Creating a "Fans-First" Dance Concert

Hello friends. I'm Amanda Barr.

And I'm Rebecca Lou Brennan, and welcome to Dance Principles 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. How are you, lovely Bec?

Super awesome. Excited to be here always with you, Amanda. It's always a fun time.

Look, we're in a bit of a different space. We've moved our coworking space. At the moment, we're working from MacArthur. A bit different and interesting. Our background isn't nearly as pretty today, but we're going with it.

Can I just say though, this is an excellent shopping centre.

It's a fabulous shopping centre. We may be getting distracted by shopping.

It's got like so many cool shops here. It's actually very fun.

So much fun. It's so much fun. And it's nice. to come together. You know, I'm a big believer— we work remotely most of the time. Yes. Which is great. Zoom is incredible. Technology is incredible. It's nice that we can be home with our kids and, you know, juggle work and life and all the things. But sometimes it's really good just to lock in and be away from the distraction and away from the noise. I always love

doing that with my studio too. This is randomly off topic, but yeah.

I'm actually— we've just booked a weekend in the Gold Coast. Oh, have you? Yeah, just with my main team members. Just in an Airbnb to do our timetable because I feel like I especially need to be away from the noise and they need to be away from the noise. And I think you can make better decisions.

Yes.

When you're not with the pinging and the, you know, I'm gonna make everyone put their phones away and we're gonna sit potentially with a bottle of wine.

Absolutely, whatever works.

Of course. Get it done.

I actually think you get it done so much quicker that way as well. Like even though it feels like it's more effort, more work rather than an hour here, an hour there, and then all of a sudden it's added up to 40 hours rather than if you just went away and like actually locked in for 6 hours and got it done.

And if I remember this from last year, and this is completely off the topic of what we're talking about today, but I would, we'd do it with one person and then another person had come in for 2 hours and change and things around. And then the next person— it was actually, it went for like a month. Do you remember last year?

Yeah, it was on your dining table for a long time.

For a very long time. And this year I'm not doing that. I'm like, we're getting it done in one weekend, the end. It's going to be finalized.

I love that. And that's why I'm so excited about Fiji, right? We've got Fiji coming up in 2 weeks, less than 2 weeks. Can

you believe that?

Oh my gosh. So we are taking some of our Studio Growth Club members to Fiji and exactly that, they can lock in for a few days as my daughter says. Do your girls say that as well? Lock in? Lock in. Yeah, absolutely. And I think that is so great because sometimes you need to be removed from the noise to have those big ideas, which is what I love so much about our retreats.

Also, being in a nice place like that, you're happier. So I think you make better decisions.

Yes.

Like I was so happy in Queensland a couple of weeks ago. Amanda, you don't understand. I was like, I was loving life. I was walking, I was enjoying the sun, I was away.

It's so nice. And just having some of those things taken care of as well. I don't know if any of the other, uh, people listening are like me, but you know, I sit in my house and my house is like, I have a clean house, like I have a lovely house, I have all the things. But you know, you're sitting there going, oh, I really need to put that washing away. I really need to, you know, I should pack the dishwasher away. I have 2 minutes. It just was like In your mind.

And it's constant.

Yeah. And when you're away at a nice, you know, no one has to worry about the washing. No one has to worry about what am I eating next? You just have a bit more headspace for big ideas. So I'm excited about that for Fiji. I'm excited that we get to help inspire them to have those big ideas. And then, you know, chat around the pool and get the big ideas like cemented in their mind afterwards.

Yeah, it's gonna be so fun.

Oh my gosh. We're gonna have to do a podcast from Fiji and update you all on how great it is. We've got some incredible guests. joining us in Fiji that even our members don't know about yet, uh, that are going to be coming over and joining us. I'm so pumped.

Same. So excited. So excited.

But that's not what we're talking about today. Not even close. No, today we are talking about, you know, making our events fans first, um, and thinking about our clients, which are parents. Let's remember, our clients are the parents, and making our events you know, appealing to them, right?

Yes. Well, I was at a comp on the weekend, the Ultimate Dance Spectacular. It is my favorite comp by far. And

shout out to Matt and Trish.

Incredible. And I spoke to the members, our members on Monday about this comp because I just feel there's little things they do that are so fans first. Do you want to talk about fans first?

Yeah, let's start with that, shall we? Because Fans First is an idea that we sort of brought to our Studio Growth Club members. You might have heard us throw it around a few times on the podcast, on different trainings, blah, blah, blah. But I think we brought it to our studio owners like 4 years ago or something like that.

Was that the first retreat?

