Bluetopia and The Honor Flight

This past weekend was just filled with great events!

It started with Friday night at April Bluetopia, Chicago's monthly blues dance.  I normally have a really great time at these dances.  After all, it is blues dancing in Chicago!  The difference this time is that Team Pam member (and my boyfriend) Dan Pfeifer had his first official gig DJing at this event.  He had done so once before, but the first time was very different because it was a DJ battle in which no one knew who the DJ was.  He did great then, but it was a close call against his competitor, and didn't quite make it to the next round.  

"The Radio Kid," DJ Dan Pfeifer
Keir Briscoe/Keir Briscoe Photography

This time, though, he was respectfully asked to DJ a slot by Keir Briscoe who shares in the DJ, advertising, teaching and PR responsibilities while also doing a little bit of his own photography work there.  I think everyone was feeling a good vibe in the room.  Not only was there some great music, but I met and danced with a lot of different people, which is something that I've been trying to be more conscious of when I go out dancing.  Keir was even nice enough to give a shout out to Miss Heartland Swing during his announcements!  It's always great to be so generously welcomed and acknowledged for being there.  It's always funny seeing the look on some of the beginner dancers faces I dance with who find out who I am!  I'd rather not have them feel intimidated the first time we dance.  Overall, Bluetopia was a blast and I'm so very proud of Dan for having this opportunity and doing such a great job!  We stayed for a while after Dan's set, but couldn't stay until the end because I knew I'd have to do some speedy pincurling early Saturday morning in preparation for the Stars and Stripes Honor Flight later that day.

Molly Maka (left) with Miss Heartland Swing
Gregory P. Layden/Flying Monkey Studios

I'd say we got back to Milwaukee at approximately 1:45 a.m. and got some sleep before attempting the pincurls, in hope that my hair would be dry in enough time.  I woke up at 9 a.m. to start the process and had it finally curled and set to dry by 10 a.m.  The day of an Honor Flight is extremely involved in making certain everything — hair, dress, shoes, and makeup — all comes together to create the perfect 1940's look in honor of the veterans!  Normally it's my friend, my 1940's cohort and Team Pam member Molly Maka that joins me on flight day to dress and impress the veterans at the General Mitchell International Airport in Milwaukee as we greet them back home from their long day's trip of recognition to Washington D.C.  This time, though, Molly was a guardian to one of the veterans on the flight!  I was so excited for her, as I know it's something that she's always wanted to do!

Meanwhile, I instead had Molly's sister, Bridget Nesbitt, filling in and helping me at the airport to walk around, greet, and meet the families waiting for the big arrival!  The flight ended up being almost three hours late due to brake problems when leaving Washington, but it was well worth the wait.  We did what we could to keep the energy going in the room and were very pleased to do it!  I'm very grateful for Bridget stepping up and doing a great job with me!  Looks like Bridget will have a second opportunity to do this again with me on June 2nd, as Molly will be in Normandy for her fifth wedding anniversary.  Congrats Molly and Chris!

"Everyone Wins": Marketing Miss Heartland, Part 1

Hi, folks — Dan Pfeifer here.  Welcome to the first part of a series on marketing Pam Krajewski as Miss Heartland Swing.

I'm going to take a wild guess at what some of you ... OK, most of you are thinking when you see I'm the one writing this blog post:  "Why should we care what you have to say?"

The answer depends on why you're following Miss Heartland Swing.  If you personally know and genuinely like Pam as a person, I'm sure you're interested in the whole process behind doing what we're doing for this exciting year in her life, so that's your reason.

But we also know a lot of folks who have an interest in Miss Heartland Swing don't know Pam very well and might not know what her goals are in the role.  Lack of knowledge and confusion can lead to misconceptions and assumptions.  In our modern and often-cynical world, assumptions aren't always positive. 

I believe almost anything in life can be solved with communication, though, so that's what I'm going to do:  Communicate, explain and hopefully get everyone a little closer to on the same page.  As you'll see from my role in just a moment, really, that's kind of my job on "Team Pam," anyway, so why not?   

Public Relations & Social Media Director  

Let's start with something simple:  Who am I, and why should you listen to me?

If you had to give me a title within Team Pam, besides "Miss Heartland Boyfriend" (though I'm not ashamed of it), it would probably be what you see above.   

