Meraki Meeting Notes December 7, 2016

Meraki Meeting Notes
December 7, 2106
Nev's House

Attendance: Polly, Mellen, John, Dave, Lindy, Deb, Nev, Jason, Sarah, Shelagh, Parks, Cheri

Facilitator: Shelagh volunteered to facilitate.

Establish Agenda: Board resolution, Holidays, Membership list, Thur. night dances, Sound system, Spring retreat, Passwords, Issues brought up in absentia, Wiz, Finance.

Lindy read minutes of last Meraki meeting.

Board Resolution: Polly, John, and Mellen authorized as check signers for bank account. Polly and John to have debit cards (John has already). Polly and John to have online access (John has already). Polly & John will continue to transition and train for treasury position.

Holidays: No available DJ's for Christmas Day. No overnight available at Avant New Year's Eve/Day. Discussion re: interest in dancing 12/25/16 and 1/1/17 at the usual time in both this Meraki mtg. and the vote at last Sun. dance. Regret was expressed considering not holding dance on Sun, but it was also recognized that this was the first year that 2 traditional holidays are on Sundays. Proposal to not have dance on those 2 days and voted to cancel dance 12/25/16 and 1/1/2017.

New Year's Dance: Recognition that last year there was a committee that worked to establish the event and there are currently 3 DJ's available. Discussion re: who is organizing: Meraki or committee? Reach out to Diane, Liz, Jim Young (previous committee members). Deb and Jason volunteered to help. Shelagh volunteered to organize; Nev to do bed area; Cherie, greeters. Tickets, advertising, decorations, food still needed. Committee: Shelagh volunteered for committee and to talk to Jim Y. Liz was contacted and agreed to set up eventbrite.
Deb: Liz to train someone for next year. Nev to do tickets with Liz. Advertising related to ticket sale. Chloe & Deb to organize food. Mellen to do mailchimp announcement. Can ask for volunteers on Sunday. Previous charge: $15-20/person. Clean up crew dances for free.

Thursday Night Dances: Deb & Polly report with visual and rename 'Thwiz' to 'W'eve' (Wiz of the 'eve)!!! Need to move. Options narrowed. Well thought out. Will make recommendation. Names of places considered: (stay at) Mechanics Hall, Woodfords, Congregational, Owls club, Tai Chi, Hustle and Flow, etc. Tai Chi and MH are the only ones available Thur. nights. Recommend a 6 mo. trial at Tai Chi. Considered loss of income and need for a music system. To do: ask Jason about his sound system; consider financial implications, threshold? Consider lowering costs by paying DJ's less or paying less for the space. Will PCD support Thur. night if at a loss?  $265/night. $35 hit last dance. $300/mo. from PCD? Paying Neil for sound system rental? Dave states we are in a good position to support Thur. night dance. Nev--yes to continue. John proposes we do trial for 6 mos. Dave seconds. In the ensuing discussion, it was decided to vote on a  4 mo. trial basis which was approved. To re-evaluate.

Sound System: Purchase vs. rental vs. borrow. $3-6000 new. Rent Neil's for awhile. We agreed to rent Neil's, but Neil has not been paid to date. Jason--Neil's is option. Jason's is adequate. Jason's speaker blew at Thur. dance. He is getting fixed. Sound card brings level down. Volume issues. Do we invest? Primary issue is schlepping equipment. Dave and Neil have been doing it. John--We have money in the acct. to purchase system. Dave-- we need to present options (Dave, John, Neil on committee). Unprepared to list options at this meeting. Consider weight/storage. Table topic until March at which time sound system committee will give a full presentation (with visuals)!

Spring Retreat: Discuss pro/cons of available dates: Apr 7-9, May 12-14 (Mother's Day w/e). Mellen to do doodle of membership. Check with Kiara to check with Kiev to see if they are still available.

Membership List: John--Because of errors with CC membership list instead of BCC Gmail, recommend eliminating contacts in Gmail and using MailChimp. Problem with that option is that  emails are required and one member does not have email.  Dave liked gmail for google sheets, helpful. Gmail was also important during renewal process, however, we are not currently doing annual renewals. Suggestion to make fake email for those who don't have emails. Recommended to resume discussion next time.

Change Passwords: Deferred.

