At this year’s World of Bluegrass business conference, Mike & I had the pleasure of being speakers at a workshop titled All Together Now: An Associations’ Focus that happened on Thursday afternoon at the Raleigh Convention Center. It was for local, regional and statewide bluegrass association leaders and others interested in discussing association issues. Being a member of a few different bluegrass associations, I have attended my share of these types of seminars, and they have only been given in two types of formats that I know of. Some were informal gatherings where folks who showed up would discuss topics they brought to the meetings , while other workshops were more formal where a panel of experts discussed topics, and they fielded questions from the audience, if time permitted. I usually walked away from these with a smattering of new knowledge, but nothing new and different. I reflected on this and realized that I got more out of these workshops when I first started to attend WOB, but after a few years, new information that I walked away with dwindled. I surmised that my experiences had been growing over the years, and the folks attending the more recent workshops were newer to bluegrass associations than I, and had more questions, e.g., they had a bigger learning curve.
But this year’s seminar format was a bit different and with that change, I felt it was much more successful. The format was more unique in that there were 7 different tables or “stations,” with experts on specific topics at each one. Folks who attended were able to stop at the station of their choice and speak with the experts there one-on-one on any questions they had pertaining to that topic. Every 15 minutes the bell was rung and that’s when they decided to stay on at that station or continue on to another station and another topic. It was indeed “speed association dating.”
As an attendee, you could share your concerns with the expert and others gathered at the table and really come away with some solid answers. And as a speaker, I learned a lot about the issues facing so many others out there regarding our table’s topic – “Starting and running a festival.” There is such a plethora of folks that are looking for answers to this topic. Granted this topic is a large one and we actually just scratched the surface on some points, but I found it quite gratifying to be able to offer suggestions and information for those who came to our station. And I think the use of small round tables was less intimidating than the panel/audience type of format. People shared more easily because of that. There was some overlap of questions as people cycled through, but others presented some interesting scenarios. Mike & I were really happy to share what we knew. And like we told them, we have been involved with producing Summergrass since 2003, so we’ve learned a lot, but we are also still learning things as we go forward, and sharing information with other producers, etc. In essence, we’re just like they are in seeking new and helpful knowledge. This festival business is constantly changing so there’s always something new to learn.
Here’s a few topics were discussed at our table for Starting and running a festival: locating a venue, publicity, your vision or mission for your festival, are you a private or non-profit endeavor, marketing, budgets, negotiating with bands, workshops, vendors, camping, volunteers, and ticket prices. You can see how lively the discussions were by this list.
Other stations covered the following topics: 1) Finding and recruiting sponsors (Denise Jarvinen and Leah Ross); 2)Recruiting and retaining volunteers (Dwight Worden); 3) Navigating BMI, ASCAP, SESAC-When do Associations have to pay? (Betty Wheeler); 4) The business of associations: taxes, paying bands, raffles, filings, etc. (Alan Tompkins); 6) Insurance and Risk Management for associations (Elizabeth & Phil Wightman). And all the stations had many folks stop at their tables, which again speaks to the validity of this seminar and what people got out of it.
This successful workshop was championed by Dwight Worden from San Diego Bluegrass Society. Good job, Dwight! This format is definitely worth doing again, in my opinion. If I had one suggestion to make it better for 2015, I would have the speakers gather 30 minutes before the posted time of the seminar so we could speak with each other on our topics. Or a “meet and greet” before the workshop. I have some questions of my own for those other presenters. I was proud to be part of this successful workshop. And that’s how it all works, doesn’t it? Sharing information with each other so bluegrass music can keep shining brightly.
