Meraki Sept 9, 7-9 PM met at Kari and Jimmie's house
Attendees: Nate (facilitator), Deb (ingatherer), Marion (timekeeper), Tasha (notes) Brian (vibe checker), Lori, John, Mellen, Kari, Jimmie, Rebecca, Blair, Erin, Andrew, Arianna, Forrest, Lily
Meeting format
- Choose roles (Ingatherer, Facilitator, Timekeeper, Vibe Checker, Note Taker)
- Ingathering
- Briefly review How We Roll
- Summarize previous meeting notes
- Gather new agenda items
- Set order and time for items
- Attend to agenda items
- Schedule future meeting(s)
- Evaluation
- Outgathering
Agenda
- Welcome newcomers - Deb
- Planting a seed - Deb
- Streamlining How We Roll - Nate (5 min)
- Age limit policy - Kari (15 min)
- Capacity review - Deb (10 min)
- PCD guidelines card - Kari / Lori (20 min)
- Retreat committee update - Marion (5 min)
- New board selection process - Kari (30 min)
- Long-term planning - Tasha (20 min)
Welcoming - Deb
Deb: We feel genuine joy for two new people coming to a meeting! [Applause all around!!!]
FYI, we queue comments on each topic so everyone has a chance to speak. And we vote using thumbs up or down. If the consensus is all one way and you vote sideways, we welcome hearing your concerns.
Planting a Seed - Deb
Deb: We don't have to have a two-day retreat. We can have any any kind of day-long PCD event we want to bring our community together!
Streamlining How We Roll - Nate
Nate: At our last meeting, we agreed not to change anything. It's all documented here.
Age limit policy - Kari (10 min)
Kari: We need support behind enforcing our age-limit policy.
Deb: Read a letter that she wrote to someone recently who inquired about bringing a baby to dance. It comes up time and again. We're a volunteer organization. There are liability issues.
Kari: There are both legal and safety issues.
Mellen: We should have that statement at the greeter table. If you want to start an all-ages dance, you are welcome to do so. And we have had an all-ages dance in the past.
Rebecca: If the greeter can't effectively communicate our age policy, we have agreed to have two people on Wiz step in to address the person.
Brian: Dancing with children on the floor means you're taking care of them, not yourself, which is not the intention of our dance. I'm ok with having hard conversations with people.
Erin: Great that we have a two-level response in place. But what happens if they don't respond and refuse to be "pro-social?" Do we stop the music?
[Note: Wiz has the Re-Flow flowchart presented at an earlier meeting to address safety issues at dance.]
John: This is really a new topic about what we do when we need to escalate when someone doesn't comply with any of our policies.
Blair: We've written down our policy, and maybe someone will go away upset, but that's the way it is.
Ariana: Maybe on every other Sunday we could have all ages dance. It's the first dance I've been to that doesn't allow children.
Kari: If someone sees someone that shouldn't be there, we need to say something so it doesn't domino into someone telling their friends they can bring their kids next time.
Andrew: In the email we send, it says we have the right to refuse entrance.
Erin: Also, to clarify, no children at the dance means no children at the building. We need to make that clear as well. In other words, kids can't sit in the other room while their parent is dancing.
Nate: We need to bring this up several times at closing circle.
Blair: We should change it online to say children can't be in the building at all.
Deb: We can discuss changing our policy at a future meeting.
Mellen: There are liability issues. We rent the entire school, so kids might wander.
Consensus: To enforce the age-limit policy, we can call in support from the Wiz, if needed, We need to communicate our policy to each greeter.
Action Items:
- Lori to change the wording on our website to include "no minors in the building" or on the dance floor.
- Discuss changing our age-limit policy. [Edit: More to the point, who wants to start an all-ages dance like we've had in the past?]
- What do we do when someone isn't being "pro-social" at our dance?