I like that title for a couple different reasons.  First off, it's something I have experience with.  I've done over a decade of work in sports media, including with the sports marketing and media relations departments of both of the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee and Marquette University, Milwaukee's two NCAA Division I programs.  I've been heard around the world as an on-site correspondent for Fox Sports Radio and done work on six different Milwaukee radio stations and Fox 6 Sports. 

Sports marketing is something I study obsessively and it speaks to two things Pam and I have in common:  An acute attention to detail and an immense drive to always "get it right."  Helping Pam has given me the chance to see how all that study applies to something more along the lines of regular, everyday marketing. 

A lot of the concepts behind sports marketing seem to work well with this, too.  Just like a sports team, there's a schedule of events to promote (The National Tour), communications and promotions (our Facebook, Twitter and YouTube presences) and merchandise (the calendars we'll eventually be selling).  Furthermore, also just like a sports team, the people involved with all those ancillary things are at their best when they let the "talent" just do their stuff.  Much like how good front office folks let the players on the field "just play," I know better than to interrupt Pam while she's doing her hair. 

Back on the title, though, I also like it because it plays a very important part in achieving the many goals Pam has set as Miss Heartland Swing.  Marketing falls under public relations in this case.  The larger "public" Pam can "relate" her message to, the better.  The way to grow that public is to market. 

"Team Pam"  

Before we discuss those goals, another note:  I think a lot of folks sometimes wonder why there even is a 'Team Pam'.  After all, someone might say, "Isn't being Miss Heartland Swing just a matter of wearing the sash and tiara, looking pretty and asking folks if they want to buy a calendar?" 

It could very easily be that, yes.  But think of it this way:  If being Miss Heartland were a class, that approach would probably earn a 'C'.

None of us on Team Pam want to be 'C' students — beginning and ending with Pam herself.

Pam's drive for excellence should be obvious.  Every girl probably makes sure her hair is straight and puts on some makeup before she goes out dancing.  But for Pam, even before some regular weekly local events, it's not uncommon for her to set her hair in pincurls the night before, using a researched style authentic to the swing era to get the truly vintage look.  She may then spend upwards of two to three hours coordinating the makeup, outfit and hair to be perfect.  Then, dancing, she intently follows, concentrating on led signals and focusing on not back-leading.

Being Miss Heartland Swing gives Pam the opportunity to be very visible and potentially influence others to take interest in the dance and the style.  Pam wants to take full advantage of the opportunity and truly grow this thing she loves.  Looking pretty and asking folks if they want a calendar is part of it, yes.  But there's so much more possible. 

It should be no surprise someone who prides herself on her expertise likes having others with expertise around her.  I have my marketing and social media background from my sports work and the knowledge of swing dancing from over a decade of doing it regularly.  Molly Maka has vast knowledge in World War II-era history and is interested in developing a talent in swing dancing.

Pam, of course, wants to maximize her positive influence.  That means maximizing her expertise.  We're more than willing to help.  "Team Pam" is born.   

Everyone Wins

But again, why?

The ultimate motivator for just about everything in life is to be happy.  Clearly, everyone who has gotten involved with the Miss Heartland program has done so because they think something about it can make them happy.  When executed to its fullest, the program has a certain genius behind it because it has the potential to make a lot of different people happy. 

That said, the goals are best understood when looking through the different lenses of the various players and how Miss Heartland Swing can potentially maximize happiness for all of those players through the role.  This even includes her own happiness, of course, but one of the best ways to make one's self happy is to make others happy.

Who are the players?  There's actually more than you might think.  A list helps us show the many people we at Team Pam think about with all we do:

1. Heartland Swing Festival organizers
2. Miss Heartland Swing herself
3. Other Miss Heartland Swing Contestants
4. Attendees of the Heartland Swing Festival
5. Organizers of events affiliated with the Festival
6. Dancers in the Midwest in general
7. Organizers of events in the Midwest in general
8. Team Pam
9. People who already knew Pam personally through swing dancing
10. People who already knew Pam personally through non-dance venues

If Pam were OK with being the 'C'-grade Miss Heartland Swing discussed earlier, she could easily sit back and wait for Camp Hollywood — but no one else would benefit. That's very much not what she wants.

Pam wants to make everyone on that list happy she was named Miss Heartland Swing.  Everyone. 

The goals are then best outlined by looking at those players and what we know they can "get" out of the ideal Miss Heartland Swing — the Miss Heartland Swing Pam wants to be.  Let's walk through it, player-by-player with an honest eye.

