It is time for the business of the activity to evolve

[SuperSaderFan]

My topic is to encourage the growth of the activity and taking advantage of our scale. I  know what Inspire Arts & Music has done in attracting corporate sponsorships. Like my Dad taught me, all you can do is ask and they either say yes or no. Lets stick with the facts and go from there:

Our activity positively impacts thousands of kids per year. They are the hardest working activity I am aware of and they pay to do it. I  am sure that health and fitness companies would be interested in supporting.

Regionals and Championships bring in millions of dollars to major cities - what are we getting for that?

Why doesn't DCI partner with BOA and leverage running events for multiple seasons?

Scale purchasing for transportation, equipment, food, souvies etc.

Follow the NFL model of all ticket revenue, souvies sales be collected centrally and distributed equally.

 

 

 

Edited August 22, 2019 by SuperSaderFan
Spelling error

[Ghost]

17 minutes ago, SuperSaderFan said:

 Follow the NFL model of all ticket revenue, souvies sales be collected centrally and distributed equally.

The corps who do well annually might not want their profit watered down.

[MikeRapp]

21 minutes ago, Ghost said:

The corps who do well annually might not want their profit watered down.

The only reason revenue sharing works for pro franchises is because they share all the revenues, and they have a system where by every franchise he has an equal opportunity to succeed. But with that comes requirements, including salary, facilities, and virtually everything else you can imagine. In other words, revenue sharing also dictate cost sharing.

The simple fact of the matter is, that isn’t the system that DCI currently deployed. Therefore, revenue sharing will never be accepted.

Edited August 22, 2019 by MikeRapp

[MikeRapp]

47 minutes ago, SuperSaderFan said:

My topic is to encourage the growth of the activity and taking advantage of our scale. I  know what Inspire Arts & Music has done in attracting corporate sponsorships. Like my Dad taught me, all you can do is ask and they either say yes or no. Lets stick with the facts and go from there:

Our activity positively impacts thousands of kids per year. They are the hardest working activity I am aware of and they pay to do it. I  am sure that health and fitness companies would be interested in supporting.

Regionals and Championships bring in millions of dollars to major cities - what are we getting for that?

Why doesn't DCI partner with BOA and leverage running events for multiple seasons?

Scale purchasing for transportation, equipment, food, souvies etc.

Follow the NFL model of all ticket revenue, souvies sales be collected centrally and distributed equally.

 

 

 

 I just want to say, thanks for contributing to this thread. I think it’s a really good discussion that we seem to have every year during the off-season, and I think ultimately the financial stability of this activity will depend upon some sort of Economies of scale concept,in the manner in which you describe. 

That said, instituting this sort of economies of scale concept would also raise the entry level requirements or world class. You would probably make it a lot harder for new groups to move up. In the end that may be the best solution, but I’m not sure that is the mission of DCI.

Edited August 22, 2019 by MikeRapp

[SuperSaderFan]

I   also think we should expand the membership of each world class corps to 200 and create an additional performance group/training/reserve group of members for each corps. Incremental spend for each group leveraging existing resources. Also creates additional acts for each show. Perhaps a different kind of show/concert group but double the acts. You could run a show with 4 corps and 8 acts. Would not look to replace open class.

 

 

[garfield]

2 hours ago, Glenn426 said:

 

You seem to know Dan Personally and perhaps that is having an influence on your views of the Leadership in DCI, but they have old ideas, using old methods. How much has the Model changed from the 90's? You say that they are aware of it, but outside of having a Person from the Dept of Agriculture on their board, they only have Corps Directors on their Board.

Of those Corps directors who has had business training? They know the business of Drum Corps but don't know the business of Show Business. And that is the point of this discussion. Moving DCI from a Mom and Pop (amateur) Organization into Professional entertainment. They pay two sports marketing companies a total of $250,000 a year to run their marketing but outside of our little niche, who knows about Drum Corps? Why isnt Drum Corps seen at the level that professional Entertainment is? It's roughly the same amount of Money to take your family to see a Baseball game, or a Cirque Show. We as paying DCI customers only pay that much because we have a personal relationship to the Marching arts activity. What about Joe-smoe on the corner looking for something to do on a Wednesday night in Iowa.. Why couldn't he come to the show and spend some money?