Yeah, that's right. And Fans First is an idea that was created in a book by an entrepreneur called Jesse Cole. Jesse Cole owns Savannah Bananas. I was going to say the banana something. Yep. Savannah Bananas.

Some, some banana situation.

Which you probably— you might not know you've seen it, but probably most people have seen it on socials. Most dancers would have seen it on socials. They're the ones that always have guys in yellow baseball outfits doing random TikTok dances, performing. They had Kirsten Bell performing with them recently. Like, you know, all of these incredible things. Now, he has written some incredible books about Putting your fans first and making sure that everything you do in your business is really creating these incredible experiences for your clients or your fans and treating them that way. He developed a whole new baseball system and all of this by really thinking about what do the fans hate about baseball games and what do they love and what can we do more of to bring them back. What actually came out was they actually don't care about the quality No. A lot of people, not everybody of course, but a lot of people don't care about the quality. It wasn't about incredible baseball skills. It was the atmosphere at the game. It was the fun things. It was all of those extra little things that they come out for. And now he's like created this empire based on that. They're not particularly great baseball players, but that's not the point. No. It's the experience you get when you go there.

Yeah. It's the interactions. It's the— yeah.

The TikTok dances, apparently.

TikTok dances. But it's even the, you know, he talks about the parking.

Absolutely.

And the food lines and—

The bathrooms. He talks about the bathrooms and how that feels for clients.

And that stuff is so much more important really than the event itself often.

Often it is, right? And he talks about how he wants people to feel. feel when they're there. So if you love reading business books or audiobooks, I definitely recommend— he's got a couple, but the Fans First one is definitely a great one to read leading up to concert because it gives you so many new ideas of how you really— especially at something like concert where it's an event. And some cost money, some don't. Some are just like about things as well. And I know we've spoken to Matt and Trish about this lots, and I know that they were taking a lot of these things into the Ultimate Dance Spectacular this weekend, right?

Yeah, and I feel like they step up every year with this event, and I think that's so important as well. And I feel like with your concert, you need to step up not with your dance quality, but actually with the concert. And I don't mean getting massive props and expensive costumes, it's not what I mean. But I'll tell you some things that they did That just blew my mind.

Absolutely.

So the first thing is they have one of those 360 photo booths and they have a photo booth where you can just take still photos as well.

Also have 2 different types. 2

different types. They had a whole room dedicated just to the photo booth. So we could take the kids in there and do that. And they had the props that you could put, the kids loved it, right? So that gives you something to do while you're waiting for their dances. Also great for social media.

Yeah.

Then they have a whole designated teacher area. So you kind of go upstairs to where the music is. They have food, drinks. They have chairs and tables for the teachers so that they can chat to each other. They have a window where you can sit and watch your troupe. It is incredible.

That's amazing.

Then this year they decided to add on a masseuse because they decided, I'm not joking.

That is amazing.

It was, I mean, I actually got emotional. I'm not joking. Because you're so tired.

End of huge 2 days.

And I have been desperate to get a massage lately, Amanda, and I just haven't had time. And when Matt said to me, you can book in a 15-minute, now I'm talking, there's a massage table, it's behind a screen. You literally did, like I was on the massage table properly.

That is amazing.

Amazing.

Yeah.

And you could book in a massage. So every studio owner got a massage.

Wow. That just blows my mind.

Crazy, right?

It's so good. And that's so— sorry to— No, it's fine. But I just like, you know, you messaged me from the comp, um, and I was at a comp as well that was different, um, and you know, it was just— it was fine. There was no problems with the comp. It was just old school, very traditional comp, right, that didn't have those kind of things. I am obviously not a teacher there either. I was just a parent, um, but You know, to hear what you were saying about that comp was absolutely incredible. And to me, that is so clever because so many, you know, in this situation as a comp, the studio owner is their client. The studio owner is their client. And so many people forget that. They're the ones who decide whether their 100 kids are coming or not. And so they have gone out of their way to look after their main client, which is the studio owner. Yep. And, you know, I think that's so important for us as dance studio owners. You know, rather than comp organizers, we've got to remember that the client is the parent, not just the kid, right? And I think that's so, so clever. Oh my God, keep telling me about the massages. I want to come next time just to have a massage and hang out.

The massage was amazing. And what I love about the teacher room is it allows all the teachers to talk to each other and also congratulate each other on their routines and be like, that looked great, this was great. So that's lovely as well. Then downstairs, They have a VIP area for teachers as well, so that if they've had to take their troupe backstage, they can run from the stage, watch their troupe from the VIP area.

