hosting a Silent Dance Party a) as a way of promoting ... Promo plan: How are you going to .... like to hand out Silence
SILENT DANCE PARTY HOW-TO # JoinTheSilence #CreateTheConversation # SeeTheChange
CONTENTS
WELCOME! Well hello there Silent-Dance-Party-Starter!
WELCOME! 3
We are stoked you have decided to run a Silent Dance Party! We promise that organising a Silent Dance Party will actually be surprisingly simple, and a heck of a lot of fun for everyone who gets
WHAT IS A SILENT DISCO?
4
involved! This How-To will guide you through exactly how you get everyone partying, in Silence, for the sake of funding conversations between Christian students in school!
AT THE DISCO
6
As always, if you have any questions, shoot Mitch an email –
[email protected]
OTHER STUFF AND #INSPO
7
Also, we’d love to hear about your dance party on social media, so remember to use the hashtags - #JoinTheSilence #CreateTheConversation #MakeTheChange With little jive and much awkward,
Mitch
WHAT IS A SILENT DANCE PARTY? A Silent Dance Party is a dance party that happens in silence. Seriously. Everyone brings their own smartphone and headphones, and listens to the same music (we’ll explain how further on) and dances to the tunes, but all in silence. This could happen with your youth group, your Lunchtime Group, with your small group or with some friends – big or small in number – you can dance together! This is of course all for the purpose of highlighting just how important meaningful conversations between Christian students are in school, in a fun, light-hearted way. The Silent Dance Party could be used to fundraise for Silence, to encourage others to take the challenge, or as a chance for others to experience a little bit of silence without taking the challenge!
Before the Dance Party: 5 simple steps to make the dance party happen!
1. People: Who is your event for? Small group? Lunchtime Group? Have a clear idea of who you want to come to your event and ensure the space is appropriate for it.
2. Time & Location: Will it be at school during lunchtime when you’d usually have your Lunchtime Group? Will it be a youth group night at church? Or a Saturday night with some friends in your lounge room? Nail down these details and make sure you confirm them with anyone
usually have much silence. Make sure you know what your purpose is, and communicate it clearly to those you are promoting it to!
4. Promo plan: How are you going to promote the dance party? Create a Facebook event, use our social media resources, make flyers, ask people face-to-face,, there are a bunch of ways. All of them are good, just make sure you know which ones you’ll use and then use them!
a.
Download “Lysn In”: This is on the App Store and is free for the Lite Version – all you require! More details: http://lysn.in/
Create a playlist: Go into “DJ Mode” and create a playlist for the dance party. Do this before the night.
c.
All dance party attendees need to: i.
Download Lysn In before the dance party.
ii.
Bring their smartphone and headphones with them to the dance party.
iii. For those who don’t have smartphones – encourage them to bring some other portable listening device, or source some from your community. You might be surprised how many people have an old iPod lying around!
5. Music Prep: This is the big one! We’ve broken it down into mini-steps to make it as clear as possible (there are also some steps for the “At The Dance Party” stage)!
b.
6.
Host a kick-butt Silent Dance Party!
who needs to be in the know – that’s chaplains and church leaders! Also make sure you can decorate the space for a dance party – fancy lights, less lights, whatever way you go, just make sure you have a plan and have others to help you, get creative!
3. Purpose: There are three main reasons for hosting a Silent Dance Party a) as a way of promoting Silence and getting more people to become challenge-takers; b) as a way of fundraising from your community – you could charge $10 entry; c) to practice silence and experience it with your team or Lunchtime Group in a setting that doesn’t WHAT IS A SILENT Dance Party? 5
O T H E R S T U FF A N D #I N S P O
55-80 minutes: Dance Party x2! Get back into the dancing and the silence!
80-90 minutes: Call to Action & Talking!
AT THE DANCE PARTY Below is an example run sheet and a bunch of ideas for other things you could incorporate into the dance party to get the most out of it!
Example Run Sheet (times are a guide only!): 0-15 minutes: Getting Set Up
the hashtags to inspire other challengetakers and challenge-drivers!
As people arrive welcome them and explain to them that once the dance party starts, there is silence (you can work out the details of what ‘silence’ means for you!)
45-55 minutes: Talking & Silence Promo 1.
Have some time where people can talk
Get attendees to turn their Bluetooth on, open “Lysn In” and select “Lysn In” – they should be able to find your device/party. Whatever music you are playing, will now also play through their phone.
2.
Also use this time to show the Silence Promo video and talk about Silence – highlight your call to action – be it donations, signing up to do Silence.
15-45 minutes: Dance Party! Have everyone tuned into your party and have a Silent Dance Party! This would be a good time to post on social media with
If you have created a team, you might like to encourage people to sign up and join the team on their smartphone, or you might like to hand out Silence promo postcards that people can take home and sign up once they get home.
If you want some branded posters – with space to put your own event details on - to advertise the dance party, email Mitch – mitch@mustard. org.au and he can send you the file.
Inspiration! We are hosting a Silent Dance Party at Remain in September, stay tuned to our social media for updates on how it goes!
#CreateTheConversation
2.
For those without smartphones that are connected, it will be difficult for them to listen to the same music, however, they can dance to whatever they want to on their own portable listening device!
2.
Branded Posters:
#JoinTheSilence
Turn your phone’s Bluetooth on and have the playlist ready to go
4.
In the break you would have highlighted what you are asking people to do out of the event, now offer them the opportunity to do this!
Use the hashtags -
1.
3.
1.
#SeeTheChange
Link the silence of the dance party to the importance of meaningful conversation in schools! You might like to share why this is personally important to you. 3. 4.
Encourage others to post on social media and use the hashtags as well! Remember the other resources you can use – the PowerPoint, offline donation form, “Talking About The Cause” and others!
HEY!
DRIVE THAT SILENT DANCE PARTY! Thanks for stepping up to the challenge of organising a Silent Dance Party and for empowering your community to create real conversation amongst Christian students in schools around Victoria! We are massively grateful for your efforts. We couldn’t do it without you! Let us know how you go with the event, we’d love to share your story through our social media to help inspire others too. Use the hashtags below and email Mitch –
[email protected]. With Dancing Jives and Awkward Mid-Dance High Fives, Mitch /mustardschools
@mustardschools
#JoinTheSilence #CreateTheConversation #SeeTheChange
Other Stuff and #Inspo 7