Wiz: People in the know reported no new concerns/issues. Going well.

Issues brought up in absentia: Polly is concerned about soliciting input of membership who cannot make meeting citing a previous Meraki meeting. John supports hearing from those who have specific issues and cannot attend Meraki. Mellen supports those showing up at Meraki or talking to someone who will be at Meraki. Dave- issues lose power and would not support soliciting issues. Parks recommends we do not put out an email announcement asking for feedback as was done this last Meraki email notice. Lindy solicited feedback b/c of experience of it being done last year. It was agreed that we will not solicit agenda items in response to email notifications.

Finance: John questioned frequency of preparing and emailing the finance report before each Meraki meeting. It was discussed and decided to continue with finance reports before each Meraki meeting as compared to quarterly or annual reports, and not to have lack of excitement, interest or discussion be a deciding factor.

Next Meeting Date: 01/10/2017 7-9 PM at Dave and Deb Grant's 60 Brentwood, Portland.

Tues better for most. Cheri not here on Tues. Shelagh not available after 1/3/17 in Jan. 

Annual Membership Meeting Minutes 11/20/16

PCD Annual Meeting November 20, 2016


In attendance: Liberty Bryer, Kiara Archambault (outgoing president), Byron Saavedra, Polly Urbach (incoming treasurer), John Boynton (outgoing treasurer, current bookkeeper), Shelagh Reiser (incoming president), John Ford, Julie Isbill, Rodney Mashia, Blair Fridgen, Mellen Deschenes, Katie, Oracle Smith, Cheri Howard, Heather Westleigh, Rudy Gabrielson, Andrew Gabrielson, Nev Levin, Neil Sattin, Ayla Zeimer, Eric West, Kelley Ryan, Jimmie Prichard, Traca Gress, Lindy Ost (incoming secretary), Jeff Edelstein, Laura Saavedra, Chloe Urban, Dave Grant, Deb Grant (outgoing interim secretary), Jeanette Schmid, Eva Goetz

I. Musical Opening: Rudy, Andrew, Amos, Jamila

II. Moderator--Dave Grant
          Thanks to: participants, DJ's
          Unveiling Regalia and Thanks to outgoing Interim Secretary Deb Grant (Julie Vohs),   
          Treasurer John Boynton, and President Kiara Archambault

III. Organizational Structure of PCD--John Boynton

IV. Finance Report--John Boynton

V.  Mission Statement--Kiara Archambault

VI. Bylaw changes as proposed--1. to allow Meraki, with Board’s recommendation, to appoint officers for vacancies that might happen during the year, without need to call a full membership meeting.  2. Correct numbering--voted and accepted

VII. Election of new officers/BOD--voted and accepted: President--Shelagh Reiser, Secretary--Lindy Ost, Treasurer--Polly Urbach and presentation of Regalia!

IX. Discussion:
          Income, goals
          Thur. night dance--space
          Retreats

Meraki-like (no quorum) meeting November 3, 2016

Meraki Meeting notes
November 3, 2016

Mellen’s house

Attendance: Lindy, Oracle, John, Mellen, Shelagh –

We did not have a quorum (6 required), but we did make some progress that did not involve voting, so read on!

Mellen reviewed summary of Sept. meeting.

Discussion followed of concerns that no one voluntarily stepped up for officer positions. Discussed how to deal with in future, including reaching out and asking specific people if they will serve a term. We are more likely to get a “yes” that way than waiting for people to volunteer.

Discussed need to educate members of fact that for PCD dances to exist, we need to maintain our non-profit corporation status and follow our simple structure which includes have 3 elected officers in place. Without nonprofit corporation status we cannot get insurance or rent space.

Also discussed need to spread out the work and keep new people in the mix so stalwarts don’t get frustrated, burdened and eventually burned out. Not good for the organization’s health & future.

We generated a list of seemingly committed and capable dancers who could be approached in the future about board service. That list is not included here; next Meraki meeting we can decide if that’s a public list or not.

We do have two volunteers willing to be nominated for 2017 positions: (Yay – and thank you!)

• Shelagh as President (also considers Treasurer but feels it's not the best fit)
• Lindy as secretary
• John remains as Treasurer for time being but with desire to give up board position and do bookkeeping back office as a volunteer. Noted to reach back out to Dave Grant who previously expressed willingness to explore treasurer service. It will be an easier position if John remains bookkeeper. But it was also noted that we need to have another trusted person “in training” for treasurer with bookkeeping role as John stated he is likely to be exiting completely sometime next year.

