BOBSMYTH

The DCI office is responsive and will sell you the DCI Rule Book for $35 plus shipping - as the original poster found out back in post #28. There is a bigger issue at play here - one of intellectual property rights. The rule book, the judging system and many other things that DCI as an organization has created over the years is their intellectual property. I do not understand the concept of why some people think they should have access to that material for free. As an example, DCI has spent large sums of money on developing the judging system and training hundreds (thousands?) of judges in its application. That system has been adopted, borrowed, co-opted and often directly ripped off over the years by various band and color guard circuits, one-off band shows and even some other unrelated activities with no compensation going back to DCI or the corps. I have no problem with the idea that DCI should be monetizing their intellectual property rights through licensing or other similar arrangements. A $35 ask for a copy of the rule book is not an unreasonable expectation. IMO.

Objects in mirror are closer than they appear.

Those are for summer only. And, in the summer they have a lot more important things to do (like run drum corps shows).

No, they don't. And if they did, I would hope that they would be doing something more productive.

Here is one example of things that DCI is doing now: http://www.dci.org/news/view.cfm?news_id=578a0c0d-165e-44e1-aa84-dbec35516860 Note that this is a story on DCI.org promoting a whole new circuit of start up corps. That kind of promtional thing didn't use to happen. Also note that one of the key presentors at the meeting was Bob Jacobs, a World Class Director and part of the management of DCI. Looks to me like DCI is trying to do things different in 2011.

Sorry to nit pick but you can get finals tickets on the 50 yard line in section 640 for $75. (I was just looking at finals tickets tonight.)

I'm sorry that you did not receive the help that you were looking for. The experience that you report is very different from what I have observed/experienced. By the way, DCI does not have dozens of employees.

There is no one solution, IMHO. Before you come up with solutions, you have to accurately define the problem. If someone just throws out a comment that "attendance is down", that is not the problem - that is just a symptom of the problem(s). (On a side note, the thought that attendance is down is thrown around DCP like it is a universal truth - with no definition or context. Attendance is down for Finals? probably - have you seen the economy recently? Kinda scary over the last couple years. How about attendance in Atlanta, Denver or my local home show? Maybe, maybe not. But I digress.) There are many root causes for "the problem". You need to identify all of those root causes and then you need to come up with solutions that address each of those issues. You can't prescribe medicine without an accurate diagnosis of the disease and expect a cure.

Absolutely agree. But - I calculated that driving a semi (or two) of equipment across country is a lot less expensive than driving the entire corps complete with 3 or 4 busses, staff vehicle, etc.

Wow. I don't remember this particular Eleanor Roosevelt quote. I am going to have to make note of it and use it often!

I have NO idea what the corps are planning in order to get to Texas for the start of the season. What if they started in Texas? There is nothing that says that the Blue Devils, for example, have to start in Northern California and drive the entire corps 2,000 miles to Texas. What if, instead of having all of their members fly into Northern California for spring training, they had all of those kids fly into Texas for spring training and then they started the season from there? It's not like they have large numbers of local participants in their corps. If the kids are flying anyway, what does it matter where they are flying to? The same thing could be done by Cadets, Crown, etc. Again, I have no idea what they are planning to do. But - there is more than one solution to every problem.

To engage as many people as possible is one of the key themes of DCI's current business plan. Two of the tactical initiatives talk about how to encourage new corps and how to increase the number of participants in existing corps. How many corps (including Open Class) marched less than 150 members? There are large number of opportunities for additional participants just by utilizing those open positions that are already available.

Fred Morrison is the inventor of the Frisbee. (It's true! I read it on the internet - so it must be true.) OK - maybe not the same Fred.

Don't forget 1972. That was an important year.

Sometimes you need a spare.

Here is a brief interview with the person who gave the presentation on hearing loss: http://dci.thefannetwork.org/?vod_id=68e99308-e90e-4718-87d7-0ea19fa1c088&mode=viral

Perhaps there would be many new corps if they didn't perceive the need to raise a minimum of a half million dollars (and maybe twice that or more) each and every year just to play the game. That is a rather large ante.

True - not all corps participate in all aspects of the arms race. Quite a few have used props from time to time and I would not be surprised to see more in the future. The pre-show rules are relatively new and I expect to see more preshows - and more elaborate ones - in the near future. All of this continues to escalate costs. Another financial angle: not only is it increasingly difficult to keep up for the current corps, each change also raises the bar on the cost of entry for newer corps to start-up or move-up into World Class.

The concept of an "arms race" is so apropos to a discussion of rules changes. Every time there is a rules change, one of the arguments in favor: no one is forcing corps ABC to use X that is now legal. It doesn't matter if we're talking about amps, narration, Bb instruments, number of members, pre-show performances or props. It seems that every rule change turns into an arms race. The top guys are going to do X because they now can and everyone else is going to do X because they feel they need to keep up. Throw in the increasing staff sizes compared to BITD and the ever changing uniforms (2 more forms of the arms race) and you see the same phenomenon. Just like the Cold War, in every arms race, one or more participants will eventually run out of the financial ability to continue.

There are not truckloads of "DCI Officials" visiting corps practice sites and having dress code inspections. Inspections were done away with back in the 70's. Move along, there is nothing to see here (so to speak). Never let an unsubstantiated rumor about a non-issue get in the way of good poll/thread.

You are arguing against human nature. I don't think you will win. Shows ARE designed to the sheets. Anything that is on the judging sheets, the designers and corps directors will react to. They are all very competative people who are going to use whatever available judging criteria exist to try to get more tenths of points and beat the next guy. The judges use the system that they have and reward points accordingly. The designers who want more points design to that system. If it changes, they will change. Whether "entertainment" is to be considered a part of the GE sheets or if it gets its own caption, the designers will adapt and become more "entertaining" whatever that means. "What gets measured gets managed" - Peter Drucker

These things go in cycles. There was a lot of dark, angry music in the mid-to-late 90's, IIRC.

It has been called drum corps for a long time through numerous changes - so, yes, it will still be called drum corps. "When woodwinds are added" assumes an outcome that is not inevitable. There is not currently a rules proposal under consideration that would allow woodwinds.

Right now with only a few days left Spirit is sitting in 91st place in their category. The top 10 win so it is a long shot for December. BUT - the top 100 non-qualifiers automatically get rolled over and are eligible next month. Please vote and make sure that Spirit of Atlanta stays in the top 100!

The best long term strategy for DCI's future is to increase the number of people engaged in this activity. That is the number of people in the stands and the number of participants on the field. Those two are interrelated as the second often drives the first. At some point, there is a critical mass of corps that are needed to sustain a meaningful tour and 7 is too low.