One way of dealing with the many different tasks when planning a marathon is to divide the responsibilities among committees. Each committee has an individual in charge to accomplish certain goals. Below is a list of different committees and the responsibilities that could be assigned to each one. Remember the list below is just a starting point for you to consider, depending on the needs of your marathon, you may want to divide things up differently with more or fewer committees.
Catering – Responsible for everything relating to food. They should work to secure food donations from various restaurants and corporations. Just as important as getting food donated, is getting it delivered. This committee needs to make sure they plan to get all the food from the donor to the marathon, whether they pick it up themselves or are able to get it delivered. Then make sure that once the food arrives it is set up for the dancers. This committee may also work with Fundraising to plan percentage nights.
Recruitment – Focused on informing the school about the marathon. They may plan recruiting events that tell students more about RDM and encourage students to sign up. They will also work closely with the dancer relations to run the sign up table. Recruitment should find ways to reach out to individuals who may be interested in dancing, and answer their questions about Dance Marathon. This committee can also be tasked with organizing the call-out meeting for new committee members after the marathon.
Dancer Relations – Focused on registering individuals to participate as dancers in the marathon This committee is tasked with putting together information for dancers. For smaller marathons, this committee can be combined with Recruitment. They will also be responsible for making a packet available to students, whether that is through a sign up table in the cafeteria or any other such means. Once they have created the packets, and passed them out to students who want to register for the marathon, they must also set up the check-in table at the marathon where they can collect the packets dancers fill out and the money they have raised.
Entertainment – Plans games, activities, and general entertainment for the marathon. They secure the materials for any crafts that are planned, or any video games they choose to set up. They can also aim to fill time by planning to bring in bands, or zumba instructors, or putting on skits, or anything that will make for a memorable marathon. They should also work with the DJ and any bands that are coming in to make sure sound is properly set up for the event.
Fundraising – Handles all financial responsibilities. They count it all the money, and keep track of how it adds up throughout the year, and calculate the final total. The fundraising committee also should work to schedule canning events, and to keep track of the Riley Buckets used for all the different fundraising opportunities.
Morale – Tasked with making sure everyone at the marathon is involved, enthusiastic, and on their feet. If possible this committee should learn and help teach the line dance. They are responsible for providing group leaders for each color group. They also may decide to designate theme hours for the marathon which committee members can dress up for to keep spirits high. The goal of this committee is to keep spirits high and dancers excited, they may also work closely with entertainment to prepare for some of the group games.
Riley Development – Maintains the focus of the marathon and those involved with Riley and the families. The committee may work to coordinate a tour of the hospital for any students who are on a committee that are interested. They also may look for riley facts, stories, or video to share at meetings. The most important task this committee has is contacting and relating to Riley families who come to speak at the marathon. They 4 are tasked with planning for individuals to come to the marathon to share their story, and should make sure that such speakers are made comfortable, welcome, and important.
Special Events – Plans events throughout the year to raise money and awareness. They may reach out to middle schools or elementary schools to have “mini-marathons” or planning miracle minutes at sporting events. Bake sales, penny wars, spirit weeks—this committee should be working on planning any new event, or repeating any successful event they can think of in order increase your school’s marathon total and participation. For smaller marathons, this committee can be combined with fundraising to minimize confusion.
Operations – Facilitate all the tasks that make sure the marathon runs smoothly. They are responsible for helping to develop a schedule and floor plan for the marathon that will allow it to run efficiently. During the marathon they make sure tables, projectors, trashcans, anything and everything, is where it needs to be, when it needs to be there. They should direct set-up and clean-up.
Promotions – Works to create awareness of dance marathon activities to help increasing school involvement. They work to design posters, signs, videos, shirts, etc… that share information about the marathon. They are tasked with compiling a list that organizes contact info for all the committees so that any RDM member can contact anyone else they need to. They will also create videos to tell students about upcoming Dance Marathon events and work to design the marathon and committee apparel. The committee should ensure that plenty of pictures are taken at the marathon, and used afterwards. This committee is also in charge of managing the marathons online resources, Facebook, twitter, any websites, and the marathon’s online fundraising account.