There is money being left on the table that a person with an actual education in the business of making money could implement to make DCI more profitable. 

And yes introducing a 22 yr Old would be a hard Ego hit for someone who's been around for 40 years to understand that a 22yr old might have new ideas that might be better for the Organization, but its absolutely possible that a young person, Maybe even a recent age-out with College accredited Business experience might have some connections and could present a business model different from the current one to make DCI and all of its Corps more money. Outside of the Politics in DCI, a good idea is a good idea, no matter who's mouth it comes from.. 

First, I'm going to show you that you're wrong with evidence and understanding.  First, here are the bios of the all but two members of the current BoD of DCI.  I defy you to define this group as "Old band directors".  The two I left out are board members currently directly involved with active drum corps.  Jim Tabuchi, shown below, is currently connected with an active drum corps but his background in (ahem) business is so noteworthy that I'm "excusing" the fact that he's old and a current "band" director.

When you're done, I think you'll agree that the current voting administration of DCI's BoD is not as you've convinced yourself they are.  And I think you owe an apology here to the "Person from the Dept of Agriculture"; your diminishment of her CV is insulting.

I'll address the next inaccuracy of your post next, in a much shorter form.

 

Kathy Black enjoyed a long career in the high-tech industry in both technical and management positions before going to law school and becoming an attorney. She has been practicing law for the federal government since 2009. Black currently works as an attorney for Southwestern Power Administration’s Office of General Counsel. Southwestern is a Power Marketing Administration within the U.S. Department of Energy, responsible for marketing hydroelectric power generated by 24 federal dams across six states. Since 2011 she has served on the board of directors of Music for All. A native of Indianapolis, Black is an accomplished jazz, rock, and blues drummer and an alum of the Guardsmen Drum and Bugle Corps.

 

Over the past two decades, Fran Kick has served as an educational consultant and leadership coordinator for the Bands of America/Music for All Summer Symposium. Having been involved as an instructor with the Glassmen Drum and Bugle Corps in the mid-1980s and a band director through the late 1980s to the early 1990s, Kick continues to advocate and evangelize for the power of participating in music across the country. He has spearheaded the "Kick Start Your Season With DCI" leadership workshops for students as part of the Drum Corps International Tour since 2012. Since taking an educational leave of absence from teaching in 1991, Kick developed his part-time speaking adventure into a full-time mission. He is an author, professional speaker and leadership consultant, inspiring people with presentations, programs and publishing for students, adults and associations.

 

Currently a vice president at DXC Technology, a global IT services and solutions leader, James M. Doyle previously served as Vice President of HP's Enterprise Services. Prior to joining HP, Doyle was Global Vice President of sales for Unisys Global Managed Services business and was the Vice President of Sales for Xerox/ACS Information Technology Business. Prior to joining Xerox/ACS, Doyle was the Vice President of CSC's Americas outsourcing mid-size business group. Previous assignments at CSC include vice president in America's business development, vice president of the Healthcare Group's global life sciences division, and managing director of the national life sciences practice with CSC Consulting. In addition to his strong development background, he also held positions with CSC in the areas of operational management, client management and technology consulting services. Doyle started his career with Peat, Marwick and Mitchell as a senior consultant before joining the General Electric Company (GE). At GE, he was responsible for technology assessment and integration in support of the corporation's M&A activities and held management positions in GE's Information Services business unit. Doyle's education includes Business Administration from Widener University, Strategic Planning and Scenario Planning, Cornell University and GE Leadership Development Program. He is an alum of the Crossmen Drum and Bugle Corps, where he marched in the contrabass line from 1975-1977. Doyle was instrumental in assisting the Crossmen during the corps' relocation from the Delaware Valley to San Antonio, Texas.

