COVID Lessons We May Have Forgotten

Hello, friends. I'm Amanda Barr.

And I'm Rebecca Lou Brennan. And welcome to Dance Principals United, the podcast.

Together, we are passionate about helping studio owners with the business of running their studio.

Join us as we talk everything from marketing systems, studio culture, motherhood, life, and everything in between.

This is the Dance Principles United podcast. Hey, friends, and welcome to the Dance Principles United Podcast. Beck. Oh, my God. Facebook memories have been coming up.

They have.

You know what? It's been four years since.

What?

What? Covid.

Four years since COVID That's crazy.

Since our first lockdown.

That is insane. I. You know what? I was talking to someone the other day, and I think it was a parent at the studio, and they were like, I loved Covid. And I said, I loved Covid too. Actually loved it. I miss it sometimes. I feel like another good lockdown would be great. I know that's a really unpopular opinion.

I was going to say that's an unpopular opinion amongst studio owners. But, yeah, like, there was definite benefit. I think the first one was too stressful. The second one didn't mind so much. I was quite happy at home.

Look, I didn't mind it, but I. I loved just actually getting to spend time with my family and being at home. And I know the online teaching thing was hard, but I actually enjoyed it. I didn't mind being online. I didn't mind being in front of the camera. Teaching my classes was fine.

I liked the challenge. That was what it was for me. I liked the challenge. I liked the stress of it. I thrive under pressure.

Yeah.

It's a funny thing, right? Like, yeah, we all had our own experience. And whether you, our lovely listeners, loved Covid or hated it, it was part of all of our lives, you know, for a good two years. And what we wanted to chat about today is it's been four years since our first lockdown. Obviously, around Australia, and depending where you are in the world, it might have only been two years since you've last been. Been in lockdown. It might have been less, just depending on where you are and what happened. But I think there was some incredible lessons that we learned from COVID that sometimes we've forgotten. And so that's what I wanted to talk about today. Like, I don't know. Do you agree that there was some things that we were like, this is amazing. I'm never gonna change it, and we've just gone back to our old ways. It's the same with everything, right? Like, we just go back to the old way of doing things.

Yeah, absolutely. And I Think it's always good to self reflect and realize the things that we did well during that. And about whether, you know, we should have continued doing them or should continue.

Doing them, I could say absolutely, absolutely. So we're going to jump straight into it today and talk about a few things that we, most studio owners did during COVID that worked really, really well. And hopefully it might make you kind of like question like, should I still be doing that? Maybe that actually was a benefit and maybe we should change the way we've done it. Because dance doesn't always have to be exactly the same and done the same way as it always has been. And we're seeing that in a lot of other. Sorry, I'm going to go off tangent. This isn't what Beck and I had planned. Sorry, Bec. She's in hysterics. Can I go off tangent? Will you allow me that for a second?

That would be very unusual for you to do that, Amanda.

Is that a hint of sarcasm I detect?

Never, never. Please go off tangent.

I have seen so many other kids sporting companies, kids activities change how things are done, changing and evolving with how they do things rather than doing it the same old way. Let's talk about like all the private clinics that are popping up for soccer, basketball, football. Whereas before it used to be you just play for your local club, right? And all of a sudden there's commercial, you know, private trainings that have come in. They've changed the way they do it, right. You know, even. Even things like Nathan is a cricket fiend. Like, oh my God, those people might not realize that Nathan plays cricket. He is still the captain of first cricket team. He's on the board, he's obsessed with cricket still, like does my head in. Anyway, off topic, but him talking about cricket evolving with the times as well, you know, they've moved to new format. Even on TV, they've moving to that 2020 format, you know, to make it fresh and exciting and change things. And so many sports, so many activities are evolving the way that they're always doing things. And we need to be doing it in dance as well. We can't just go back to the old way that we've been doing it, you know, just because that's how we were brought up, that we learned per term and we had a different troop class that we had to be selected to, to our ballot, like whatever. Like let's evolve, let's. Let's change things up sometimes.

I love it. I love it. One of my friends does online karate classes.

