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