Thread: Sponsoring a "name" to come teach a workshop

I am considering sponsoring a well known dancer to come teach a workshop in my area. I know some of you have experience in organizing workshops so I am wondering if you have any helpful bits of advice for me while I try to figure out how to do it. I've never organized a belly dance event before! My husband thinks I am nuts to even consider it. I must like being stressed out. ..l;,

This is not to rain on your plans.

You stated that you have never organized a bellydance event.

You might want to consider hosting a hafla first. Going straight into a "name" performer workshop seems a bit risky if you haven't organized other events before, both financially and personal time-wise. Start smaller and get a feel for the amount of work an event truly is. There are lots of details that most attendees are never aware of. Doing something smaller allows you the space to learn and make mistakes that don't risk a lot of your hard-earned money.

Best of luck which ever way you choose.

Webdiva has a point.

If you are new to event organising, and if you are not an established teacher yourself, you won't have an existing clientele, so starting with lower-key, local-ish or not so well known, but cheaper, teachers for workshops would be a good way of learning the ropes, building up a good mailing list/pool of client students and really getting to know what your local community needs/wants. It would also hopefully allow you to build up a cash reserve to bankroll the Big Name workshop. That's how the most successful workshop sponsors I know built up their businesses. Incidentally all the most successful workshop sponsors I know are teachers themselves, so they have a ready-made pool of students, and a strong up-to-date mailing list, and the means to enthuse and encourage them to take workshops with other teachers.

Even a Big Name is often not enough in itself to bring the students running to sign up, moreso at a time like this, when people are watching the pennies. A big name in one style may attract only the students in that style. E.g. Rachel Brice is not going to be a big draw for local Egyptian style dancers, Aziza isn't going to be a big draw for ATS/ITS dancers. Yes, of course they are both capable of imparting useful and inspiring material that crosses styles, and a good student will realise that they can learn from a teacher who dances in a different style, but at a general level, there will inevitably be a view that Big Name is "not my style", and if you want/need the workshop to appeal to a wider base of students, you will need to do some hardcore marketing, to all sectors of your local dance community.

Here's a few prior threads to get you started also:

http://www.bhuz.com/forum/business-b...op-advice.html
http://www.bhuz.com/forum/business-b...ere-start.html
http://www.bhuz.com/forum/business-b...questions.html
http://www.bhuz.com/forum/business-b...-big-name.html
http://www.bhuz.com/forum/business-b...-workshop.html

Thanks for the help everyone. Though new to organizing belly dance events I have experience organizing large corporate events. I would imagine some of the same principles would apply. I am definitely concerned with marketing it to a wide crowd so I can at least break even. I'll check out the other threads too.

yeah, I went from Prom planning experience to workshop hosting. Planning a prom for 200-400 teenagers definitely helped with some of organization and cost aspects. And I volunteered at a number of events, so I saw some of the "backstage" work there too.

Originally Posted by stardancer

Thanks for the help everyone. Though new to organizing belly dance events I have experience organizing large corporate events. I would imagine some of the same principles would apply. I am definitely concerned with marketing it to a wide crowd so I can at least break even. I'll check out the other threads too.

I think there is a difference between having a name and being a draw. And it is sometimes surprising to see who falls into which category (obviously sometimes it is an overlap). My advice would be, if you have a specific teacher in mind, to call their *recent* prior sponsors and ask them how easy or difficult it was to promote the instructor.

Of course, I know every region is different, but if you talk to a few different promoters who have worked wiht the person you will get a sense of whether it is economically feasible, and you can also get an idea of whether your work style might mesh well with the instructor. sometimes it's just all about finding the person who has a similar vibe to your own.

Good luck with your event! Let us know how it turns out.

Well now I'm curious who it is, since I know you live near Boston.

I love workshops but lately there have been so many - I used to go to every one, but now I only go to the ones in my style or in a style that seems compatible to mine.