STAR Auditions...

...will be held on January 23, 2010, a Saturday. Times are from 10:00am until 4:00pm. Of a total 110 slots or so, already 63 have been taken--and I say "already" because I only started taking reservations on Monday.

So: Parents and potential STARs, please give me a call at 513.569.8080 x23, or email me at chris.stewart@thechildrenstheatre.com, to schedule an appointment. Times are going fast. There are more slots open in the afternoon than in the morning, so check your schedules!

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I thought it would be a cool bit of market research if I tallied up some statistics and put them online for the world to see. I was curious as to how many STAR kids want to come back for another year, and how many new folks are we attracting? So I took a close look at my spreadsheet and here are the figures I found:

63 time slots are taken.

34 have done STAR before.

29 have never done STAR.

Of those who are returnees, 22 are girls, and 12 are boys.

Of those who are new, 21 are girls, and 8 are boys.

Most of the returnees are between ages 9-13, and the same is true of the new folks.

Of new kids and returnees, there are only 12 total who are 14 or older.

Now, this research tells me a number of things. First, not everyone has signed up for a slot yet. Second, the reason most of the children who are already signed up are younger is that their parents are scheduling it, and parents tend to be more proactive about this sort of thing than, say, teenagers (who stereotypically want to do things on their own but who also tend to procrastinate). Third, almost a dozen older STAR kids from the 2009 summer will graduate in 2010, leaving them ineligible for STAR enrollment; in other words, we're losing a lot of STAR veterans, opening the door for the younger children to step up.

Further, I am told there is a list of families for whom we have only phone numbers, and no email addresses. This nugget of information got me curious about another aspect of this process, and that is: Are more people emailing to schedule, or are they calling?

48 parents emailed.

23 parents called.

2 teenagers emailed.

There seems to be a discrepancy, right? If 63 slots are taken, how come the numbers come out to 73 appointments? Well, a lot of parents called and then emailed (or vice versa) to ensure their child got a chance to audition. Also, some of the parents who emailed simply asked if their 4-year-old or 8-year-old is eligible for the program; sadly, they are not. STAR kids must be 9 years old by the start of the program in July.

The modified numbers, then, are:

43 parents emailed.

18 parents called.

2 teenagers emailed.

So what have we learned? Essentially, two-thirds of parents will email rather than call to make an appointment, and I expect over the next few days to receive the same ratio of emails to phone calls. If and when I get requests from teenagers themselves, I expect most of them will be in electronic (rather than phonic) form, too.

One final note, by way of encouragement: Tickets are still available for Holiday Follies, which opens tomorrow, and the Breakfast with Santa ($40 for the meal and the show)!

And one final statistic about STAR auditions, too:

30 slots left.