 

John Masterson graduated with a bachelor's degree from the University of Michigan in 1983, and from the University of Wyoming College of Law in 1986. During more than 30 years as an attorney, he has been a public defender, a state prosecutor, an Assistant United States Attorney, counsel to one Wyoming governor, and an advisor and legislative liaison to the current governor. He is now a partner in a western regional law firm, with a practice focusing on litigation, contract and transactional matters, corporate and non-profit work, and governmental relations. Masterson is heavily involved in the administration and management of non-profits through active service on boards, and by providing them with training and pro-bono legal services. He currently sits on the boards of, among others, the Natrona County Public Library Foundation, the Troopers Drum & Bugle Corps, Court Appointed Special Advocates, the Tate Foundation and the Wyoming Medical Center. He is also the Chairman of the Wyoming Board of Law Examiners and the Vice President of the Wyoming State Bar. Masterson's drum corps experience comes from the Troopers, and consists of three years as a marching member, three years as drum major, and three years as a marching instructor. On the retirement of Jim Jones in 1987, he became director of the Troopers for the next four years. Masterson has several years of service on the DCI Board of Directors.

 

Jim Tabuchi is a semi-retired executive from Hewlett-Packard and Agilent Technologies. Throughout his career he has held numerous positions in the areas of technical marketing, sales, consulting services, customer support, corporate development, strategic planning and international business. While at Hewlett-Packard and Agilent Technologies, Tabuchi was the Worldwide Marketing and Services Senior Manager for the EEsof Division of electronic design solutions. Prior to that, he was based in Hong Kong as the Asia-Pacific Region Manager, responsible for developing HP’s business in China, Taiwan, South Korea, Singapore, India, Malaysia and Australia and other Asian countries. Tabuchi is a native Northern Californian, who received his Bachelors of Science in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science at the University of California (CAL) at Berkeley. He went on to receive his MBA in International Marketing at the University of Washington (UW) in Seattle. He has also done post-graduate studies at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and at the International Institute for Studies and Training (IIST) in Japan. He is proud to be a Senior Fellow and Board Member of the American Leadership Forum.

 

Chris Komnick is an innovative business strategist with more than 20 years of experience and a track record of success with technology and marketing companies. His skill at identifying and building market value for products and services led to many senior level assignments directing activities including executive strategy, business development, product management, operations, and software engineering. Komnick has a Bachelor of Science, Technology from Purdue University, a Masters of Business Administration, Marketing from Miami University, and a Post Graduate Studies – University of Chicago – Certification in E-Business Strategy. He held senior management roles in the strategic positioning, divestiture, definition and implementation of operational strategies for several highly successful businesses and business units. Additionally, Komnick has been an analyst on technology acquisition opportunities in order to simultaneously expand a product portfolio and increase top-line revenues. Komnick joined the Madison Scouts Board of Directors in 2007 and assumed the position of Executive Director of the organization in the fall of 2008. He has served on the DCI Board of Directors since 2012 and also served on the Finance and Business Development committees.

Edited August 22, 2019 by garfield

[MikeRapp]

1 hour ago, SuperSaderFan said:

I   also think we should expand the membership of each world class corps to 200 and create an additional performance group/training/reserve group of members for each corps. Incremental spend for each group leveraging existing resources. Also creates additional acts for each show. Perhaps a different kind of show/concert group but double the acts. You could run a show with 4 corps and 8 acts. Would not look to replace open class.

 

 

The max size of corps is largely dictated by the number of seats in buses.

Also any increase in per corps membership carries additional expenses. Larger corps must lead to larger crowds and I for one don’t think that would happen. It is a bigger ticket draw to have more diversity and competition.

Edited August 23, 2019 by MikeRapp

[Glenn426]

57 minutes ago, garfield said:

First, I'm going to show you that you're wrong with evidence and understanding.  First, here are the bios of the all but two members of the current BoD of DCI.  I defy you to define this group as "Old band directors".  The two I left out are board members currently directly involved with active drum corps.  Jim Tabuchi, shown below, is currently connected with an active drum corps but his background in (ahem) business is so noteworthy that I'm "excusing" the fact that he's old and a current "band" director.

When you're done, I think you'll agree that the current voting administration of DCI's BoD is not as you've convinced yourself they are.  And I think you owe an apology here to the "Person from the Dept of Agriculture"; your diminishment of her CV is insulting.

