ACOUSTIC GETAWAY

Dear Boarderlions,

The Getaway was a big success: we received a great reaction from the guests all weekend long, and it ended with a rousing standing ovation.

The surveys reflected high marks from a vast majority of the respondents,

The team achieved its immediate goals:

1. Expedite The Big Vocalotto

2. Improve dining room circulation/crowding

3. Relieve the Registrar’s pre-Getaway workload.

Our main long-range goal continues to be obtaining and retaining new fans.

The large number of yellow first-timer badges was noted by many long-timers. So we continue to attract first-timers.

We also continue to increase our permanent fan base. Many second and third-timers who are now devoted Getaweenies

and were in attendance. (maybe Getaway Gang? How about Get-Goers. Try Getaway Guests.)

Of note: Their excitement reminds us of how many of us were 50, 60, 70 festivals ago.

Since the beginning of our tenure, our stated goal has been to use our committee’s dollar surplus to fund better programs to attract and keep these newbies.

We were $3,500 ahead leading into this Getaway, and devoted $1,000 of that to improving the program this fall.

As luck and hard work would have it, instead of being a thousand in the red, Robin’s numbers showed the event $500 ahead.

Note:

The numbers are late-night memory approximations, so consult Treasurer Bill for exact numbers.

We sold out by adding day passes ten days before the weekend.

Surveys are the major source of constructive and applicable criticism, plus new workshop ideas, and volunteer help.

They are being read and digested, analyzed, and discussed.

A note about the team:

Mike, Pat B and Elizabeth do a fantastic job, and continue to improve at their respective functions every time.

We all love and appreciate how successful they are at handling large responsibilities with calm and competence.

About 50 volunteers run the weekend with varying degrees of responsibility.They each own a piece of The Getaway,

and we hope they’re proud of what they accomplished, and we hope they enjoyed themselves while making their contributions.

Thanks to them.

Meetup.com continues to be a growing source of new Getawayfarers (Getawares???? Getchas!! No. The Great Getsbies? )

and an effective reach-out tool for new Folk Project members.As the Schaffer calendar was filling up with a major shoulder operation, a job search, a pre-Getaway party, a Getaway, a 3-day trip to Amsterdam for an interview, running a first-time Halloween program at Minstrel, a bad back, a new job, tying up the old job, trips to Mom’s in Pennsylvania, trips to the grandkid, a two-week trip to Amsterdam to start the new job, a board meeting,and hosting a Homemade Music party,it became obvious that adding the Post-Getaway Party we promised the Meetup groupwas going to be difficult.So we combined the Homemade Music Party and Post-party and we held them both as one party this past Saturday.

The party was a rousing and tremendous success. About 60 people attended.

People were singing and participating all night long. Thanks to Kenny Galipeau for directing the song traffic.

We were about 1/3 Project, 1/3 new Getaway Fans, and 1/4 Meetup people that have never attended The Minstrel or The Getaway,

and 1/12 Martians. This was an excellent introduction to what we do.

The newbies were ecstatic to participate in something new to them, and old to us.

If you are a singer of folk classics with rousing choruses, please attend our future Pre-and-Post-Getaway Parties.

We brought first-timers into the spirit and structure of our culture. Next time we’d like to add a little more folkie content.

We received many thanks and well-wishes from newcomers, but our favorite email accolade came from a long-time member:

"This circle had virtually EVERYONE singing and playing along on EVERY song.

The result: It was loud. It was raucous. It was tribal. It moved along without a lull...and no one was ever left out.

The conclusion: EVERYONE had a jolly good time, especially all the newcomers.And, like Arnold, I'm sure they will ALL be back!

Well done!!!"

See you all tomorrow at our place for the meeting.

Mark & Robin,

but Robin won’t be here.