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[2/19/2010 SteppersUSA Daily News]
Steppers Seamy Side
By Markie Bee
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Today's Steppers Beat column is sponsored by: WORD OF MOUTH ENTERTAINMENT, LLC. THE QUAD CITY STEPAGANZA Memorial Day Weekend 3rd Annual Fashion Show and Benefit May 27-31st, 2010
Generally speaking, the Chicago style steppers community in 2010 isn't the same as it was a few years ago (as I discussed in my column on February 11, 2010). But just as in any other segment of society, there are stories from the "seamy side" to tell too.
Through the years there have been stories of stalkers, perversion right on the dance floor and even recently in Chicago a stepper was killed allegedly by an estranged mate. As I've been saying, steppers are real people and experience the same things as everyone else in society.
There are countless stories of instructors stringing students along after they have mastered the basics to line their wallets and others that couldn't teach the dance at all. There are stories of promoters not delivering what they promise, changing payouts for contest wins, sloppily planned events, and outright lying to the public.
Please note when I'm talking about promoters, I'm also talking about steppers clubs that do "double duty" as promoters... 

 

 

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just so there's no confusion.
How many times have you seen a flyer that tells you about the big event where everyone you would want to be at the event was supposed to be at that event? You say to yourself, this is the event I need to be at. Have you ever seen "invited guests" on a plugger?
What happens when...?
So you go to an event and the special invited guest doesn't show up. What do you do? Have you been hoodwinked by another sleazy promoter? The answer is you haven't been hoodwinked. Anyone can INVITE anybody to an event. I could invite the president and advertise the fact that the President of the United States is a special invited guest to my event. It doesn't mean he will be there (even though it would be great)… It means he was invited.
What about this...?
But what happens when those magic words "invited guests" don't appear on the flyer and the individual isn't there, had no plans of being there, told the promoter they wouldn't be there or even worse never had any knowledge they were even on a plugger as a "feature" of the event? It's happened more times than you'd think. These tactics do nothing but infuriate steppers who pay good money to travel to and participate in an event with the "featured person" as advertised.
It costs how much...?
How often does a promoter cut a deal with a host hotel? The usual way of doing this is a block of rooms are reserved for a certain amount of time leading up to the event. The practice is to tell the customer a special code word (a coupon code) to tell the hotel to get the discount. It's a big red flag when the promoter says to pay them directly instead of letting the hotel handle the reservations and the money directly.
If you're a promoter and think your event isn't as good as it should be, perhaps it's an idea to work on making it a better event for your customers instead of lying to them.
And about those tables...
In the past I've had a lot to say about so-called reserved tables and their impact on an event and how it impacts the perception of how the event is run and how so many steppers feel about not having their seats. How would you feel if you've bought a table for yourself and your guests and you travel from out of town and find the paid for table was one of the worst tables in the place and no effort is made to correct the situation?
I feel if you are going to have reserved tables they should be in premium locations and they should be offered at a premium price and afforded premium service to boot. There should be a couple of VIP tables but at the same time, every club member shouldn't necessarily have their own table. If they are the hosts of the event they shouldn't be sitting down they should be attending to their guest's needs making the event memorable. Limiting the number of reserved seats increases their value especially when coupled with personalized premium service.
Are they paying attention...?
Promoters these days need to be more attentive to the way they do business than ever because the consumer has much more power than they did before the advent of social networking. Word of mouth has always been either the greatest asset for a promoter as well as the bane of their existence for poorly executed events. Word spreads at the speed of light and it can be good or bad depending on how the consumer is treated.
 

 

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