Pssssst, summer is almost here. We all can reflect over our school year and acknowledge for ourselves what worked well and what didn’t work well. I truly enjoy this time of year, as it assists in putting most of the unpleasant issues into perspective that didn’t feel so good while in that moment. This thought process offers a regenerative healing that encourages me to get off on the right foot and emotional state for the new school year!

This brings me to my reflections on how SoloChair.com worked for Bay Section’s Large Group Festival registrations this year. In my opinion, there are many positives to share regarding SoloChair’s efficiency, as well as a few minor glitches. I believe that SoloChair.com was a bit intimidating to a few of our hosts, but once all of the “chair tools” were navigated, it became quite convenient.

Pros of SoloChair.com

The need for additional festivals in various Areas became quite clear very early on in the registration process as I kept watch over the numbers on SoloChair.com. Several Area festivals were full within three hours! This taught us a lot about our future festival planning, which is a very, very good thing. Expect more festival sites! The webmaster and CEO of SoloChair.com, John Beel ( This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it ), is extremely accessible to the Bay Section Board, as well as individuals seeking help with technical problems. A built in data base containing director contact information, date of registration, date of fees received, school enrollment, sight reading or clinic preferences, and performance time preference is at the fingertips of host’s and other personnel with editing privileges.

Cons of SoloChair.com

Some of the wording on the invoice page was misleading; directors interpreted the 3 week “wait period” warning for payment as “the law”. In reality, registrations were kept alive far longer than the 3 week warning, as a professional courtesy. Directors were notified via email (and phone) by our Treasurer, and me, on many occasions; both to collect registration fees of registered groups that were past the December 1st refund deadline, as well as a reminder that fees had gone unpaid. Due to this misunderstanding, we unfortunately are still trying to collect fees from a few directors that are either preparing for approaching festivals, as well as festivals in which the director participated, but hasn’t paid. Directors wishing to register their groups for the 2008 festival season will not have this opportunity until their 2007 festival fees have been paid.

Another unfortunate issue regarding SoloChair.com arose with our site hosts. Registration information is stored in two data bases; once the SoloChair.com navigation tools were learned and practiced, retrieving school, director, and group information was convenient. However, until the navigation tools were learned, information retrieval was daunting and intimidating for some.

A big thank you to all of our Band, Choral, Band/ Orchestra, and Orchestra festival hosts. Everything was fantastic thanks to you, your students and community.

So, as your year wraps up, consider yourselves a success! Whatever your new school year brings, may it please you. Keep your eyes out for festival postings on the www.cmeabaysection.org website, as well as the first issue of Tempo, upon returning to school.

Rita Zigas-Brown
Large Group Festival Coordinator