Month: September 2018

September 28th, 2018

Hello there! For those of you who don’t know me, my name is Stephanie Hamilton and I am the Media & Marketing Specialist with My School Dance. For anyone who has ever planned and managed a school dance, you’ll know how much work and time it takes.

When I was in high school, I was always a part of the dance planning committees and we struggled to get everything accomplished in such little time. That’s why I wanted to provide you with 5 Must Do’s When It Comes To Running A School Dance! The biggest thing when planning something so big is to always have a dance process in place to keep you and your team on track. Let’s get started!

• Financial Controller–Dances are a great way for schools to fundraise! That’s why you want to ensure that you have someone lined up in place to deal with any of the financials regarding the dance. You have to figure out how to keep track of the money, who is going to sell the tickets, and how and when the money will be deposited? My School Dance makes this super easy! You sell all tickets online, have a designated financial controller (most likely your school’s bookkeeper), and you receive your school’s payments instantly from our payment provider, Stripe.
• Forms–Almost all schools require some type of forms to be filled out before attending a school dance. These could be parent permission forms or event guest permission forms. It might become a little hectic if you have every student turning in paper forms and are left with over 500 pieces of paper. You want to make sure you have a process in place when it comes to handling all of the forms. That’s why My School Dance allows students, parents, and guests to receive and sign agreements digitally. Now you don’t have to worry about the big stack of paper on your desk! 
• Communicate with Parents–This is one of the most important things to remember when managing a dance. You always want to make sure the parents know that their child is safe and where they are supposed to be. That’s why My School Dance created a QR Code feature. This will allow schools to scan the student’s QR Code that’s on their ticket and a text message can be sent out to parents alerting them when their child arrives and leaves the dance. 
• Creative Team–A dance requires a lot of creativity especially when it comes to the visuals. You need to have some sort of team on board that will be in charge of decorations, venue, music, food, theme, etc. You can use My School Dance’s pre-loaded planner checklist to stay organized and ensure you’re getting accomplished what you need to.
• Managing–The big part to managing a dance is ensuring all of the processes are getting accomplished and following a deadline sheet for each. A nice part when it comes to managing is that instead of manually flipping through packets of papers to verify attendance, schools can just use My School Dance’s QR Code to track the data.

If you want to ensure your school manages their dance in the most effective way, you need to have a set platform in place. If you don’t know what platform to use try My School Dance. It’s perfect if you’re looking for a simple, modern way to manage your school’s dance. Plus, it’s free for school’s to use. If you haven’t signed your school up yet, create your My School Dance account for free!

Contact:

Stephanie Hamilton

833-336-8656

September 21, 2018

Hi everyone! For those of you who don’t know me, my name is Stephanie Hamilton and I am the Media & Marketing Specialist with My School Dance. To wrap up the Homecoming season, I wanted to create my Top 8 Reasons On Why You Should Attend Your School’s Homecoming Dance!

In my past blogs, I’ve talked about how Homecoming isn’t just a dance, it’s so much more. This event usually has at least 5 or more “mini events” attached to it such as the parade, football game, spirit week, and more. Don’t be that person that doesn’t attend any of the fun because you’re “too cool” or “too old” for that. Let’s be serious, you’re not and you’ll regret it if you don’t join the fun! Now let’s jump into the top 8 reasons!

