New tour concept for 2011 proposed

[Daave]

Richard is onto something here.

This proposal, taken in full, was more than just ego, and more than just a play for higher revenue sharing or appearance fees. The G7 are also seeking additional revenue by taking over DCI operations. Imagine CrownTickets ticketing all DCI events; YEA! performing event management; System Blue staging all DCI clinics....and those organizations profiting from providing those services.

And their pursuit of these goals was hardly a benevolent act. Seizing voting control with two votes for each of them and none for some other corps? Ousting the executive director and half the DCI staff? This proposal, taken in full, was an attempted hostile takeover of DCI.

Lest we forget the opportunity to affect/modify the current judging system to ensure the continuation of G-7 model? The G-7 stays the G-7 if you also control the judging that doesn't allow for the inclusion of others...

[Jeff Ream]

I guess I am okay with it. You are lying to yourself if you think these groups are not the ones that bring the majority of money into the activity. Why shouldn't they be able to have more control?

ok Jason, let's get personal here. I know your resume and were you came from.

now say these 7 get all the power and all the cash. then the little guys die.

now you came from a little guy, to a corps in the middle, then a corps at the top.

those little corps die out because there are fewer shows, no vote and a lot less money...where does that leave the kids that came up thru the ranks like you did?

it leads them to never march. No kid will ever be able to experience what you did, because in time, the rest will die off because 7 people insist on keeping everything for themselves.

now think about that...your first alma mater...Surf dies out because of this. it's not because Jacobs is a moron who cant run a bsuiness. it's because his hands are tied, he cant get shows to compete in, and he gets peanuts when he does.

now look at that big picture. because that's what this is going to lead to.

[Jeff Ream]

It seems like there were a couple of nods towards DCP, or whatever vocal group of people commenting on this issue who have expressed concern.

To all of you who think DCP is completely irrelevant maybe he was referring to the millions of calls received in the office?

oh, many of us know they read. and some take it seriously...i really think the outrage on here after Indy and emails and calls lead to the PR campaign to take the sting away, and it led to the outreach we saw in the Fn Januals videos.

but it's better to play dumb about it

[Jeff Ream]

Yea, and it would really be a wakeup call for many of the Polly Ana-everything's fine-nothing to see move along crowd.

sadly, it would reinforce their views I believe

[Jeff Ream]

And how is DCI supposed to help kids if there isn't money?

Did your corps run on rainbows and laughter?

well with this, DCI will help kids...the ones in those 7 corps. the others, well, no

[Jeff Ream]

Well it certainly isnt growing the way things are now...

youre' right. so maybe they need to go back and re-examine some things they changed that worked even in bad economies and maybe say "hmm...we were wrong".

not that I expect to ever see that day, but the psh to national touring and the elimination of the regional circuits sped up the chain of events...coupled with an economy that has everyone hurting...to get us where we are.

[BOBSMYTH]

Please explain how you have arrived at your statement that DCI has not been doing well. What metrics did you use?

Maybe he went to DCI Championships last year... looked around at the size of the crowd and said " holy ####, there's few here". We've lost a lot of fans". Then he went to the theatre last week and watched the DCI on the screen and looked around and said " holy ####, there's only 6 people here !"

I could be wrong, but maybe this was " the metric " he used to come to his conclusion that this enterprise is on life support financially, because as improved as the product is getting, not enough people are buying it 's entertainment like they used to do. But again, I could be wrong, and it's just one of those wild speculations on this.

And yet somehow, DCI has figured out how to manage in these terrible economic times. They turned a profit last year and paid all of their bills and worked hard to fulfill their mission statement and are in a decent position to profit more when the economy does turn around and have expanded the offerings on the Fan Network and have just recently introduced a brand new product - the 2009 Championships on Blue Ray and they saw increases in ticket sales in key regional locations like Atlanta and Allentown in 2009 and have introduced a much anticipated new regional in Minneapolis for 2010 and ....