As this goes on, notice how the goals intermingle.  That's why I think this is such a great thing when done right.  Ultimately, everyone's goals are complementary if everyone sees the benefit.  That's the point of this post, after all — to get eliminate the confusion and get everyone to see the benefit.  

1. Heartland Swing Festival organizers

It's undeniable that the organizers are looking to maximize profit.  It feels blunt to say that, but it's true — more money taken in means a better event and happier organizers, ultimately.

Maximizing profit means maximizing dollar intake while limiting spending.  Of course, you have to spend money to make money, but if finding the right balance was easy, business wouldn't be so difficult.   

Miss Heartland can help them do this in the following ways:

• By selling as many promotional calendars as possible
• By promoting the positive aspects of previous events and encouraging people to attend it in the future
• By limiting any use of event or organizer resources (time, money, influence, etc.) to only when they are needed 

The organizers also want to maintain and improve both their own reputation and influence, as well as that of the Festival.  Miss Heartland can also help them do this by:

• Turning the position into one of respect and honor, highlighting the creativity shown in developing the Miss Heartland Swing contest and increasing the profile of the Festival
• Again, promoting the positive aspects of the Heartland Swing Festivals she's attended and letting folks know they should go, too
• Increasing her own following such that she can do the above with as large a group of people as possible

Clearly, Pam wants to make the organizers happy.  She saw their decision to name her as Miss Heartland Swing as a huge honor.  With the above in mind, she feels she will.

2. Miss Heartland Swing herself

Just getting the satisfaction of winning Miss Heartland might seem like enough to most.  But for Pam, there's so much more she thinks she can get out of and learn from this experience.  

The biggest thing, though, is that she gets to make more people happy than she did before because of the Miss Heartland Swing visibility.  Again, making other people happy is the best way to make one's self happy, and I know Pam wants everyone to be happy.

There's more, though: 

• She gets increased exposure and, perhaps, the chance to do more modeling work, which she enjoys.  
• She has good reason to attend more swing dancing events, get more instruction and improve as a dancer, something she's always wanted to do but hasn't felt was worth the cost, weighed against her own enjoyment. 
• She has good reason to spend more time focusing on vintage, reproduction and retro fashion and style, something else she very much enjoys.  
• She can bring attention to dancing in her home of Milwaukee and Wisconsin, potentially bringing more or better events here and also encouraging other local dancers to travel.  
• The Milwaukee scene has room for growth.  Pam has always been unsure how to help encourage it — until she became Miss Heartland Swing.  
• In the role, she can connect with more people and encourage them to consider dancing Milwaukee, which they will hopefully do based off their positive interactions with her.  
• Also, other dancers here may hear how much fun she's having on the road and want to join in, changing the culture here. 
• Her visibility will also reach people who aren't currently dancers but might consider dancing through their interactions with her.   
• There's already been a great example of this:  We may have handed out as many fliers eating at the Rainforest Café on our way to Swinger's Ball 15 as we handed out at the event itself, just from people asking about her dress. 
• Through viral marketing, Pam's influence can reach even beyond those who she's personally met.  
• She gets positive attention.   
• Pam likes positive attention.  I know because it's how I became her boyfriend ... I think.  I still haven't fully figured it out yet, but I know she likes that part. 
• She gets to spend more time with me.  I know you won't believe me when I say that, so you'll have to ask her if that's true the next time you see her.  

There are so many "wins" for Pam beyond just getting to "be" Miss Heartland Swing.  It takes some thinking, though, to understand that. 

3. Other Miss Heartland Swing contestants

Reality:  Someone's going to have to take Pam's place next year.  The bigger and better Pam makes the position, the more opportunities there will likely be for future Miss Heartlands.  Pam wants girls to want the role and see it as an honor. She wants people to know that Miss Heartland Swing is a classy, shining example of how great swing dancing is and that there was good reason she was chosen.  She also wants to make it abundantly clear, at any event she's a part of, that she was the right choice for the role without a doubt.


That mindset comes across to people, including past and future contestants.  It then makes subsequent year's choices just as important and valid, drawing in the best contestants in the future.  By blazing a stellar trail for what Miss Heartland Swing can and should do, future Miss Heartlands better know what and how to maximize their own influence.

Here, too, is where you start to see some of the ideas intermingle:  For the reasons outlined under the 'Organizers' section, a better festival is more enjoyable for all attendees, including the Miss Heartland Swing contestants.  And selling more calendars also means more exposure for the other girls that made it into the calendar this year.  Everyone wins.   

