Meeting: Feb 13, 2024 7-9 Lori Harley's house, 111 Alba, Portland
Present: Erin (Facilitator), Kari (Ingathering), Deb (Vibe Checker), Blair (Timer), Tasha (Notes), Rebecca, Kari, Jimmie, Shelagh, Lori, Mellen, John, Lily
Ingathering
How We Roll
Agenda
- Discussion: Addressing capacity challenges - Deb
- Rent self-storage unit for Roadie Crew - John
- Speaker covers - John 5 min
- Retreat update - Lily 10 min
- How We Roll update proposal - John TABLED
- Board member changes - Kari TABLED
- DJ pay update - Mellen TABLED
Self-Storage Unit 10 min John
John: Proposal is to rent a self storage facility for our speakers. That way we can recruit more people to transport equipment and include more people in the process. And it would help support going toward weekly dances. Also it means we don't have a two dance commitment for moving equipment.
There's a self storage facility one exit N on 295 with combo lock. 5x10 is $90 / month.
Shelagh: Is the unit climate controlled? What's the term of the contract.
John: No but doesn't need to be. Speakers would have to be warmed up before using them at full volume. They've been cold in the past with no issues.
Deb: What's the drive time?
John: Right off the highway. 125/136 exit.
Erin: Are they covered under insurance?
John: Will look into adding it.
Shelagh: Can we afford it?
John: Yes. There are two others storage units that are way more sketchy.
John and Blair will start off doing it, then involve others as time goes on. One person has expressed interest in helping.
VOTE: YES
Speaker Covers 5 min John
John: Proposal is to buy two nylon soft carrying cases for protecting the speakers during transport. Less than $300 for two. Not available for subwoofer unfortunately.
Mellen: Is it worth the money?
John: It would protect the speakers. Have seen them put face down on the pavement outside of dance.
Blair: If there's a handle, that would help carrying them.
VOTE: YES
Deb: Additional related proposal: Last dance we experimented with raising the subwoofer off the floor, which was good for sound quality. If we could find one for < $200, could we get preapproval today?
Mellen: She's seen subwoofer stands. Will look into a folding stand. She'll check in with Deb, John, Jason, Blair before buying it.
VOTE: YES
Retreat Update 10 min Lily
Lily: Email went out with details about the retreat. Big changes from last year are two additional housing options and it's a little cheaper than it could have been due to Meraki's generosity.
John: Will send a link to retreat committee for RSVP, please look at it. Also need to know what our refund policy is.
Lily: If you cancel by Mar 12, you get 100% refund. You can get back $110 up to 2 weeks before, maybe be able to refund more.
Next committee meeting is Tues Feb 20 so if you have anything to add, bring it up before then.
Capacity 30 min
Deb: We had a special Meraki meeting to discuss things ahead of time and came up with a list of ideas. Would like to hear from some people who weren't there.
Tasha: Appreciate the efforts. Don't like the idea of raising the entrance fee.
Lily: As someone at the greeter table, we have so many new people every time; 20 at last dance! Glad we're addressing the issue.
Shelagh: Super helpful to read ideas ahead of time. Feel tension between inclusivity and wanting to keep the dance at the right capacity. Negative reaction to raising fee.
Erin: Staying at Waldorf with pre-registration sounds like an option. Raising fee doesn't sound good. Have we considered renting our own space that's permanently ours?
Mellen: Buying a place means putting down 30-50K downpayment.
John: We have one chair mover that could be used right away.
Deb: There are 4 categories of options to consider:
1. Dream options
Buy a place, rent a place, put it out there now to get people thinking about it if we were to find something.
2. Get a different space
That's an ongoing effort that hasn't yielded any results.
3. Low hanging fruit
Things we can do now to test to see if they have any effect.
4. Harder issues
Addressing the culture of our community, etc.
Deb: What do we most want to focus on now? She wonders what everyone's experience of dance was on Sunday. We cleared 100 people, the sound was good, the DJ table was in a new location, and the stage was open. So it felt better to me but I wasn't dancing.
Others: Better but we still need to keep this as a hot topic.
Mellen: We've already started to address some of the low-hanging fruit ideas.
John is in the process of purging mailing list based on who has not opened the emails being sent out.