I'll address the next inaccuracy of your post next, in a much shorter form.

 

Kathy Black enjoyed a long career in the high-tech industry in both technical and management positions before going to law school and becoming an attorney. She has been practicing law for the federal government since 2009. Black currently works as an attorney for Southwestern Power Administration’s Office of General Counsel. Southwestern is a Power Marketing Administration within the U.S. Department of Energy, responsible for marketing hydroelectric power generated by 24 federal dams across six states. Since 2011 she has served on the board of directors of Music for All. A native of Indianapolis, Black is an accomplished jazz, rock, and blues drummer and an alum of the Guardsmen Drum and Bugle Corps.

 

Over the past two decades, Fran Kick has served as an educational consultant and leadership coordinator for the Bands of America/Music for All Summer Symposium. Having been involved as an instructor with the Glassmen Drum and Bugle Corps in the mid-1980s and a band director through the late 1980s to the early 1990s, Kick continues to advocate and evangelize for the power of participating in music across the country. He has spearheaded the "Kick Start Your Season With DCI" leadership workshops for students as part of the Drum Corps International Tour since 2012. Since taking an educational leave of absence from teaching in 1991, Kick developed his part-time speaking adventure into a full-time mission. He is an author, professional speaker and leadership consultant, inspiring people with presentations, programs and publishing for students, adults and associations.

 

Currently a vice president at DXC Technology, a global IT services and solutions leader, James M. Doyle previously served as Vice President of HP's Enterprise Services. Prior to joining HP, Doyle was Global Vice President of sales for Unisys Global Managed Services business and was the Vice President of Sales for Xerox/ACS Information Technology Business. Prior to joining Xerox/ACS, Doyle was the Vice President of CSC's Americas outsourcing mid-size business group. Previous assignments at CSC include vice president in America's business development, vice president of the Healthcare Group's global life sciences division, and managing director of the national life sciences practice with CSC Consulting. In addition to his strong development background, he also held positions with CSC in the areas of operational management, client management and technology consulting services. Doyle started his career with Peat, Marwick and Mitchell as a senior consultant before joining the General Electric Company (GE). At GE, he was responsible for technology assessment and integration in support of the corporation's M&A activities and held management positions in GE's Information Services business unit. Doyle's education includes Business Administration from Widener University, Strategic Planning and Scenario Planning, Cornell University and GE Leadership Development Program. He is an alum of the Crossmen Drum and Bugle Corps, where he marched in the contrabass line from 1975-1977. Doyle was instrumental in assisting the Crossmen during the corps' relocation from the Delaware Valley to San Antonio, Texas.

 

John Masterson graduated with a bachelor's degree from the University of Michigan in 1983, and from the University of Wyoming College of Law in 1986. During more than 30 years as an attorney, he has been a public defender, a state prosecutor, an Assistant United States Attorney, counsel to one Wyoming governor, and an advisor and legislative liaison to the current governor. He is now a partner in a western regional law firm, with a practice focusing on litigation, contract and transactional matters, corporate and non-profit work, and governmental relations. Masterson is heavily involved in the administration and management of non-profits through active service on boards, and by providing them with training and pro-bono legal services. He currently sits on the boards of, among others, the Natrona County Public Library Foundation, the Troopers Drum & Bugle Corps, Court Appointed Special Advocates, the Tate Foundation and the Wyoming Medical Center. He is also the Chairman of the Wyoming Board of Law Examiners and the Vice President of the Wyoming State Bar. Masterson's drum corps experience comes from the Troopers, and consists of three years as a marching member, three years as drum major, and three years as a marching instructor. On the retirement of Jim Jones in 1987, he became director of the Troopers for the next four years. Masterson has several years of service on the DCI Board of Directors.

