...or competition or showcase...
I want to start this post by saying, not much unlike my post about running a pole studio, I don't have the answer. I just want to start the discussion...
I recently saw Aerial Amy post on Facebook about her Flight Club showcase. It sounds like perhaps people are giving her a hard time for potentially profiting from the shows (although it sounds like she has not turned a profit). First off, there is nothing wrong with making a profit off the shows, considering the amount of hard work that goes into putting one on. However, just having been on the outskirts of some shows and competitions, I imagine that what most of the people putting on these shows are getting is the satisfaction of knowing they put on an excellent show. If someone is putting their blood, sweat and tears into putting on an entertainment show, why should they feel bad if they are making a profit? And how terrible should the haters feel to find out they are usually doing it for the love of their art.
I certainly have grumbled at $100+ tickets to see a pole show (I'm not going to stand the whole show -- sorry). I try to remember how much work goes into a show. I saw a lot of the stuff that went down behind the scenes at Pole Show LA in 2012 (which was moved into a different venue for 2013). I really got an inside look at the end-preparations of the showcase at Pole Expo in Vegas last September. It was eye-opening. Money aside, the amount of time and effort was so impressive. How much do you think it costs to put on a pole show?
First you need a venue. Even if you think you're going to have a sell-out crowd, someone needs to front a deposit. And each venue will have different requirements, but all will require some kind of liability insurance. Some may even require you to hire security (or pay extra for theirs). Does the vendor offer ticketing options or do you need to set up with a company like Brown Paper Tickets, which will add fees to your ticket prices (although a much lower fee than places like Ticketmaster)?
Then what? Is this a competition (in which you may have charged your competitors a fee already)? A show (where you may be paying some of your performers)? A showcase (where many of your performers may be dancing for free)? I don't have a lot of experience with this, but I do remember a world famous pole dancer coming to Twirly Girls for workshops. She charged $250 to do a one-song performance and meet and greet. I imagine if you are able to schedule some workshops, some of the more famous pole dancers may do your show for free, but paying your more famous dancers may be a cost to consider.
I imagine the next biggest expense is rigging and poles. If you aren't being sponsored by a big pole company, you may have to front that cost yourself. And if you don't want to put your performers on stage poles, you are looking at professional rigging. Again, I have never had to purchase it myself, but I understand a weekend of rigging can cost $6,000, or more.
If you are offering more of a convention or event with vendors, perhaps the fees from vendors will off-set some of your costs, but you need to make sure you have a good retail set-up. Otherwise, it will not encourage them to return the next year. Putting them in a dark, back corner and not letting your patrons know there is a room for shopping will hurt you and your vendors.
Advertising and marketing are next. Sure, Facebook is great, but you have to decide if you want to spend the time and money on paid ads. Participants should invite friends but I think many feel that the promoter is in charge of filling the seats.
How about music licensing? Any public performance of popular music will require a music license.
Also, if you are going to live-stream the event, who do you use and do you have ANY idea the amount of work that goes into setting up live-stream cameras? I helped with the set up and tear down at Pole Expo and, holy $hit! They laid miles of cable for multiple cameras. It was quite a job.
Sure, vendors and sponsors may off-set some costs, but I don't know that we are at a point where most of these events are making anyone rich. Did I miss any obvious costs? I would really, really love to hear from some people who have put an event on. You can post anonymously if you'd like. What advice do you have for those who want to put on a pole show?!
Showing posts with label pole convention. Show all posts
Showing posts with label pole convention. Show all posts
Monday, February 11, 2013
Monday, July 30, 2012
Pole Competitions, Showcases and Conventions for 2012
I am on the hunt for pole events all over the globe. I know I am missing a lot of events from the UK and other areas of the world. I would like to ask for your help! Please check out my Google doc (live link below plus I have pasted the events I have as of today into this blog), and then leave a comment with a link to YOUR event so I can update my list.
Thanks!!
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1WDkiRUv-6eskzU2aWAf6edjvwySwO_yG7PNU-wci9WM/edit
Thanks!!
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1WDkiRUv-6eskzU2aWAf6edjvwySwO_yG7PNU-wci9WM/edit
Pole Competitions, Showcases and Conventions ~ 2012
Thursday, June 28, 2012
PoleCon 2012
If you love pole dance/pole fitness, then you at least considered attending Pole Convention 2012. In it's third year, PoleCon has grown from 500 attendees in DC in 2010 to 800 attendees in Miami in 2011 to over 1,000 attendees in Los Angeles in 2012. The pole community is growing so quickly.
