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PoleCon Set Up, Break Down, and Equipment
After posting about taking the poles back to the warehouse after PoleCon 2026, a PoleCon attendee commented that this info might be interesting to other folks, so here it is – the “fun” of managing equipment at PoleCon.
PoleCon owns all the poles on the stage and all the X-Stage poles in the workshop rooms as well as a smattering of other equipment such as yoga mats and spray bottles. All together it’s about 10,000lbs of stuff! This does not include the truss which is owned by the AV company we work with, but it does include the Marley dance flooring which is heavy and expensive (but fortunately durable – we’ve had it for more than 10 years!).
Before PoleCon starts and when it ends, a team of volunteers ranging from 5-10 people help some PoleCon staff members build and dismantle the X-Stages.
The stages all “live” in their component pieces in custom built wooden crates in a commercial warehouse located outside of Philadelphia. We pay a rental fee to rent space there throughout the year and we pay insurance on the poles, just in case something happens at the warehouse.
When PoleCon is at the Maryland Live Hotel and Casino, a PoleCon staff member rents and drives a 26ft box truck with the crates from the warehouse to the venue. When PoleCon is somewhere else, we hire a professional truck driver through a freight forwarding company to transport the crates from the warehouse to the PoleCon location. We get insurance on the transit of the poles, just in case =)
Set up and break down all take several hours between the drive to and from the warehouse, loading and unloading the crates using our pallet jack, and then physical assembly and disassembly of the poles. It’s hard lifting and sweaty work—perfect for pole dancers! Laying the Marley on the stage and taping it takes another 60-90 minutes to install and must be done meticulously to ensure performer safety. It takes ~60 minutes to roll back up. We have four, long rolls of Marley.
There are 12 full X-Stages per workshop room in three workshop rooms plus a stage in the privates and a stage in the photo room for a total of 38 stage poles active during a regular PoleCon. There are two additional X-Stages as backup or spare parts (depending on the situation) for a total of 40 full X-Stages. We additionally have two lite X-Stages, one click lock and one not. These are used throughout the convention space for attendees to play on and sometimes we only put one (or none) up depending on space. There are two poles on the stage, and we have an additional two back up poles for the stage, just in case. All four poles are competition grade X-POLEs and have click lock capability. All the poles are 45 mm chrome except for one of the lites which is silicone.
Each stage pole breaks down into four major components in canvas bags: two bags each containing three “pie pieces”—metal pieces that look like pieces of pie to form the stage, a base structure with metal “legs” under the metal stage “pies,” and a pole which comes a part into two primary pieces plus an X-joint.
So, there you have it! A look into the equipment management of PoleCon! If you have any other questions about the equipment, just ask =)
Colleen Jolly is an entrepreneur and a pole dance enthusiast. She has been poling for 15 years, is the CEO of PoleCon and the Executive Director of the IPIA. She teaches pole, lyra, floorwork, and mobility online and in-person in the DC metro area. She has been active in leadership roles in several international businesses over the past two decades and is also an award-winning pole dancer, artist, writer, and speaker. She is certified in several movement modalities and wrote the book "Mobility for Pole" to help pole dancers move better.
Latest posts by Colleen (see all)
- PoleCon Set Up, Break Down, and Equipment - July 3, 2026
- PoleCon 2026 Updates from the Survey - June 26, 2026
- Interview with New PoleCon Instructor: Jacki Moon - June 19, 2026
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