Oh, wow. Like sectioned off so that they didn't have to go, oh shit, I have nowhere to stand. Correct. Yeah.

And then, and it's completely sectioned off. No parents can get to it. And then they can go back and grab their troupe. Perfect. So smart.

Nice and close to the door, I presume. Nice and easy for them.

Correct. Yeah. And then the other thing is, They gave lollipops out to each child at the end of the session as everybody was leaving.

After awards?

After awards.

Great.

So smart. I just felt that was very smart as well, 'cause I didn't go to the 6 and unders on the Sunday morning 'cause it was Tim's birthday, so I did the whole birthday thing with him. So I was coming parking as all my 6s were coming out and every one of them was like, I got a lollipop. Now they didn't know where they came and they didn't get a list. Yeah, they didn't care.

Yeah.

At all where they came. They cared about the fact that they got a lollipop on the way out.

A 50-cent lollipop?

If that.

Isn't that incredible? Yep. It's so, so amazing. And that's something that, um, this book really talks about. It's the last interaction that matters. They talk about it in the book in terms of the last interaction can be them leaving the parking lot or them walking out at the end of the game or whatever. Like, I'm thinking, how could our studio owners take this idea of that last, that last moment that they have to interact and really take it to the next level at concert? I don't know, because that's what I really think is the biggest thing. And we've spoken about it before, that last moment at concert. If it's an old lady signing them out, getting angry, and then signing, like, standing in a line for ages to, like, get their child out of the dressing room, that is not a great experience. No. So what could you do even— like, obviously let's try and fix that so that that doesn't happen, number one. But even if there is a version of that, what could you do after that? What is the step after that? I don't know. Like, we've got—

we know that there's studio owners who have a party after the concert.

Yeah, after party.

An after party. That is next level. I do not do that, Amanda.

No, but I love the idea of that. But you know, even the lollipop idea. Why not have, you know, for example, if there was a pickup section from the backstage area and then they had to walk through the foyer, could you then have teachers doing a, like, guard of honor? I'm imagining, you know, something like that, a guard of honor handing out lolly bags going, you did a great job, run through the guard of honor, you know, afterwards.

Yep.

Is there a version of that? That doesn't cost a lot of money.

No.

It's something that's easy. What about Santa walking around afterwards if it's, Christmas time, handing out lolly bags at the end. You know, what is the version of that? Even, you know, to me, I'm like, so they talk about in, um, the book, like, even as the experience is ending, is it a text message that's, you know, you could pre-schedule that, right? To go out as you know, everybody's driving home. You know, that's like, we are so proud of you. Congratulations. Like, you know, whatever that is, but it's those things.

Absolutely.

That could make it incredible.

It could make such a difference. And I think concerts— we've talked so much about this— should be about retention.

Absolutely.

And if they have a bad concert experience, you're not going to retain them. You know, that's why Phoenix doesn't dance anymore.

You did say that because he was bored at the concert.

Because that was the year that we had COVID. So they weren't allowed backstage, but they were allowed to sit in the audience and watch. Which made no sense. No, no.

COVID didn't live in the auditorium, but it lived backstage.

It hated that he had to He just wanted to sit and watch everybody for an hour or whatever it was. And I completely understand that now, thinking back to it. And he's like, I'm never ever doing that again. I do not want to ever do a concert again. And so he stopped dancing.

Isn't that amazing?

Yeah, but that's what— that's the thing. Like, it's only going to take that one little bad experience.

And what could you do? And like, not everything is going to appeal to every person, but, you know, the lollybags might appeal to one type of parent. The text message might appeal to another type of parent. Like, what else could you do? Like, you know, to me, sometimes it's even as simple as just the teacher walking around congratulating them and giving high fives in the auditorium, in the foyer, whatever that is afterwards. That can be enough. But it's prioritizing those things so that you're making it fans first, right?

Another thing that Matt and Trish did was they gave us a gift of a speaker.

Such a good gift.

Always needed. It was branded. So it had The Ultimate Dance Spectacular on the speaker.

Yeah, like a little Bluetooth one, I presume.

Yeah, a Bluetooth speaker so you could practice with your kids with the speaker. Genius. Yeah. Right? Absolute genius. But I was like, we give so many presents to the kids at the concert. What could we do for a parent at a concert? So I don't know, I just had this idea of rewarding the mums somehow. Like, my idea for my concert was, what if I just gave every parent or every family a $5 drink voucher? Go get yourself a champagne while you're waiting, you know? Absolutely. And the other thing I thought of is I make them get dropped off at 4:30, but the concert's not actually till 6:30 because we do a finale run-through because you can't do finale without— Yeah, things that you do. It's too many people, right? Then I'm like, well, what are those parents doing from 4:30 to 6:30? I'm either expecting them to park, drop their child off, Sit in the car. Park again. Like, we are at a club, but I'm like, imagine if as they walked in and dropped their child off, I just gave them a little drink voucher and they can go down and have a drink before the concert starts. Like, that would probably mean so much to them, wouldn't it?