Bylaws Change: suggested by Mellen, to allow Meraki, with Board’s recommendation, to appoint officers for vacancies that might happen during the year, without need to call a full membership meeting. Mellen will draft & send to John asap.

Annual Meeting: Reminder that notice of meeting needs to go out 14 days before Nov 20 meeting. Any by laws change also has to have 14 day notice.

Spring retreat dates (@ Wavus) possible:

April 7-9

May 12-14 (Mother’s Day) ** Kiera suggests this date as preferred due to better weather.

Someone (?) is going to send a doodle to members to ascertain most popular date.

Thursday Eve dance at Tai Chi studio:

Oracle: Speaker was blown out during dance. Unclear if PCD is going to be asked to pay for speaker or repair but we should be prepared to do whatever is needed.

THWIZ will use mailing list to query dancers about experience at Tai Chi studio as potential Thursday night dance venue. There were concerns about space being too tight for our size of a group.

Deb, Polly, Oracle are researching other sites.

Christmas & New Years are on Sundays this year. Avant is booked for New Years Eve dance.

4 of 5 present would attend a Xmas day dance. Mellen to ask DJs at Nov 13 meeting if anyone is willing to DJ on Christmas morning. John to check Avant availability.

Web Calendar: Mellen to send Shelagh current DJ schedule. Shelagh maintains the calendar on the web but does not always get current schedule.

Retreat: Kieve Wavus invoice did not include meals expense. Invoice for approx $2500 expected. Project $80 profit. Question for next Meraki: what is done w/ profit? Suggestion from Mellen- since spring retreat needed support from PCD funds, shouldn’t we just keep it in the bank.

For next meeting:

Safety & aggression discussion tabled.

Finance report due following retreat when finances are finalized

New Year’s Eve planning

Meraki meeting: Dec Wed 7th. Location TBD.

Submitted by Mellen

Secretary pro tem

Meraki Meeting Notes September 29, 2016

Attended by John, Polly, Martin, Deb, Mellen, Jim, Lindy, Kiara (just one person more than a quorum!)  Thank you Polly for hosting. Thanks to Kiara for facilitating. Notes by Mme InterimSecy Deb

IMPORTANT: John won Meraki points tonight for knowing something about the bylaws that Lindy challenged him on.  She was wrong, he was right.  Lindy gets some points (but not as many as John!) for challenging him and sounding VERY informed as she did so!

New insurance policy:  Yay or nay.  Covers 2 retreats + Sunday and Thurs dances.  550 (current) vs 860 (new) per year annual.  We vote YAY.

Retreat committee update and discussion 

Scholarship funding: We reviewed last spring’s process/decision making for retreat scholarships. We reviewed the current cost of the retreat and the lower attendance is in important thing to consider when considering whether to provide scholarships. We discussed the value of generosity if the PCD funds are above $7000 which the funds are.  We agreed to provide $200 to be divided among # of requesters (looks like 2-3) at retreat committee’s discretion. This decision is for this retreat and isn’t a policy.  We might want to create a clear policy at some point.

Deposit refunds: We agreed as with last time that we would provide refunds only if the retreat income exceeds costs (or provide some amount). In the meantime we will let cancellations know that the deposit is otherwise nonrefundable as was stated in the registration materials.

Non-member attendance:  The retreat is for members only.

Review of holding the closed container of retreat: We support the committee in keeping the retreat closed to dropping in by members.  While we may want to open Saturday nights some day in the future we won’t for this retreat.  Discussed idea of extenuating circumstance: would we make a gesture to people who had to cancel by inviting them to dance Saturday night?  We talked about this at length and decided that we would not do this, as we had run into difficulty last year and identified additional considerations.  This issue took up a significant chunk of our meeting time and was not easy to decide because we would love to have these members be able to join us. But it’s too complicated!  We are turning off the heartstrings!

We added: When we try to make exceptions we have bureaucratic and interpersonal challenges that are time consuming. 

We mused: as the community grows the % of people attending retreats gets smaller, how do we relate to that? Also, can we sustain 2 retreats a year? 

