Will DCA be around in 5 years?

[Jeff Ream]

12 hours ago, hairbear said:

At 53 you ARE young! LOL!  I'm 70.

you, Sandy, Dave, Kathy H and Sarge bumped the average of the corps up a lot! LOL but we wouldn't have done it without any of you

[Jeff Ream]

9 minutes ago, Fran Haring said:

Your entire post is on the mark, Steve. But I wonder if the current brand can be grown (to get more fans in the seats, sell more souvie merchandise, generate more buzz, etc.) if the product is basically the same as the DCI product, except at a less-accomplished level. 

Please... that is NOT a knock on the DCA corps, their members, and their staffers, who do amazing things in a short period of time. It's just a fact. The DCI product, at the World Class level, is nearly overwhelming (in a good way) these days... and with the DCI corps now apparently getting the memo about incorporating personality and various "bells and whistles" into their product (I think Vince Bruni would love seeing all the props....LOL), they have basically eroded the unique "we're a bit different here" edge DCA had, and had for decades.

If a drum corps fan, who does not have a kid or relative involved as a marcher or staffer, can spend 40 dollars to see Carolina Crown, Bluecoats, BAC, whoever, vs. spending that same 40 bucks on a DCA lineup, where is their money going to go?

Sorry if that sounds harsh. And I'm not saying DCA can't find a niche that brings in more paying customers than the current situation. But there are no easy answers here. I wish all my friends there well.

DCA in the home region has incredibly untapped opportunity in the band world.

USbands, TOB, Cavalcade, PIMBA, LMBA, MMBA, VA's circuit, NJ's circuit...is it still MAC up north? OMEA in Ohio. DCI isnt reaching out to the places....they all go for the big BOA regions. yet a corps could try a satellite camp in Harrisburg where you have 70 or some competitive bands within an hour drive. All of the circuits  have kids and or staff participating in DCA. all of those circuits have judges that judge for DCA. Having administrated in one for few years, outside of a corps here and there setting up a table at a show or championships nothing. and the only DCI corps you'd see was Surf except what USBands was still owned by YEA/Cadets.

DCI has shown for the most part when you look at where they run camps, it's big BOA areas. at least up here thats fertile for DCA to go after....but that'd take work

[Fran Haring]

4 hours ago, Jeff Ream said:

DCA in the home region has incredibly untapped opportunity in the band world.

USbands, TOB, Cavalcade, PIMBA, LMBA, MMBA, VA's circuit, NJ's circuit...is it still MAC up north? OMEA in Ohio. DCI isnt reaching out to the places....they all go for the big BOA regions. yet a corps could try a satellite camp in Harrisburg where you have 70 or some competitive bands within an hour drive. All of the circuits  have kids and or staff participating in DCA. all of those circuits have judges that judge for DCA. Having administrated in one for few years, outside of a corps here and there setting up a table at a show or championships nothing. and the only DCI corps you'd see was Surf except what USBands was still owned by YEA/Cadets.

DCI has shown for the most part when you look at where they run camps, it's big BOA areas. at least up here thats fertile for DCA to go after....but that'd take work

I know you've fought the good fight regarding this with DCA before. Perhaps the current administration will give it a look, at least. 

[Fran Haring]

17 hours ago, hairbear said:

At 53 you ARE young! LOL!  I'm 70.

My older twin brothers are 72... I'm 64.

Every year on my birthday, one of my brothers tells me "man... you're getting old!!!" I tell him "dude.... you still have me by eight years, and always will!!!" 😂

.

[C.Holland]

8 hours ago, Jeff Ream said:

DCA in the home region has incredibly untapped opportunity in the band world.

USbands, TOB, Cavalcade, PIMBA, LMBA, MMBA, VA's circuit, NJ's circuit...is it still MAC up north? OMEA in Ohio. DCI isnt reaching out to the places....they all go for the big BOA regions. yet a corps could try a satellite camp in Harrisburg where you have 70 or some competitive bands within an hour drive. All of the circuits  have kids and or staff participating in DCA. all of those circuits have judges that judge for DCA. Having administrated in one for few years, outside of a corps here and there setting up a table at a show or championships nothing. and the only DCI corps you'd see was Surf except what USBands was still owned by YEA/Cadets.

DCI has shown for the most part when you look at where they run camps, it's big BOA areas. at least up here thats fertile for DCA to go after....but that'd take work

The overall experience needs elevated.  DCA can’t do what dci does, it doesn’t have the time or the full time staff. So it try’s to be DCI Lite. When it needs to be itself. It can provide good experiences to members and attendees, but it need to plan ahead better.  Think through things.  Only DCA would find a way to put 5 groups in a show and hold an intermission after the first group on. 
 

seriously? Fire whoever planned that. 
 

it could still train members to go dci, with a different design style. It’s just needs to get the minds together, and plan the sheets accordingly. 
 