Rita and I arrived on Thursday, June 21, 2012 in time to attend the Pole Masters Cup. Bel had arrived the day before as she was participating in X-Pert certification. We had many Twirly Girls in the house: Yolanda, Diana, Kim, Grace, Shelly, among others.
Friday morning was quiet so we sat by the pool and hung out. I had every intention of trying to get into Felix Cane's free workshop that afternoon but got distracted and didn't get in line in time. That evening, we went to Polesque and AERA. Unfortunately, I missed the cocktail party that welcomed everyone to the convention.
I did get to meet a lot of really awesome Facebook pole celebrities. Jennifer from PoleSkivvies. Lulu from America's Got Talent. Roz The Diva. John Janda and Stephanie Skyy. Annette Artman. Sam Green, pole photographer. Leen Isabel! The list goes on... I mean, I got to drive STEVEN RETCHLESS in my truck. We ate French fries together! I got to meet my pole sister from Australia, Kym (who is on an adventure around the world practically)!
I very excitedly found my published articles in both Issue 5 of Vertical Art and Fitness Magazine (the black cover with Steven Retchless) and Pole Dance International Magazine (blogs with photos coming up soon).
I had many intentions for the weekend. I wanted to attend seminars and workshops. I wanted to shop the vendors and meet people. But what I ended up doing instead was watching. I watched every single performance over the weekend. Including the non-PoleCon shows, I videoed about 100 performances. Part of me wishes I would have walked around more and experienced the convention. But a bigger part of me is happy I have been able to provide videos for those who couldn't attend.
My true goal for the weekend was to have something epic happen. When Nadia Shariff ran up to me and said, "Hey, I recognize those boobs," I felt like my weekend was complete.
I was really excited to be interviewed by Suzy Q for her documentary, Pole Life, and by Pole World News.
Below is a playlist for the Saturday morning solo performances, which included my new friends, Lulu and Roz. Don't miss Clementine, the granny pole dancer:
Below is a playlist for the Saturday afternoon solo performances, which included our very own Shelly Lamb and good friends of Twirly Girls, Pantera and Natasha Wang:
Saturday night was the big Bad Kitty Fashion Show and Showcase of the Stars. Not to be missed: My new friend, Annemarie Davies as Napoleon Dynamite.
I was sad that Felix Cane didn't perform, but figured that maybe she was under contract with cirque du soleil. She appears in the Michael Jackson Immortal Tour. I stopped into the after-party, but was tired and ended up sitting in the hot tub and going to bed instead.
On Sunday, there was the Bad Kitty Spins and Tricks battle:
Sunday afternoon, the group performances lasted about three hours. It was a long show, but I saw so many great performances. I have so many ideas for new moves I want to try and only wish I had created an index of cool moves as we went along so I don't have to watch ten hours of video to remind myself. Don't miss our Twirly Girls, Shelly Lamb and Grace Garcia! Our sister studio from Nor. Cal., Poletential, also performed. Check out Golden Eye for some hot mamas! After watching Kelly Maglia's Vertical Theater demo, I am definitely trying to figure out how to make a second trip to LA in October so I don't miss it.
My only complaint has to do with the venue. We were at the Marriott LAX. They over-sold the hotel and didn't seem to care (there are so many horror stories to even list them all here). Their internet was also terrible. For a place that advertises itself as a convention center, you would think they would have a stronger signal for all of those vendors trying to run credit card sales off of their phones. Even though it's not PoleCon's fault that the hotel was terrible, I guess I would hope that they wouldn't use them again as I watched the hotel be completely rude and unhelpful to their attendees (although for every employee that irritated me, there was one that was awesome. I guess 50-50 isn't half bad. No pun intended.) ;-) I imagine that next year's event will be in another part of the country, so the chances of returning to LA (or this venue) are slim to none. Many of us have been debating where the next convention will be. Although our crowd selfishly hopes it will be in San Francisco, I imagine it makes sense to move it to the middle of the country somewhere, although maybe not Chicago since the Midwest Pole Competition is in that area. I'm sure they already know where it will be. Jessalyn says that it takes 13 months to plan each convention.
So, while we are waiting to hear when and where PoleCon 2013 will take place, Bel has decided that I must do a Viking Warrior routine next year. I am extremely nervous and need to start training a little harder to even pretend to be on par with the performers I saw last weekend. But I also think it could be a lot of fun and I am game to try. Maybe I should start trying to perform locally so I can lose that whole sweat-over-every-inch-of-my-body thing that happens now when I get nervous. Doesn't really go well with pole dancing.
If you were at PoleCon, please tell me your high and low lights! I'd love to hear about what you liked and what you'd change.
