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[1/23/2010 SteppersUSA Daily News]
Do Numbers Lie?
By Markie Bee
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Today's Steppers Beat column is sponsored by: Steppers West Associates "A Memorial Day Weekend Jam" starting May 28, 2010 through May 31, 2010 at The Plaza Hotel and Casino One Main St., in Las Vegas, NV, 89101. They are offering a 4 Day Package Deal for $80!
Every morning there's a little surprise in my inbox. This morning it was a You Tube video – audio clip from D-Millz with a sampler of music from his new skaters and steppers CD. It's posted on my Facebook profile and I'm asking are there tracks you would step to in that mini-mix (9 minutes)? Let me know what you think.
The promotional machine known as Rodney Mack's 7th Annual White Party is revving up for 2010 I've got the expanded schedule in the perpetual events calendar and you know what there's even more happening this year than last year!
Now this is what Chicago style stepping is really all about! Cynthia and Roger from Philly practicing in the kitchen! There are a couple more videos of their practices on You Tube. I posted one on you Tube and a couple on the bar on SteppersUSA.
Speaking of videos, my last two videos of Sunshine, One dancing with Tykmyn and my latest dancing with Eric are revealing some interesting 
 

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demographic information about who watches these videos. The age range is primarily from 35 to 50 years of age and 54 percent Male and 46 percent female. Here's how numbers can confuse. This sampling only includes the last two months. When I broaden the scope of the sampling to cover the last couple of years… it shows a possible shift. Let me demonstrate…
I took a sampling of 112,000 views of all of my videos revealing the viewership is much more evenly distributed by age 35 to 44 viewed 29%, 35 to 54 viewed 35%, and 55 to 64 viewed 22%, the remaining 14% were viewed by those younger than 35. When we look at the percentage of viewers by gender you see a reversal from what appears to be trending with females viewing 52% and males viewing 48%
Here's my take on what the numbers mean… there definitely is a "youth movement" happening in the broader steppers community but at this point in time when you look at the whole picture you can see the vast majority of Chicago style steppers that watch You Tube videos come from what advertisers call the "coveted 25 to 54 demographic". That's just like radio and television viewership measures used to decide what shows get the best ad revenue.
What does that mean for the Chicago style steppers community? It shows interest in the dance appeals to just about everyone (we all knew that already). Only time will tell if the "movement" is toward a younger group but that presents opportunities in a new market as the dance is slowly moving closer to the "mainstream" with a broader reach to an even larger demographic.
Every day since I sent the email to the Chicago style stepping Facebook group I've been getting emails from people who want to participate in a National Steppers Day. I'll be scheduling a teleconference in the near future. I'll post the information in the group and in this column as we attempt to put together this national event.
If you haven't seen the official International Steppers Association (ISA) Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) document from Tim Wilson who is the point man in this initiative. For your convenience I created a page on the site in proper FAQ format as well as a link to the original PDF file for you to download.
In the document there are 18 questions and answers to questions like: What is the International Steppers Association? Why are we aligned with the World Dance Council or World Swing Dance Council? Who are the members of the ISA? Why (and how) should I join? What does the initial membership pay for? As well as the one I personally consider to be the most important... Why organize stepping now?
They touch on important issues like insurance and standardized terminology as well as children's programs.
They are also initiating a weekly conference call every Sunday evening so if you would like to participate please call 218-862-1000 Access Code: 307375# at 7pm Eastern Standard Time. I intend to dial in for the first one since I don't have to work this Sunday, but after that I guess I'll have to rely on the recorded version since I'm usually working at that time on Sundays.
I don't have any new information on the $100,000 Steppers Challenge at this time. There are many pieces to put together and hopefully someone is doing something in your city to meet this challenge to donate $100 from steppers organizations in your city to the International Red Cross for Haitian earthquake relief.
Oh yea, If you look below, you will see my latest video with Eric and Sunshine.

 

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