1. Decide what sort of pow wow you wish to host (contest, non-contest, small community dance).
2. Set a budget
3. Raise money and have your funds in place before any commitments are made!! DO NOT DEPEND ON ANY FUNDS GENERATED AT THE POW WOW ITSELF TO PAY FOR HEAD STAFF OR CONTEST PRIZE MONEY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! In other words, don't advertise or commit to what you don't already have in the bank.
4. Don't charge an admission fee. I'm very adamant about this. Anyone should be able to attend.
5. Feed everyone in attendance.
6. Take care of your dancers and drums. Get people on your committee or head staff who really know what this means and entails.
7. Treat everyone with the same respect and go out of your way to make everyone (spectators too) feel welcome at your gathering.
8. Advertise your event well.
9. Get a knowledgeable head staff that fits with your committee and its objectives for the dance.
10. Have a committee giveaway...not many have this anymore, but I feel it's important.
11. Have lots of dancing and singing. Make your dance about the singers and dancers and not about entertainers (storytellers, flint knappers, and all that).
12. Try to come up with unique fundraising ideas for sustainability for your dance. Grants might be a decent idea to get it going, but those won't be around every year so it's a good idea to have other avenues of funding.
13. Thank everyone after your dance for their help.
14. Have fun!
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If pro is the opposite of con, then wouldn't progress be the opposite of...lol
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