Reviewed that: PCD retreat is designed/meant to be self-sufficient financially.  PCD will cover our retreat deficit.

Annual membership meeting will be November 20.  We reminded us that we need to give 14 day notification of meeting date and info to members.

Review of job descriptions  We need to notify members and tell them about officer responsibilities. Deb will compose an email, John will send Deb the attachments with info.  People need to let Meraki know their intent to run for office prior to next meeting, so that we can have the slate ready.

John is mulling stepping down as Treasurer and acting as bookkeeper instead, with exchange of not paying for dance.  Or giving a year’s notice.  We can consider whether we would need to formalize changes in structure.  Mellen reminded us that we can make changes in the board mid year. John reminded us that we have bylaws that we can turn to if ever we need to change how Meraki is run.  He also reviewed that our structure and bylaws allow for a bigger board if we want, 3 officers plus additional positions.  

Thursday night dance 

Thankfully Polly reminded us that the THWIZ has been empowered to make decisions and move forward about finding a new rental space.

Potluck follow up/Safety conversation  

The sharing/gathering and conversation seemed to be good, with content around safety generating good discussion and raising a range of topics. Question of whether the conversation brought about a feeling that there is a problem with safety?  Did our conversation help raise awareness about safety and invite people to consider safety on multiple levels?  The feeling was that we got the issues out there, which likely increased awareness for those who participated. It’s an ongoing discussion, to be continued.

Agenda item— safety topic to be continued: 

How effective is Wiz availability after dance?

Do we need to orient ppl more fully or in other ways?

Post meeting, we read a letter offered by Oracle, reflection of issues he considered after Sunday.

“RULES ARE NOT A SUBSTITUTE FOR COMMUNITY” comment by Oracle

“IF MY CREEP METER GOES UP, THAT’S IMPORTANT” comment by Parks

Agenda item — prep for annual membership meeting

Next meeting is at MELLEN’s, Thursday November 3, 7-9, 186 Concord St, 207.318.4989, Thank you Mellen.

Annual membership meeting will be November 20

Meraki Meeting Notes August 30, 2016

Attendance: Dave, Deb, Neil, Chloe, Jim, Lindy, Kiara, Sara, Jason, John, Blair, Polly, Natalie

Red bag/suggestion box Keita to think about making one.

Agenda:
1. Safety: photos, acrobatics, boundaries
2. Finance
3. Alcohol
4. Annual meeting
5. Interim secretary
6. Thur. night
7. Greeter conversation
8. Retreat and self care, mission statement.
9. Client termination. dance
10. Pot Luck Post Dance

1. Thur. night dance: Error -- double booked, 2nd time. Question if we are welcome at Mechanic's Hall? Space not available in Oct. One slot available in Sept. One in Nov. We will not pay for Aug. Look for space for Oct. and consider relocating in Nov. How did Thur night go at State St.? Very happy. Contra dance moved in on Thur. night? Jason's space? Size?

Suggestion: Try Jason's space in Oct. Jason has class time on Thur. nights, has to consider implications. Try out informally at dance on Sept. 9th, Jason's open house.

? technology at Jason's? Sound? Jason to check.
? sound issues with neighbors?
Jason to confirm in one week for Oct. Neil to check into State St. Church re: Oct. rental. Polly and Oracle are organizing Thur. nights. Recommended Neil to check with them. If both spaces are available Thur. Thur. Wiz (Thwiz) to decide.

2. Safety:
Concerns for some dancers: lifts, spins; photos; and concerns re: new dancer and questionable boundary issues. Wiz-discussed. Situation is better. Will follow-up as necessary.
Clarified onfidentiality and what is discussed at Meraki.
Wiz is working in a well, thoughtful, organized way and wiz will continue to monitor and take action as necessary.

3. Financial monthly income/expenses. We have spent more than we have taken in for a number of mos. Will be discussed at annual meeting unless we drop below $7000 and then treasurer/John will report accordingly.

4. It was decided that we will not have alcohol at PCD meetings/events.

5. Deb G. will be interim secretary until annual meeting.

6. Pot Luck. Sept 25: PCD provides utensils/plates. Participants bring the food. Ends at 3 PM. Neil, Polly, Kiara to organize/facilitate. salon  Will use the whole space.

