Meraki Tuesday Feb 11, 2025 In Person at Good Medicine Collective
Attendees: Deb (ingatherer), Shelagh (facilitator), Rebecca (timekeeper), Kari (vibe checker), Tasha (notetaker), Jimmie, Jamie, Marion, Lori, John, Mellen
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
- Wiz Update - Kari 10 min
- Update on the New Space - Mellen 10 min
- Capacity Planning - Rebecca - 10 min
- Discussion of Email Reminders - Shelagh 10 min
- DJ Monitoring Speakers - John 5
- Retreat Committee Update - Marion 5 min
- Vision Quest Update - Deb 5 min
Wiz Update
Kari: How is the new space working out? The bottleneck at entry, cloakroom, greeter table has been an issue. We're going to encourage people to use the lower level where the bathrooms are, for socializing, coats, boots, etc. We will also have a new entry mat at the door (thank you John).
Mellen: Doors to the dance floor will be shut until 1:00 or until DJ says they're ready. That way, we encourage silence on the dance floor.
Rebecca: We'll keep the doors closed with a sign that says silence on the floor.
Tasha: Some people are concerned about the police at the door. Can we somehow let people know what that's all about?
Mellen: They're there for an earlier event so there's overlap. We will communicate that to dancers in some fashion.
John: Let's have both doors to the dance hall open since there's a bottleneck there as well.
Deb: Let's mention the security guards at the closing circle.
Thank you from the rest of us!
Update on the New Space - Mellen
Mellen: They are very accommodating at Temple Beth El. Very nice and easy to work with.
We can store the equipment there, so that's great.
I am coordinating the dates for dances and would like to pass that along to someone on the Wiz. It also needs to be coordinated with Lori for the calendar. We can call this role Facility Liaison.
Kari: We also now have a clock!
John: A confession: We haven't paid Temple Beth El yet. We need to get on a regular schedule.
Mellen: We don't have to pay for snow day.
It feels like there's more to do, not sure why. The sound system has been a problem. And John hasn't always been there to support setup.
Kari: Can we coordinate with each DJ to make sure there's someone there to help set up sound equipment?
John: It would be good to do a setup with Brian or someone on the Wiz so at least one person knows how it's done.
Mellen: We have a laminated card that describes how to set up sound system.
Shelagh: It feels like this is a DJ thing.
Deb: We will sort out it with all the DJs. It would be good to have a list of people who can support setup: John, Brian, Pika.
Mellen: The DJs should all take a picture of their setup, because it's some DJs bring their own equipment.
Shelagh: Can we take the temperature of how we all feel about the new space?
John: Great space with the exception of the traffic getting into the space. The opening to the other space feels a little strange.
Shelagh: The space is boxy, dark, square. Backlit DJ. Sound was too high. The floor is uninviting. Overall, I don't like it enough such that I haven't been back.
Tasha: Generally like it, DJs on the stage feel like they're too far away and backlit, yes. Agree the floor is uninviting.
Rebecca: Appreciation that we have the space and there are still things to work out.
Kari: The suggestions we talked about will help the flow of people.
Deb: Appreciate very much that we have it. And the open doors to sanctuary are strange, and the floor is too plastic and hard.
Jimmie: Grateful for the space, accepting it for what it is. Worried about the wall being open and some falling over.
Mellen: Doesn't have the same feel as before, but I have come to peace with it. We can turn lights on for DJs on the stage.
Lori: Like having the back wall open for natural light. Not completely settled in yet.
Marion: Don't like the space. The floor pushes me away. Can't come on Sundays. Looking forward to using the downstairs space for socializing. And thank you that we have a place to dance.
Jamie: Struggle with the duality. Grateful for the space and haven't landed there. With the plastic and cement, I don't ground.
Capacity Planning
Rebecca: At Waldorf we were having 60 - 80 - 100. At Beth El, we've been getting 100 - 110 - 120. The numbers are growing and will continue to grow.
Were you comfortable with the number of people?
Half aren't comfortable. Half are comfortable.