Capacity Review - Deb (10 min)
Jeff's proposal to Meraki:
Background: Back in February, when Meraki decided to stop emailing about dance, coincidentally that was right when I began publishing my calendar. Mellen brought the Meraki decision to my attention, and asked if I’d be willing to list the link to the PCD calendar, not actual dates, and I said sure, and have continued to do so because I do understand the challenges.
Now that Meraki has decided to send monthly emails, I’d like to start mirroring that with my calendar, putting the upcoming month’s dates in my first weekly email of the month and on the webpage. I’m proposing that Meraki consider that my calendar could also actually be a way to help with the capacity issues, if it could be announced in the closing circle, because the more people who are actually going to PCD get on my list or go to my website, the more they will learn about other dances they can attend, as well as other activities they might be drawn to on a Sunday instead of PCD. I’m providing a handout of this past week’s calendar listings, to give a sense of how many other events are on there.
Meraki response:
The group is comfortable with Jeff mirroring what we say in our email in his weekly email, as proposed, putting the upcoming month’s dates in his first weekly email of the month and on the webpage if that is what PCD announces, and so forth. If PCD announces nothing in a week he would announce nothing that week.
The group recalled the policy of only allowing PCD announcements at closing circle, therefore will not announce his calendar. He is welcome to share and distribute a flyer(s) or signup sheet in the lobby.
Consensus: We accept that Jeff can mirror what we say in our email in his weekly email, per above response.
PCD guidelines card - Lori (20 min)
Lori: Here is our "agreements to dance by" accordion card. [Much applause!!!] A lot of thought has gone into it by the Wiz. Our intention is to give them out to everyone who comes to dance. And new dancers will get them at the door.
Kari: Just to note, this has already been approved by the Wiz so we are presenting it to Meraki.
Rebecca: Suggest we have a bowl at the greeter table. And that we given them out at closing circle.
Lori: We suggest that we get 300 printed at a cost of $500.
John: I would like everyone to read it and take it home, not just new people.
Nate: How many people on our email list?
John: 700 but not everyone comes. I suggest we print 500.
Rebecca: We can ask that everyone read it and take it home or put it back in the bowl after they've read it.
Blair: I suggest that we walk around at closing circle. And stand at the greeter table handing them out.
Lily: Handing this out at the greeter table is too much to ask of the greeter.
Deb: It's important to do it at closing circle as well.
Erin: Let's have someone on the Wiz read a piece of it at closing circle, like reading PCD "scripture." [Much laughter!!!]
Consensus:
- Meraki agrees to printing 500 cards.
- For two weeks, Blair will be at the greeter table and at closing circle to hand out the cards to everyone. At the same time, we can ask everyone to sign the new waivers.
- Wiz will ask that someone read a piece of the card each time at closing circle.
Retreat committee update - Marion (5 min)
Marion: In the wake of deciding not to hold a fall retreat due to scheduling issues, we are busy trying to find a time to meet again to plan a spring retreat.
Also, given the seed planted by Deb, we would be open to taking up some other event as a committee.
New board selection process - Kari (30 min)
Kari: President, Secretary, Treasurer selection process has been haphazard in the past. Since we're "growing up" as an organization in many other ways, this is another area where we could be more intentional.
John: In the past, we've formed a committee to gather nominations and then it comes down to who is willing to do these jobs. There's never been any contention. What is lacking in the current process?
Kari: We haven't had much of a committee. Also it seems a lot of the same people step up. So it might be good to expand who could do the nominating and would step into these roles.
Deb: We have had a committee, but it's been hard for the committee to find the people. The issue is more about wanting a bigger inflow of new people coming to Meraki so they know the process and want to participate. I'd like to focus on growing our base of people coming to our meetings. In the past, we've had people who became officers who hadn't been to meetings.
Mellen: We have had a committee. Current officers reach out to people they think might be a good fit. We haven't had enough people who are active and engaged. This process should start in Sept for our annual meeting in Nov/Dec.
