Someone had complained in the survey about receiving a perpetual trophy last year that was not in great condition. Our teacher volunteer (Patricia Finnegan) has been collecting the trophies in advance to fix them up, replace lost name plates and ensure they are cleaned for a few years now, but unfortunately, not everyone returns them on time as requested. Every year, at least one family returns the trophy the night before and it isn't cleaned or polished. If you have a perpetual trophy at home, please read this message with care, thank you.
============
Hi, I hope everyone is having a nice summer! I am looking to contact families regarding the condition of the perpetual trophies that were received at the 2009 Oireachtas. Some families provided e-mail addresses and have been contacted directly. However, if you could please spread the word for families and have them contact me directly with any concerns regarding the condition of the trophies, I would greatly appreciate the help. I am specifically looking for information regarding any damage or missing name plates or trophies with no more room to add more nameplates, so we can get the issues sorted before having to hand out damaged (or full) prizes to our champions.Families can reach me at xxx-xxx-xxxx or e-mail me at this address.Thanks for your help with this matter,Patricia Finnegan TCRG
Please contact me through our Association e-mail address given below and I will give you Patricia's phone number and e-mail address. newfangle@yahoo.ca
Tuesday, August 24, 2010
Update To Cots In Rooms
Our contracts negotiator managed to arrange for cots to be supplied at no additional charge for our group.
There are 25 cots available in the hotel and they will be distributed on a first-come-first-served basis only.
You may reserve a cot in advance but the hotel has been very clear to us that there are no guarantees that a guest who reserves a cot will get one. Should 25 families check-in before you, you will not get a cot.
The hotel staff have asked that we be very clear on this issue so no one is standing at the counter yelling at a check-in agent.
There are 25 cots available in the hotel and they will be distributed on a first-come-first-served basis only.
You may reserve a cot in advance but the hotel has been very clear to us that there are no guarantees that a guest who reserves a cot will get one. Should 25 families check-in before you, you will not get a cot.
The hotel staff have asked that we be very clear on this issue so no one is standing at the counter yelling at a check-in agent.
Monday, August 23, 2010
2010 ECRO Hotel Rooms/Bedding
Our reserved block of rooms at the Westin Hotel ran out of double beds last week. We contacted the hotel to change some king rooms over to doubles and received all there was left. Presently there are about 13 rooms remaining but they could even be gone as I type this.
To compromise, our hotel coordinator has negotiated a price reduction for travel cots. The hotel normally charges $35 per night for a cot. They have agreed to charge only a flat rate of $25 for the entire stay. This fee covers the labour charge of loading/unloading the cot to the room as well as the additional linen cleaning.
By law, cots cannot go in rooms which already have two double beds.
Cots are on a limited basis and cannot be confirmed in advance, which is standard with all hotels of this size.
Should anyone have a double room but only need one bed, please consider calling the hotel to change it for a king size bed to allow more families the comfort of staying on site.
To compromise, our hotel coordinator has negotiated a price reduction for travel cots. The hotel normally charges $35 per night for a cot. They have agreed to charge only a flat rate of $25 for the entire stay. This fee covers the labour charge of loading/unloading the cot to the room as well as the additional linen cleaning.
By law, cots cannot go in rooms which already have two double beds.
Cots are on a limited basis and cannot be confirmed in advance, which is standard with all hotels of this size.
Should anyone have a double room but only need one bed, please consider calling the hotel to change it for a king size bed to allow more families the comfort of staying on site.
How To Book Rooms (as requested in the survey)
Oireachtas 2010
Place: Westin, Ottawa
Dates: November 12, 13 & 14, 2010
Dear Parents and Dancers:
Let me start by saying thank you to all the parents and teachers, family and friends that assisted in the running of the 2009 Oireachtas by staying at the host hotel and enabling us to continue to run this event in manner and style which we all know it deserves.
This year we are moving to Ottawa and again we are asking your assistance by booking at the host hotel. The following is the reservation information for our 2010 Oireachtas.
