IVFDF is an annual dance festival organised by a different group each year. This means that each year it is a bit different from the previous year because the new set of organisers will have their own set of ideas of what should be in the festival. In many ways this is good because it is what distinguishes IVFDF from other festivals. On the other hand each group of organisers has to start from scratch and will ask many questions (like, "how many people will be coming") that they find difficult to answer.

We have now run IVFDF twice in Cambridge (in 1997, and again in 2001). In 1997 we cursed the previous organisers bitterly for failing to give us answers to these sorts of questions. In 2001 we cursed ourselves bitterly for failing to record those answers for ourselves - while we knew how much money we had taken from ticket sales we had no idea what the waged-unwaged split was.

This time we resolved to do better and write down our "how to run IVFDF" notes.

The first thing to say is that you should regard these notes as a source of information, not instructions. The thing that makes IVFDF different is that when you run it it is your festival, run according to your ideas. You should not say "Cambridge think this is good, so we will do it" (if you happen to think it is good too then do it, but if you think it isn't then don't do it).

In roughly chronological order:-