Q:TIP- Cost for Colleges to Attend NACA

As a college booking agency, one of our primary goals is partnering with schools to help grow their music programming. That's a tough challege as student activity budgets continue to be wittled-down. One of our primary goals is to help colleges be good stewards of their budgets. Sometimes it's helpful to get a "birds-eye" view of a yearly expense, so for this blog post, we're going to focus in on expenses for a college wanting to attend NACA.

NACA Annual Membership Fee for Colleges
$400-$950 for membership depending on the school's Full Time Enrollment

NACA Regional Conference Expenses for Colleges

• $180 registration fee per student / advisor (delegate)
• $150 per hotel room per night (2-4 people)
• 2-5 meals on your own per delegate
• Transportation expenses (via van, airline, etc.)

Estimated Expenses for a Regional Conference

• Smaller school taking three delegates: $1,450 plus transportation expenses
• Larger school taking ten delegates: $5,300 plus transportation expenses

NACA National Conference Expenses for Colleges

• $375 registration fee per student / advisor (delegate)
• $200 per hotel room per night (2-4 people)
• 3-5 meals on your own per delegate
• Transportation expenses

Estimated Expenses for a National Conference

• Smaller school taking three delegates: $2,100 plus transportation expenses
• Larger school taking ten delegates: $8,350 plus transportation expenses

Now keep in mind that these are estimated totals and that each school is going to have a different total cost, depending on how far they have to travel, what kind of hotel they choose, where they go out to eat, etc.

Q:Tip- How artists are chosen for NACA

Ever wonder how artists & lecturers are chosen for a NACA showcase? Here's the scoop:

A committee is made up of 5 student volunteers and 4 staff. The Chair of the committee does not vote, but acts more as a facilitator. A few members may have past showcase experience but most don't. The students on the committee can go to the conferences but there is no requirement to do so.

It is a 3-5 days process, with breaks, facilitated but the committee Chair. The committee completes the process in an unidentified hotel location. The identity of the committee is never revealed.

The committee watches submission videos and listens to submitted audio material. Some submissions are digital, through music websites like sonic bids. Other submissions are hard copy material. Regional showcase committees typically view 400-500 submissions in the 3-5 day process.* The first submission to be viewed is determined by random alphabetical selection.  Showcases are determined by rounds as follows:

Round 1: 90 seconds of video viewed (3 minute for lecture).  The main focus for this round is determining if there is substantail talent. At least 50% of the committee must be in favor to move it to round 2.
Round 2: Next 30 seconds of video viewed:  In this round, they compare acts to similar acts the committee has already heard or seen.
Round 3: Next 30 seconds of video viewed.  The focus of this round is to make selections that will help fill a void in the genre of diversity for the already selected acts.
Final Round: Compares acts to create a well-balanced distribution and evalutate all given facts thoroughly.

*National Convention selection committee differs in that they split the committee for Round 1, as submissions are greatly increased on the National Convention level.

Q:TIP- If you build it they will come...and keep coming back

So how do you keep the kids coming back for more concerts? You've gotta bring in talent and lots of it. Last Q:TIP, we pointed out that booking local artists will save you money and helps boost concert attendance. In this blog post, we want to emphasize that if student programmers over-rely on this strategy and only book local, you will eventually run your concerts dry.

Here's the lesson for the day:

"If you bring in national touring artists and pair them up with locals, you'll see more consistent concert attendnace."

If you look at any venue in a city (capacity 100-300), this is how they set up the majority of their weekend shows. Unlike student programming organizations, they do not have student activity fees funding their concerts, so they have to be spot on in attendance in order to sell drinks and keep their doors open.

The local artists' role is to help promote the show and bring out their fan-base. The national artists' role is to bring out the "wow" factor that gets the girls screaming and the guys wishing they knew how to play the guitar. Create this kind of band line-up and you'll have students eventually trusting your capability to set up a good show.

Q:TIP- Save Money by Booking Local

Looking for a cheap artists that draws big? To most colleges, this is a mythological concept, but there's a way to make this a reality: BOOK LOCAL! There are many local artists and bands out there that have great live music and draw well. Even better, they typically will confirm a show for under $500.

Here's the lesson for the day:

"Bringing in a great sounding band that costs more money does not equate to improved concert attendace."

People are more likely to go out and hear an artist they are familiar with than go and see a bunch of strangers. Local artists often have draw from friends, family, and a locally grown fan-base... even if they aren't the highest caliber musician.

Get this lesson down and then we'll talk in a month. To go local is a strong step forward in strengthening your concert branding– but keep in mind that if you stay only local, you will eventually run your concerts dry. We'll explain next time. Over and out.

ROLLER DERBY IN THE UNION

Hiring your local roller derby team proves to be an effective marketing scheme: 

Think about it–  A marketing coordinator is constantly competing with clutter.  They spend hours designing a flyer and then put it up next to 100 other flyers designed by fellow student organizations.  They then spend more time creating an email campaign, but then send it into an inbox full of other sweet emails from Etsy, Apple, and the like.  Third, they Facebook and Tweet, but again, find their efforts lost in the sea of information.  On the other hand, a roller derby chick skating in the union will stick-out like a sore thumb for marketing because they are a force not to be reckoned with.

At UMKC, we decided that improv marketing was going to be one more tool to be put under our belt for program advertisment.  We targeted lunch times at the union, since it was the highest trafficked area on campus. Every week we would implement a fast, quirky improv skits to grab everyone's attention...  And after silence was accomplished amongst the students eating lunch, we unnashamedly announced our upcoming event for the night.

Rollerskating in the Union was our first attempt.  Here's what we did:

Step 1: Drink a Red Bull

Step 2: Have an experienced skater roll into the Union Cafe and scream at the top of their lungs as if they are having trouble stopping.

Step 3: Stage "an innocent bystandard" in the cafe, holding four indestructructable props. (we used a lunch tray, silverwear, a plastic plate and a plastic cup

Step 4: Have the roller warrior "accidently" run into the "innocent bystandard"

Step 5: Have the innocent bystandard dramatically throw their tray in the air and create a lot of racket.

Step 6: Seize the moment of silence and, in a loud voice, shout out what your programming council has planned for the evening

Question for ya: How has your school implemented improv marketing to get the word out for events?