Competition Organizers - our suggestions

[elisedance]

Online registration means some system like O2cm, instantly displaying couples names under their registered heat, so total transparency, no need to guess who else would be in my heat, no need to guess how big my heat, how many rounds it might be, etc.

I think comps avoid this because couples might not register in a heat unless there is competition - and someone has to be first.  However, there is no reason not to publish the entries sometime after the closing date for entries and at least a few days before the comp

[standarddancer]

actually sometimes coaches register a bunch of their couples, or couples communicating to each other if going or sharing hotel or car pool, then there is no reason not showing heatlists if a group of competitors already registered. I sometimes received other couples' email asking around if we do such and such comp, asking if we know who else going, usually if no online registration, and we don't know who's going, we assume no one going if we don't see that open heat list...so after that assumption of no one going, we don't register either since we don't just want to dance against each other, we wish there are other competitors from other regions as well. I think without displaying open heat list, organizer lose more potential entries.

[standarddancer]

unless for large comps like OSB, or blackpool, or national, we won't care about heat lists, we assume everyone going. For local comps, open heat lists important, it helps attract business.

[standarddancer]

also greatly appeciate if comp organizers could forward marks to compmgnr or posting results on their site in a timely manner. It's important for competitors to see their marks, also believe or not, dancesportinfo extracting data from comp site or compmngr, and lots of competitors search dancesportinfo for good comps, the sooner result showing up at DSI, the sooner it will get attention and exposure which helps future attendance.

[cornutt]

I think comps avoid this because couples might not register in a heat unless there is competition - and someone has to be first.  However, there is no reason not to publish the entries sometime after the closing date for entries and at least a few days before the comp

Hmm.  Perhaps the comp registration software could use a "conditional registration" feature, where a couple can enter a heat on the condition that there will be competition.  If the deadline passes and no competition registers, the registration is automatically cancelled.  Admittedly, this causes the difficulty that no one knows for sure what they are entered in (and hence what their fee is) until the deadline passes.  Still, it might be a good way of indicating to other couples that a couple is seeking competition in a particular dance.  Could end up creating more heats and additional income for the comp organizer. 

[elisedance]

also greatly appeciate if comp organizers could forward marks to compmgnr or posting results on their site in a timely manner. It's important for competitors to see their marks, also believe or not, dancesportinfo extracting data from comp site or compmngr, and lots of competitors search dancesportinfo for good comps, the sooner result showing up at DSI, the sooner it will get attention and exposure which helps future attendance.

I agree - it suprises me that comps often don't send the scores in when its such a fantastic free form of advertising.  If the comp does not do it, I do it mysel.  If, that is, we had a good outing

[elisedance]

I think comps avoid this because couples might not register in a heat unless there is competition - and someone has to be first.  However, there is no reason not to publish the entries sometime after the closing date for entries and at least a few days before the comp

I think it would be even better if there was an understanding that if there are three or less entries the heats will be pooled with an appropriate one (such as pre-champ with champ etc).  That way you know you are always going to get competition....

Hmm.  Perhaps the comp registration software could use a "conditional registration" feature, where a couple can enter a heat on the condition that there will be competition.  If the deadline passes and no competition registers, the registration is automatically cancelled.  Admittedly, this causes the difficulty that no one knows for sure what they are entered in (and hence what their fee is) until the deadline passes.  Still, it might be a good way of indicating to other couples that a couple is seeking competition in a particular dance.  Could end up creating more heats and additional income for the comp organizer. 

[dancingirldancing]

That means that couples who like to dress each other can do so easily.

Or undress eachother. 

HA HA HA ..... That is hilarious .....

Dancers do not have any body shame I always maintained !

[cornutt]

Well, if they get their suitcases mixed up, nobody notices.   

[elisedance]

'cept seems the wrong one is leading

[emeralddancer]

I can understand about registering online and complete transparency .... HOWEVER after being apart of organizing a one day comp (praying it goes smoother this year) ..... I can see WHY some do not have this.

I say this because SOOOOOOOOOOOO many competitors DO NOT respect the deadline and often register AFTER the deadline and it is so frustrating for the organizers .... as well as for competitors who did register by the deadline.

[ttd]

I would really appreciate if the dancesport series website was updated correctly and in timely fashion.

[QPO]

I would really appreciate if the dancesport series website was updated correctly and in timely fashion.

trouble is most of these organisation rely on someonw else to do it on a voluntary basis. Most of them dont have a clue about websites so dont see the importance of keeping it uptodate, the most difficult thing I find is that the ones I am involved in is getting content to keep it updated 

[elisedance]

I would really appreciate if the dancesport series website was updated correctly and in timely fashion.

I got very frustrated with it (when I was doing pro-am).  Its the only game in town and yet its flawed and badly run.  But I've droned on about that before.

I wish dancesportinfo would start a pro-am site!  They would totally blow away the DSS...  I actually suggested it to them once but they have enough on their plate.

[ttd]

I would really appreciate if the dancesport series website was updated correctly and in timely fashion.

trouble is most of these organisation rely on someonw else to do it on a voluntary basis. Most of them dont have a clue about websites so dont see the importance of keeping it uptodate, the most difficult thing I find is that the ones I am involved in is getting content to keep it updated 

DSS is <supposedly> a website for a series of competitions, who kinda cross-support each other and the website is meant to promote the whole series, and part of this is keeping track of who did which competitions. There are smaller series, like Global dancesport, for example. So it's not exactly a volunteer non-profit website intended to keep track of all competitors.