7. Review of PCD aggreements for attendance at retreat. Retreat committee is seeking support from Meraki. Temporary Meraki committee to address.

8. Officer crew. Deb is interim. Kiara will not continue as president. Recruiting other members to run for positions.

9. Greeter conversation. Deb will contact Mellon to put in Sun. PCD announcement the need for greeters. Sarah to show up in circle with sign up.

10. Wavus is doing food for retreat.

11. Mission statement. Umbrella committee of retreat committee to establish.

12. Self care regimen at retreat. To go to retreat committee.

13. Date next meeting: Thur. 9/29 from 7-9 at Polly's house.

Meraki Notes from July 12, 2016

Attending:
Jim, Polly, Natalie, Keita, Kiara, Bart, Blair, Dave, John

Notes:

Fall Retreat - YES! 
Meraki decided to go ahead and make a deposit for the fall retreat at Camp Wavus for the weekend  of Oct 14-16.  We received more than 30 positive responses. We have more than 10 people who are willing to help organize the retreat.  The location will be the same as our previous retreat, and we anticipate a larger cost for the event in general due to insurance, increased food costs, sound system rental, etc.  The next round might be as high as $250/person.

WIZ Report
We expanded the expectation that the end of dance opportunity for people to "check-in" will also serve as the opportunity for dancers to make suggestions as a formal part of the wiz's end-of-dance announcement.  The Wiz will determine how to share feedback with Meraki.

Keita requested that we have a suggestion box put out, and she said she would consider how to set such a box up.

Literature Table
The Meraki voted to simplify the literature table by providing a table at dance but letting people know that literature at the end of dance will be "recylced."

Thursday Evening
We decided we need a Thursday night dance Wiz.  Polly and Dave agreed to put together a group that will serve as a Thursday night wiz.  Others who expressed interest in participating are Nev, Eva, and Oracle - but they were not present at this Meraki.

Greeter Coordinator
We thanked Sarah Lawrie, in absentia, for voluteering to be the new Greeter Coordinator.  We discussed ways to increase enthusiasm to attract people as greeters, including: making service an expectation of membership, putting together a phone tree, more consistent announcements with some fanfare and skits.

Potluck
Previously, Meraki agreed that PCD would hold a quarterly potluck at Avant.  Kiara reported out that she will likely wait until Sept to arrange a potluck.  She seems to be coordinating this event.

Money after Greeter Time
Rather than telling people to see the DJ after the greeter leaves the table, we will now put a basket out after the greeter leaves with a sign reminding people of the suggesed donation $10.  We will not offer a discout for late comers.  The Wiz will set this system up, yeah!!

Financial Report
We are sound and on track with our $7-10K buffer.  We are at the upper end of our buffer now and anticipate higher costs for Sundays with our earlier decision to increase pays for DJs.

Retreat Mission and Announcement
We asked Kiara to work with the retreat committee to put together a mission statement of sorts for the retreat and a section on what people noticed on previous retreats.   We asked her to bring it back to meraki so we could all consider how the retreat gets communicated to the PCD community.

Our Next Meeting
Thursday, August 30th, location TBD.

The Winner of Meraki was Kiara.  Dave Grant lost when he malapropped.

Wizengamot (Operations Committee) Meeting 7/3/16

Here's the notes from our meeting.

Attendance: Jimmie, Kari, Cherie

Sarah Lawrie nicely agreed to attend as one of the topics was Greeter Duties.

 

Greeters Duties

Cherie offered to do a walk-thru for the Greeter  protocol, just so's we'd all be updated.

Bart DeCristoforo happened to still be at Avant, so he joined us as well, since he would be

greeting the following Sunday. This took most of our time but was worth it as it was VERY helpful.

**Good suggestion that the Greeter also check in with any new folks at the end of the dance to see how their experience was.

 

Literature Table

Tabled but with a few comments that it needs to be really examined as to who should really be doing this.

 

Suggestion Box

Not addressed

 

Thursday Night Dance

Tabled but also with a few comments that there should be a separate group that oversees this dance

Meraki Meeting Notes June 13, 2016

Present
Lindy Ost
Diane Archambault
Tasha
Martin Steingasser
Julie Vohs
Mary Ellen Deschenes
John Boynton

Agenda:
Wiz update
retreat follow up
lawyer info
A member's concerns
Thursday dance
Sunday after dance potluck
Martin's question/concern


Martin: brought up problem of someone who attended dance once, and does not want to come back due to feeling uncomfortable about someone they encountered.

