I'd love to see five thousand steppers in one place at the same time. It's a big "grandiose" thought but I wonder what it would actually accomplish for the steppers community.

How big should a large weekend dance event be allowed to become? At what point do we individually and collectively say that's just too much?

I've seen promoters and party planners wrestle with that exact problem a few times now over the last few years. It's not easy trying to decide when enough is enough and being able to say "I just don't think the majority can handle any more of what we're serving."

Do we really need to have twenty to forty workshops when we know the only real purpose of many of the workshops is to promote the much more lucrative private lessons? We know steppers eat and breathe the dance for these big weekends but there are so many questions that go way beyond the events themselves.

A large weekend event is usually promoted as a networking type of an event but when I have looked closer at many of the events I've been to I start to wonder how much of that networking is actually happening on the dance floor?

Most of the time in most cases I've noticed the majority of people at the huge events for the most part stay with those who they are familiar with (mostly people they normally hang with at home). Then why go out of town in the first place? Perhaps to give the promoter the right to say theirs is bigger! I dunno!

If you're going to stay in a hotel and spend every waking hour dancing and learning how to dance and dancing some more... couldn't you have just brought the instructor to your city and had a weekend of dancing and instruction at a much lower cost? But why think about it?

Three or four hundred dollars for the weekend in the hotel or spending that same money to bring the instructors to your city for the same things might make more sense financially. The instructors go because for them the large events are like the Christmas season is for retailers.
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Schedule a workshop and make a couple hundred bucks and schedule the rest of the free time with private lessons and double or triple the money in one afternoon. That's capitalism at its best! Make the money instructors! It's a good thing in my book... but do you need a big event to do that?

Most of the "networking" seems to happen as people pass each other in the hotel on the way to the next event or when they gather in the lobby as they get ready to get a meal. The majority never really don't seem to stay in the lobby very long.

As the spring season of out of town events approaches it's time for those events to differentiate what they are doing from the others and at the same time they should be able to offer a substantial value for people to pony up the cost of travel, hotels, meals etc. to be there. You really have to ask yourself is it worth it?

Steppers song of the day (#stepperssongoftheday)

Today's song of the day is "Summer Madness" by Kool And The Gang .

Post some comments... give the song some love... tell me if you love it or hate it. Would you add it to your playlist? Would you step to it? If you like it click the "Like Button." Join the music group! Here's the link: https://www.facebook.com/groups/steppers.music Want to see our list of music to step to? Click here. #steppersmusiclist
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