 

Jim Tabuchi is a semi-retired executive from Hewlett-Packard and Agilent Technologies. Throughout his career he has held numerous positions in the areas of technical marketing, sales, consulting services, customer support, corporate development, strategic planning and international business. While at Hewlett-Packard and Agilent Technologies, Tabuchi was the Worldwide Marketing and Services Senior Manager for the EEsof Division of electronic design solutions. Prior to that, he was based in Hong Kong as the Asia-Pacific Region Manager, responsible for developing HP’s business in China, Taiwan, South Korea, Singapore, India, Malaysia and Australia and other Asian countries. Tabuchi is a native Northern Californian, who received his Bachelors of Science in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science at the University of California (CAL) at Berkeley. He went on to receive his MBA in International Marketing at the University of Washington (UW) in Seattle. He has also done post-graduate studies at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and at the International Institute for Studies and Training (IIST) in Japan. He is proud to be a Senior Fellow and Board Member of the American Leadership Forum.

 

Chris Komnick is an innovative business strategist with more than 20 years of experience and a track record of success with technology and marketing companies. His skill at identifying and building market value for products and services led to many senior level assignments directing activities including executive strategy, business development, product management, operations, and software engineering. Komnick has a Bachelor of Science, Technology from Purdue University, a Masters of Business Administration, Marketing from Miami University, and a Post Graduate Studies – University of Chicago – Certification in E-Business Strategy. He held senior management roles in the strategic positioning, divestiture, definition and implementation of operational strategies for several highly successful businesses and business units. Additionally, Komnick has been an analyst on technology acquisition opportunities in order to simultaneously expand a product portfolio and increase top-line revenues. Komnick joined the Madison Scouts Board of Directors in 2007 and assumed the position of Executive Director of the organization in the fall of 2008. He has served on the DCI Board of Directors since 2012 and also served on the Finance and Business Development committees.

Impressive CV's if there trying to run a law firm or an IT business. What I am looking for is people with experience in entertainment. Sports marketing, Broadway, Ringling Bros. DISNEY, professional entertainment. 

We can agree that this an area that everyone on the board is light on experience.

Who on this board knows what it takes to market a successful production using today's streaming technologies to maximize exposure and profit.

Who is worried about bringing DCI into the Future as a professional entertainment company that is producing a professional product.

You try and tell the Bluecoats staff that they are doing a marching band show, and watch the reaction you get. 

DCI should be a training for ground for professional performers. Because if you follow one performer around the field it'd be hard to tell the difference between a Broadway performer and a DCI performer. 

The quality of the shows should be reaching these heights.. Bluecoats was already pretty close this year.

[garfield]

16 hours ago, Glenn426 said:

 

You seem to know Dan Personally and perhaps that is having an influence on your views of the Leadership in DCI, but they have old ideas, using old methods. How much has the Model changed from the 90's? You say that they are aware of it, but outside of having a Person from the Dept of Agriculture on their board, they only have Corps Directors on their Board.

Of those Corps directors who has had business training? They know the business of Drum Corps but don't know the business of Show Business. And that is the point of this discussion. Moving DCI from a Mom and Pop (amateur) Organization into Professional entertainment. They pay two sports marketing companies a total of $250,000 a year to run their marketing but outside of our little niche, who knows about Drum Corps? Why isnt Drum Corps seen at the level that professional Entertainment is? It's roughly the same amount of Money to take your family to see a Baseball game, or a Cirque Show. We as paying DCI customers only pay that much because we have a personal relationship to the Marching arts activity. What about Joe-smoe on the corner looking for something to do on a Wednesday night in Iowa.. Why couldn't he come to the show and spend some money?

There is money being left on the table that a person with an actual education in the business of making money could implement to make DCI more profitable. 

And yes introducing a 22 yr Old would be a hard Ego hit for someone who's been around for 40 years to understand that a 22yr old might have new ideas that might be better for the Organization, but its absolutely possible that a young person, Maybe even a recent age-out with College accredited Business experience might have some connections and could present a business model different from the current one to make DCI and all of its Corps more money. Outside of the Politics in DCI, a good idea is a good idea, no matter who's mouth it comes from.. 

How well or in what way I have a relationship with Dan A is completely unrelated to the discussion and, again, I don't think it's accurate or constructive to dismiss my opinions and facts as somehow biased because they differ from yours.  It is you who are wrong in your assumptions here; let's just leave it as I have an "association" relationship with Dan A.

