PCD Steering Committee (Meraki) Meeting Notes: 3/27/14

We met at Nev's lovely home. Thanks for hosting, Nev!

In attendance: Don, Traca, Parks, Mellen, Chloe, Julie, Jim Young, Deb & Dave Grant, Nev, John

Next meeting: Tuesday April 15 7-9PM, at Chloe's, 147 Brackett St.

Key decisions:

• Please no photographs at dance except by special arrangement. We'll add this request to the welcome sign, the newbie sheet, and the website. Julie will make an announcement at closing circle.
• Meraki meeting host/hostess can submit reimbursement for up to $15 for hosting expenses.
• Mellen will keep track of who's signed the liability form on a spreadsheet
• We will not have frequent dancer punchcards for now. Leave it as: suggested donation of $10.
• Deb is willing to DJ on Easter Sunday. We'll probably dance, but we want to gauge interest first.
• John to forward draft bylaws to Meraki for review.
• New Wizengamot members: Chloe, Neil, and Blair to replace outgoing members Dave, Julie, and Jim.
• Membership:
• Dues set at $0 / year with no volunteer work requirement
• Benefits:
• Can vote at membership meetings 
• Can participate in Meraki meetings
• Eligibility: has attended a minimum of 5 dances (relying on honor system so we don't have to track people's attendance).
• Responsibilities: Dave to write up and present to Meraki
• Membership falls under the purview of the Meraki (steering committee), not the Wizengamot (operations committee)
• We'll need a coordinator or committee to handle member signups, renewals, and tracking.
• Membership meeting quorum shall be 10% of membership

Discussion:

Some of the key decisions mentioned above were taken with little discussion and need not be elaborated further. But we had more extensive discussion on membership, the Wizengamot survey, a secret agenda item raised by Eva, and the website.

Website

Chloe demonstrated the now-completed website to oohs and ahhs and general appreciative acclaim by every one present. Nice job, Chloe! Thanks for your hard work, and also for editors and reviewers. Way to go, team!

Membership

We discussed the benefits, responsibilities, and requirements of membership. The feeling is to keep membership as open as possible and thus free, but the possibility of having dues in the form of a volunteer commitment was discussed at some length (and rejected, but we're open to offering volunteer opportunities to those who wish to serve). Also there was general consensus that membership should be open to those who know what it is we're about and therefore who have danced with us some minimum number of times (or who "dance regularly", but that language was eventually discarded as being not easily quantifiable, and exclusive of seasonal dancers).

Further, we'll need a membership cycle (annual or biannual) and either a coordinator or committee to track membership, handle signup and renewals, etc. etc. We discussed which group should be responsible for membership: Meraki or Wizengamot. The Wiz is responsible for making dance happen, and membership is outside that charter, so the Meraki is the group responsible for membership. We'll keep a separate email list for membership. Dave will write up the rules and responsibilities of membership and submit to the Meraki for review and discussion. Don will publish whatever we come up with.

New Wizengamot Members

Don reported on the survey. There were 13 respondents, of which 4 wanted and 2 were willing to serve for the next six months. Neil & Chloe want to serve and wanted to be considered as a pair, a package deal. The other wants were Blair and Cherie. Others were interested in serving in the future. We accepted Neil and Chloe as two of the new members because of their ongoing commitment and contribution to PCD. We then chose between Blair and Cherie by random drawing, and Blair was selected. Thanks to all who expressed willingness and desire to serve now in the future, and welcome Chloe, Neil, and Blair to the Wizengamot team!

Eva's Secret Agenda Item

... turned out to be a Happy Birthday celebration with delicious gluten-free chocolate cake for John, who donned his special Treasurer's eyeshades for the celebration and basked in the love expressed by the group. Thank you all! And especially to Eva, who had to dodge John on the way to Nev's house with her cake, pretending to visit a neighbor avoid discovery, and entering through the back door to keep the secret agenda item a secret. Well done!

For future discussion:

• Retreat
• Special quarterly dances
• Membership coordination
• Membership initial signup
• Membership meeting
• Bylaws

Info for people inquiring about becoming DJ's...