Reservations Open: NOW OPEN
Guest Room Rates:
Single; Double; Triple & Quad: $139.00 (taxes 10% increasing to 13% July 1st (HST) & 3% destination fee)
Additional Charges: $25.00/night for additional bedding
Children under 18 stay free in parents’ room using existing bedding
Reservation Procedures:
- 2010 Eastern Canadian Oireachtas
(OR copy and paste the following link into a web browser)http://www.starwoodmeeting.com/StarGroupsWeb/res?id=1002122330&key=63C99
- Multiple bookings are not possible via the website – you must do each separately;
- (ii)calling Westin’s Central Reservation Office at 1-800-WESTIN -1 AND identifying yourself as a member of the Group Event: “2010 Eastern Canadian Oireachtas”
- Hotel agrees to send at no charge confirmation of reservations and/or reservation changed to the registered guest within seven days of receipt of such information.
- Name changes to room reservations may be made up to (2) days prior to the arrival at no additional charge, if there is no change to the arrival and departure dates.
- Reservation Cut off Date: October 20, 2010
Check-In/Check-Out:
- Check-In is 3:00pm
- Check-Our is 12:00pm
Deposit Policy:
- A non-refundable deposit equal to one night’s stay is required at time of reservation to hold each individual’s reservation. Guests must provide a credit card at time of reservation.
If you have any questions, please contact your teacher or a member of the executive.
Regards,
Yvonne Kelly,
Regional Director
Place: Westin, Ottawa
Dates: November 12, 13 & 14, 2010
Dear Parents and Dancers:
Let me start by saying thank you to all the parents and teachers, family and friends that assisted in the running of the 2009 Oireachtas by staying at the host hotel and enabling us to continue to run this event in manner and style which we all know it deserves.
This year we are moving to Ottawa and again we are asking your assistance by booking at the host hotel. The following is the reservation information for our 2010 Oireachtas.
Reservations Open: NOW OPEN
Guest Room Rates:
Single; Double; Triple & Quad: $139.00 (taxes 10% increasing to 13% July 1st (HST) & 3% destination fee)
Additional Charges: $25.00/night for additional bedding
Children under 18 stay free in parents’ room using existing bedding
Reservation Procedures:
- 2010 Eastern Canadian Oireachtas
(OR copy and paste the following link into a web browser)http://www.starwoodmeeting.com/StarGroupsWeb/res?id=1002122330&key=63C99
- Multiple bookings are not possible via the website – you must do each separately;
- (ii)calling Westin’s Central Reservation Office at 1-800-WESTIN -1 AND identifying yourself as a member of the Group Event: “2010 Eastern Canadian Oireachtas”
- Hotel agrees to send at no charge confirmation of reservations and/or reservation changed to the registered guest within seven days of receipt of such information.
- Name changes to room reservations may be made up to (2) days prior to the arrival at no additional charge, if there is no change to the arrival and departure dates.
- Reservation Cut off Date: October 20, 2010
Check-In/Check-Out:
- Check-In is 3:00pm
- Check-Our is 12:00pm
Deposit Policy:
- A non-refundable deposit equal to one night’s stay is required at time of reservation to hold each individual’s reservation. Guests must provide a credit card at time of reservation.
If you have any questions, please contact your teacher or a member of the executive.
Regards,
Yvonne Kelly,
Regional Director
Sunday, August 22, 2010
Survey Results At Last...
Thanks everyone for completing the 2010 Oireachtas survey. I received 198 replies. I was holding out for 200 but I didn’t want to post the link a third time on Voy and I couldn’t wait any longer.
