WhoMe

Powwow committees differ in size, duties and functions.

Some powwow committees are huge and involve a lot of people working on separate funtions to make their powwows successful.

Other committees look huge on paper, but only have a few actual workers.

Still other committees are few in number but manage to pull off successful powwows.

What should a successful powwow committee include?

(some suggestions would be subcommittees of: fundraising, grounds, security, food etc. etc.)

What else?

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"Today, recognizing and respecting the origins of powwow aids in our Cultural Survival. If enough people break the rules because they are not satisfied...."We will have no culture."

WhoMe

NDNKIDZ

someone in charge of goot traders with items that dont involve things from foreign countries..lol make sure they see the goods they are selling, and find out if there is a need for that item at that particular powwow.... anyone else?

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Ta'neeszahnii Techno

Advertising and someone to handle booth (artsncrafts/food) layouts and assignments.
Also someone for hospitality (lodging, food, water for head staff/singers).

WocusWoman

A secretary; someone who keeps and maintains records for the event. I also agree on the hospitality person in addition to the arena director.

skydweller68

sookout sh'nob

We usually have cooks, a head drum/spirtual bigwig, a Master of Ceremonies, and a couple of tribal representatives who hand out the cash. There are also a bunch of hunters and fishermen who go out ahead of time and round up chow. Sometimes some grocery shoppers too.

That's about it really. The trail in our area is real regular and pretty well known, so people just show up and that's that.

badmaninc

We have somebody who looks after just the sound system and also takes the floating mike around during the singing and whenever anybody other than the MC has to speak, Elders, Chiefs(how come the plural isn't Chieves), royalty, etc.

Have different people in charge of each aspect. Have somebody who's only job is to take care of the MC and whipman/arena director for the weekend. Coffee, food, when they need to talk to somebody about protocol or arranging for prayers or other ceremonie, the gopher goes to get people.

CHEROSAGE

We have basically 3 families that will be there and help with each P/W. Each of us will do what ever is necessary.

1 of the families usually will help with the maint., signs, and set up. Another family is best with our dinner preparation and the committees table(we have t-shirts, coffee cups, cold drink cups, and hats all with our logo).They will also help sell some of our drinnks during the dance. Our family will over see the entire dance. I am the p/wchairman/MC/set up/ contact/security/etc, my wife is the secretary and head cook (in the FRYBREAD/NDN TACO shed)/advertising and P/W booklet, Mom in charge of the traders, my sister is the tressurer/ concessions booth(hamburgers, hotdogs,sods pop), my nephews are in charge of the sound system(who's best at sound but young guys).

We don't have a contest, but enjoy a nice relaxed family oriented P/W. We try to make everyone that comes to help us feel like they are family. We have lots of camping,nice camping facilities. We now dance inside a large air conditioned bldg. We have a very special AD and he does great job each and every year. We select our headstaff on their merits. I don't just pick the staff simply because they can bring in 100's of people, though many can. As many of you that put on a dance know you are, quite tired but, very proud when the dancers dance to the great sounding songs and see them all having fun. This is what it is all about, having fun and share with the young.

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BOB

WhoMe

This information is really helpful.

In fact this information is kind of the "back bone" of putting on a powwow.

I especially see this information useful to student organizations and people putting on a powwow for the first time. These suggestions and advice also can improve some existing powwows by providing additional components to consider.

There seems to be a lot of "little things" that the average person doesn't think about, that go on behind the scenes to make a powwow successful.

I, for one, am taking notes!

__________________
"Today, recognizing and respecting the origins of powwow aids in our Cultural Survival. If enough people break the rules because they are not satisfied...."We will have no culture."

WhoMe

Two-cents1

This has been my experience with powwow committees:

Vendors: You need one person to be in charge, to be the main contact person. This person sends out vendor applications (food and crafts), stamps in signed contracts and payments, and oversees vendor set-up. You need at least 2 other people to help with vendor set-up, especially if you need to mark out the spaces. Vendors can be very trying to deal with, so be prepared. Make sure your vendor contract states that there will be no refunds in case of inclement weather if it's an outside powwow.

