Meraki Tuesday January 13, 2026 in person

Meraki Tuesday January 13, 2026 at Marion's House

Meraki met at Marion's house 

Attendees: Lori (in-gatherer), Brian S (facilitator), Beck B (timekeeper), Kari P (vibe checker), John B (notetaker), Jess M, Jimmie P, Lori, Tasja, Dave, Emily, Shelagh, Cor, Mellen

Meeting Format

• Choose roles (In-gatherer, Facilitator, Timekeeper, Vibe Checker, Note Taker)
• In-gathering
• 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
• Out-gathering

Agenda

• PCD DJ Training update - Jason Mellen
• Review how we collect Meraki agenda items & proposals - Tasja
• Fall Retreat financials - John
• Spring Retreat update - Kiara/Nate
• PCD sponsored Workshops - Brian
• AI Meeting Summaries - John
• Attendance - Brian
• Promotion (added) - Mellen
• Rates we're charging - Emily
• Code of Conduct - Emily
• Dance Space Possibility - Tasja
• Inquiry on Equipment Sharing - Cor
• Workshop/Onboarding Idea - Jess (Folded into Jason/Brian subcommittee)
• Where Can We Dance search committee

Dancer Concern about PCD's venue - Beck

Summary of issue from the past regarding dancer's discomfort meeting in a Synagogue. We discussed, and Beck responded to the individual, who wasn't comfortable with our decision to not pursue discussion with synagogue management about policies w.r.t. Gaza, etc. Dancer asked to be removed from all lists.

Emily: We should continue to hold that discussion; others have decided not to dance with us at the synagogue. The issue is alive; we shouldn't put it to bed.

Brian: During other meetings, that was also shared

Tasj: Does this motivate us to re-engage search committee

PCD DJ Training update - Mellen

Mellen: First session is this Thursday (Jan 15) with 4 prospective DJs; one can't make it.

Mellen to ask who the trainees are

Tasj: If we voted for 4, and there are 5, that changes the math. Brian: doesn't change the math

Jess: I know some of the people who weren't picked, the letter felt unnecessarily exclusionary, and said more than was needed about why they were declined, including "We don't feel like you fit". Felt that wasn't cool. Feels there's a better protocol for letting people know. It read like a "fit with the group", not just that their music wasn't a fit. Read to her very exclusionary.

Can Mellen can give feedback on making the letter better?

Brian: Let's let that feedback just be filtered back to the DJ committee, rather than attempting to craft a solution.

Jess: In the future, "thank you so much for applying", nothing more needed

Mellen: Candidates are Ash, Jen Daigle, Bodhi, Sadie Grant (IOW not 5)

Review how we collect Meraki agenda items & proposals - Tasja

Marion and I had peaceful transfer of power meeting. Item of discussion was "how do we gather agenda items?" Tasj sent to select group, but it's not enough on people's radars to add in advance.

John: Propose we send two emails to membership, the first to solicit new items, along with the link to the notes from the last meeting and the second email to remind people of the upcoming Meraki meeting with proposed agenda and pertinent links.

Tasj: Another idea: announce at closing circle

Lori: Important when soliciting that make it clear you need to present a proposal if you're making one.

Mellen: There's also a format for proposals

Beck: Agenda item doesn't have to be a proposal, right? Yes.

Brian: (Point of order regarding stacking questions)

Fall Retreat financials - John

John presented financial report

Spring Retreat update - Kiara/Nate

Kiara/Nate not present; John B relayed the date: March 27-29 for the spring retreat at Ferry Beach.

Mellen: We definitely need to know those dates for DJs etc.

PCD sponsored Workshops - Brian

Tabled 

AI Meeting Summaries - John

Zoom offers AI meeting summary, and there may be tools we could use for the same purpose in person.

Brian and Lori both offer to take notes in rotation

Beck: We're in person. Don't want to bring AI in. Energy cost should be quantified. Happy to be a notetaker.

