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
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