Here is the breakdown of respondents and some of the findings:
TC/AD with children 14
TC/AD without children 4
Adult/Parent who competed last year 14
Adult/Parent who volunteered last year 11
Adult/Parent who attended last year 81
Dancer who did just solo 34
Dancer who did solo and teams 27
Dancer who did just teams 5
Dancer who did mini-feis and teams 6
Dancer who did just mini-feis 1
Planning to support the hotel and dance 93
Planning to support the hotel but no dance 69
Staying elsewhere but going to the dance 8
Staying elsewhere and no dance either 15
Staying at home but going to the dance 4
Staying at home and no dance 7
Other 13
Interest in the treble reel for U10/11/12/13 was 42 for and 29 against; for U14/15 it was 20 for and 11 against and U16/upwards it was 22 in favour. Hardly scientific values since all of these numbers are so small compared to the total entries for the corresponding age groups. Still, we will give it a shot. Like the mini-feis, interested dancers enter one treble reel competition. Then, we will look at all of the entries and split them into fair sized competitions, rather than decide age groups now and risk having four dancers in one group but 25 in another. Boys and girls will be combined.
There wasn’t enough support to add the Reel to the mini-feis so it will remain as traditional set dance only. There was enough to give the mini-feis treble reel a shot so like the champ treble reels, we will try it for this year and decide afterward for future years.
As for the website/blog – most are very happy with the information provided. Thank you for the notes of appreciation. Suggestions of things to add include: info on local restaurants, bars, grocery stores and things to do in the area (if someone will compile, I will post, but google should be able to help everyone with these non-event related issues); info on the parade of champions rehearsal and performance(s); clearer details for booking rooms within the block; an explanation of percentages for placing versus recalling and how to qualify for bigger events; on-site food prices and the number of dancers/world qualifiers per group.
As I expected, there was no clear direction regarding awards. Go back to plaques/plaques are awful; change it up each year/change it up every few years/don’t change the awards; trophies are boring/kids love trophies; be sure to mark the award with the year and location; ensure perpetual are in better condition; give a medal to every dancer because they all work hard; make the medals bigger; switch to giving out only (prestigious) medals for all awards like the Worlds and All-Irelands; eliminate teacher trophies for teams; go with a Canadian theme; give out sashes for top five because only giving them out for top three is cheap and my favorite – “I’ve been dancing for 15 years and I am tired of every award we’ve had – get something new” (and yup, you guessed it, there wasn’t a suggestion with that charming comment, lol).
Several trophy companies submitted bids for our business and awards were selected with the advice of the survey in mind, although since there was no clear direction as noted above, the committee made the final decisions.
As for announcing results, we don’t have the time or resources to announce scores for each dancer in each competition on a large screen as is done overseas. The comment about the WQ certificates getting in the way of photographs was helpful. As such the certificates will be half the size this year (just the ones I did for Nationals this past summer). One person complained that the participation certificates looked cheap and also complained because they did not have everyone’s name already inscribed on them (I won’t publish their choice of wording to describe the type of job he/she said we did). I find it unfortunate that a first time, mini-feis only dancer cannot be gracious and appreciative of the volunteer efforts of others or of the chance they have been given to participate in an event as prestigious as this.
I was surprised to read how many people didn’t notice the trivia in the program, but not as surprised as the response “we didn’t attend last year”. The whole point of the survey was to get feedback from those who attended last year and are planning to go again this year. Ah, well. If I have time, then puzzles will again be included in the empty space on the competition listing pages. To answer someone’s question, they did not add any cost or size to the program. The puzzles were easy enough to add in, but the trivia took a lot of time. This year – more puzzles, no trivia.
There was a complaint that people aren’t given suitable notice that they can advertise in the program (yet the person didn’t leave their info so I can contact them to advertise). In fact, only one person did so and I will write to them very soon. All teachers get the official syllabus which contains advertising information and they are asked to spread the word to their dance families. Traditionally, only two or three schools submit ads on behalf of their dance families. This year, a flyer will be sent to teachers to forward to all of you, so hopefully you will now have your chance to be included. Talk to your child’s teacher in September if you haven’t heard anything by then.
There was a request to not raise the rates (I’m sure they have been the same since I competed) and there were complaints that the required specifications were too complicated and that not all pages resulted in equal quality despite following the guidelines. With more details, I can help further.