Nate: Is any of this written down? The committee isn't selected by a formalized process. What's expected of the officers?
John: The officer roles are written down. The process of selecting new officers is not. To clarify a point, our bylaws require us to have quarterly Board meetings, so board members have to come to Meraki meetings.
Marion: Meraki is a good forum for bringing up job descriptions so that the process of selecting new officers doesn't feel "exclusive."
Nate: Proposal that we have a nominating committee that doesn't include existing officers.
Lori: But maybe some of those same people would want to be officers themselves, so it feels weird to have someone nominate him or herself.
Mellen: We have a small organization, so given experience with other nonprofits, I think it makes sense to have existing officers nominate, for practicality.
Someone asked what's required of PCD president?
Deb: It's been a busy year as president so more than average. There have been a number of "Special Board Meetings" called to address some difficult issues in our community, not the least of which is capacity.
Mellen: It would be great to get more people to know the responsibilities of each role.
Marion: We could ask people to come to X number of Meraki meetings before they're nominated.
Tasha: Could someone give a brief history of PCD officers?
Deb: Gave a brief history of officers in the room.
Blair: Also, Wiz will kick up hard decisions to the Board as has happened this year on a couple of occasions.
Mellen: In the past, we've sent out an email to members asking if you'd like to be an officers.
Brian: Increased participation in Meraki is the first step. If we get more participation, then maybe we need a bigger space in which to meet. [Addition post-meeting: In the past we've met at Jason's studio.]
Mellen: I think it makes sense to keep the same process for this year. Maybe next year we can be more proactive. I can also send out an email with officer description roles. Also, we did a survey that asked who might want to be in leadership.
Lori: It can be hard to get people to greet, let alone agree to be on the board. She's found that simply changing the language can help: WHO is interested in becoming an officer?
Deb: In the past, we've had an email going out to active people. We could do that now to keep the vibe of this Meraki meeting going, perhaps including other "regulars" who aren't here tonight.
Nate: There seem to be two issues. 1. What is the process for selecting new officers and how can we make it more clear? 2. How can we get more involvement so we have a bigger pool of people who are willing to step up. We need more discussion.
John: We need a committee to form.
Question: Who in the room would like to join the search committee this year?
Marion would like to join.
NOTE: If there is any other PCD member and "Meraki regular" who would like to join the search committee, please reach out to one of the Board officers.
Consensus: Current officers will seek next officers for this year's annual meeting, and we can weave in others to help in the search. For next year, let's start the process earlier in the year.
Action Items:
- Mellen to send an email to "Meraki regulars" with links to job descriptions for each Board position.
- Mellen to send an email to members soliciting interest in Board positions.
- Board members Deb, Tasha, Jamie, plus Marion, to begin the process of reaching out to the community to nominate new board members to present at Monday, Nov 18 Meraki.
Long-term planning - Tasha (5 min)
Tasha: Given so many new people joining our community combined with capacity issues, Shelagh and I have been talking for some months about having a long-term planning gathering to embrace change and explore more deeply what PCD is and wants to become. So let's have an offsite "vision quest!"
Deb suggested a "temperature gauge" poll of those in the room as to who might like to attend such a gathering, and the temperature was generally high.
Brian and Deb are interested in helping coordinate a long-term planning retreat.
Note: If there are other members of the community who would like to help plan the vision quest, please reach out to one of us.
Consensus: Tasha, Shelagh, Brian, and Deb will start planning such an even and put forth a proposal to Meraki.
Next Meeting
To be more inclusive in hopes of accommodating more people, we've been meeting on a rhythm of Mon, Tues, Sun, so next would be after dance.- Sunday, Oct 13 after dance
- Monday Nov 18 on Zoom
- Annual Meeting in Sunday Dec 15
- Sunday, Oct 13 after dance
- Monday Nov 18 on Zoom
- Annual Meeting in Sunday Dec 15
