Paid attendance figures for DCI World Championships

[JimF-LowBari]

I think simple reading comprehension + deductive reasoning should suffice for anyone not wanting to make a big deal over literally nothing. I know the US education system is not great, and we're working on improving it via stressing problem solving and deductive reasoning skills, but this is really not difficult unless one is really being super overly critical.

I'm not writing this in an attempt to be passive-aggressive jerk, I'm trying to be as blunt and matter-of-fact as possible.

Not picking over the past discussion but have a question. If one knows nothing about DCI how can deductive reasoning be applied?

I work IT and had to fix many problems over the decades using deductive reasoning and other tools. But if I don't have a clue what is going on ("It's broken.. you wrote it, fix it type calls) I don't have enough info to apply D.R.

If you want real mind numbing fun, write full documentation for a new system including full description and user instructions. Even if the doc is going to people fully up on what is going on you have to write as if the reader knows absolutely zilch. Never wrote a press release before but what is a few posts above would not get past the review group LOL. Right or wrong, after 30+ years of this crap that's how I apply anything going to the general public.

Yeah I know what DCI meant.. but I know better.....

Edited August 24, 2015 by JimF-LowBari

[cixelsyd]

I guess it depends on how picky we're wanting to read into a press release from a drum and bugle corps organization. When DCI says this:

I read into that "...highest paid attendance in Indianapolis..."

I think it is appropriate to surmise that

1) people who don't know a ton about the long history of DCI paid attendance (read: pretty much everyone, since as it has been said before that DCI attendance figures, particularly paid attendance figures, pre-Dan A. era are not accurate at best, and unknown or made up at worst) are not going to think too much about how Lucas Oil compares wit previous decades of paid attendance

2) people who do know a little bit about DCI attendance history, even just guesstimates of attendance, will know that this attendance figure is likely highest of LOS but likely not as high as other years (like Rose Bowl, maybe?).

I think simple reading comprehension + deductive reasoning should suffice for anyone not wanting to make a big deal over literally nothing. I know the US education system is not great, and we're working on improving it via stressing problem solving and deductive reasoning skills, but this is really not difficult unless one is really being super overly critical.

I'm not writing this in an attempt to be passive-aggressive jerk, I'm trying to be as blunt and matter-of-fact as possible. I think this press release is fine, not misleading or confusing, and I can't fathom that we're still trying to pick this press release apart as if DCI has lied on tax documents or something

Neither do I. Two people here (now 3) seemed not to understand why it is confusing, so I attempted to explain. No big deal.

If anything, your contribution might help exemplify my point. If you already understand that 2015 set an Indianapolis record (like most of us here), you tend to read the press release as attempting to convey that news. To the rest of the world, however, it reads differently. And I concur with JimF-LowBari, wondering how much "deductive reasoning" we should expect from those who have not followed the drum corps activity for decades.

[cixelsyd]

Isolating single sentences in a vacuum in order to prove them problematic, and then later including more sentences from the exact same release that serve to clarify what is now no longer problematic seems self-defeating.

???

(How am I isolating single sentences in a vacuum, if I include more sentences in the same post?)

[ajlemm]

Really? 57 pages?

[N.E. Brigand]

Really? 57 pages?

Which is only about 10% as long as the "Cadets 2015" thread.

And this discussion started in 2011, so really it's only an average of what, one page every twenty-five days?

[perc2100]

Neither do I. Two people here (now 3) seemed not to understand why it is confusing, so I attempted to explain. No big deal.

If anything, your contribution might help exemplify my point. If you already understand that 2015 set an Indianapolis record (like most of us here), you tend to read the press release as attempting to convey that news. To the rest of the world, however, it reads differently. And I concur with JimF-LowBari, wondering how much "deductive reasoning" we should expect from those who have not followed the drum corps activity for decades.

THAT is my point: there is no real "rest of the world," as this is such a small niche activity. Some are over-scrutinizing and way over-reading into what is a simplistic press release of DCI hyping this year's attendance figures. IMO, it seems a lot more logical to question some of the more broad descriptions in regards to Regional shows & movie theater numbers, and I'm personally curious to know what the live stream figures were like this year in comparison to Fan Network subscriptions. Discussing semantics that really seem fairly obvious seems silly. People are assuming/guessing that there MIGHT be a problem when as far as we know there is not some massive amount of fans who are panicking wondering how 2015 DCI Attendance compares to 1984 Attendance. People are making up problems when there really aren't any in this case. DCI rightly hyped that they had a great year attendance-wise in Indy, and it seems really silly if people want to pick apart the verbiage in their press release to find fault and project world-wide confusion. There are PLENTY of issues involved with DCI to debate about, look for solutions, etc: this is not one of them

[garfield]

No, the press release was not clear.

That first sentence you allude to says this:

"Drum Corps International (DCI) ended an incredible record-setting national tour with the highest paid attendance in Indianapolis at the World Championship Finals at Lucas Oil Stadium."

The way this is written, it says that there was a national tour that was record-setting in some yet-to-be-specified way, and the event with the highest paid attendance of that tour was the last event, the finals in Indianapolis.

Later, the press release treats championship week in more detail:

"The exceptional statistics throughout the season led perfectly into the 3-day finals in Indianapolis where a record-setting 22,085 fans reveled in an electrifying finish at the Saturday night finals – up an incredible 18.7% over 2014. The 3-night combined paid attendance was up 16.3% over 2014 and each of the three nights were individually the highest paid attendance for that night of the competition – records all around."

The first sentence is not clear on whether the record being set is for finals all-time, or just Indianapolis. However, the second sentence states that all three rounds of championships set "records" - not just for Indianapolis, but "for that night of the competition" unconditionally. That is certainly not true for Saturday, and that is why people start referring back to 1981 to point that out.

Maybe the writer meant to say that these were records for the Indianapolis-based events, but failed to specify. Without knowing the history (which you deem "irrelevant"), I could not even create such doubt, much less give the writer the benefit of that doubt.

Bottom line - DCI has some great attendance news, and atrocious grammar. At least we agree on the former.

I think you're over-analyzing the sentences and the message. They read grammatically clear to me.

[Tenoris4Jazz]

Not picking over the past discussion but have a question. If one knows nothing about DCI how can deductive reasoning be applied?

I work IT and had to fix many problems over the decades using deductive reasoning and other tools. But if I don't have a clue what is going on ("It's broken.. you wrote it, fix it type calls) I don't have enough info to apply D.R.

If you want real mind numbing fun, write full documentation for a new system including full description and user instructions. Even if the doc is going to people fully up on what is going on you have to write as if the reader knows absolutely zilch. Never wrote a press release before but what is a few posts above would not get past the review group LOL. Right or wrong, after 30+ years of this crap that's how I apply anything going to the general public.

Yeah I know what DCI meant.. but I know better.....

I know what you mean. I've been in the corporate world for almost 20 years and I know corporate PR speak when I see it. I would be willing to bet this press release was put together precisely to make it semi-ambiguous as to which records were set. If I were DCI, I wouldn't want to let on that attendance was higher in other cities in the past, not when I just signed another long term deal with Indy.

My real question is this: what is the seating capacity, for a drum corps show, of LOS, the Alamo Dome, the Georgia Dome, and the stadium in Allentown? Those are the 7 biggest crowds all year long, but how close are they to maxing out attendance at those events? Once you fill the stadium, the only other thing to do is raise tickets prices. Forgive me for looking at this like an accountant, but that's what I am. At this year's average ticket price, what would be the revenue cap if DCI sold every possible seat to those 7 events? Since Finals are going to be in Indy for the foreseeable future, they have to be planning a way to sell every possible seat at those 7 events. THAT would be your ultimate attendance goal.

[perc2100]

I just like that this year's attendance is the 3rd largest in the past 20 years, behind 2007 Pasadena and 2006 Madison.

When it's all said and done, isn't this THE most important statement about attendance

[cixelsyd]

THAT is my point: there is no real "rest of the world," as this is such a small niche activity. Some are over-scrutinizing and way over-reading into what is a simplistic press release of DCI hyping this year's attendance figures. IMO, it seems a lot more logical to question some of the more broad descriptions in regards to Regional shows & movie theater numbers, and I'm personally curious to know what the live stream figures were like this year in comparison to Fan Network subscriptions. Discussing semantics that really seem fairly obvious seems silly. People are assuming/guessing that there MIGHT be a problem when as far as we know there is not some massive amount of fans who are panicking wondering how 2015 DCI Attendance compares to 1984 Attendance. People are making up problems when there really aren't any in this case. DCI rightly hyped that they had a great year attendance-wise in Indy, and it seems really silly if people want to pick apart the verbiage in their press release to find fault and project world-wide confusion. There are PLENTY of issues involved with DCI to debate about, look for solutions, etc: this is not one of them

This press release was posted on a site called "prweb". Evidently, its author thinks there are others besides us insiders that might read this news.

As for the rest of it, I cannot help you. I am content to take this news as it is....good news regarding attendance. Why do you mention 1984? Nothing that happened in 1984 changes the fact that this is good news regarding attendance.