C.Holland Posted May 17, 2023 Share Posted May 17, 2023 1 hour ago, IllianaLancerContra said: First 2-2.5 weeks everyone stays within region All Corps host home shows and other Corps in region attend. End with some sort of regional championship. I know that this has been stated ad nauseum... but the equipment is paid for whether it moves, or sits. you dont rent tractors and such by the day or even the week, as its not cost effective. so you rent them for the month. you save nothing on gear by being regional, and you save nothing on housing either. which is why many corps have not pushed their move ins so far back, and their first legs of tour even further. (some not coming out until July... and later) 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JimF-LowBari Posted May 17, 2023 Author Share Posted May 17, 2023 20 minutes ago, Terri Schehr said: I swear if I hear that bus thing one more time… I’ll bet there will be top dogs that don’t march 165. Guess I’d better not go to a DCI show and say I prefer watching smaller size corps. I’d probably get burned at the stake or fitted for a straight jacket. More interesting to me as I see a smaller corps and think: “not as many players, don’t fill up the field and can’t play as loud. Let’s see what they do with it!!”. 🤔😀 3 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Terri Schehr Posted May 17, 2023 Share Posted May 17, 2023 36 minutes ago, JimF-LowBari said: Guess I’d better not go to a DCI show and say I prefer watching smaller size corps. I’d probably get burned at the stake or fitted for a straight jacket. More interesting to me as I see a smaller corps and think: “not as many players, don’t fill up the field and can’t play as loud. Let’s see what they do with it!!”. 🤔😀 You’d be sitting with seven other people. No one comes in for the open class corps. Even the lower tier world class. 1 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JimF-LowBari Posted May 17, 2023 Author Share Posted May 17, 2023 14 minutes ago, Terri Schehr said: You’d be sitting with seven other people. No one comes in for the open class corps. Even the lower tier world class. 🤮 Hope this year I’m able to watch DCI week online. Tried last two years but “stuff” happened. So maybe 7 people and me at home 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
IllianaLancerContra Posted May 17, 2023 Share Posted May 17, 2023 (edited) 1 hour ago, C.Holland said: I know that this has been stated ad nauseum... but the equipment is paid for whether it moves, or sits. you dont rent tractors and such by the day or even the week, as its not cost effective. so you rent them for the month. you save nothing on gear by being regional, and you save nothing on housing either. which is why many corps have not pushed their move ins so far back, and their first legs of tour even further. (some not coming out until July... and later) Vehicle rental cost is why I proposed limiting convoy size. And shorter ST / tour length limits time that vehicles are needed as well. From a regional tour standpoint- fewer hours on road can lead to lower CDL-driver costs - you don’t need as many drivers to stay within duty-day limits. And, so far as I know, it costs less in fuel to drive 3 hrs than to drive 13 hours. A few $ here & a few more $ there can add up. Edited May 17, 2023 by IllianaLancerContra Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
IllianaLancerContra Posted May 17, 2023 Share Posted May 17, 2023 1 hour ago, JimF-LowBari said: Guess I’d better not go to a DCI show and say I prefer watching smaller size corps. I’d probably get burned at the stake or fitted for a straight jacket. More interesting to me as I see a smaller corps and think: “not as many players, don’t fill up the field and can’t play as loud. Let’s see what they do with it!!”. 🤔😀 We used to say that were were confident enough performers that we didn’t need 80 more people backing us up. 1 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cixelsyd Posted May 17, 2023 Share Posted May 17, 2023 1 hour ago, MGCpimpOtimp said: There have been several corps that have started in the past few years. SoundSport makes the barrier for entry to start a group REALLY low. It's a great incubator for groups to start slow and build correctly rather than jumping into a touring model right away and be in over their heads SoundSport teams are not necessarily drum corps. In fact, they have taken to calling them "teams" in recognition of that detail. Aside from that one word, I agree with the rest of your quote wholeheartedly. Problem is that DCI then moved the barrier to open-class impenetrably high, even beyond the reach of this incubator. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
2muchcoffeeman Posted May 17, 2023 Share Posted May 17, 2023 (edited) On 5/16/2023 at 12:57 PM, JimF-LowBari said: 1) what can individual corps do to help the situation Diversify. The members are still the customer, and tuition is more than a revenue source; it is the foundation that properly orients the relationship of the activity to the people for which it exists, which are the members/students, not the fans. The fans do benefit and it is a virtuous circle, but the fan benefit is a byproduct, not the purpose. The circle starts with the members. If the activity were free to members, it would too easily slip into outright exploitation of youth and would become even more of a vanity industry for designers than it already is. When the kids pay the bills, the activity is disciplined to be oriented to their benefit. As long as the performers are legal minors, this discipline is a bedrock necessity, for liability reasons if nothing else. But: Diversify. Diversify income streams in the name of keeping tuition manageable for the widest number of potential students possible. Diversify in the name of organizational stability. Corps boards should shift investment away from staff and design and more to development pros who know how to turn over rocks and find money. THEN they can hire more design and staff. Corps should expand their boards to include entrepreneurs who can leverage the corps' community presence and assets into partnerships that bring in some cash. Become a funding platform. Diversify. Quote 2) what can DCI/DCA do to help the situation Invest in technology directly or in partnerships that make it possible to livestream shows with the quality/immersiveness needed to make it possible to judge BD performing in CA against BAC performing in MA -- same day, 3K miles apart. Leverage technology as a method to make head-to-head competition possible without having to cross 3 time zones in a bus. Keep at least the early season tour regional, eg BD/Mandies/PacCrest/Academy doing a West-Coast circuit to provide live-performance opportunities to the members and local fans, with technology beaming in Phantom/Scouts/Xmen as the competition peforming same night to fans in their own region. Sell fans outside the local cricuits tickets to see the same technology in action, in their local theater or at home -- more locations than currently provided by live shows. Result: reduced tour demands. Save the all-comer competitions for finals week or maybe some regionals. The loser in all this is the one-night tour stops, eg NightBeat and DATR and the rest. But maybe the need for "home shows" to raise money for the home corps would be more than offset by the cost savings possible by leveraging technology. I hear Zukerberg needs to find a business case for his underpopulated metaverse. Maybe this will help. Stream more; travel less. Quote 3) what can’t be helped no matter what (that was the hardest thing to accept with my church - which closed after 125 years) Housing costs and facility accessibility. Schools and colleges don't exist for DCI's benefit, and their lawyers are only too eager to keep reminding them of that. Edited May 20, 2023 by 2muchcoffeeman 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
scheherazadesghost Posted May 17, 2023 Share Posted May 17, 2023 26 minutes ago, 2muchcoffeeman said: If the activity were free to members, it would too easily slip into outright exploitation of youth and would become even more of a vanity industry for designers than it already is. When the kids pay the bills, the activity is disciplined to be oriented to their benefit. As long as the performers are legal minors, this discipline is a bedrock necessity, for liability reasons if nothing else. Can you elaborate on this? I hadn't connected paying tuition to safeguarding prior to reading your comment, but I'm open to learning more. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
2muchcoffeeman Posted May 17, 2023 Share Posted May 17, 2023 (edited) 27 minutes ago, scheherazadesghost said: Can you elaborate on this? Maybe this isn't an elaboration, so much, as it is a statement of principle. I don't really address youth protection in that post, but I do think it's implicit. Edited May 17, 2023 by 2muchcoffeeman Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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