In February 2014 at our meeting of DJ's we discussed the need for info for our PCD dancers who inquire about DJing on Sundays.                                                             ~DJ team

Becoming a DJ for Portland Community Dance

Thank you for your interest in becoming a Portland Community Dance DJ. We are delighted when dancers want to share their love of dance music with our community.

Our PCD DJ team helps assure the quality of what our DJ's provide for Sunday dances. It establishes criteria for becoming a DJ and also may audition prospective DJ's when appropriate. When needed the team sets a maximum number of DJs so that current DJs have adequate opportunity to DJ Sunday dances over the course of a year. In this case dancers interested in becoming DJs may be placed on a waiting list until additional DJs are needed. 

Please be aware that the DJ role is competency and skill based, as well as artistic. It is not only the job of the DJ to integrate technical skill with music for two hours; the DJ also establishes and holds safe space for dancers and helps set the tone, flow and vibe for the dance. 

We ask that potential new DJ's meet the following criteria prior to receiving training and supporting future PCD DJ's. Please consider the criteria listed below and feel free to contact us with any questions or clarification you may need. 

Prerequisites for receiving PCD DJ training/mentoring:

• Has attended Sunday dance regularly for at least 6 months.
• Has experience downloading /uploading music into Itunes or other equivalent music program
• Has basic computer technology skills and access to a computer that supports DJ'ing needs.
• Has working knowledge of Algoriddim DJay software or equivalent DJ software or learns software fundamentals on his or her own. All DJs must use DJ software to facilitate smooth music transitions & effects. 
• Has willingness to attend periodic DJ meetings and be part of the DJ team. 
• Has willingness to attend DJ training and/or be mentored by an experienced DJ. 
• Has familiarity with creating wave-like music sequences generally used for Portland Community Dance – influenced by but not limited to the 5 Rhythms wave format and other music elements that help build and diminish intensity as well as influence mood (such as tempo and music style). 
• Is willing to spend significant time searching for appropriate and varied music that fits into a 1 hour 50 minute dance wave, with emphasis on providing fresh or new music overall. Prospective DJ's should be aware that providing new or fresh music regularly requires an investment of money as well (when DJ's purchase their selections or subscribe to online music access).
• Plans to continue to dance with regularity at Sunday dances (and other conscious dance venues if of interest) to experience other DJ's sets and keep current with music being played. 
• If a dancer has significant DJ experience in some form of conscious dance, aspects of the criteria may be waived at the discretion of the DJ team.

We hope that the requirements aren't daunting--they are intended to help ensure that we continue to support the development of quality DJ's for our beloved dance. When you feel you meet the above criteria and would like to proceed with becoming a DJ for PCD please contact the DJ coordinator and someone will let you know about the timing for the next DJ training and mentoring process.                       

                                                Thanks again for your interest,     PCD's DJ Team

Meraki minutes; Tuesday March 11, 2014 at Julie's place. 7-9pm

WE PLAY MERAKI!!!  Tuesday March 11 2014

Next meeting:
Thursday March 27, at Nev's house, 24 Pitt Street.  Street parking available but ok to park in driveway if you have trouble. Nev: 207.232.9014.       *On our Esteemed Treasurer's birthday!!!!!

Attendees: Eva, John, Julie, Jim Y, Dave, Blair, Deb, Don, Traca, Mellen, Nev, Chloe, Neil

Welcome: to Nev who is attending for first time tonight.

Website:  Chloe has initial stuff to Deb and Don and they will meet next Thurs to further the cause.  Dave suggests widget to display ongoing blog news.  More opp to discuss after Thurs mtg.  Chloe is up to 6 hrs of work and hopes to get to 12. ish.

DJ issues:
DJ's shared their becoming a DJ criteria document and Meraki may have feedback about it after reading.
DJ's are requesting a higher stipend/compensation for their work.
Discussion of that as well as the larger question of compensation for people with significant roles with PCD.   Reminder about our being a volunteer organization.  Let's emphasize volunteer spirit and be cautious about mass compensation.
1099's are needed at >$600.  Idea: that people get paid for dj'ing and get reimbursed for costs; It was suggested that this is too cumbersome to manage.
Idea of giving DJ's $80/100 now as response to start.
Group decision:  $80 locals, $100 for those who travel.  We can revisit this in future.


