Talk to Kathleen Curwen-Walker about how technology and fibre broadband has helped her business grow – and this accomplished dance teacher almost dances with joy.
It's an intriguing story because a dance studio lives or dies according to how many people it can accommodate in-studio, right? The customers, with ages ranging from three to those in their 90s, learn from Curwen-Walker's teachers, principally in ballet but also jazz, tap and modern dance.
But Covid-19 and lockdowns have themselves taught compelling lessons about embracing digital change and Curwen-Walker realised that, during the first lockdowns in 2020, her business had to pivot to survive. It's gone much further now, however, with the Dance For Life Academy set to transform itself not only as an online hub but also to tap into the lucrative US market by streaming lessons online.
"We knew we had to pivot so that we could deliver professional classes by live streaming into homes," she says.
Curwen-Walker, trained in the Cecchetti method of classical ballet, had expanded her business pre-Covid, bringing in teachers to help with the workload: "Before that, it was heavily reliant on me," she says of her business. "I was doing 20-plus classes a week; I started developing knee niggles"
The answer, she says, was to Zoom classes into customers' homes. Even when lockdowns finished, some of her hundreds of clients were reluctant or unable to make it back into her Onehunga studio: "So we realised that live streaming would always be a part of our future. Now we estimate that about 70 per cent are doing some form of online interaction with us, even if they physically come to the classes at other times."
Online classes via Zoom allowed Kathleen to transform her business, leading to permanent changes – with her clients loving the freedom of choice.
However, one of the initial problems with live streaming was technology. During lockdowns, service was reliant on the speed and bandwidth from the teachers' homes. There were, she says, a lot of issues like dropout.
Then Curwen-Walker heard of a Chorus competition aimed at helping small-to-medium enterprises make a digital transformation – and entered: "We had started planning to boost our online capability; I knew what I wanted to do but not necessarily how to do it.
That was solved when the Dance For Life Academy became one of the winners, with a $4000 cash grant and the significant catalyst of the installation of business fibre.
"This Chorus competition, and what it is enabling us to do, has been a real godsend; it is bringing together all the threads and lessons from the 2020 and 2021 experiences – and it is allowing us to spread our wings much, much further now. We are really poised to take off."
Curwen-Walker's business was originally on a residential plan; moving to a business broadband plan has tripled the bandwidth and speed she needs to move her business online. Dean Pointon, Head of Business and Networks at Chorus says: "Business fibre has allowed the studio to grow quickly; it is a model for other small businesses to emulate."
It has helped the academy produce a professional streaming service and seamless delivery – as evidenced by Curwen-Walker's first streaming forays into the US, where technology problems curtailed expansion efforts.
It has acted, she says as a catalyst for further pivoting, enabling the academy to lengthen its reach digitally. That protects it against any future disruption, plus gains new students from overseas to offset recent losses and produce new income streams.
Among the measures she has taken is to produce three highly professional videos, recorded courses so people can buy packages of classes to do at home. That includes the academy's much-publicised programme for dancers over 50 – an innovation which became more popular as scientific studies discovered the health and wellness benefits of ballet for the mind and body during ageing.
But, armed with the new technology, perhaps the biggest step being taken into the future is "Movitanz" – the academy's development of an app and online portal which any dance studio (or movement-related studios, like karate schools, for instance) can use as an online learning hub.
It will be another new income stream and another way for the studio to grow, says Curwen-Walker: "Honestly, it's been a lot of hard work and preparation but it [business fibre] has been essential for us. Before that, it was 'how do we survive'?
"Now, it's 'how do we grow?'"
Top tips
Virtual events can showcase the best of Kiwi ingenuity and have persuaded many businesses to move online for good—pandemic or not. If you want to transform your business, here are some Chorus tips:
Make it interactive - Encourage participants to get involved; bring the audience into the conversation with elements like short, real-time Q&A answer sessions; polls that ask for ideas and feedback; presentation-themed quizzes or competitions; live product demos; a skilled host; and, on a more creative level, you could pre-send your audience event bags with things to use during the event, like props or quotes to read out.
Connecting participants - Participants can draw from each other's skills. A recent virtual gaming conference, for example, created a meeting system allowing participants to search for others depending on their job or skills and then schedule a call with them. They also created a virtual exhibition hall in a space where 'exhibitors' could post work and services for all to browse.
Precise timing – Stick to the schedule. You may be able to get away with racing around to find a misplaced speaker in a real-life event, but online participants are less forgiving—it's much easier to turn off an app or a livestream than it is to walk out on a room full of people.
Make it different - Offer a point of difference. It could be as simple as creating a unique set of 'house rules' for your online gig, or bringing in a novelty element linked to your brand.
Make it easy to join - If you're playing to a large crowd, a popular well-known platform like Facebook may work best. If your brand relies heavily on a social media platform, that enables you to harness your followers as the basis of your audience. For smaller audiences, where every participant matters, consider a platform where users don't need their own account to join in, as that could be off-putting.
Solid internet - Without an adequate internet connection, your event runs the risk of interruptions, lag, or a disastrous blackout. Make sure you have the speed and bandwidth needed.
Be prepared - Technical issues happen—no matter how much prior testing is done. Have back-up equipment on standby; make it easy to switch out dud equipment quickly. Build in timetable contingencies.
Gather feedback – One of the best tools for improvement comes from participant feedback. You're likely to get suggestions which will help you go from strength to strength.
Learn more about business fibre chorus.co.nz/business.