Last dance email announcement didn't include the date in the email subject. They have to open it, and 100 people did.
We didn't post on the general PCD FB page.
AND we had 20 new people last week!
So those things haven't had any effect so far.
Kari: The idea of owning our own place, maybe renting, would require so much administrative stuff to put in place to make that happen.
Mellen: We'd need paid people to rent the space to share the expense, which feels like way too much to take on as an organization.
John: Propose that we do presales starting next dance.
Rebecca: Two things that would help are 1) weekly dances and 2) preregistration. We'd need a lot of announcements in advance if we were to require preregistration.
Lily: At Avant, we had 2 dance spaces, so maybe we could find a space with multiple smaller rooms. There are a number of dance studios that have that layout.
Shelagh: What if we try a one-off dance at different spaces to give them a try. We're being pushed into thinking about the big dream. What about creating a committee to think about where we want to be in 5 years.
Mellen: Like the idea of closing the doors after 10:45 because it would be easier to administer than preregistration. We could give it a try.
Rebecca: What about dancing in the room with the tables? No, probably not.
Erin: Closing the doors at a certain time doesn't feel good. Would rather know that you have to register ahead of time than being refused entry if you don't arrive in time. Being a bouncer would be a difficult job.
Shelagh: Preregistration feels stressful since I might not look at email in a timely way.
John: RSVP allows you to limit registration but it's expensive, costs 2.40 per ticket.
Jimmie: Like the idea of limiting dance to members only because it would easier to administer.
Someone: But how do you let new people become members then?
Deb: Let's consider four categories for now: Closing doors at 10:45, preregistration, limit entry to members, hold weekly dances.
Tasha: Let'[s not forget about the PCD culture category described in the proposal.
Kari: Let's keep the broad vision in mind: what kind of dance do we want? How do we create and protect the culture we love?
Erin: Some organizations offer two different options to different groups when they get too big.
Deb: Proposal to talk about the feasibility of going to weekly dances.
John: Will weekly dances reduce the numbers? It's an unknown.
Lori: What if we ask the community how they would respond to weekly dances?
Mellen: Recommended immediate actions: First three items have already been addressed.
Erin: Yay for us that we've created such an amazing community that so many people want to come!
Rebecca: Tension between inclusivity and keeping the dance within capacity. Let's move the chairs!
Deb: Proposal to not put the announcement on the PCD FB page, requiring people to look us up on our website and don't send out emails anymore. This would mean losing the DJ flyers, although perhaps these could be included in the calendar.
Lori: Calendar has DJ name now.
Proposal:
1. No more DJ announcements through emails.
2. Dances are listed on calendar.
3. No posters by DJs.
4. No PCD FB posts.
5. We will do a FB post and email to announce these changes.
6. Entrust Lori et al to make it work on the calendar page of website.
7. Reevaluate at next Meraki.
8. We let closing circle know about changes at next dance.
VOTE: YES
Tasha: This feels like a big change. Feel a lot of tenderness around it.
Erin: In the announcement email, we need to acknowledge that this is an interim thing we're trying due to overcapacity.
Rebecca: Recommend in the email that people come to next Meraki to talk about it.
Deb: Do we want or need to have a special committee for this or can we proceed with the changes through Meraki?
Shelagh: Proposal that we have a committee for longer term vision.
Erin: Proposal to create a focus group that addresses short term and long term and culture at PCD.
Mellen: Feel resistance to "starting from scratch" with new people who haven't been coming to Meraki and so haven't been following this thread since so much work has already been put in by so many.
Tasha: Who will write this email? Mellen and Deb.
Deb: Do we need to see it before they send it out?
No.
Deb: What if go to weekly? There are logistics that need to happen. Let's prepare for this for next Meraki.
1. Can Lori please get dates for going weekly from Waldorf?
2. Need to talk to the DJs. When could we go to weekly? Maybe May?
Lori: She will look into it with Waldorf. They do a floor refinishing every year in summer.
John: How viable is registration option? Should I look into it?
Most: Let's hold off on it for now.
Agenda for next time:
- Capacity update - Deb, et al
- How We Roll update proposal - John
- Board member changes - Kari
- DJ pay update - Mellen
Next meetings
- March 12 Zoom
- April 16 In-person