Head Staff: You need one person to coordinate contact with head staff (correspondence, contracts if you use them). This person is usually in charge of getting the hotel rooms also, and corresponding with the hotel staff. Make sure the hotel understands IN WRITING what the committee will pay for and what the guest is responsible for.

Advertising: Fliers, newspaper ads, radio ads, posting in other powwow programs, etc. One person can do this.

Registration: You need one person to be in charge, and several helpers to work registration. In charge of registration sheets and contest numbers, setting up tables and working them. Have a different person in charge of registering and setting up drum groups. Make sure this person is a singer or very knowledgeable about powwow singing. This person can be in charge of paying day money and doing drum roll call.

Tabulation: 2 people are best for this, to check each others work. Tabulators input registration info and keep track of contest points. You also need arena assistants to help the tabulators. The assistants can take numbers for grand entries, exhibitions, exit points, whatever. They can be in charge of contest ballots, getting them ready for the head judges, and making sure they are valid before they go on to the tabulators.

More later......work calls.

uw_n8iv

Two-cents comments above are right on target w/ how we do it.

The "biggies" for our committee are:
FUNDRAISING
VENDORS
CONCESSIONS
PUBLIC RELATIONS
SECURITY

If we don't have ^^those things in place then we can't have a powwow.

Then there's:
Children's Room
Elder's Dinner
Raffle & Royalty
Head Staff Hospitality
Basketbal Tourney
Cash Handling
T-shirts & Programs
Clean-up

When I was 18, they put me in charge of Concessions (I was a freshman, and the seniors told me it would be easy)....I was sometimes the only one in there making frybread. I even had to recruit my dad from the stands to make the Indian tacos.lol!!! I made a little over 500 pieces of frybread on Saturday. I was like a machine.....that's one of my favorite memories tho:)

I love our little powwow:)

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Two-cents1

uw n8iv, you sound like the dream committee member! There are people out there that are hard workers and dedicated to putting on a good event for the visitors, but I'm finding that they are kind of rare.

Okay, to continue from yesterday:

Security: This is super important. This is a big subcommittee that one person needs to coordinate and supervise. We like to get t-shirts for our security guys/girls that say "security" or "staff" so that there are no misunderstandings.

Admission Gate: If you charge admission, you need someone to supervise the gate. Supervise gate workers, pick up money from boxes at intervals, make sure you have enough handstamps or bracelets. You also need several workers. Be prepared for the dancers and singers that want free admission, or those that complain that a powwow should be free to all. Stick to your guns if you depend on gate receipts for prize money.

If you have a parade, you need a separate subcommittee to mess with that.

It's always good to have a recording secretary or have one of the chairs take meeting minutes and provide an agenda for each meeting. Keep track of all agendas and minutes for future reference in case anyone questions what goes on in meetings or how decisions/votes are made. It's a good reference point for future powwows also, if it's an annual event.

It is also a good idea to have an "active participant" requirement. This can be different for each committee. You can require that members sign in for each meeting, and that you need to attend a minimum amount of meetings in order to be a voting member. It's been my experience on several different committees that you will get alot of people show up to nominate and vote on head staff, and then all those people disappear after that. You will also get people who show up and want to work the arena after never attending meetings or participating in the preparation, set-up, and clean-up. I've even been on committees where people show up to work the arena that aren't even ON the committee or on head staff. I have some good stories to add to the "Committee Horror Story" thread.

Fundraising can be done by the committee as a whole, OR it can be a separate subcommittee. It's been my experience that most fundraisers require alot of manpower, so the whole committee usually gets involved to plan and work.

Clean-up: If you can afford it, hire a separate clean-up crew. It's worth the money because committee members are dog-tired after a powwow.

I'll add more if I think of more.

CHEROSAGE

of all the people that want a staff t-shirt and say they will be at the dance to help, only afew of the regulars are reliable. we get people that say they will help with the concessions and they show for a little while then (which way did they go).

i am also the security, i get some of my deputy friends to help. we have a sheriffs explorers group that helps with deputy supervision. in MO we don't have a bia police. we take care of the rules enforcement. fortunately we have not had any real incidents. we DO have a health, first aide, station on site. the station has been used weveral times and fortunately they were there. all of our staff are of NDN families. not all of our staff are NDN tho. thank God for the spouses and and friends.

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BOB