So you are the festival chair for your local music teacher association and suddenly everything has to run online. Festivals, competitions, even theory testing. This interview shares how one teacher-chair used Simplissimo for multiple years and adapted quickly when circumstances changed.
What have you used Simplissimo for?
Sarah: I currently use Simplissimo to run two festivals per year for my local association. One festival is for multiple solo instruments as well as chamber ensembles. Simplissimo works seamlessly through all of the various components of each festival.
When Covid-19 hit our area, we were able to hold our festivals virtually through the Simplissimo platform. The judges appreciated how easy it was to navigate through scores and performances, and how it avoided dependence on multiple storage tools like Google Drive or Dropbox.
What are your favorite parts of Simplissimo?
Sarah: Everything is online. It is so convenient to have every aspect of the festival in one place. I can coordinate registration, payment, scheduling, festival information, teacher communication, and now even virtual judging all on the site. Axel is available with quick answers and solutions to the unique requests and situations that come up with each festival.
How did you convince your association to switch?
Sarah: With registration numbers reaching over 300 participants, our festivals were getting hard to manage with all the paperwork, emails, checks, and logistics.
For our association, we chose to build the cost into the student fee. We were able to cover Simplissimo by slightly raising the student fee. We were anxious participation would drop, but instead our numbers kept growing.
How easy was it for you and the other teachers?
Sarah: The design is intuitive and user friendly. As the chair, I was initially anxious about building it online. But with fillable templates and drag-and-drop scheduling, it was very simple. I am no longer worried about losing a registration, not scheduling a student, or having a payment lost in the mail.
For teachers, from newer to very experienced, everyone was able to manage online registration because it required the same information as the former paper version. Virtual submissions were also easy to navigate by uploading links in the teacher portal.
Would you recommend it to other associations?
Sarah: I highly recommend Simplissimo to any association, large or small, for festivals and competitions of various genres. It cuts down hours of work for me as chair and helps teachers manage festival registration and virtual submissions. My association will never switch back to our former process.
Thanks Sarah for sharing your experience. Interested in simplifying your music festivals or competitions? Explore more resources in the Simplissimo blog and request a walkthrough to see how the workflow fits your chapter.