4. Attendees of the Heartland Swing Festival

By Pam helping to ...  

• Bring in more money for the event
• Bring in more people for the event
• Make the already great reputation of the event even better
• Potentially even make new instructors aware of the event, both by attending other events and by featuring them as part of her Wednesday series on Facebook

 ... she helps make the Festival bigger and better for attendees in the future.  The attendees win, too.   

5. Organizers of events affiliated with the Festival

The biggest benefit?  Simple:  Added event promotion.

Assuming organizers of affiliated events choose to include Miss Heartland in their plans, which they have first choice to do over all other events except Stars & Stripes Honor Flights, they get to tap into: 

• A rapidly growing social media following that can be used "out of the box" to promote the event, featuring:
• Over 200 direct contacts between Facebook and Twitter
• Reach of over 65,000 people (friends of direct contacts) on Facebook alone
• The ability to promote Pam's appearance as a value-added function of the event.  
• The class, grace and beauty Miss Heartland displays with her appearance, along with the visibility and "specialness" of having a reigning figurehead of American swing dance present

There's then all the things Pam could do once she's at the event:  

• What better way to have your contest's awards presented than to have Miss Heartland Swing hand them out?  
• Why not have Pam greet dancers as they come in?  Or introduce the band?  She'd be perfect for that.  
• Have follows interested in vintage style or fashion?  Why not set up a shopping trip to a vintage store, or a hair-and-makeup seminar, with a recognized expert in vintage, reproduction and retro style?  Pam would be willing.   

Of course, this assumes events will want Miss Heartland there, given all the positives we're bringing up here and especially since her marketing power, as well as that of future Miss Heartlands, will only continue to increase the more events she goes to, making the role that much more useful to organizers in a "positive spiral."  I'll go into much further detail on this in "Marketing Miss Heartland, Part 2," though.

6. Dancers in the Midwest in general

Directly speaking, dancers can benefit from following Miss Heartland's social media channels.  Facebook, Twitter are not simply places where we make sales pitches and promote events.  We provide useful, engaging, regular content that dancers want to find and see: 

• Every Monday, we post a link to a vintage, reproduction or retro fashion website, giving dancers a chance to improve their appearance and style when dancing
• Tuesdays, we post a swing-era history link, making dancers better aware of the years when swing was king while also shedding light on the heroes of the era:  WWII veterans
• Wednesdays, we post a video from a well-known swing dancer, exposing dancers to new and excellent styles, moves and routines and promoting future teaching appearances by those dancers 

We also can effectively inform dancers about upcoming events and encourage attendance through these channels, which is of benefit as well.

Furthermore, the channels allow us to stay connected with dancers even if we don't see them again on tour, meaning we can still sell them calendars or encourage them to come to the 2013 Heartland Swing Festival if they choose to connect.  We have fliers we place out for people to take at all Miss Heartland Swing appearances encouraging dancers to connect with Facebook or Twitter. 

There's even a direct benefit to the calendar itself:  Dancers who buy the calendar will get a fantastic keepsake related to swing fashion and style.  Girls will get ideas as to how to put themselves together in a cute, "pinupy" style while guys ... yeah ... guys like to look at hot chicks and the calendar lets them do that.  Yet again, everyone wins.  Through her efforts, Miss Heartland makes events in the Midwest better, improving experiences for dancers.

7. Organizers of events in the Midwest in general

We aren't limiting Pam's appearances to Heartland-affiliated events.  Why?  Everyone benefits, no matter where the dancing's going on, because folks who go dancing and get enjoyment will go to other events and eventually will pursue a Heartland-affiliated event.  The better dancing is in the Midwest on the whole, the better it is, period. 

That said ... If there's not a Heartland-affiliated of Stars & Stripes Honor Flight event that has "claimed" Miss Heartland Swing the weekend of your event, Miss Heartland Swing be more than willing to consider attending!

What to do?  Check out the Part 2 blog when it comes out.  Pam is flattered even if you just ask if you'd like her to come ... so do inquire! 

8. Team Pam

What do Molly and I get out of it?  The satisfaction of knowing we helped a good person in Pam.  The further satisfaction of knowing we're making swing dancing in the Midwest better, which is very important to me.  And the chance to add our roles helping the very visible Pam to our resumes, meaning we want to do our best work as well.

