Speaker · Workshop leader · Kids activity businesses
The studio owner who actually did the marketing.
Sally Prendergast spent 25 years running her own dance studio, then spent the years since helping hundreds of dance schools worldwide fill their classes. She speaks to dance, gymnastics, martial arts and performing arts businesses about marketing an owner can actually run on a Tuesday night, not theory borrowed from another industry.
- 25+
- Years owning a dance studio
- 100s
- Dance schools worked with worldwide
- 13
- Industry stages and podcasts
Stages, summits and podcasts
- The Business of Dance Conference
- Dance Business Conference
- Dance Teacher Expo
- Studio Biz Summit
- Studio Owner Profitpalooza
- Dance Studio Empire
- Dance Studio Savvy
- Dance Business Solutions
- The Ultimate Dance Business Podcast
- Dance Informa
- Studio Biz and All That Jazz
- ADF
- VDF Dance Festival
What Sally is actually the expert on
Six areas, all of them worked out inside a real studio before they were ever taught from a stage. They apply to any business a parent enrols a child into. Every talk is drawn from these.
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The kids activity market
Dance, gymnastics, martial arts, performing arts. A parent choosing their child's first class is deciding something different to a parent switching, and that job has its own rules.
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Messaging parents respond to
How to describe your classes so a parent understands the value in three seconds and picks up the phone.
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Social media content
Reels, posts and video that parents actually save and share, built to keep working long after the week you posted them.
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Search and local visibility
Turning up when a parent searches for classes near them. Google Business Profile, reviews and the local search basics most owners skip.
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Local paid advertising
Meta ads that fill classes inside a ten kilometre radius, instead of buying reach from people who will never walk in.
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Enquiry follow-up
The gap between an enquiry and an enrolment is where most kids activity businesses quietly leak revenue.
Four talks, ready to go
Each one works as a 45 to 60 minute keynote or expands into a half day workshop. Every session is built on real campaigns shown on screen, then opened up for questions. Sally will also build something bespoke to your theme. Just say so in your enquiry.
Top of Mind Marketing
Nobody enrols the day they first hear about you. They enrol weeks or months later, when they finally decide, and they go with whoever they thought of first. This talk is about how to be that business, through consistent presence on a few channels instead of a burst of posting every time enrolments dip.
Audience walks out with
- Why the enrolment decision is made long before the enquiry ever lands
- The three channels worth holding, and permission to stop trying to hold all of them
- A weekly marketing rhythm that survives a full teaching timetable
Your Automated Funnel Isn't a Personality
The honest, slightly contrarian one. A parent is not buying a product, they are choosing who to trust with their child for the next few years. Sally is not anti-automation, she is anti-pretending. This is where the tools genuinely help, and where they quietly cost you the trust your enrolments depend on.
Audience walks out with
- A simple test for which touchpoints have to stay human and which can be handed to a tool
- How to use AI and automation without sounding like every other business in town
- The trust signals that win a parent over a cheaper option down the road
The Enrolment Leak
Most kids activity businesses do not have a lead problem, they have a follow-up problem. This session maps exactly where enquiries go cold, what a working sequence looks like, and what a leaky process quietly costs across a year of enrolments.
Audience walks out with
- The points where enquiries actually go cold, mapped step by step
- The full sequence from first enquiry to enrolled, message by message
- The follow-up message almost nobody sends, and why it reopens dead leads
Their Very First Class
The under-5 program is usually the hardest to fill and the most valuable to keep full, because those families stay for years. This talk covers what a parent choosing a first activity is really weighing up, and how to become the obvious answer before they start comparing prices.
Audience walks out with
- What a parent is actually deciding when they book a child's first class anywhere
- The ad angles and messages that get first-activity parents to enquire
- A trial to enrolment process that does not lean on discounting
She did the job before she taught it.
Sally Prendergast owned and ran a dance studio for more than 25 years. She knows the Tuesday night enquiry that never gets answered, the term that starts three students short, and the feeling of paying for ads you cannot tell are working.
She now runs Dance Studio Marketing and has worked with hundreds of dance schools around the world. Nothing she teaches is borrowed from another industry and reskinned. It was worked out inside a real studio, tested on real enrolments, and it is delivered without the jargon.