Rita and I arrived on Thursday, June 21, 2012 in time to attend the Pole Masters Cup. Bel had arrived the day before as she was participating in X-Pert certification. We had many Twirly Girls in the house: Yolanda, Diana, Kim, Grace, Shelly, among others.
Friday morning was quiet so we sat by the pool and hung out. I had every intention of trying to get into Felix Cane's free workshop that afternoon but got distracted and didn't get in line in time. That evening, we went to Polesque and AERA. Unfortunately, I missed the cocktail party that welcomed everyone to the convention.
I did get to meet a lot of really awesome Facebook pole celebrities. Jennifer from PoleSkivvies. Lulu from America's Got Talent. Roz The Diva. John Janda and Stephanie Skyy. Annette Artman. Sam Green, pole photographer. Leen Isabel! The list goes on... I mean, I got to drive STEVEN RETCHLESS in my truck. We ate French fries together! I got to meet my pole sister from Australia, Kym (who is on an adventure around the world practically)!
I very excitedly found my published articles in both Issue 5 of Vertical Art and Fitness Magazine (the black cover with Steven Retchless) and Pole Dance International Magazine (blogs with photos coming up soon).
I had many intentions for the weekend. I wanted to attend seminars and workshops. I wanted to shop the vendors and meet people. But what I ended up doing instead was watching. I watched every single performance over the weekend. Including the non-PoleCon shows, I videoed about 100 performances. Part of me wishes I would have walked around more and experienced the convention. But a bigger part of me is happy I have been able to provide videos for those who couldn't attend. My true goal for the weekend was to have something epic happen. When Nadia Shariff ran up to me and said, "Hey, I recognize those boobs," I felt like my weekend was complete.
I was really excited to be interviewed by Suzy Q for her documentary, Pole Life, and by Pole World News.
Below is a playlist for the Saturday morning solo performances, which included my new friends, Lulu and Roz. Don't miss Clementine, the granny pole dancer:
Below is a playlist for the Saturday afternoon solo performances, which included our very own Shelly Lamb and good friends of Twirly Girls, Pantera and Natasha Wang:
Saturday night was the big Bad Kitty Fashion Show and Showcase of the Stars. Not to be missed: My new friend, Annemarie Davies as Napoleon Dynamite.
I was sad that Felix Cane didn't perform, but figured that maybe she was under contract with cirque du soleil. She appears in the Michael Jackson Immortal Tour. I stopped into the after-party, but was tired and ended up sitting in the hot tub and going to bed instead.
On Sunday, there was the Bad Kitty Spins and Tricks battle:
Sunday afternoon, the group performances lasted about three hours. It was a long show, but I saw so many great performances. I have so many ideas for new moves I want to try and only wish I had created an index of cool moves as we went along so I don't have to watch ten hours of video to remind myself. Don't miss our Twirly Girls, Shelly Lamb and Grace Garcia! Our sister studio from Nor. Cal., Poletential, also performed. Check out Golden Eye for some hot mamas! After watching Kelly Maglia's Vertical Theater demo, I am definitely trying to figure out how to make a second trip to LA in October so I don't miss it.
My only complaint has to do with the venue. We were at the Marriott LAX. They over-sold the hotel and didn't seem to care (there are so many horror stories to even list them all here). Their internet was also terrible. For a place that advertises itself as a convention center, you would think they would have a stronger signal for all of those vendors trying to run credit card sales off of their phones. Even though it's not PoleCon's fault that the hotel was terrible, I guess I would hope that they wouldn't use them again as I watched the hotel be completely rude and unhelpful to their attendees (although for every employee that irritated me, there was one that was awesome. I guess 50-50 isn't half bad. No pun intended.) ;-) I imagine that next year's event will be in another part of the country, so the chances of returning to LA (or this venue) are slim to none. Many of us have been debating where the next convention will be. Although our crowd selfishly hopes it will be in San Francisco, I imagine it makes sense to move it to the middle of the country somewhere, although maybe not Chicago since the Midwest Pole Competition is in that area. I'm sure they already know where it will be. Jessalyn says that it takes 13 months to plan each convention.
So, while we are waiting to hear when and where PoleCon 2013 will take place, Bel has decided that I must do a Viking Warrior routine next year. I am extremely nervous and need to start training a little harder to even pretend to be on par with the performers I saw last weekend. But I also think it could be a lot of fun and I am game to try. Maybe I should start trying to perform locally so I can lose that whole sweat-over-every-inch-of-my-body thing that happens now when I get nervous. Doesn't really go well with pole dancing.
If you were at PoleCon, please tell me your high and low lights! I'd love to hear about what you liked and what you'd change.
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