For me, when I can get away from my sports duties and travel, I get more quality time with my girlfriend, which never hurts.   I also might get more exposure as a DJ, teacher and media relations professional, which never hurts.

Meanwhile, Molly really wants to improve as a dancer and this is her chance to get out and get some of the best instruction around.  She also wants any exposure she can get as a writer.  This can give her that.

The big one, though, is knowing we got to go along for the ride with a friend in the most exciting year of her life.  That's plenty of reward in my eyes.  

9. People who already knew Pam through swing dancing

I think they take a certain joy in seeing Pam succeed and want to see her succeed in as many ways possible.  As already outlined, any ways Pam can bring some of the great experiences she has on the road home to Milwaukee will help them out too. 

10. People who already knew Pam through non-dance venues

They, too, want to see Pam happy and successful, which makes them happy.

The experience may also encourage others — Pam's WWII and renaissance faire reenactor friends, Pam's co-workers, etc. — to take up dancing, which would also make them happier long term.

The Good Fight  

Scroll back up, now, and look at how long that list is.  It's utterly amazing how much positivity can come from Pam being in this position!  Who wouldn't want to latch onto that experience?

... unfortunately, we have an answer to that.

As we've been trying to coordinate the National Tour, we've run into a surprise.  The first two events that we and some of the Heartland organizers contacted about attending said "No."  

The news stunned us, given how much we focus on being positive, working hard and promoting anything related to swing dance within Team Pam.  Those positives above all seemed like givens to us.  Unfortunately, it's clear that not everyone understands. 

But, I go back to the very start of this blog:  I don't hold it over anyone's heads because people simply don't know Pam or what being Miss Heartland Swing is all about yet.  They might not even know until after Pam has handed her crown to someone else.  They might never know.  It's just the way it is.

I can hear the reaction.  "She won this title at someone else's event and now she's going to try and get into everything."   Or, again, those who don't know Pam might think she's just out to play princess in her sash and tiara. 

Given how many benefits we outlined above for so many people other than Pam ... how much we're willing to sacrifice in terms of money for ancillary costs, not to mention time and talent to promote events we only indirectly benefit from ... and how focused we are on making the Miss Heartland Swing experience great for everyone in the dance community and Pam's life ... thinking Pam "just wants to get in free" or "just wants to be a princess" is simply flawed.

But, before you know Pam, and know from everything above that it's not about being a princess, I can easily see how someone would make those cynical, negative assumptions.  So it goes.  And, as much as we're going to push folks to this blog, I understand the "tl;dr" mentality.  There will be folks that simply never take the time to try and get it and don't see the need to bother.  Such is life. 

Hopefully, though, if you've read all of this, you see that it's about so much more than getting free passes or Pam acting like a princess.  It's about making this thing that we all love — swing dancing — bigger and better.  Not in any particular way, mind you:  We're not pushing an agenda for a particular style of dance, a particular teacher or a particular group (though we do make a point to support those who support us).  This is a great opportunity to grow the dance, if everyone buys in.

And that's what's next for us:  Getting folks to buy in.  We've already been doing it with the online channels, where audience response has been steadily growing.  Now, our next goal is to get event organizers to do it, too, so we can get more exposure and make this thing even better.  The best way to get the idea of what Miss Heartland Swing can do "out there" is simple:  Get Miss Heartland Swing herself "out there," as in out in front of as many people at as many events as possible.  We thought it would be easy to convince folks of that.  It hasn't been.  But, all that means is we're going to try harder now.

So if you organize an event and want to help build the Miss Heartland experience, swing dancing on the whole and, most importantly, your event, shoot me an E-mail at pfeiferbroadcasting@gmail.com.  Know someone who runs an event?  Have them contact us!  And everyone can encourage their friends to join what we consider to be "The Big Team Pam" by liking the Facebook page or following along on Twitter.  Why? The more people buy in, the more everyone wins.

I'd like to say it's just that simple, but it took all of this to explain it, so it obviously isn't.  But, for something this worthwhile, it's not only worth it to try, those of us closest to it don't know any way other than to give our very all.  Off we go. 

P.S.  

Don't get too down about the events that turned us down.  We do have two have also signed on already.  It might not end up being the 26-appearance, 11-state tour we originally advertised.  But there's already a couple events on board ... and, if anything, now there's room for more! 

We'll have news on what those events are soon.  The hints I'll give are "Kansas" and "Oklahoma."  Stay tuned ...