Oh, My God. You mentioned that the other day.

Yeah. I think, honestly, the karate school is, like, for three hours away from here, but they've been doing it since COVID They just kept the online part of their school growing. And can you imagine, like, how much bigger a community that is? That's what we don't realize about online. You're not just reaching the people in your local area. You're reaching the whole of Australia, potentially.

That's the whole of the world.

Well, yeah. Like, think about how many clients you could have. And there are some online dance programs. I know. Obviously there's heaps of them, but also, why aren't we doing it ourselves? Does it make sense?

Absolutely, absolutely. So let's jump into them. Let's talk about a few things that we did during COVID and we'd love to sort of question you on those. Hopefully we're not giving anyone PTSD around Covid. I know some studio owners feel that way, but I think it's always good to reflect back on it. It's been so many years, and I think it's so, so important. So number one thing is using the online platform for parents. I think that is something that we did a lot of during COVID and we haven't bec. We're about to do parent teacher interviews. And our school. At our school, they're still doing, zoom parent teacher interviews. They haven't stopped them.

That's crazy to me because I've also got parent teacher interviews, and I have to go into the school, which is a huge inconvenience, and I have to find the classroom, and then you've got to find the teacher. And actually, I haven't told you this story, but I. Phoebe's high school had parent teacher interviews. Have I told you this? Last year. So she was in year seven last year, obviously. And I thought that they would just put all the teachers in the hall. That would make sense to me. So I booked all of the interviews kind of back to back with no break in between. Would you do that if it wasn't explained to you properly?

Yeah, of course. But you had to walk all over the whole school and the campus, and it's huge.

It's like a rabbit wren. And you have to find Classroom 33.7, which is up these stairs and around the corner. And I'm terrible with directions at the best of time. I'm not exaggerating. I was crying at one point. That's how horrendous it was. An. Oh, it was awful.

That's interesting.

Yeah.

That they didn't tell you that you yeah. Need to walk around and obviously allow 15 minutes, especially when you haven't been there before and don't know how to get to the classrooms etc.

And then I was late for every teacher. So then I only got three or four minutes with every teacher and I was just in such a fluster and I think the last three teachers or something because they do billion subjects in high school, the last three teachers, I was just like, I'm going home, I'm done. So yours is online. That's great.

Look, it works as a parent great for me because number one, I have booked back to back with my two, my different, the different teachers for the different kids and they are like we run to the second. They've told us that in the email. So there's no problems running back to back the day that I've booked it. Nathan's not at home with me so he'll jump on from where he is. You know, the same for other parents, like because that, you know, some of them are in the afternoon. One parent can be at work, one can be at home. My kids are at dancing the afternoon that it is. So I'm going to sit in the car out the front of the studio. You know, there's so many more options and I don't have to worry about leaving one. There's all of those things. But as a parent I love it because that's so much easier for me, like you said, like for you to go down to the school in the afternoon and if you had other little kids that you had to drag around with you and walk around and find all the places, it's hard. But I could also see it from the school's perspective. You don't need to make as much small talk online. You know, you can be very much like, oh, the next person's in my waiting room, I'm sorry, I've got to go and cut it off. You know, you don't have to like have that small like oh, come in, sit down on the chair, you know, like all of that kind of stuff which allows them to be heaps more efficient and it allows the teachers to also do it from home. Right.

So what are you suggesting that like studio owners should do parent teacher interviews online?

If they do parent teacher interviews, 100%, I would totally be doing them online to make it easier for yourself. But you know, a lot of, a lot of studios don't do parent teacher interviews. That's not a normal thing. Maybe it is something you do with soloists or high level kids. And obviously some studios do that. But what I was thinking about is you know, parent info nights for example. You know like a lot of studios would have like a true parent info night or you know, the first comp or even like how to do your kids makeup for the comp, like those kind of info nights, how to do.

Hair, even like travel if you're traveling with your studio. You know, my info nights are always a nightmare for that because I always have other classes on. It's noisy and it's like you can't hear the person at the front. But that would be a great thing to do online. I don't know why we haven't thought of that before.