Volunteers are needed mostly for stage set up and tear down (five people responded). There were lots of offers to help with selling programs and handing out numbers/results. 81 people in fact, which is great, but only about ten people left their e-mail address. Not sure how this is going to work but we’ll see…
Advice for Mass was as inconclusive as expected. Leave it alone, don’t have it, we’re too busy on Sunday, move it to before the dinner dance, don’t move it before the dinner dance because not everyone attends the dance, move it to Thursday night, it should be non-denominational, do an opening prayer each day instead, advertise it – we never knew (an ad has been in the program every year). Pending finding a local priest, it shall remain on Sunday morning.
The last section of the survey was for anything I had missed in the previous questions. Here are some answers to your comments/questions:
Choosing a location for the Oireachtas:
While it is true that the bulk of ECR dancers live in the GTA, it is insensitive to expect dancers from Cornwall, Ottawa, Montreal, Halifax etc to travel to Niagara Falls every year. Hosting the event in the GTA is impossible. We would never get enough people to stay in the host hotel, which means we would have to pay for ballrooms at a cost of anywhere from $20,000 to $50,000 or more. Where would that money come from (higher entry fees)? Imagine being charged $200 to do solo, $50 per team and $150 for a family fee; just so you can stay at home during the Oireachtas.
Niagara Falls ran its course. We were there for over 25 of the previous 35 years. It was suggested we build a relationship with the Sheraton in NF. We tried. They were not interested. Believe me, from an organizing point of view, it was so easy to go back there year after year. We knew the layout, we knew the managers and sales team; everything just fell into place. This year is already proving to require a lot more work, as we have to figure out where the vendors will go, how many we can have, how to line up the stages, seating plans for the ballrooms, where to have the judges/musicians breakfast and lunches and many more things. NF was still a bit too close to the GTA and there were too many other options for accommodation (like Orlando). We try to find an event that is affordable to the families but it must be affordable to the Association or else we simply cannot run it. There are also requests to take the event to new locations and as mentioned above we need to respect dance families from all parts of our region.
We looked at Blue Mountain a few years back and an ad hoc committee was formed to look at other locations such as Windsor and London. All short-listed locations had potential but they also had areas of concern such as: much higher costs to the Association, space concerns for the stages etc. and proximity to airports and/or driving concerns in the winter time.
The Parade of Champions:
For the first time in several years, there will be a standard step-down-the-line parade of champions after both Friday and Saturday’s award ceremonies, with the first place winners in each of that day's solo categories participating. This is in response to feedback from those who don’t attend the dinner dance who otherwise never get to see the parade. The rehearsal for the gala performance to entertain patrons at the dinner dance will be conducted by Roisin McGinley once again this year. Pizza and drinks will be provided during the rehearsal as requested in after the 2009 practice. Details about the time and location will be announced at the award ceremonies each night once Roisin decides.
As there is no teen dance this year, Roisin is looking for space to do a POC performance for dancers not attending the dinner dance. Roisin will try to sort this out when she arrives at the venue. Additional space will be needed so if permission is granted by the hotel, she will post signage with more details. My recommendation to you is to attend the parades after the awards ceremonies and not count on a supplemental showing of the gala version. We will try, but the logistics are not in our favour.
Recalling/Placing/Qualifying:
50% of the dancers in solo events with eleven or more are recalled to the third round. 33% of solo dancers place, which means they get a trophy versus a recall medal. Some events announce the ranking of only those who place, and call up the remaining dancers as recallers. IDTACE elected to announce the ranking of all dancers in each result. The qualification rules for worlds and nationals (as requested in the survey) are on our website.
http://www.irishdancecanada.com/ECRO.htm
We have no control over these formulas and sometimes, one or two dancers are included in a recall but excluded from nationals’ qualification. For teams and the mini-feis, 50% will place and a list of those who are going to be in the result will be posted. As suggested, we will make every effort to delay posting the lists to avoid disappointment to those dancers who still have to perform in other competitions.