Can I make a suggestion? I'm just thinking this because we actually haven't discussed this. Um, what about hiring one of the function rooms? For all your parents. So then it's like, because usually those function rooms don't cost a lot because it's just the bars open, but it's like, hey, all of our parents go and mingle in so they know how to find each other.

Oh my God, that is so smart.

Because then you could put money over the bar if you wanted to, or not. I don't even know if you need to, but it's all more like, hey, this is like the pa's parents VIP, you know, before party or something like that if you're at a club. I'm sorry, just— we're gonna start some life coaching. That's smart.

Yeah. I just think something like We forget about their journey. So, you know, I was saying the journey of them having to get their child from school and do their hair and makeup very quickly. Yes, it's stressful. Stressful. To then probably not be able to park because you've got 200 families arriving at once. So then they're going to be late coming in. So then a teacher yells at them because they're late coming in. Then the child is stressed. Then the parent feels bad. This is generally what happens. Then they have to wait for 2 hours for the concert.

Yeah.

Then they have to sit and watch the concert for a few hours. Yeah. Like, it's— and then they pick their child up who's probably tired and over it and has just been given a lolly bag and now is—

Hyperactive. They're gonna love that. And it's interesting to think about that journey. Like, I think we've mentioned this on the podcast, I went to Beck's concert last year. Yeah. you know, things that she didn't know because she's not out the front. I was like, did you know the bar that's right out the front of the auditorium wasn't open? She's like, no, I just presumed it was. I didn't walk out there. No. And I'm like, that's silly. And that's obviously not on you, that's on the club. But you can request, you know, it's something you can talk about and suggest for next year and all of those things. But I'm like, I would have really liked— I thought it would be because I'd been there before. Then I hopped in the line and it wasn't open. And I was like, oh, I don't have time to walk to the other end of the club, bring it, you know, but just those little things, right? And it's great to hear from somebody else that sees something different to what you see.

Absolutely. And I think thinking about, you're now in that parent perspective.

I sure am.

And so you would now see things from a very different— you're not backstage anymore. You're actually watching the concert. You should all see Amanda's face.

My anxiety going through the roof. Like, no, it's interesting, right? Because that's what I have. So many people go, how are you doing sitting in the audience? I'm like, to be honest, I'm bored.

Yes, it is boring.

I've got to be honest. I'm— I have 3 girls. Like, you know, I'm obviously there for long periods of time. There's not a lot of families that would have 3 children dancing. There's only ever a handful, I would think, at most studios, especially across 3 different age groups. It's not unheard of, but I don't think it's like the normal experience.

But the end of year concert, that's probably better for you, to be honest, because at least you've got more kids in more places.

Oh yeah, actually, to be fair, the end of year show, because they're all in the one show, is actually pretty good. It's the Ascendants that—

Oh yeah, that's— All weekend.

Of course. Yeah. But, um, yeah, it's interesting because I'm like, what could we be doing to make sure that those parents are having a great time as well and thinking about that fans-first experience? So maybe that's what we should— we'd love to leave you with a bit of homework today.

Yeah.

Is, you know, sit down and really think about your parents' journey. And it's something I'd kind of almost like write out, think out. Okay, so on our shows on a Thursday night, for example, you know, they're gonna have to pick their kid up from school at 3 o'clock, try and get to their house, which is probably 10 minutes away, do hair and makeup to then leave for the concert by X time, drop, you know, think about how that whole night works for them. Because there might be a few bits where you're like, I could make that easier. I could make that funner. I could change that. Rather than just thinking about, okay, what do I need as a studio owner for my students? Think about what do your parents need? And I think that'd be a really great exercise for everyone to do.

I agree. And I, I want to leave everyone with— I spoke to the SGC members the other day and I said to them, You've just got to think about your concert, that is this a decision because I want it to look good and it's about my ego and how I feel, or is this actually a decision that's best for your clients? Just going to leave you with that.

Absolutely. We hope you've enjoyed today's episode of Dance Principles United podcast. If you have any thoughts, drop us a message. I always love hearing, um, ideas. We so appreciate when we get our Instagram messages, Facebook messages, Um, but I hope you got something out of today's podcast. Can't wait to see you next week on the pod.

Bye, friends.