That's really, absolutely. Just having those online, you know, like I do, you know, it's that hard thing because I think connections with parents is really, really valuable. So I think there's both sides of it. But I do think that, you know, having those things online, it makes it easier for you. It makes it easier for the parents. I, I know that I actually went to a parent information session that was online. Actually as I'm saying that I'm like no I didn't. I sat next to my head of troop who ran one of our parent information sessions online. Must have been two years ago. And a whole heap of the parents were like, ah, so good to see you. Don't have my camera on, have my pajamas on. Like they were loving life, especially when I was young kids because a lot of the parents, you know, it was, you know, the six and under troop parents for example, we put it at 8 o' clock so that the kids had gone to bed and the parents could sit there in their pajamas or whatever and do it so much easier for parents. And so I think the show up rate was so much better.

Oh it would be, it'd be so much better because parents lives are crazy. I know how crazy my life is. We always talk about how crazy your life is and yeah, I love that. I absolutely love that. What a great idea.

So that's my thought number one. Thought number two in terms of what we did well during COVID and, and Beck, this was your idea was you know, the amount of extra things that we did for our families during COVID Like what extra things did you offer your families during COVID So much so.

We did a free adult fitness class every single day for all of our parents and that was very, very popular. We did weekend. We did like a trivia night or a Kahoot or a disco or something for the kids to get them to have some fun over the weekend because they couldn't go anywhere. We sent out packages to people. We so much. I'm trying to remember all of the things that we did, but they're probably the top three.

Absolutely. And most studios did those things, right? Most studios went above and beyond. And yes, we had to do that in Covid. Without a doubt. Like, we had to do it. We also had Jobkeeper, which helped, you know, because our staff had to work anyway. And there was all of that going on. And, you know, I would never recommend, oh, yeah, you should run daily fitness classes for your parents for free. That. That's not what in person. But what could you do? Could you do a version of that? Maybe, you know, you don't need to run a trivia night every single weekend. But is it nice to bring your studio community together once a term, twice a year, you know, whatever that is. There are definite things in that because there was so many great connections made during that time, don't you think?

Yes. I think we forget about the customer service and how important it is towards parents sometimes as well. And creating those, I don't know, like, just doing the simplest thing for them can really mean so much. And I think we do forget that. Or even the simplest thing for the kids. I think people forget how important that is. And that that little thing can really make such a big difference.

Absolutely. You know, even just things like the birthday card in the mail, like such a big thing for some kids like that would just, you know, make their day and something as simple as that, which we were doing things like that during COVID We were sending things in the mail because kids like to get things in the mail and they don't normally, you know, like, what things could we bring back that really is that customer centric kind of idea or, you know, that just really, like creates that community amongst our families and our parents and stuff. There's so many great ideas of things we could bring back.

So many. You know what I'm thinking of. And someone who's great at this is Darren from Flair Dancewear. And every year I get this big package from him. Well, from Marina. But I know it's like his thing because he does it in his business, right? And he'll give us, like, chocolate. So this year I had a Nutella jar with my name on the Nutella jar, like champagne. And it's literally just a thanks for being our client. You know, there's no rhyme or reason behind it. It's literally Just thanks for being a client. But it makes you remember them in such a positive sense. And I think that's the key. Like, it's interesting at this time of year, we've got a lot of kids dropping out. You know, we're hearing it from a lot of clients because they're dropping out for sport or they're dropping out for this. But creating little memories and moments like that does make you retain more students. I truly believe that.

Absolutely. Like, whatever you can do. You know, one of the big things, and we did it for a couple of years, was we would pick our top 30 clients. We look at it financially, our top 30 clients, and once a year, we would drop them a gift. I remember saying this with a handwritten card, just saying, thanks so much for being part of it. Like, something that they weren't expecting. A lot of it being more focused towards the parent rather than the child, which I think, because some of those parents, you know, they. They do give a huge amount of money, like, to our studio. They. And not give. Sorry. You know, but they pay a lot. A huge amount of money. It's a big part of their lives, and they don't get the thanks for it. Their kids do. So what can you do for that parent? Especially some of those parents who are paying huge amounts of money? Like, I think there's so many ways you can really think about bringing people together around that.