-END
Here is the breakdown of respondents and some of the findings:
TC/AD with children 14
TC/AD without children 4
Adult/Parent who competed last year 14
Adult/Parent who volunteered last year 11
Adult/Parent who attended last year 81
Dancer who did just solo 34
Dancer who did solo and teams 27
Dancer who did just teams 5
Dancer who did mini-feis and teams 6
Dancer who did just mini-feis 1
Planning to support the hotel and dance 93
Planning to support the hotel but no dance 69
Staying elsewhere but going to the dance 8
Staying elsewhere and no dance either 15
Staying at home but going to the dance 4
Staying at home and no dance 7
Other 13
Interest in the treble reel for U10/11/12/13 was 42 for and 29 against; for U14/15 it was 20 for and 11 against and U16/upwards it was 22 in favour. Hardly scientific values since all of these numbers are so small compared to the total entries for the corresponding age groups. Still, we will give it a shot. Like the mini-feis, interested dancers enter one treble reel competition. Then, we will look at all of the entries and split them into fair sized competitions, rather than decide age groups now and risk having four dancers in one group but 25 in another. Boys and girls will be combined.
There wasn’t enough support to add the Reel to the mini-feis so it will remain as traditional set dance only. There was enough to give the mini-feis treble reel a shot so like the champ treble reels, we will try it for this year and decide afterward for future years.
As for the website/blog – most are very happy with the information provided. Thank you for the notes of appreciation. Suggestions of things to add include: info on local restaurants, bars, grocery stores and things to do in the area (if someone will compile, I will post, but google should be able to help everyone with these non-event related issues); info on the parade of champions rehearsal and performance(s); clearer details for booking rooms within the block; an explanation of percentages for placing versus recalling and how to qualify for bigger events; on-site food prices and the number of dancers/world qualifiers per group.
As I expected, there was no clear direction regarding awards. Go back to plaques/plaques are awful; change it up each year/change it up every few years/don’t change the awards; trophies are boring/kids love trophies; be sure to mark the award with the year and location; ensure perpetual are in better condition; give a medal to every dancer because they all work hard; make the medals bigger; switch to giving out only (prestigious) medals for all awards like the Worlds and All-Irelands; eliminate teacher trophies for teams; go with a Canadian theme; give out sashes for top five because only giving them out for top three is cheap and my favorite – “I’ve been dancing for 15 years and I am tired of every award we’ve had – get something new” (and yup, you guessed it, there wasn’t a suggestion with that charming comment, lol).
Several trophy companies submitted bids for our business and awards were selected with the advice of the survey in mind, although since there was no clear direction as noted above, the committee made the final decisions.
As for announcing results, we don’t have the time or resources to announce scores for each dancer in each competition on a large screen as is done overseas. The comment about the WQ certificates getting in the way of photographs was helpful. As such the certificates will be half the size this year (just the ones I did for Nationals this past summer). One person complained that the participation certificates looked cheap and also complained because they did not have everyone’s name already inscribed on them (I won’t publish their choice of wording to describe the type of job he/she said we did). I find it unfortunate that a first time, mini-feis only dancer cannot be gracious and appreciative of the volunteer efforts of others or of the chance they have been given to participate in an event as prestigious as this.
I was surprised to read how many people didn’t notice the trivia in the program, but not as surprised as the response “we didn’t attend last year”. The whole point of the survey was to get feedback from those who attended last year and are planning to go again this year. Ah, well. If I have time, then puzzles will again be included in the empty space on the competition listing pages. To answer someone’s question, they did not add any cost or size to the program. The puzzles were easy enough to add in, but the trivia took a lot of time. This year – more puzzles, no trivia.
There was a complaint that people aren’t given suitable notice that they can advertise in the program (yet the person didn’t leave their info so I can contact them to advertise). In fact, only one person did so and I will write to them very soon. All teachers get the official syllabus which contains advertising information and they are asked to spread the word to their dance families. Traditionally, only two or three schools submit ads on behalf of their dance families. This year, a flyer will be sent to teachers to forward to all of you, so hopefully you will now have your chance to be included. Talk to your child’s teacher in September if you haven’t heard anything by then.
There was a request to not raise the rates (I’m sure they have been the same since I competed) and there were complaints that the required specifications were too complicated and that not all pages resulted in equal quality despite following the guidelines. With more details, I can help further.