How to be a welcoming community?

Similar to concerns raised - how do we make people feel welcome?
Make a responsibility of greeters?  They are too busy...
Diane - we do enough with the newcomer sheet - and asking them to read the board
Revisit in future meetings to see how its going?

Greeter Issues
Discussion re: Greeter orientation - please make aware that they need to clean up.
Greeter - Wiz responsibility to make sure the greeter coordinator communicates what the greeter needs to know.

Communicate to Wiz that the greeter coordinator needs to be oriented
Greeters must clean up table after dance
Greeters should show up 15 minutes before dance to set up and be ready when dancers start arriving
The bag of greeter stuff needs to be organizes in a more efficient way

Weekly Duties of greeter:

• Sign waiver
• orientation sheet
• pointing them toward the board
• 1st dance is free

Ask the after-dance processors to specifically try and greet new people after dance.

Specific issue brought up about retreat:
A member had specific issues and the y were discussed and addressed.
Proposal- Member concerns were brought up and taken into consideration for next retreat.

Retreat follow up:

• Retreat was a success.  The committee met to go over the weekend and discussed what they did for safety - balancing safety with being able to enjoy a retreat.
• Retreat guidelines will be posted next time.
• Specific issues will be managed by committee
• We went over budget on insurance and renting DJ equipment
• Scholarships are an expense of the retreat - but they are gifted from PCD to retreat
• In the future two people will be focused specifically on contracts w/ vendors/venue
• We will get general liability for PCD Sunday and event insurance for retreats
• We need to vote if we are going to have the October retreat - we have a date at Wavus.

ACTION: Send Doodle Poll to Membership.  Do we want to do one or not? - conditional to responses to this form we can move forward with the retreat. and ask if people are willing to help plan.

What  are the numbers we need? 30 people to hold the retreat
10 people who are willing to help plan.

Lawyer issue: John cleared with the Len Cole (attorney) that we were not satisfied with their services and that we were square -we owe him nothing more.

DJ Follow up:  Mary Ellen reported that the DJ meeting focused on sound board. Wiz will deal with announcements at the end of circle.

Thursday Dance - Dave can't lug equipment.  John B. will do it.

Wiz update tabled to next meeting when a wiz person is here

Proposal: Diane is willing to organize once a quarter Sunday pot luck. Same Sunday each month
Second Sunday potluck?

Set budget - PCD will supply utensils and paper.

Carried foward - Summer gathering

Next Meeting:  July 12, 7-9 pm
Meeting space TBD

Meraki (Steering Committee) Meeting Notes - May 10, 2016

Meraki meeting May 10, 2016 at Martin & Judy's Thanks Martin & Judy for hosting!

Attending: Martin, Judy Tierney, Blair, Diane, Mellen, Nev, Natasha, Dave (facilitating), Elvis, John (note-taker)

John reviewed last meeting notes from http://pcdmeetings.blogspot.com/. Dave collected agenda items and reviewed.

Wiz Report (Blair)

• Suggestion process slipped their minds
• After-dance processing procedure/policy: Would like it to be Wiz members who are present + Martin. Wiz takes responsibility. Can delegate to skilled non-Wizzers.
• Question about who makes announcement? Wiz will designate closing circle announcer. Nev: make it the job of the person who closes up?
• Shelagh: Idea that got dropped: have designated processors visually identified.
• Judy: message about processing should be consistent.
• Mellen/Martin: Word "process" too heavy/therapeutic-ey/granola-ey. Simpler to just say "questions". Diane would use the word "process" - make sure there's a weightiness component that covers stuff coming up for people.
• Transition: Blair, Eva, Natalie, Jimmie, Kari. Chloe/Neil out; Nev out but still contributing.
• Announcements board in progress

Tax/IRS news (John)

• We're now tax-exempt. Yay!
• We also received a refund from the IRS for estimated taxes we paid.
• John sent a message today to the lawyer who assisted us, but who dropped the ball after the first draft. Wants to close the loop and say we think we don't owe any more money. He asked Len Cole (the attorney) for confirmation that our relationship is finished.

@portlandcomunitydanc.com addresses

• John bought 4 email boxes @portlandcommunitydance.com. Concern about openness of current account, not knowing who can log in.

DJ Feedback form

• John asked about the DJ feedback form. Chloe is aware of updating with comment fields.
• How to handle submitted forms? John has been forwarding to Lisa and the DJ concerned. We voted to continue doing this.

Meraki Discussion Group (John)

• John imagines that a Meraki discussion group would be helpful. Dave: in-person more in the spirit of what we do. 
• Nev: cycle of discussion/decision/dilution. Suggest master document of what we've decided.
• Diane: Idea of having a larger group is interesting, but not call it a Meraki discussion group. Not decision-based, but to share thoughts about dance.
• Dave: Does John feel strongly about this? Consensus seems to not have offline discussions. Voted to RIP the idea.
• Separate issue: need a catalog of decisions

Retreat update (Diane)

• Things are looking good. 45 attendees slated, the desired amount.
• Looking for 3-4 volunteers to stay to the bitter end to help clean, etc.
• 8 scholarships

Website update (Shelagh)

• New Wiz people are on the website; looking for some bios
• All: Thanks Shelagh for helping out!

Obervers who aren't dancing (Mellen)

• People who come are asked to join in, not watch. Who addresses this?
• Mellen mentioned to Deb, who talked to them, they got up and danced briefly.
• Concern about shy people not being pushed away. Some current dancers made a slow sideline start at dance.
• Want to be able to clearly differentiate between folks who are intending to join us in the dance, however eventually, as opposed to onlooker who might be stalking or whatever.
• If a person comes with a friend, perhaps a discussion with the friend could help.
• Wiz could pick up the ball with this to flesh out a policy/procedure. Perhaps we could not act individually, but consult with another Wizzer. If taking action to ask someone to leave, make sure it's not unilateral.
• Voted: The only case we would ask someone during a dance to leave a dance would be only if there's an immanent threat to safety, and only with two or more Wizzers or their delegates.
• Wiz: consider what they would say, how they would handle this.

"Feet in" for new people in Closing Circle

• John suggested that putting feet into the circle is awkward and causes people to have to pull their feet out. Why not have a show of hands?
• Voted: DJs consider asking people to raise their hands instead of putting their feet into the circle.

Thursday night clarification

• Thursday night isn't pinned down.
• Nev: we had a group identified for Thursday dance, but it's fallen apart.
• Blair: Wiz not taking active part. Should be a Wiz responsibility, but Thursday night not clear.
• Nev: strongly feel that it should be a Wiz thing. So much simpler.
• Dave: Wiz just needs to coordinate to make sure it happens.
• Mellen's sense (and John's) was that Wiz didn't feel capable of taking it on. We just need a process. See if the folks we named earlier for Thursday Night.
• Greeter coordinator discussion: Dave/John: Greeter coordinator should be under the purview of the Wizangamot because it's an operational matter.
• Blair: Let's make Thursday a simple system just as with Sunday. Consider Greeter Coordinator the Queen or King.
• Proposed/agreed: Wiz take responsibility for Thursday night operations; discuss to work it out.
• Decided: Dave, Nev, and Elvis will take responsibility for next Fourth Thursday Dance.

Bates Dance Festival offer (Diane)

• Diane moving forward with Laura of Bates Dance Festival on a safety dance.

Aesthetic Concern (Martin)

• Circle of feet picture looks awful. Like we all have some foot disease. Shelagh will take up with Chloe and possibly get original from Deb

Cataloging decisions

• Nev/Diane want to have a catalog of decisions in a form that we can refer back to. Meeting notes not in an easily consumable form.
• John suggested a hierarchical outline form would be helpful, but doesn't want to do the actual work.
• Voted: Diane and Nev to wrastle this beast.

Bumper Sticker

• Dave wants to design a bumper sticker and bring the design for us to vote on.

Revisited ideas concern (John)

• When John raised the possibility of family dance, it was because of new information. He felt shot down and would like to say that issues come up from time to time, and it should be OK for that to happen.
• Nev: It's one thing when we revisit issues with new information, and another when we revisit stuff we've discussed and forgotten about. She wants to address this with the Catalog (discussed above).
• Dave: important that we develop this method of codifying decisions for the group memory.

Next meeting: Monday June 13, 7-9PM at Natasha Salvo's, 52 Bellaire, South Portland.

Meraki, April 12, 2016

Meraki, April 12, 2016

Neil Facilitating

Members Present:

Neil S	Shelagh Reiser
Parks McKinney	Sarah Lawrie
Lindy Ost	Diane Archambault
Deb Grant	Chloe Urban
Jason Ames	Julie Vohs
Liberty Bryer	Martin Steingasser
Kari Prichard	Jimmy Prichard
Jill Eng	Eva Goetz
Liz Farmer	John Boynton
Mary Ellen DesChaine

Sound Systems - we discussed our research and did not conclude about the sound system especially considering the possibility that Mechanics Hall may be buying one.  We decide to put this on hold until we have a definite answer from Mechanics Hall.   Dave will bring at Mechanics Hall update to our next meeting.

We had deferred buying a system.

Vote: rent it – who will reserve? Neil will get info to retreat committee, Blair will call and make sure it’s done.

Safety Dance Update - tabled until next time.

DJ report: iPad and Spotify Accounts - we talked briefly about the inquiry by some DJs into a community spotify account and backup iPad.   We expressed the view that we would rather increase the payment of DJs rather than start to cover costs for things like accounts and backup computers. The issues will be returned to the DJ committee.

Ask for $175 a dance. Covers each dj’s spotify account for a quarter.

Vote Yes.

Wiz 

Wiz update – from Blair

Nev Natalie, eva, jimmy, kari, & Blair. Neve will go off in a couple of months

Pics have been updated.

Operations- we will have rotating opening and closing facilitators who take responsibility to make sure things are open and closed properly

Neil will remain connected re: facility contacts

Thursday nights – How wiz will coordinate is not yet clear.  Nev will become a member of mechanics. Thursday night people should take care of that.
Wiz

Question of who helps people process at the end of the dance.  – 4 people, Martin, Neil, Natalie, Eva.

Biz card & announcement table.  There are varying views about how/if we should be or not be dealing w/ this.         
  table is getting crowded.

-       Brochrues, posters, flyers
Wiz talked about this!  Nev and Natalie will create a board that things can be pinned on.

-       Any conversation about parameters?

Vote: Let the wiz do this - YES

Mail Chimp email address… change our email address to portlandcommunitydance.com

Vote – john, Maryellen, john & chloe will work out new email issues/address/protocol.

Board resolution – signers for checking account – vote – signers will be the board members – Diane, John, Julie

Vote: yes

Suggestion to make our small studio family friendly
- insurance liability
- its hard to keep it contained
- the minute you add kids to the mix, it changes the adult dancing
- changing the music to kid friendly

Vote: No kids at Sunday Dance.

reimburse John for dry mop – yes.

Vote Yes.

Simplified ongoing membership management – John – managing lists. In the past we had tor re-up everyone. Have list stay as it is, and send a message asking if you don’t want to be a member any longer, please send a message and we’ll take you off the list. 

Vote: Yes.

·      Suggestion for closing circle.

Have a 6 mo old baby while dancing –

Vote: no.

Potential prepping of a new greeter coordinator

Vote: Sarah Lawrie offering to take over.

Offer from director of bates dance festival at a reduced rate for our community

Website update – shelagh – reminder – if you owe her material for  website, please get it to her.  Problems getting info to the calendar. 

Retreat update – Diane

Committee is asking a set # of funds to offer a limited # of partial scholarships to be available after this week – offer on a lottery basis.

Amount for meraki to determine.  Give retreat committee permission to divide up depending on how many people apply.  $100 each…? 

Only 7 spots left – 2 people who have already expressed interest.
Consensus at the end of retreat committee was to offer scholarships to all so that new people as well as old.  

Vote:

Counter – up to eight $100 partial scholarships – no full rides, all do not have to be allocated. Lottery based, , retreat committee will decide how many slots will be left open

Suggestion process: Suggestion process has fallen apart. How do people make suggestions now?  Request that Wiz develop a system for that happen.

Closing circle – vote – no enforced actions.

Items Carried forward –

Safety dance

Next meeting:

Martin & Judy’s

May 10

Address: 10 Willis Street, Portland (munjoy hill)