• Reason #1: Hangout with your Friends: With all of the festivities that Homecoming has to offer, you have plenty of chances to enjoy the activities with your friends. Homecoming is a huge social opportunity for students, staff, and parents. It’s basically just a big celebration with your community. Plus, this is a great excuse to put down the cell phones and actually socialize face to face with your peers.
• Reason #2: Show School Spirit: One of the main things that Homecoming is known for is Spirit Week. Many schools get together to create themes for each day and allow students to dress up for each theme. For example, some days when I was in high school were Wacky Wednesday, Sports Day, 80’s Day, etc. It’s fun to see a lot of students and staff going all out and sharing this bond together. Plus, it’s funny to see how creative some people get.
• Reason #3: Cheer on the Football Team: One of the biggest parts to Homecoming is the school’s football game. Even if you’re not a sports fan, it’s fun to go and support your team. Deck yourself out in your school colors, paint your face, and get beads to wear. Stand in the student section and come up with chants to pump up the football team. It might seem dumb to you, but the football team is loving the support! Put yourself in their shoes and you’ll understand how awesome it feels to have people rooting for you.
• Reason #4: Support the Community: Homecoming brings the entire community together in one place to celebrate their town. Many times there will be chances to give back to your community by donating or volunteering at one of the events. Do it! Giving back shows you care about your town and the people in it.
• Reason #5: Create New Memories: Homecoming only happens once a year. Therefore, you can’t miss out on creating awesome memories at all of the events. Trust me, from past experiences all 4 Homecomings that I attended were great memories that I’ll never forget. That doesn’t just mean the dance. You should go to every single event and create new memories. They all have different atmospheres and it’s really cool to experience how each of them are different. It’ll be worth it!
• Reason #6: Casual: Homecoming isn’t like Prom at all. It’s much more laid-back and casual. You can wear what you want, you don’t have to look all fancy, and finding a date isn’t that serious. Everyone is just there to have fun! I found it better to not have a date when going to Homecoming. Just go with your friends and save the date for the formal dances! To be honest, you’ll probably have more fun that way.
• Reason #7: Sets the Mood for the Year: Homecoming happens pretty early on in the school year and I think that’s perfect for high schools. A month or two in, the school hosts all of these exciting events for the students to basically lay out how your school year is going to be. By attending the events and showing school spirit, you’re more likely to attend more school events and participate in the activities. If you don’t attend the festivities, you’re more likely to never attend any other ones. It’s up to you to determine the mood for the year!
• Reason #8: Celebrate your School: The last reason is self-explanatory. You’re spending at least 4 years of your life at this school, so why not celebrate it? These 4 years are going to fly by and you’re going to miss it as much as you think you might not. High school is supposed to be the time to have fun and act like idiots when celebrating your school. Take it all in while you can!

Homecoming definitely consists of the most events compared to any other dance. Try to attend a few of them, if not all of them! If your school needs help managing and planning any of these events or the dance, My School Dance is your go-to. If you haven’t signed your school up yet, create your My School Dance account for free!

Contact:

Stephanie Hamilton

800-501-3282

September 14, 2018

Hey there! For those of you who don’t know me, my name is Stephanie Hamilton and I am the Media & Marketing Specialist with My School Dance. Since it is the season of Homecoming, why not discuss some great tips for your HoCo proposal?

Lately, dance proposals have gotten more and more popular throughout the country. When I was in high school, most people received dance proposals for our Winter Formal or Prom, not so much with Homecoming. However, that’s changing! Homecoming proposals are starting to either match or take over the hype of a “Promposal.” Since this is the case, below I’ve listed a few tips/ideas to help you when planning your HoCo proposal:

• Be unique–Try to think of something that you and your “potential date” have in common and involve that in your proposal. It will make it much more meaningful.
• Interests–Include their interests in your proposal. For example, if they like a specific movie, band, sport, food, etc. 
• Go all out–If you think it’s crazy, it’s probably good! You’d rather wow your “potential date” than make your proposal just average. 
• Videos–Once you come up with the way you’re going to ask someone, make sure to have someone record the proposal so you can post it on social media. 
• Timing–When asking someone to a dance, you want to make sure to ask them early enough. However, you don’t want to ask them too early. I would say at least 6 weeks before the dance would be a good time. Don’t wait til last minute to ask someone cause that shows that you didn’t care enough and didn’t put in the effort. 
• Pinterest–Paroozing through Pinterest is a great way to spark some ideas for Homecoming proposals. If you check out My School Dance’s Pinterest page, we already have a board for Homecoming Proposals that you can get ideas from. 

Putting time into your Homecoming proposal is crucial if you’re wanting to get a yes from your date! My School Dance wants to ensure your Homecoming dance is the best one yet. Check us out on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter for more ideas when it comes to Homecoming! If your school needs help planning and managing their Homecoming, reach out to My School Dance! If you haven’t signed your school up yet, create your My School Dance account for free!

Contact:

Stephanie Hamilton

800-501-3282

MERRILLVILLE, Ind., September 7, 2018/EducationDive/

My School Dance is a free online application that manages all aspects of school dances and events. It’s the perfect tool for schools to use to ensure their planning process is stress free and easy.