Finances review (John and co.):
Avg we take in $400+/ Sunday.  $100 for space, $80/100 for DJ's. per week.   incorp, $645; $515 for liability ins. ; annual incorp $150; $300 for taxes; DJ's $6000 or less; rent is $6000; Marketing $300 (website, domain, marketing).  Total 13,265 costs annual.  Round up to $15000.   Therefore $288/week is what we need to take in to cover costs.  Round up to $300.

Discussion of lowering admission/donation to less than $10: 
sliding scale idea.
punch cards idea.
open up and allow for generosity and don't track closely (nay to punch cards) comment.
Idea of suggested donation: $8.  Idea of sharing "this is our cost."
Why reduce our cost of admission?  Input: It's in our interest to lower our income as we are subject to taxes;  What to do with extra $? Opportunity for use of extra funds at end of year; Creative and/or charitable opps.
Moved and agreed to drop punch cards.
Idea of experiment:  Change to sliding scale to see what happens.  How does it change what people pay?  Pay what you can.
Moved and agreed to keep fee at $10 as a suggested donation.  Be clearer in language-ing.  Jim Young will make a sign that makes the invitation to pay what you can clear.  We will revisit recc'ed suggested donation after summer as we will then have a sense of the fluctuations and costs over the year.
Moved and agreed to drop IOU's and tracking IOU's.

WIZ issues:
Wiz role: Operations committee for Sunday dance was our original intent. The Wiz Makes Dance Happen.
Include DJ coordinator in Wiz?  Greeter coordinator? Comment that Wiz structure and method has been working (6 people share responsibility for running of Sundays and Greeter coord and DJ coord aren't required to be a part of the Wiz); wizzies agree and upon discussion there was enthusiastic hoofalllowing about how well the Wiz structure is working.   (Meeting notes lookback: mixed recall about original intent of Wiz.  One set of notes said they become the board.)
How will the 3 Wizzies transition out and bring in 3 new Wizzies for their 6 month term?
Moved and agreed to put message out to email list for 3 Positions with description.
Don will put together the text for this and run it by a few peeps.  Survey option:  willing, not willing, enthusiastic.  Julie will make that survey.  We will choose next 3 Wizzies at next meeting, as a prioritized agenda item.

Bylaws-- will pick up with this another time.
And: YIPPEEE WE DON"T HAVE TO TALK ABOUT INCORPORATION!!!! DONE!!!!

Membership:
Idea of a party as first membership meeting.
Proposal-- if you want to become a member, let us know (by email).   Membership / joining is a rolling process.  You sign up at dance or by email.
Concern expressed that if and as org grows the membership could become unwieldy.  Eg what if people who don't normally dance sign up as members?  Remember that we need to have a min number of members present at annual mtg to hold a vote.
Proposal to have annual window for becoming a member.
Idea that willingness to volunteer 3 hrs a year.
Need to have more brainstorming around membership.  Agenda item for next meeting.
Julie will work on writing a descrip of member qualifications and benefits for us to develop further at next meeting.

Next meeting:
Thursday March 27, at Nev's house, 24 Pitt Street.  Street parking available but ok to park in driveway if you have trouble. Nev: 207.232.9014.       *On our Esteemed Treasurer's birthday!!!!!

PCD Steering Committe (Meraki) Meeting Notes Feb 24 2014

Insurance:

The group agreed that we will pursue liability insurance through Champoux Insurance Agency (Contact: John Blanchette (John@champoux-ins.com)).  We expect to have our insurance finalized before our March 2nd dance at Ocean Ave.

Alternative Space:  

We will be dancing at Ocean Ave this coming Sunday.  If we like them, and they like us, we can continue use the space.  We are currently planning on being there again in the 23rd of March.

Incorporation:  

We reviewed the PCD Organizational Document and Board Positions Descriptions, which met with approval and discussed the board size.  We settled on an initial board of three people, one person per office title: Treasurer, Secretary, and President.

We selected our initial board:

President: Eva Goetz

Treasurer: John Boynton

Secretary: Deb Grant

Treasurer John will be setting up our Bank Account at Bath Savings. We will now be accepting checks made out to Portland Community Dance.  

Next Meeting:
Tuesday, March 11 at 7 pm at Julie V's house at 29 Wilson St in Portland.