In DCI we took camps to bands with good programs.  Broken Arrow, Carmel, Ronald Regan…. See the connection anyone?  Yeah DCA can do the same thing, they’ll need to be slightly more regional with their choices. Since you’re trying to lure students into an every week trip in the summer, but it takes planning. 
 

all of this takes planning.  
 

developing connections for a younger audience will require some social media work.  Going where the kids go. TikTok, Twitter, and all the rest of the places that people over 50 don’t use.  After seeing this season little bit of online presence I think it’s a start.  But there needs to be a lot more to make dca enticing and exciting. 

[hairbear]

8 hours ago, Fran Haring said:

Your entire post is on the mark, Steve. But I wonder if the current brand can be grown (to get more fans in the seats, sell more souvie merchandise, generate more buzz, etc.) if the product is basically the same as the DCI product, except at a less-accomplished level. 

Please... that is NOT a knock on the DCA corps, their members, and their staffers, who do amazing things in a short period of time. It's just a fact. The DCI product, at the World Class level, is nearly overwhelming (in a good way) these days... and with the DCI corps now apparently getting the memo about incorporating personality and various "bells and whistles" into their product (I think Vince Bruni would love seeing all the props....LOL), they have basically eroded the unique "we're a bit different here" edge DCA had, and had for decades.

If a drum corps fan, who does not have a kid or relative involved as a marcher or staffer, can spend 40 dollars to see Carolina Crown, Bluecoats, BAC, whoever, vs. spending that same 40 bucks on a DCA lineup, where is their money going to go?

Sorry if that sounds harsh. And I'm not saying DCA can't find a niche that brings in more paying customers than the current situation. But there are no easy answers here. I wish all my friends there well.

Sitting on the sidelines (no longer participating in the activity), it seems pointless for me to suggest a course of action. That's a job for the "powers that be". Empty seats are saying something. Somebody ought to listen.

[Jeff Ream]

5 hours ago, Fran Haring said:

I know you've fought the good fight regarding this with DCA before. Perhaps the current administration will give it a look, at least. 

i spoke to the PR person in Williamsport......haven't heard back. at that time i had administrative ties to one of the circuits. now, well more power to them. 

[Jeff Ream]

1 hour ago, C.Holland said:

The overall experience needs elevated.  DCA can’t do what dci does, it doesn’t have the time or the full time staff. So it try’s to be DCI Lite. When it needs to be itself. It can provide good experiences to members and attendees, but it need to plan ahead better.  Think through things.  Only DCA would find a way to put 5 groups in a show and hold an intermission after the first group on. 
 

seriously? Fire whoever planned that. 
 

it could still train members to go dci, with a different design style. It’s just needs to get the minds together, and plan the sheets accordingly. 
 

In DCI we took camps to bands with good programs.  Broken Arrow, Carmel, Ronald Regan…. See the connection anyone?  Yeah DCA can do the same thing, they’ll need to be slightly more regional with their choices. Since you’re trying to lure students into an every week trip in the summer, but it takes planning. 
 

all of this takes planning.  
 

developing connections for a younger audience will require some social media work.  Going where the kids go. TikTok, Twitter, and all the rest of the places that people over 50 don’t use.  After seeing this season little bit of online presence I think it’s a start.  But there needs to be a lot more to make dca enticing and exciting. 

i felt this year more corps tried harder to be less DCI lite, at least in the A and Open classes. as for the intermission...i agree. I understand the logic....new class, have time to verify the numbers in CS and go. but when you have one in the class do you need that time? No. 

the people running social media needs to be 25, not 45. thats a huge start.

[camel lips]

On 9/8/2022 at 8:00 AM, burdettsky said:

Attendance was much lower than any other Rochester year.  Downstairs it seemed the center three sections had a pretty good sized crowd but beyond that, not much.

Crowd extended a little further out upstairs.

Also need to take into consideration that in some of the 2006-2011 rochester years, that finals crowd and late prelims crowd would be filled in with corps who didnt make finals, which made the crowd bigger.  

Weather was a factor depending on what you liked.  If you didn't like the heat, Saturday was rough as it was sunny and pushing 90.  If you didn't like fall weather, Sunday was rough as it was low 60's, breezy, and rain towards the end.  

I want to say the last year they were in Rochester the Paid Attendance Figure that was announced was something like 2200. I could do a search for it but feel that is pretty close. 

[Jeff Ream]

4 hours ago, camel lips said:

I want to say the last year they were in Rochester the Paid Attendance Figure that was announced was something like 2200. I could do a search for it but feel that is pretty close. 

i don't remember DCA ever announcing figures, but that number doesn't surprise me