Yep. I love it. I think just that customer service as well. Like, just thinking, even if you just did one little thing from COVID that, you know, you provided that extra customer service for and that extra effort, we should be trying to put that effort in more, I believe.

Absolutely. Especially at the moment, like, you know, we're hearing from a lot of studio owners. You know, the financial times are tough for some people, and, you know, finances come into play for all of those things. And I think it's just, you know, the more positively a parent can remember you and your business, the less likely they are to drop when times are tough. Because you become an integral part of their life.

Yep, absolutely. It's. It's imperative and end of their children's lives, you know, and it's. It's like the things we say, like building the friendships and, you know, like, making sure that they can actually interact with each other. That's just so important. Like you said, doing a trivia night once a term. Well, we've got our Easter picnic coming up. I know I talk about it all the time, but I know with all my new, especially six and under troop parents. We've got 53 and six and under troop this year. Like, imagine them. I know, imagine them. They're not all on stage at once. Interacting with each other now and creating bonds and becoming friends for life. And then they stay at the studio because they're friends. Like, it's just so, you know, something that costs that little bit of money is just so huge and has such a huge impact.

I love that so much. I think that Easter picnic is such a good example of that. And I think we spoke about it on a podcast the other day. One of our clients, Marie from Dancing with Marie, did a, like a huge, amazing. Was it like a challenge day? Is that what it was? That she just invited all of her families for free? She paid a company to do it and they, you know, they were in the red team or the blue team or whatever, and they did like a series of whole family activities and like, things like that. If you have the finances for them, I think they can be so great for bonding in your studio and such a great customer service add on that you offer.

Yeah, absolutely. Absolutely. Anything else that you can think of from COVID Amanda that you think we should definitely. Or anything you think we should definitely not keep even.

Oh, let's start with the. To keep. Okay, I'm gonna say online dance classes. That's my thing. And you know, we've seen the rise of online dance programs, for sure. There's specialized dance programs out there that some of our higher level kids would be taking and they can work really well. But why not do it in your studio yourself? Why not offer, you know, one thing we were kind of toying around with the idea was, and we kind of spoke about it last week on the solo podcast as well, was an additional technique class, for example, for all your kids on the unlimited or all your troop kids or all, you know, whatever it is. You could run one of those online once a week at a time where probably none of them are going to come to the studio. It's going to, you know, you could charge a very small amount for it because you could put a hundred kids in the class if you wanted, because there's no limit online. Right. You know, imagine this. This is where I'm going with this. This is my headspace. So they enroll in a class, there's a ticker box saying, hey, would you like to, you know, as an add on, would you like to pay an additional $5 a week to be a member of our online dance classes or online dance community? Something cool, right? You got to give it a cool name, you know, an extra couple of dollars a week, whatever it is. But if you could get a hundred kids to upgrade to that and all that meant was, you know, one extra class at 8am on a Saturday morning, that was a technique class that you did. And then a portal of all the old classes and the recordings. Could you make an extra, like, I don't know, could you make an extra thousand dollars a week from that? Could you make an extra 500? Like, you know, even a couple of hundred, like what could you do that would really, you know, and be a value add to both your community but also to your bottom line.

You know what we used to do? Sorry, just as you're doing that, I'm getting ideas, we're getting excited.

You and I are getting excited. Never.

I am actually. So we used to do a stretch class every morning for the kids before they went to online schooling. So they'd get up and come on and do a stretch class and I'm like, that could be really cool. Like just to do a 15 minute stretch with Ms. Beck every morning before.

You go to school.

Parents would love that too because we're always going saying to our kids, you've got to practice your stretching at home. You've got to practice.

Absolutely.

And parents get sick of saying to them, practice. So like imagine just, you know, getting a staff member or you doing it, getting online. That would be amazing. That would be amazing.