Hopefully I've corrected your thinking about the board being just a bunch of old band directors, and now I'm going to agree with much in your second paragraph.  But you don't understand that the fingers that pull the strings to solve the issues you raise are not attached to Dan A's hand.  No matter how much you think it might be true, the BoD has and controls all the power to solve these problems.  Dan A, to use his own words, is exactly what the Board wants him to be - the tour director.  That's his first and official role.  Run the tour and sell seats. 

I don't know if you were around during the G7 days almost a decade ago, but a base contention of the group was that they, the directors who (in their mind) the "Draw" had all of the talent, time, and ability to run and promote the tour, and that Dan A was unnecessary.  They summarily fired him.  Despite the fact that the rest of the directors reinstated him doesn't detract from the core principle that those directors, at that time, claimed as their task and responsibility, all of the job functions of the current ED.  In short, they believe(d) that they had pared Dan's role down to the point that he was unnecessary.  Keep that thought in your mind.  For years prior and, some say, until very recently, Dan A's hands were bound tighter and tighter by directors who had become convinced that he was only worth ignoring.  "Summarily rejected" is what was said when describing the response from "the entire activity" (of corps directors) to any edict or decision passed down from Dan's office.  

Have you actually BEEN to the DCI offices?  Have you met the staff?  The tech crew?  The A/V crew?  How about sat in on a board meeting to see how they work and how they apply (butcher) Robert's Rules of order (or disorder, depending on the subject)?  Do you know the characters from whom the ED's office collects input?  You act like this is high school band where a gray-haired band parent is making amateur decisions.  They're not.

I love the phrase "...with College accredited Business experience...".  Don't you actually mean a recent grad with some book-learnin' and NO actual business experience?  And you're going to throw THAT kid into the snake pit of drum corps directors to try to get something done?  I'm sorry, you're deluding yourself with fantasy reminders of some stories you've been told.  You're not living in the real world.

Look, I don't disagree, and I think you'll find that the BoD of DCI doesn't disagree that "new blood" is useful and more important now.  But I think you should give credit where credit is due and lay blame where it deserves to be laid, too.  You're misguided about the roles and responsibilities of the people you presume are "running things" and I would encourage you to learn the facts before you start slinging mud.

I've been plenty hard on Dan A and his office's actions (I've interacted directly with DCI in several roles), and he doesn't need me to defend him - although lots of people who work directly with him do - and after all these years of herding these cats, his skin is rhino-thick.  But, when you sling mud, you'd better be throwing it in the right direction while being very careful not to presume you've known or know a better way when you, apparently, know so little about the way they've gotten here.

 

Edited August 23, 2019 by garfield

[garfield]

10 minutes ago, Glenn426 said:

Impressive CV's if there trying to run a law firm or an IT business. What I am looking for is people with experience in entertainment. Sports marketing, Broadway, Ringling Bros. DISNEY, professional entertainment. 

We can agree that this an area that everyone on the board is light on experience.

Who on this board knows what it takes to market a successful production using today's streaming technologies to maximize exposure and profit.

Who is worried about bringing DCI into the Future as a professional entertainment company that is producing a professional product.

You try and tell the Bluecoats staff that they are doing a marching band show, and watch the reaction you get. 

DCI should be a training for ground for professional performers. Because if you follow one performer around the field it'd be hard to tell the difference between a Broadway performer and a DCI performer. 

The quality of the shows should be reaching these heights.. Bluecoats was already pretty close this year.

Smart people can hire smart people.

We can agree that smart business people don't necessarily have to have experience in every field required to host band shows.

Blue Devils, Crown, Bluecoats do a pretty good job with streaming, too.

Every corps on the field is worried about the future, even if they don't see the one you do.

I'll let you interact with 'Coats.

DCI should be a lot of things.  But DCI has only a couple of jobs to do according to its charter and by-laws.  

I think Bluecoats show was crap this year.  I like the direction BK is going, and Mandarins seem to be attracting quite a crowd, too.  (BTW, if you'll look close at the BoD list you'll see some pretty close connections to 'Coats.  I suspect their expert and professional influence is a deep and integral part of the tech/streaming/future direction of DCI.)

 

Edited August 23, 2019 by garfield