners classes.
5. Seriously consider advertising for beginners now.
6. Consider what age range/ranges of dancers you ideally want in your club(s), and target your promotions accordingly. Personally I want 25 to 45 year olds because they bring children and grand parents, making the most stable club structure for the long term. However if I was a 60+ year old caller, I would want most of my new dancers to be 50+, as I would relate to them better, and could give them a more pleasing social night out, thus making my club more stable.
7. You may be able to attract a younger age group of beginners by initially playing down Square Dance Dress, and using lively modern non-hillbilly music at demos (perhaps with some younger dancers borrowed from neighbouring clubs). If you are able to attract a young crowd, then you should consider if it would be beneficial (or practical) to hold the beginners class as an entirely separate club to your existing dancers.
8. If you are in an area with multiple clubs, make arrangements with the other clubs to determine which clubs cater only for mature dancers, which are for 25 to 45s and which are taking children, and direct new dancers accordingly. It may be better to send beginners who are the in a different age group to your club, to a club of their own age group, rather than to hold onto them. Because beginners are so rare, it would be a shame to have them quit after a few months or weeks due to a generation gap.

Gain or Loose dancers - your choice:

As APR reiterated this week: "God helps those who help themselves". APR can, and are, raising the profile of Square dancing, but it is up to you to take advantage of it. Are you placing adds, doing demos, preparing fliers, and getting ready to do all the things that stopped working some time ago?

In the next few weeks APR will help us to develop more modern fliers and other promotional material (to be prepared in consultation with the PR committee). Chase us for them if you need them, as getting these out "in due course" may take too long.

The program continues to chew up large amounts of time each week for those working directly on it. With so many callers and dancers pushing the barrow on your behalf, I hope you are putting in the extra effort to take advantage of our efforts for you.

To refresh your memory the aim was to turn a 20% annual decline in dancers, that would lead to most clubs closing over the next five years, hopefully into a 10% increase per annum. Many clubs are calling to say how delighted they are with the results. Some examples:

• Tony Alessi two intakes ago got 7 dancers, in the next he got 3. In the current intake during the PR program he got 15 dancers.
• David Todd has done two intakes during the PR program and has gone from under two squares to around seven squares.
• PR commitments stopped me from starting beginners until three weeks ago. I have gone from 1.5 squares to nearly 5 squares.

Most of the new dancers still come from hard work and enthusiastic promotion DONE BY YOURSELF, but the PR program directly helps. Some of the new incoming dancers talk about the ‘New Square Dancing craze’ they have seen in the media. Others are old dancers inspired to return for beginner refresher courses as a result of being reminded about Square Dancing in the media, and others are as a result of the increased media hype encouraging the existing dancers to be more enthusiastic, and less embarrassed about their word of mouth invitations.

Soon the initial six month program will draw to a close, and we will need to decide if it would be beneficial to continue it in some form. To help us in this decision, your feedback would be appreciated. If you have tried to promote beginners lately, has our State Level effort helped. Even if it gave you one dancer we want to know. If we decide it is (as a bare minimum) reducing the decline, we may continue.

The big problem is not funding, it is the time and effort various committee members and dancers have to contribute. If you think about it the effective level of funding required is less than $20 per year from each couple dancing in NSW and if this gives us more dancers it will enrich weekly clubs along with weekends and society dances etc. and will also benefit the competitions.

We have been approached by QLD with a view to getting another PR program going. Along with the NSW Square Dance Society, we have agreed to be part of such a program provided the following can be satisfied:

• It is a National program involving a number of states to spread the cost and better promote square dancing.
• All participating states come up with the money up front, so that no state can be left holding the can.
• The program goes for a full year so that it overlaps all club beginner start dates.
• The PR firm is paid to make contact with all callers directly 2 to 3 months before the start so that all callers understand what to do to get the most benefit for their local club.

If at least four major states joined the program the NSW Callers Association would need to contribute $4000. Andy indicated at the last callers meeting that we currently have just over $3000 in kitty. This brings me to our next fund raising exercise: NSW Callers Variety Concert 2000.

Ted Thomas is the Coordinator for the next fund raising Variety Concert to be held on the 2^nd July 2000 at Beverly Hills NSW. Tedda Brooks is the MC.

National Bumper Stickers using our 1-800 toll free number. These are working well in NSW & Western Australia with an increase in enquiries for new dancers & One Night Shows. (People who call the toll free number are asked where they got it, answer bumper stickers) If you do not have bumper stickers for your dancers contact Fred Meads. I also have a large supply.

Keep on calling, and keep on trying for beginners

Steve Dean, President