The dark side of pole dance competition

Behind the magnificent stage, spectacular lighting, breathtaking performance and beautiful costume, there is a dark side of any pole dance competition that none of us has ever talked about. That dark side haunts us all, whether you are a competitor, a sponsor or an organizer.

Having been a part of competitions as a competitor, sponsor and organizing committee, I want to share with you these challenges we are facing:

Competitor

As a competitor, what we fear the most in any competition are:

Lack of responses from organizer: no confirmation on whether our application has been received, slow or no response on our inquiries
Changes in competition date and time at the last minute. I have seen this happening before. I hope no competition is doing that anymore
Unclear rules and regulations
No precise scorecard or feedback on your performance afterwards

Another challenge for competitors is that it can be costly to enter a competition. We put a lot of effort and money into our routine, from costume, hair/makeup to travel expenses. Many pole dance competitions do not give out great cash prizes. We know this but participate anyways for glory. However, it’d be great to have nice prize to pay back for our effort if we do win.

My advice to competitors:

Ask organizer to clarify anything you are wondering about before you decide to enter the competition
Choose your competition wisely. Not all competitions suit you and contact previous competitors for their feedback and advice
Be patient and show respect to the organizer. Competition organizers do have a lot of challenges on their side. Many competitions are run by a few individuals who have responsibility for hundreds of applications, a few dozens of competitors and hundreds of audience. And they do it mostly on a voluntary basis. Do continue this blog further down to see challenges organizers are facing J
Kindly provide feedback to organizers afterwards to help them improve their competition the following year
Get your family and friends to buy tickets. The more successful the competition is, the more likely it is to happen the following year

Sponsor

As sponsors we contribute to pole competitions mainly for good cause, as competition sponsorship does not always give positive return in investment. Many competitions do not provide good enough marketing for sponsors. I have also seen organizers not keeping their promises of advertising their sponsors. Some only put in a minimum effort in mentioning their sponsors on social media.

My advice to sponsors:

Carefully review the competition you plan to sponsor and see how sponsors were mentioned and advertised in previous years
Plan your marketing campaign together with the organizer: see if you can get the organizer to share a specific content instead of generically copying your business description and logo
Sponsor with pride – help spread awareness of the competition so that more people know about it. With more people watching it, your brand will also get more exposure

Organizer

It is incredibly demanding to hold a competition, something that organizers wish many people would understand. Many great pole dance competitions struggle to be sustainable in the long-term. Organizers rely on ticket sales and sponsorship to pay rental cost for venue and equipment. If they are unable sell enough tickets and raise enough sponsorship, there is a high chance that they will incur a loss and discontinue the competition the following year. It is difficult, almost impossible, to get sponsorships from big corporates. The true faithful sponsors of pole dance competitions have been pole dance related companies, which are mainly small businesses.

In addition running a competition requires a tremendous amount of work: from building website, defining rules and regulations, finding venue, equipment, judges and sponsors, attracting enough applicants and competitors, selling tickets, promoting on social media, and so forth. It is like having a full-time job, only that we are doing it for free. This is the reason why the organizing team is normally small, made up of a few dedicated individuals who work hard to make it happen. Not only there is a lack of finance but also a lack of human capital.

As organizers, we wish people would understand our challenges. We surely want to answer every inquiry as quickly as possible, but most of us are working full-time on the side. The only time we have to plan and organize a competition is during our spare time.

My advice to organizers:

Clarify all rules, regulations, deadlines and key information on your website. Make your competition transparent
Stick to your deadlines. If you tell everyone you are going to respond within this particular date, do it
If you don't have time to answer inquiries immediately, kindly send confirmation to people that their messages have been received and you will answer them in due time
Be professional. Treat this like a business and not a hobby if you want to be taken seriously
Communication is key!

My last bit:

The pole dance community is still young and small. Competition is the way to show the world what we pole dancers are capable of. Support your favorite competitions: spread the awareness, buy tickets to see them, or volunteer to help out. Support your pole dance related companies. We need to support each other if we are going grow further.

About Mai:

Mai Phan is the owner of Pole in Style. She also works as a personal trainer in Oslo, Norway and is a certified pole fitness instructor. Mai has been doing pole dance since 2012 and loves how it has given her self confidence and belief in herself.

Follow her personal blog: maiphan.com