Taylor Buckley, My School Dance’s Chief Operations Officer, said, “We designed My School Dance to address a solution to a problem that teachers and administrators had with running dances. The process for managing dances is super archaic: paper forms, selling tickets at lunch, cash boxes and spreadsheets. You basically need a 3-ring binder to manage it all.”

Planning dances and events are supposed to be fun and creative, not taking up too much of your time and effort. The software enables schools to avoid the most difficult elements of event-planning logistics, including the drafting, distribution, and collection of paper agreements; organization of cash or check payments and finding volunteers to sell tickets.

“Dances are extremely important for the social development of students and for many schools, they’re important fundraisers. Teachers, unfortunately, are tasked with organizing these, which often takes away energy from the important job they have of being educators,” said Buckley.

My School Dance can be used for any schools who hosts any type of functions such as homecomings to grad bashes to field trips.

My School Dance allows schools to promote their upcoming events, sell tickets online and securely process payments with their payment provider, Stripe. Some other interesting new features are the QR Code Check In/Check Out, the Eligibility List and the Registration Restriction.

“My favorite feature would be a tie between the text to parents upon student arrival and departure, and the ticket download process. Being a parent, the safety of my child is most important, and knowing that they arrived where they were supposed to be would give me peace of mind. But for schools, having it where students cannot download their tickets until all forms are signed eliminates a ton of work,” said Buckley.

Schools are able to create landing pages for each dance or event that can be accessible by parents, students, faculty and staff. They then can cross promote their landing page on social media channels and post updates regarding their dance or event so everyone is updated with new information.

Signing your school up is super easy too! All you do is go to My School Dance to sign your school up and a dance partner will be in contact with you to help set up your first dance.

Teachers and students are stressed enough, let’s make something easy for them.

About My School Dance

The mission of My School Dance is to provide an online platform for digitally charged, secure and engaged school dances.

Contact:

Stephanie Hamilton

1-800-501-3282

September 7, 2018

Hello again! For those of you who don’t know me, my name is Stephanie Hamilton and I am the Media & Marketing Specialist with My School Dance. As most of you should know, IT’S HOMECOMING SEASON!

Is your school preparing for their upcoming Homecoming dance? Did you pair up with My School Dance to plan and figure out what theme works best for your school? Well if you haven’t, that’s Step 1 on my list of planning your perfect dance! Once you sign up, start exploring the millions of potential dance themes there are. This is one of my favorite parts because it’s the opportunity for your school to be unique and come up with something super creative.

Choosing a theme for your dance is one of the most exciting parts! Will it be a Luau, Vegas Night, or Under the Sea themed?  The possibilities are endless!

The theme is what brings your dance to life! You want to make sure you’re up-to-date on the latest trends to make your Homecoming stand out. Below are a few tips and questions you should ask yourself when choosing the theme:

• What time of year is the dance taking place? Is your Homecoming dance during a specific month that has a well-known holiday? If so, you could always incorporate the holiday as your theme for the dance.
• What sorts of decorations could you use with this theme? Once you narrow down your theme, you have to start brainstorming specific decorations that could work with it. Can you do streamers? What are the colors for your theme?
• What is your budget for decorations? Having a budget for decorations is important because without a budget, you will spend so much money decoration shopping. You’ll keep seeing decorations you like that “don’t cost that much”, but it all adds up. Make a set spreadsheet of how much you are able to spend and what decorations you want to get.
• Can the decorations be DIY or do you need to go out and buy them? After creating a budget plan, decide whether some of your decorations can be do-it-yourself ones or if you actually have to go buy them. Many schools save a lot of money by using the DIY method.
• Research theme ideas on Pinterest– Pinterest is a great site to get ideas for the possible themes you can do with your budget. They even give multiple sources to know exactly where they purchased a specific decoration. Check out My School Dance’s Pinterest page for great How-To Ideas!
• Run a poll of your top three favorite themes and let students vote for the winner– If you can’t decide what theme to do, create a social media poll, and have students vote for it. This way you’re including the students in the planning process.

Remember, have fun while choosing your school’s Homecoming theme! It shouldn’t be stressful. If your school needs help planning a dance or event, My School Dance is your go-to.

Contact:

Stephanie Hamilton

800-501-3282