Page 8 - PowerPoint Presentation

Tags and Swipes, Winter 2022

Acappella Sounds Chorus (continued)

“It takes a team to build a chorus.”
This has never been truer than now. While our online rehearsals involved several individuals sharing their
screens and presenting educational pieces, we also had many members working behind the scenes to make
it all look seamless.

All told, at least 15 members were involved. Not bad for a 29 -member chorus! Committees include
Management, Music, Membership, Marketing, Finance, Fund-raising, and now, also Director Search. Yes,
Tracey Larder, our incredibly talented director of 10 years is retiring. We thanked her profusely for her
unwavering dedication and drive. Luckily for us, Tracey will remain a part of the chorus, adding her voice
to the lead section and joining the Marketing team.

“So, what’s new?’
Nothing and everything. Like many of you have experienced, we have the same goals, but our methods
are very different. Team meetings are still online; and will probably stay that way in the future, because it
is so convenient and successful. Our Music and Membership teams, in particular, had to totally revamp the
process of welcoming and assessing prospective members to accommodate the online format. In addition,
Marketing re-emerged with a whole new role and took on joint projects involving our Membership drive
and Director Search committees.

“Speaking of Marketing…”
Where Marketing in the past meant print ads and physical posters, it now involves social media and
developing new skills to go with it. We still use press releases and newspaper articles, but in addition, we
now use video editor software to produce videos for our social media platforms. Our member recruitment
and director search ads were created in Canva, and our website is continually being updated with the latest
news, photos, and convenient links. Most recently a new ‘Support Us’ section has been added to our
website. Our newsletter is published quarterly to keep members and friends connected. We also reinstated
our subscription to Meet-up to attract new members. What a learning curve!

Results are already coming in. Our video “Who we are” has been viewed 411 times. In fact, we have just
added three new members to our fold and have been featured in a local newspaper twice!

In October 2021 we finally experienced our first in-person rehearsal, albeit with masks on and 6 feet apart.
In Quebec, Canada, restrictions are being modified regularly, and more recently we were delighted to be
able to stand three feet apart and actually hear each other! Like many of you, we are also thrilled to see
some of our members back who had left us earlier in the pandemic.

During the Holiday Season, we had two lovely afternoons of Christmas Caroling outdoors! What a thrill to
finally sing before a live audience unbridled by a mask!

We have proven, like many of you, that we are resilient, that we are here to stay, and will once again regale
our audiences with our harmonies.

Jeanie Trubiano
8

North Atlantic Region 1 Sweet Adelines