There are a lot of ways to measure success and effectiveness of an organization and of a CEO. "DCI has not been doing well" is a pretty broad statement that I do not believe is true. You can't just throw that kind of statement out there.

All businesses have been hit by the economy in the past few years. DCI has many additional "opportunities" to improve in many different areas of their business.

By the way, there were way more than 6 people in the theater that I was at. A good time was had by all.

[audiodb]

Really??? Then what's the alternative? That we keep chugging along as we have been for 40 years, losing a couple more corps each year? Settling for a finite pot of money tells me that you're settling for the status quo. It speaks to me of managing the losses, rather than working to reverse the trend. We're already well on the path to a de facto G7, as we'll eventually have only seven corps left under the current model, regardless of this proposal.

Excuse me for interrupting, but when did the "status quo" become such a dire crisis? Last time we discussed the state of DCI on this board, people were contending that DCI was doing better than ever, and pointing to increased revenue and profit on their form 990s to back up the contention. World-class has grown to 23 corps. Where are these "losses" you speak of?

Maybe you think the current proposal is heavy-handed and authoritarian. I get that, I do. It's a power/money grab, and I've never denied otherwise. But maybe it will work in the long term. For those who have read World War Z, think of it as a drum corps Redeker plan. Maybe the best thing is to shore up our resources, establish a firm and stable base, then work on expanding from there. And if you're going to establish a base, then you do that with corps like the Cavaliers or SCV.

Why shouldn't the 23 world-class corps (all 23) be our stable base?

And who knows, maybe the proposal will be successful indirectly, as a wake up call to the rest of us. Maybe we wake up to the fact that the activity needs more help than even we thought, especially the smaller corps. There's been a ton of lip service paid to non-G7 corps in this thread. If that lip service is backed by increased dollars then we've grown the pot of money already.

Gosh, yes. This is a good idea after all....

Seriously, don't you get nauseous from spinning like that?

[Jeff Ream]

hey havent been chugging along the same way for the last 40 years...things kept changing. and maybe it's time to revist some of those changes that may have helped create the current mess.

Really??? Then what's the alternative? That we keep chugging along as we have been for 40 years, losing a couple more corps each year? Settling for a finite pot of money tells me that you're settling for the status quo. It speaks to me of managing the losses, rather than working to reverse the trend. We're already well on the path to a de facto G7, as we'll eventually have only seven corps left under the current model, regardless of this proposal.

Say whatever you want about the G7 proposal, at least it's proactive. If this kerfuffle has made anything clear it's that even the most popular corps are feeling the pinch of shrinking resources. Something needs to be done to save this activity. Maybe you think the current proposal is heavy-handed and authoritarian. I get that, I do. It's a power/money grab, and I've never denied otherwise. But maybe it will work in the long term. For those who have read World War Z, think of it as a drum corps Redeker plan. Maybe the best thing is to shore up our resources, establish a firm and stable base, then work on expanding from there. And if you're going to establish a base, then you do that with corps like the Cavaliers or SCV.

And who knows, maybe the proposal will be successful indirectly, as a wake up call to the rest of us. Maybe we wake up to the fact that the activity needs more help than even we thought, especially the smaller corps. There's been a ton of lip service paid to non-G7 corps in this thread. If that lip service is backed by increased dollars then we've grown the pot of money already.

[Jeff Ream]

With the level of revenue coming into some shows on weekends and the amount of people in those seats that are there because of the big names, why wouldn't they get paid more? Non-elective Expenses are going up (food, gas, etc) and these corps should earn more then 2400 for say, san antonio or atlanta.

As far as Dan goes, DCI has not been doing well. I think that's a good percentage of what this board talks about every day. So if a corporation Board prez isn't getting results, why shouldn't he be let go?

no one is doing well these days. it's called the worst recession in 70 years, with a government that tries to help, but makes it worse.

and as for Dan...if it weren't for him, they'd have died shortly after Sam Mitchell left town.