That would be so, so good. And like, as a mum, as a parent, I am not that parent who is taking my kid to dance classes at 7:30. I know some people run before school classes. That would not be. I am not doing that. However, every morning I'm hassling my 11 year old to do her, you know, point exercises and to do her conditioning and stuff. If she could jump online for 15 minutes or 20 minutes or half an hour at 7 o' clock to do it before school, I would be all about getting her up to do that.

Yeah. Game changer. Absolutely.

I'd happily pay $10 a week, whatever it was. It doesn't have to be a huge amount of money because it's scalable, right?

Yeah.

You could get everybody, you know, if it was $10 a week, for example, but you had a hundred kids in it for you back at your studio. 100 kids in that. Yeah, that's very doable. For $10 a week.

Absolutely.

That's an extra thousand dollars. Like you wouldn't pay the teacher that much money like for that. Like I think that's Such a great idea. And it also. It's going to lift the level of your school.

Yep.

It's gonna get our kids more invested. There's all of those things. And you know, it's that funny thing, right? Like, a lot of us did incredible content and I think we talked about this on the Easter one as well. We did incredible content and we have these videos that are probably just, you know, sitting on the back of your Max book somewhere that you created during COVID Use them, recycle them, even if it's just posting them for free on your socials, but get out there and use them because content can be recycled.

I love it. I absolutely love it. My brain's like. And I think, like, no, it's just such a simple way to. To make some extra money in your studio.

Absolutely.

And yeah, especially, I especially love that doing this extra stretch class. That's really clever, Amanda. Love it.

Thanks. I think that would be amazing thing to do. I really would. As a parent. I would love it because I think we talked about it on last week's episode about solos as well. I would love for my girls to do more classes, but I just can't physically do any more driving back and forth to the studio. It's just not something I can do. However, if it was online, if it was at their own time, if I knew it was appropriate for them. Because I also look at some of those and obviously I am a dance educated parent. However, I look at some of those online programs and there's so many of them going around. Right. Like, but I look at them and go, oh, look, that one's probably too hard. That's probably too advanced for my daughter. Oh, I don't, you know, I don't really know what I'm buying.

Yeah.

And, and my kids are decent level, but they're not super high level. So it's like I don't want them to do something that's way too hard for them and not safe for them as well. I think that's a big thing as well.

Yeah.

But if it was run by their studio, I would know it's appropriate. I believe in, in their studio, as most parents do. That's why they come to your studio. They trust you. So they just go, that's the easy one. I'll just do it at their studio rather than going and buying it from someone else.

I love it. I love it. So many cool ideas. So many cool ideas.

Absolutely. And I just think bring back some of those things. Like Covid was horrible for a lot of ways, but it also really brought out an innovative side of dance. And so if there was something that was really innovative, something that was really different that you did that worked, let us know. Why did you stop it? Why don't you bring it back now? Because, yes, I do think we all kind of needed a bit of a break as well from online classes. I get that. But maybe it's the time to bring them back.

Yeah. And we're not saying to do it all day every day necessarily. Absolutely not doing it as that one off, you know, even workshop or anything like that. Like, why not do it? You know, why not do it? I love it. Amanda, you're so clever.

Well, thanks. I think definitely give it a go, Give it a try. If it's something that calls to you, that if there's a way to do it. But you know, sometimes it's even just a bit of a. Like a free online class in the holidays, maybe that's a great thing to do as well.

Yeah.

You know, keep connecting with your students. You know, jump on your closed Facebook group, jump on the band and do a half an hour. Hey, anyone in our community want to come along and do a stretch class with Ms. Beck? We did things like that all the time in Covid. Right?

We did.

And it's a great way to give back to your community. So I would really recommend just thinking about what you could do to do that, to make it incredible experience for your students.

Yeah. Amazing. Guys. We hope you inspired. We hope we inspired you today. It is so close to expo. We're so pumped about it. We cannot wait to see you guys all there. It's going to be epic.

Cannot wait. If you listen to the podcast and we're meeting you for the first time at Expo, come and tell us. We love that. So please come and tell us that you listen to the podcast and we can't wait to see you there. Bye, friends.

Bye.