John described a new notetaking mechanism

Tasj: We need notetakers in advance. We should request for notetaker 

Marion: Selecting notetaker for next Meraki meeting should be part of the planning meeting.

Lori: Notetaker can take by hand and type up later

Volunteer notetakers: Lori, John, Beck, Brian, Marion volunteer to be part of the steno pool

Lori: We never ask DJs to use AI to create their sets

Marion: We also don't tell them not to

Attendance and Rate - Brian

Wrote a proposal (but didn't bring it) to change donation to $15 suggested donation. Looking at new spaces, $10 is cheapest for any dance anywhere.

Emily: Fusion dance is $15 to $60 donation in. Have a min and max and say "no one turned away"

Marion: With retreat, sliding scale interesting model, maybe we could apply to Sunday dance.

Emily: suggests $15 to $30, no one turned away

Brian: another proposal Beck and I have been taking attendance; Annual meeting gave numbers. Summary: last dance 113 people, the most we have counted. Similar numbers before we started counting. Looking at the hard numbers, projection: We could get even more than 113, because the max we counted was last May: 105. January to May, we could potentially have more.

Proposal: 1 designated person count attendance (free dance) until 1:15 PM. Brian doesn't want to do it every time. Idea: to count through May to get a year's worth of hard data.

Beck: Like the idea of ending at 1:15. Make sure it's OK with greeter coordinator. Give the counter to the greeter to continue count (if they are able) after 1:15.

Beck/Kari: Include Lily (greeter coordinator) in the ask

Shelagh: Curious about the need to raise the rate.

John: I feel we should ask for more money when we need it, as for a new more expensive space.

Emily: We could bracket a fee $10 - upper limit. Further discussion warranted,

Beck: Tally indicated we were short about 10% from expected

John: We should keep a spreadsheet on attendance

We changed our messaging around donation to ask for that specific amount

Promotion - Mellen (Related: Attendance: Brian)

Update: Monthly announcements haven't really decreased numbers of new attendees. Don't know how the word is circulation. It's too crowded, I'm not comfortable. Should we continue with once a month announcements?

Tasj: Jeff sending out dance announcements with specific dates

Jess: OneDance got off the list

Beck: Jeff is willing to take us off the list. Wasn't full consensus from Meraki to take it off the list. Willing to talk to Jeff if we have consensus.

Shelagh: 2 questions: 1) Should we continue monthly announcements? Yes. 1) Should we ask to be off Jeff's list?

Brian: We're pretty consistent with low in the summer, higher in winter. With the power of word of mouth, taking off Jeff's list isn't going to solve attendance problems. We can ask to be taken off Jeff's list, but it won't matter.

Beck won't ask Jeff to take us off his list.

Jimmie: if we increase frequency, that will increase the numbers, because people make it a regular appointment. Our numbers are already close to a max.

Brian: closed discussion by saying that anyone who's passionate about it, keep a note to yourself, how full did it feel today, bring that to our discussion; we can talk about it in the future.

Lori: Music makes a difference; if more frenetic, seems more crowded.

Potential space Boys & Girls Club on Cumberland Ave: Tasj

Tasj will set up a meeting for after dance, will notify everyone in this room

Sound sharing: Cor

Cor: Alex of Contradance group that meets at Beth El is curious about sharing equipment. Seed: Thriving collaborative vibe

Cor will get my contact info to coordinate with Alex.

Jimmie: Had a discussion with Alex, he had to earn money? John will talk with Al

Code of Conduct: Emily

Emily: Write down Code of Conduct, set behavioral expectations for people. Wiz doesn't want the onus to make decisions about handling individual actions. Has researched creating Code of Conduct, wants to make it collaborative.

Brian: Great idea, 

John: Propose committee

Jess, Mellen, Dave, Emily lead

Next Meetings

Tasj: Add to agenda for next time: reinvigorate Search Committee

Monday February 9 on Zoom; Notes: Beck

Sunday March 15 after dance; Notes: