Stu Posted April 8, 2014 Author Share Posted April 8, 2014 I want to thank Garfield for doing this, well, role playing. And I am ok playing the role of the typical mid or lower level drum corps director who has some business savvy but has mainly attained the position of Corps Director via climbing through the ranks of non-profit drum corps instead of jumping into the position as CEO from the outside for-profit world of big business. It is interesting the twists and turns set up by Garfield, which I am sure are the types of situations faced by corps directors. So again, thanks to Garfield for doing this. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stu Posted April 8, 2014 Author Share Posted April 8, 2014 (edited) There are many examples where the board is a mere puppet of the ED or, worse, "Yes-men", who focus on how "honored" they are to be asked to sit on the board instead of on their real fiduciary responsibility. You don't see this much in the corporate world, but it's rife in the non-profit world. I take it that you realize this is exactly, and I mean directly in line with, what Bill Cook wrote in his treatise concerning how a drum corps should be ran. Even using the term Corps 'Dictator' and basically stating that the BOD should be chosen by and beholden to the corps director. Edited April 8, 2014 by Stu Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
garfield Posted April 9, 2014 Share Posted April 9, 2014 I take it that you realize this is exactly, and I mean directly in line with, what Bill Cook wrote in his treatise concerning how a drum corps should be ran. Even using the term Corps 'Dictator' and basically stating that the BOD should be chosen by and beholden to the corps director. Read in their proper context of the rest of the conversation, Mr. Cook was suggesting that most corps boards were packed with friends of the director from the artistic world and have little business experience among them. In the examples he was referencing I fully agree with him that a firm hand is needed. But in the case of a corps who's board was filled with successful businessmen that Mr. Cook respected, you can be sure he'd expect, nay invite, the qualified opinions of his board members. Are you suggesting that the board of Fictitious is the former or the latter? Hmmm? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stu Posted April 9, 2014 Author Share Posted April 9, 2014 (edited) Read in their proper context of the rest of the conversation, Mr. Cook was suggesting that most corps boards were packed with friends of the director from the artistic world and have little business experience among them. In the examples he was referencing I fully agree with him that a firm hand is needed. But in the case of a corps who's board was filled with successful businessmen that Mr. Cook respected, you can be sure he'd expect, nay invite, the qualified opinions of his board members. Are you suggesting that the board of Fictitious is the former or the latter? Hmmm? I am suggesting the latter; that the board of the fictitious corps is filled with successful businessmen that the Corps Director respects, and therefore he invites the qualified opinions of his board in helping keep the ship on course. Edited April 9, 2014 by Stu Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jeff Ream Posted April 9, 2014 Share Posted April 9, 2014 as much as I love tweaking Stu, I've been in the room when a decision to take a corps inactive happened on 2 occasions. Luckily for the first, someone stepped up and gave the corps arguably it's two best years ever. Then followed by one of it's worst, followed by having to take the cops inactive. World Champions to inactive in 2 years. It wasn't easy. Funds were low or gone for a variety of reasons I could delve into, but won't. If you know were to look around here you'll see stuff. We looked at ways to cut, as well as ways to raise funds, and a combination of both. Some members had their own agendas and started making decisions without informing other members of the board. Because the schedule was being trimmed to keep costs down...and this was DCA mind you, so food and bus fees were minimal compared to DCI....members started going away. Then the schedule started getting changed to beef it back up....and commitments made to people, yet the membership was mostly gone. It ruined some life long friendships. it caused me to almost come to blows at DCA Finals in 1998. When a corps gets to the point Stu mentions, we've seen a few success stories where they've managed to make ti work and live on...see Troop and Spartans. But we've seen too many of what I've gone through. I'd see the odds are not in the favor of making it work. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stu Posted April 9, 2014 Author Share Posted April 9, 2014 as much as I love tweaking Stu, I've been in the room when a decision to take a corps inactive happened on 2 occasions. Luckily for the first, someone stepped up and gave the corps arguably it's two best years ever. Then followed by one of it's worst, followed by having to take the cops inactive. World Champions to inactive in 2 years. It wasn't easy. Funds were low or gone for a variety of reasons I could delve into, but won't. If you know were to look around here you'll see stuff. We looked at ways to cut, as well as ways to raise funds, and a combination of both. Some members had their own agendas and started making decisions without informing other members of the board. Because the schedule was being trimmed to keep costs down...and this was DCA mind you, so food and bus fees were minimal compared to DCI....members started going away. Then the schedule started getting changed to beef it back up....and commitments made to people, yet the membership was mostly gone. It ruined some life long friendships. it caused me to almost come to blows at DCA Finals in 1998. When a corps gets to the point Stu mentions, we've seen a few success stories where they've managed to make ti work and live on...see Troop and Spartans. But we've seen too many of what I've gone through. I'd see the odds are not in the favor of making it work. I know that you more than love to tweak me! And I also know how so very hard it was for you to pinch your nose and even come close to implying that I have stumbled upon an important matter to discuss in a thread. Anyway, thank you for seeing this, albeit hypothetical, thread as a topic of serious situations that many real life corps fall into. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rufus67 Posted April 9, 2014 Share Posted April 9, 2014 To: President Stu From: Baritone Section Leader Smith As a 5-year member of the corps who is entering their age-out year, and as a member of the corps leadership, I feel compelled to let you know of events as they come up. I've discussed this situation with my fellow section leads, caption head, and drum major and we're at loggerheads over how to address a situation that's come up. Members discussing openings in other corps and/or breaking contracts is nothing new, but the buzz has become quite loud in the last couple of months. Long story short, there are a good number of members who are discussing breaking their contracts due to what they view as possible shortened/cancelled tour this summer. My main goal in letting you know this is to ensure a successful season for myself and the corps (including those discussing bolting). There are several who are not yet current on their tuition and my fear is that they will never pay if they think there's a possibility of the tour being cancelled mid-summer.I'm taking a calculated risk informing you of the above since as a group we can't agree to course of action, all while time is ticking away. I don't want my last year marching to be incomplete and will do whatever I can to ensure a successful season.I look forward to hearing from you soon on how to address. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stu Posted April 9, 2014 Author Share Posted April 9, 2014 (edited) To: President Stu From: Baritone Section Leader Smith As a 5-year member of the corps who is entering their age-out year, and as a member of the corps leadership, I feel compelled to let you know of events as they come up. I've discussed this situation with my fellow section leads, caption head, and drum major and we're at loggerheads over how to address a situation that's come up. Members discussing openings in other corps and/or breaking contracts is nothing new, but the buzz has become quite loud in the last couple of months. Long story short, there are a good number of members who are discussing breaking their contracts due to what they view as possible shortened/cancelled tour this summer. My main goal in letting you know this is to ensure a successful season for myself and the corps (including those discussing bolting). There are several who are not yet current on their tuition and my fear is that they will never pay if they think there's a possibility of the tour being cancelled mid-summer. I'm taking a calculated risk informing you of the above since as a group we can't agree to course of action, all while time is ticking away. I don't want my last year marching to be incomplete and will do whatever I can to ensure a successful season. I look forward to hearing from you soon on how to address. Rufus67; Thank you for your concern, for bringing this to my attention, and especially for being an outstanding member the past five years. Building this organization to the status it has attained is in great part due to the quality members such as you who desire for us to climb the competitive ladder with quality in all aspects. Please inform other members via the grapevine that a shortened tour is not going to happen; and to check the verification of that on our twitter feed, the Facebook page, as well as the Website which all went out this morning. Moreover, this was only 'briefly' discussed along with many, many possible ways to make sure the corps stays in the black and the financial costs to each member stays as minimal as possible. This corps is for you; it is our responsibility and duty as the administration to provide you with the facilitation of a quality environment; and while we are currently in fine shape, again to squelch any rumors, we are currently in fine shape, we are looking at possible preventative measures to make sure we do not have any future chance of organizational collapse like many, many other corps have done over the years. Again, thank you for being such a wonderful member these past five years. Respecfully, Stu Session Edited April 9, 2014 by Stu 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SkyRyder_FMM Posted April 9, 2014 Share Posted April 9, 2014 Their bingo program has been running like a well-oiled machine for decades. Same with SCV. It would appear people join it as they age, they get into bingo. On the actual topic, if the corps' only option is take out the emergency fund, then I'd recommend they shorten their tour. To be a full-time DCI unit, corps must only compete from San Antonio to the end. That's how Surf operated their first few years to build an economic base. If they're a MidWest or East Coast group, they can hang out locally and do shows/community performances until the week of San Antonio, and then head out. West Coast groups can as well, but there's a big travel cost related to traveling straight to Texas. This would not result in a reduction to expenses, but would result in a reduction to revenues. This would only exacerbate the problem. Unless a corps is locally based where the members do not have the be housed and fed, simply cutting tour short does nothing to decrease costs. It actually increases costs. While on tour, corps are provided one free night of housing for each competition by the show sponsor. Take away the shows, you lose the performance fee and souvenir sales, you still have to feed the kids, pay the vehicle leases, pay theinsurance, pay the staff, etc., and you now have the add hte cost of housing to the mix. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SkyRyder_FMM Posted April 9, 2014 Share Posted April 9, 2014 If the tour schedule is truncated the corps will not take a few weeks off mid tour but instead delay the start of tour until July 5, and then go to the scheduled shows heading into the July 19 San Antoinio show. Since the corps emulates the move-in housing philosophy of the Blue Devils, we will inform the performers that they need to secure housing at the home base until to July 5 as opposed to June 20. Are Alumni Association has also said that they would chip some extra 'personal' funds to help the youth compensate for that two-week added expense if necessary, provided that the youth agree to work a shift at bingo during those two weeks or do something else during that time period to help the association raise the funds. Don't forget the lost revenue from performance fees and souvenir sales, and well as the penalty for pulling ut of shows. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.