I propose that we reactivate the Capacity Committee that we started at the beginning of last year. We have a good solid beginning to address these questions. Questions to be addressed by the committee:
What is the maximum number of people that we feel is a good number?
At what point is it too many and what are we going to do about that?
When do you trigger that action plan?
I propose six people: Jimmie, Blair, Rebecca, Leigha, and she could recruit someone who is somewhat new.
We could come back to Meraki next time with a proposal, or at least more concrete ideas.
Kari: I applaud this idea!
Jimmie: Good to start this process now because it's only going to get bigger.
Jamie: There's a conflict here. We are talking about restricting dance in some fashion, yet dance is what we all need right now!
Rebecca: Competing values: giving to the community what we need AND offering freedom of movement and safety.
Marion: The question is how to make the dance inclusive AND sustainable. How do we use beginners mind?
Marion was nominated to be on the committee and accepted. Thank you Marion!
Deb: Whenever we've talked about a gymnasium, people have said yuk. I think we ought to reconsider a gymnasium.
Mellen: We have looked at them and none of them worked out. Reike is not consistently available.
Shelagh: It sounds like part of what capacity committee is taking on is looking at other spaces. But no, that should not be part of this new committee.
Mellen: Anyone could revisit the spreadsheet if they want.
Rebecca: So this committee will only be looking at the current space and how we decide how many is too many and what to do about that.
Lori: We looked at Mackworth and decided no. Was that about the sound quality?
Deb: It wasn't so much about the sound. It was about the energetics of the space: a sick building, bad history, etc.
Kari: It was also about the bottleneck of getting on the island in the summer.
Shelagh: We said we weren't going to look at new space and here we are talking about it.
Tasha: Request that the Capacity Committee report back at next Meraki, even if there's not concrete proposal.
Discussion of Email Reminders - Shelagh
Shelagh: Wondering about the guidelines on the email, especially chem free. Has there been an issue with that?
Mellen: We have a lot of new people. We haven't emphasized it. One person had alcohol on their breath. We talk about it in closing circle but a lot of people leave.
Shelagh: Seems like we're trying harder to be who we are, holding our values and culture and communicating it.
Rebecca: Also reinforcing silence at the beginning and no talking on the dance floor.
DJ Monitor Speakers - John
John: DJ monitor speakers let DJ hear what it sounds like on the floor without going out on the floor. The current monitor speaker hasn't been working well. The DJs who use it have appreciated it. It does add to our task for set up.
Lori: What about headphones?
John: They're used for queuing the next song, not monitors. We never used the monitor at Waldorf because the DJ was on the dance floor.
Propose that we investigate buying a pair of monitor speakers.
Mellen: Could we make them smaller than what we have?
John: I will come back with recommendation and request to approve purchase.
Retreat Committee Update - Marion
Marion: Retreat is April 25 - 27 at Oceanwood. Announcement will go out Feb 25. Registration opens March 5.
Cost will be scaled, but not tied to rooms.
175 - Supported
255 - Covering
355 - Supporting
Rooms will be shared, with twin beds and bunk beds, but only using the bottom bunks with 2, 3 or up to 5 per room.
We also are holding an optional date for a fall retreat at Ferry Beach. We have to tell them yes or no the day after our spring retreat. The management there is new.
Oceanwood has fall dates available as well.
Vision Quest Update - Deb
Deb: We are planning a day-long retreat likely in May. We've had one round of planning so far. We want to make a high bar for attending, so only people who have been coming for a while. We're going to talk about things beyond just holding a dance. We will structure activities for people to engage in. Some questions to consider: What would it take to buy a building? What is our responsibility to our community if the world goes to hell? Do we want to be more like a church that takes care of its members? By the end of the day, we would have next steps.
Shelagh: Some discussion is more practical. Some is more conceptual: What is working, what is our dream, do we still like our mission statement? We will engaging people in different forms such as writing, artwork, movement so we speak to the many different ways people process.
Deb: We will let people know the date of the Vision Quest by next Meraki, probably in May after the retreat.
Next Meetings
Monday March 10 on Zoom
Sunday April 6 after dance
