Joys of Convention Planning

One of the joys of being a somewhat public face for any organization is that you get to be the whipping boy for all of the nut jobs in the world.

I'm secretary and registrar for DC Diamond Circulate, the 2009 IAGSDC convention.

So far, I've received two nastygrams from people who feel that creating a profile on the IAGSDC web site is excessive. One said he thought the IAGDSC already controlled too much of his life. Another viewed a profile as being yet another step towards fulfilling the prophecies of the Book of Revelations.

Today, I received a vehement e-mail from a guy in California who will boycott our convention unless we immediately reverse our policy of offering pre-registrations prior to the 2008 convention, as though we were somehow the first.

Under which rock do these people hide the rest of the time?

Mainstream Class #3

Tonight's MS class went pretty well. Nearly all of our newbie dancers missed last Monday's class for one reason or another so most were two weeks out of practice with very little experience in the first place.

We quickly drilled the material they should know, slowed down a bit for the material they missed last week and then introduced this week's material. Fortunately, tonight's new material was relatively light: star thru, split the outside couple, half-sashay/rollaway with a half-sashay, separate around 1|2 and right & left thru.

I was a little more aggressive in moving some bodies around in squares for what appeared to be a more optimal learning experience. We also dragged in Jay W. for a couple of quick demos to help manage the class time. In all, I think this class was a strong success. "Square thru" will need some work, especially with a couple of people, but some intensive drills during breaks and in blocks of time prior to regular classes will help smooth out the issues.

I'm so grateful my pager didn't go off the entire evening.

Mainstream Class #3

Tonight's MS class went pretty well. Nearly all of our newbie dancers missed last Monday's class for one reason or another so most were two weeks out of practice with very little experience in the first place.

We quickly drilled the material they should know, slowed down a bit for the material they missed last week and then introduced this week's material. Fortunately, tonight's new material was relatively light: star thru, split the outside couple, half-sashay/rollaway with a half-sashay, separate around 1|2 and right & left thru.

I was a little more aggressive in moving some bodies around in squares for what appeared to be a more optimal learning experience. We also dragged in Jay W. for a couple of quick demos to help manage the class time. In all, I think this class was a strong success. "Square thru" will need some work, especially with a couple of people, but some intensive drills during breaks and in blocks of time prior to regular classes will help smooth out the issues.

I'm so grateful my pager didn't go off the entire evening.