The re-scheduled BYU’s best dance crew event exemplifies a learning curve that many student clubs and organizations encounter when planning and scheduling events for students.
The BYU Student Service Association for the past two semesters has attempted to organize BYU’s best dance crew, an event where hip-hop and break-dance crews battle choreograph numbers against one another. The event will have student-run dance crews from BYU and UVU and independent dance crews from around the community. The winning crews from BYU’s competition will move on to compete in Utah’s best dance crew against crews from in-state universities.
While this event has gained momentum on social media and within BYU’s hip-hop and break-dance clubs, it has had a difficult time getting off the ground.
The BYUSA event encountered a common problem among the dozens of BYU clubs and events that are held every semester. Originally the auditions and competition were to be held last semester, but due to the lack of advertising and planning this activity, like many activities, fell flat.
“We were planning on having auditions last semester, and we didn’t get word out fast enough or wide enough to have a competition,” said Travis Swallow, vice president of activities for BYUSA. The original event last semester had only two dance crews that were willing to participate; however, neither of which were given enough time to prepare for such an event.
Brandon Henson, the president of BYU’s hip-hop club, explained that BYUSA approached them only one week before the event was scheduled to occur.
“We were aware of the activity last time; we felt it was just too short notice for us to have anything prepared or to have any crews organized,” Henson said.
Unfortunately, this has become a trend within the clubs and groups at BYU. Dozens of clubs every semester schedule events or activities, but lack of planning, advertising and wide-spread communication causes poor attendance and an even poorer experience for those who do attend.
However, despite the previously failed attempt, BYUSA was determined to get this event off the ground. Jay Warren, the BYUSA event lead for BYU’s best dance crew, explained that by re-scheduling this event and changing their communication tactics they now are expecting to have a much higher student turnout, both in participation as well as spectators.
“Last semester we had the goal of doing the event on this day and the auditions on this day, but the plans weren’t made to get everything done on these specific days,” Warren said of re-planning the event. “So last semester we sat down, and we figured out in order to get this done on this day we need to get advertising this amount of time before the event.”
Warren continued to explain that for any student-run event it all comes down to planning and setting goals and plans to achieving said goals. Especially for events that consist of two parts, an audition and a performance, communication and advertising for an event should happen quickly and early.
“This time around we have already set up through BYUSA’s social media outlet media blasts with Facebook and Instagram to get the word out, and we put out our printed advertising like banners and posters all ready to go,” Warren said.
Flyers, posters and banners have already begun floating around campus, and the advertising tactics for the dance event have been proving to be more effective. With over 50 people practicing at the weekly hip-hop club and an estimated eight dance crews from BYU expected to audition, this experience has shown that planning is essential in getting any BYU event off the ground.
BYUSA’s dance crew event is scheduled to have auditions in the Richards Building on Feb. 22, and the competition will be held in late March.