The same problems turn up in gymnastics clubs, martial arts schools, swim schools and performing arts programs. A parent deciding where to send their child. A trial that has to convert. A term that starts three students short. Only the uniform changes.
On stage she is direct, warm and specific, and she shows real campaigns rather than talking around them. Audiences leave with things they can do that week, not a framework they will never open again. She is based in Western Australia and travels nationally and internationally.
Short bio, 40 words
Medium bio, 90 words
Long bio, 170 words
She has since worked with hundreds of dance schools worldwide, covering Meta advertising, messaging, enquiry follow-up and enrolment systems, and the specific challenge of filling under-5 programs. Those problems are shared across kids activity businesses, from gymnastics and martial arts to swim and performing arts. She runs two online communities for studio owners, Dance Marketing Pro and Preschool Dance Marketing, and publishes weekly on YouTube and social.
Sally has appeared at industry events including The Business of Dance Conference, the Dance Business Conference, Dance Teacher Expo and Studio Biz Summit, and features regularly on industry podcasts. On stage she is direct, warm and specific, showing real campaigns on screen rather than talking around them, with a strong dislike of marketing theory nobody can actually implement. She is based in Western Australia and travels nationally and internationally.
“Loved the Business of Dance Conference! Sally is the go-to for all things social media marketing. She knows it all!”★★★★★ Tamara Scamporlino, attendee, The Business of Dance Conference
Straight pricing, no discovery call required
All fees are in Australian dollars and exclude GST. If your event sits outside these formats, ask. Sally would rather have the conversation than have you guess.
The Keynote
45 to 60 minutes
$3,500plus GST
- One signature talk, tailored to your theme
- Pre-event briefing call with the organiser
- Audience Q&A
- Promotion to Sally's own audience
- A takeaway resource for every attendee
The Workshop
Half day, up to 3 hours
$6,500plus GST
- Everything in The Keynote
- Real campaigns broken down on screen, numbers and all
- Printed or digital workbook attendees fill in as they go
- Extended Q&A, with time for the room's own situations
- Post-event Q&A recording for attendees
The Full Day
Full day intensive
$10,000plus GST
- Everything in The Workshop
- The full picture, from ads through follow-up to retention
- Time in the day for attendees to work on their own plan
- Full resource pack and templates
- 30 day follow-up support for attendees
Virtual and online summits
Virtual keynote or summit session, $1,500 plus GST. Same preparation, same tailoring, no travel.
Podcasts and guest interviews
No fee. Sally says yes to podcasts and interviews where the audience is a genuine fit. Use the form below.
Travel
Sally is based in Western Australia. For events outside Perth, return flights, accommodation and transfers are charged at cost on top of the fee.
Not-for-profit and association rates
There is some flexibility for industry associations and not-for-profits. Tell Sally your budget in the form and she will tell you honestly if it works.
What you get when you book Sally
Booking a speaker should make your job easier, not add four items to your list.
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A promo kit within 48 hours
Headshots, three bio lengths, talk title and description, and social graphics sized for your channels.
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Promotion to her audience
Sally promotes every event she speaks at across email, YouTube and social. Your event gets in front of her own audience of studio owners.
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A briefing call before the day
Twenty minutes to understand your audience, your theme and what a win looks like for you, so the talk lands.
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A simple tech rider
Slides, a lapel or handheld mic, and a screen. No unusual requests, no last-minute surprises.
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Something for attendees to keep
Every session ends with a genuinely useful takeaway resource, not a pitch dressed as a download.
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No selling from stage
Unless you specifically want an offer made, Sally teaches. Your audience gets value, not a 20 minute close.
The questions organisers ask
Can Sally tailor a talk to our theme?
What actually happens during the session?
How far ahead do we need to book?
Will Sally sell to our audience?
Is this only for dance audiences?
What about virtual events and summits?
Who handles travel bookings?
Tell Sally about your event
The more you put in here, the faster you get a straight answer. Sally replies to every enquiry personally, usually within two business days.
- A real answer on availability and fee, not a brochure
- No obligation, and no follow-up sequence if it is a no
- Podcast and summit invitations welcome, use the same form