Weaklefthand4ever

Proof that the talent is out there in the community to leverage.

I think one of the things that happened is that the event just wasn't very well advertised. But that's quite frankly fairly typical for DCA. They don't generally do a very good job of promoting the product. The monster truck event across the street drew a FAR larger crowd. That being said, a promotions group was used. You have to spend money to make money unless you want to be "niche" or cottage industry. There are plenty of folks involved in DCA (yourself probably included Fred,) that have ties to advertising and promotion.

I just noticed that the annual winter meeting with be in Atlanta. Maybe we will some changes...but I'm not in "The Know." I also started to really dig into Soundsport and the Virtual Events judging feature could be invaluable for DCA corps which could not travel. The sheets would obviously have to be different, but the idea of being able to receive judging feedback through the season without having to spend thousands on travel is pretty #### cool. It took me 5 minutes to look into a single DCI option and find things that would help DCA if they would reach out and find a way to partner. I don't expect anyone to answer as I know there is plenty of history DCA wise that I don't know (remember my first year in DCA was 2004,) but why is it so hard for DCA accept / adopt positive change that moves the activity forward?

I would still love to know a little more about that. It seemed to be a great venue for the performers. My only complaints were from that aspect as we were 1. WAY too far from the field equipment wise to the gate. 2. Bathrooms were locked when we got there and both MM's and fans were wandering around doing the pee-pee dance and 3. The front ensemble had to march what basically amounted to parade distance to get on and off the field. All of those things could have been easily resolved at future contests. The nice thing about a Wake Forest kind of venue is that (to my knowledge) it hasn't been tainted by bad experiences with corps MM's and over zealous / demanding staff. I know we had a ball with Renegades.

Fantastic staff changes. Very interested to see what the Cadets bring to the table this coming season.

I'm pretty DCI is why I do laundry 4 times a week to this very day lol.

Agreed. I liked the show this last season and have seen improvement in several areas. But the giganto-prop 9000 just didn't add anything to the show. If you're going to play the game, you have to know the rules of it well enough to give yourself a chance to win. Spirit is getting there. I'll hit up a few camps this spring.

True. And we had to get better. That requires time and a good plan. CV had that.

Winston Salem was pretty freakin' awesome as long as they open the near gate for the corps to roll the front ensemble through. But alas....i think that ship has passed. If southern corps can travel up north, I would think northern corps can make it to Atlanta or something similar. Make something happen with JSU and maybe involve Spirit. Alternate every 2 to 4 years.

In a way...it's somewhat refreshing to be in a situation of fighting to improve vs fighting to win. It changes your perspective and makes your goals more approachable and easier to hit. "We want to break 80 by x show" is attainable given a certain talent level. I learned to appreciate small gains much more in my DCA years than in my DCI years.

When it comes down to it, we have no idea of what YEA actually did or did not do. They have not shared that information for whatever reason and that isn't alarming to me. As soon as your counsel gets involved (and I'm sure YEA's counsel is,) they direct you to what would be best to say or avoid saying. Yes, sometimes it can be poor optics from the outside looking in. But we have to be socially smart enough to realize that we don't know what we don't know and not jump to guessing what happened. Staying silent is NOT a sign of guilt or of poor management in all cases. Sometimes, the best thing to do is to just keep your big mouth shut and let the facts speak in their own time. I just don't find it that hard of a concept to grasp.

Kind of my point as well. DCI has a working model that's expanding the activity and getting at least SOME outreach to the next generation of MM's and fans. It's now up to the corps...since they are essentially the "governing body" of the association to either embrace change and / or reach out to DCI and see what kind of environment the TWO associations in accord could work together to push the activity forward as a whole.

Yep LOL. That was our motto pretty much from about 2004 until maybe 2009 or 2010.

There could be several answers. I think for CV it comes down to time commitment to transition into an open class corps as well ad frankly, having not won a DCA Championship. I would think that's a goal they would want to accomplish before they would consider moving to anything else. I could be wrong though. The goal was always to win but it the growing years, we settled a lot for 9th lol.

Yeah....we never marched anywhere else lol. The most travel I can remember was 2005. We did Wildwood, Winston Salem, DCI Atlanta, Rockmart, Orlando and the finals. It was a LOT of travel. After that it tapered off quite a bit. We also had a lot of fundraising though from Birdies for Charities, to Atlanta Motor Speedway. I'm uncertain what the fundraising looks like now. I also believe with the purchse of 3 complete batteries in the last 4 years and a new (and very large) front ensemble, CV has traveled less to remain on budget. I'm not sure about horns. The management of that corps has been exceptional. And I'm not just saying that because I'm a vet. The instructional staff has really been excellent as well.

Besides that example lol.

I wonder if the same is true for DCA. I would love to think so. I started to think about it am shocked that I see more advertising for local HS marching band shows than I do for drum corps shows. I guess shocked is a bad word...let's say...disappointed.

I think sustainable in the short term. However, the first year we drop below 10 Open Class corps for DCA Finals, people are going to grab the pitch forks and get all stabby and ####. P.S. - I think "stabby" is an actual word...an adjective...they're working on our IT security and I can't get to Google. LOL

100% CORRECT. At the end of the day, we can howl at the moon until next season starts and nothing will change unless the member corps see things the way that we have discussed here. I do, however, believe that as long as the conversations here continue to be positive, it may serve as a vehicle to put a few well placed bugs in some voting ears. Unlike the DCI forums, the DCA side seems to be less prone to daily drama and posturing. I think we have some good minds at work coming up with some decent topics of discussion (I do not include myself in the "good minds" category.)

That's a fair statement. And just to put it out there, if the pieces are placed appropriately on the board, even those of us who can't march anymore can still participate. One of the things that has become more and more clear to me over the last few years is that there is enough volunteer talent out there that DCA doesn't need to pay a soul to get the right infrastructure in place to grow the activity. DCA and it's member corps could EASILY give up 1/10,000th of a percent of control and allow a network of volunteers and interns to grow the brand. Yes, there would have to be checks and balances in place, but the talent and work ethic is there. I can't march anymore (Thanks Premier drums!!....and yes Jeff, I know you marched Stingrays which weighed approximately 600 lbs so you're probably worse than I am back wise...,) but I would commit hours to help a corps or the association so I could stay involved. I'm sure I'm not alone.

And I think that's the easy and most elegant answer. I don't want DCA to be seen as a "B" or feeder corps. But the reality is that it's a stepping stone for the younger members who want to go to DCI. If you're too old to march DCI then you can still have that sense of drum corps family and continue to march while having real life comittments. After you are no longer able to march (for whatever reason,) you could volunteer time and talent to DCA. The model is there. We aren't exactly reinventing the wheel here.

I built my entire drum corps "career" on that very principal!

Agree 100%. That's why DCA should be figuring out some sort of way to join forces with DCI to leverage their ability to promote and advertise the activity. People are not ware of DCA...period. MANY of us marched DCI and were completely unaware that DCA even existed until we were told by existing DCA members about it. That's unbelievably sad. And outside of the NE, there are very few corps to even spread the word. Though corps should have some responsibility to grow the organization on their own, the investment of time and money to do so could be prohibitive. It's like trying to grow a business by word of mouth. It can be done, but if you really want to grow, the business has to invest in itself. There are no simple answers. And who knows...DCA may be doing things behind the scenes to surprise us. I just have my doubts that they have the necessary sense of urgency for the survival of the activity.

Told you Terri LOL. I really do wish they would try Championships in Hotlanta one more time.

Haven't heard too much about him, but I'm suspecting he has some WGI background that I didn't see. I just skimmed over most of the posting.