Volunteers are needed mostly for stage set up and tear down (five people responded). There were lots of offers to help with selling programs and handing out numbers/results. 81 people in fact, which is great, but only about ten people left their e-mail address. Not sure how this is going to work but we’ll see…
Advice for Mass was as inconclusive as expected. Leave it alone, don’t have it, we’re too busy on Sunday, move it to before the dinner dance, don’t move it before the dinner dance because not everyone attends the dance, move it to Thursday night, it should be non-denominational, do an opening prayer each day instead, advertise it – we never knew (an ad has been in the program every year). Pending finding a local priest, it shall remain on Sunday morning.
The last section of the survey was for anything I had missed in the previous questions. Here are some answers to your comments/questions:
Choosing a location for the Oireachtas:
While it is true that the bulk of ECR dancers live in the GTA, it is insensitive to expect dancers from Cornwall, Ottawa, Montreal, Halifax etc to travel to Niagara Falls every year. Hosting the event in the GTA is impossible. We would never get enough people to stay in the host hotel, which means we would have to pay for ballrooms at a cost of anywhere from $20,000 to $50,000 or more. Where would that money come from (higher entry fees)? Imagine being charged $200 to do solo, $50 per team and $150 for a family fee; just so you can stay at home during the Oireachtas.
Niagara Falls ran its course. We were there for over 25 of the previous 35 years. It was suggested we build a relationship with the Sheraton in NF. We tried. They were not interested. Believe me, from an organizing point of view, it was so easy to go back there year after year. We knew the layout, we knew the managers and sales team; everything just fell into place. This year is already proving to require a lot more work, as we have to figure out where the vendors will go, how many we can have, how to line up the stages, seating plans for the ballrooms, where to have the judges/musicians breakfast and lunches and many more things. NF was still a bit too close to the GTA and there were too many other options for accommodation (like Orlando). We try to find an event that is affordable to the families but it must be affordable to the Association or else we simply cannot run it. There are also requests to take the event to new locations and as mentioned above we need to respect dance families from all parts of our region.
We looked at Blue Mountain a few years back and an ad hoc committee was formed to look at other locations such as Windsor and London. All short-listed locations had potential but they also had areas of concern such as: much higher costs to the Association, space concerns for the stages etc. and proximity to airports and/or driving concerns in the winter time.
The Parade of Champions:
For the first time in several years, there will be a standard step-down-the-line parade of champions after both Friday and Saturday’s award ceremonies, with the first place winners in each of that day's solo categories participating. This is in response to feedback from those who don’t attend the dinner dance who otherwise never get to see the parade. The rehearsal for the gala performance to entertain patrons at the dinner dance will be conducted by Roisin McGinley once again this year. Pizza and drinks will be provided during the rehearsal as requested in after the 2009 practice. Details about the time and location will be announced at the award ceremonies each night once Roisin decides.
As there is no teen dance this year, Roisin is looking for space to do a POC performance for dancers not attending the dinner dance. Roisin will try to sort this out when she arrives at the venue. Additional space will be needed so if permission is granted by the hotel, she will post signage with more details. My recommendation to you is to attend the parades after the awards ceremonies and not count on a supplemental showing of the gala version. We will try, but the logistics are not in our favour.
Recalling/Placing/Qualifying:
50% of the dancers in solo events with eleven or more are recalled to the third round. 33% of solo dancers place, which means they get a trophy versus a recall medal. Some events announce the ranking of only those who place, and call up the remaining dancers as recallers. IDTACE elected to announce the ranking of all dancers in each result. The qualification rules for worlds and nationals (as requested in the survey) are on our website.
http://www.irishdancecanada.com/ECRO.htm
We have no control over these formulas and sometimes, one or two dancers are included in a recall but excluded from nationals’ qualification. For teams and the mini-feis, 50% will place and a list of those who are going to be in the result will be posted. As suggested, we will make every effort to delay posting the lists to avoid disappointment to those dancers who still have to perform in other competitions.
-END
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