Wizengamot (Operations Committee) meeting 5/25/14

Present: John, Don, Neil, Sage, Blair

John gave an update on the community safety issue and we discussed. No further action needed at this time; we'll keep a safety message on the announcements board regularly.

John started the whiteboard announcements, but didn't want to be on the hook every week to do that, and requested assistance. Wiz members will take turns arriving early and putting out the message board. Don will take next week (6/1); John will take June 8. Blair said he could do it in June. Don to put a notes page on our Facebook page that we could use to sign up with.

Looking at the suggestions box, there has been nothing new for several weeks. It didn't get put out yesterday at all. The last suggestion came up after the birthday recognition for John and Polly's common birthday at the end of March; the suggestion was to lift up the birthday celebrants. We rejected this idea on a number of grounds. But the suggestion was duly considered.

Neil did a brief run-through of the information he got from Kristin about the sound system. We were glad that the sound board had been fixed, as our experience with Don's having to plug directly into the wall last week was that there was inadequate volume.

We made brief mention that first full 6-month term is up at the end of June. John, Don, and Sage will be rotating out. We'll need to get the word out for volunteers for the next term, and schedule some time at the next Meraki meeting for Wiz selections. Also: do we want to keep 6 month terms with quarterly rotation? We've found that the job does not involve all that much and perhaps burnout is not the issue we had anticipated. Also when we first set up those terms, we thought that the Wiz was going to be the board. So we could discuss this at the next Meraki meeting.

Next meeting: June 29 after dance. We expect it to be a crossover meeting with outgoing and incoming Wizengamotians.

Wizengamot (Operations Committee) Meeting Notes 4/27/14

Wiz meeting notes 4/27/14

Sound system review:

Get with Kirstin and overview of instructions to clarify and relay info to DJs. John, Neil and Chloe will tell DJs.

Safety: 

Discussion about dancers physical and emotional safety. 

Possible safety announcement at end of dance. 

White board sign with safety reminders, announcements so not interrupt the vibe at end of dance. 

Welcome to newbies: 

Greeter ID newbie and are then welcomes by volunteer newbie welcomer. Woman to woman and man to man for gender ease. Blair volunteered to be welcomer.

Appreciation: 

Chloe for her stellar work with website

John for his unflagging, dogged work on all things PCD.

Next Wiz 5/25/14 after dance.

PCD Meraki (Steering Committee) Meeting 5/6/14

Next meeting:EXCLUSIVE TOPIC IS MEMBERSHIP.  LET'S GET THIS PUPPY DONE! TUESDAY MAY 20,  7-9,  at Traca's, 39 Highland Ave, Gorham, 207.252.4059   

May 6 Meeting Minutes
We met at Eva's home in SoPo. Thanks for your hospitality Eva!  John took notes. Deb spiffed 'em up and posted.

Present: Nev, Blair, Neil, Liberty, Chloe, Deb, Dave, Mellen, John, Julie, Eva (presiding)

First topic-- Discussion of physical safety.  
Concerns/complaint(s) recently, from dancers feeling worried about being knocked into or someone getting hurt.
Sense of exuberance, people feeling comfortable, others perhaps not so much. Some people don't have a sense of their own space and how it affects others. Others may be exuberant but are aware of others. Mainly discussing high energy dancers who partner and use a lot of space. 
This seems to come up periodically. Maybe from time to time we need to make an announcement or remind dancers to be conscious of others.
It's crowded. Contact: some lifts/moves that others find frightening. The true risk depends in part on experience/ability of individual dancers and partners. Some things are pretty risky. At times dancers may be a step away from someone really getting hurt.
Suggestion: put something out written. Dancing in partnership: in a way responsible for your partner, looking out for possible collisions by partner with other dancers.
Need to put this out verbally.
Restating: concern of safety with others and self (injury avoidance). Concern about excessive exuberance.
Idea: Try the whiteboard, with instruction to greeter to ask people to look at it.
Another idea: floating sign.
Another idea: speak with people you don't feel safe with. Encourage direct communication.
Deb read website page on safety.
Facebook another tool. We'll ask Don to post something there.
John gets whiteboard. Ask Cherie to highlight to greeter special announcements on whiteboard.

Next topic: General topic of Inclusion, including who comes to dance, and when and how do dancers feel included or excluded.
1--We're a primarily white community, able-bodied. How to reach out, draw and/or include people from non dominant culture or groups that might otherwise feel excluded?
What is our responsibility now?  In the future?
Currently we don't advertise and we are not trying to actively grow in number.  If an when we do we may want to return to topic of diversity.
2--How to include new people who often hang out around the periphery of the dance space?
Most of us are aware of helping new people feel welcome and make an effort.
We reminded ourselves to keep in mind how cultivate an inclusive environment when possible.
We do have a very strong subgroup of social-outside-of-dance community members  and some dancers who sense exclusion may be feeling that. 
Some of the people around the periphery feel safer on the edge as dancing is already an edge or feels risky and is plenty to deal with.  Others would like to be invited "in".  Often it's not clear what dancers who are dancing primarily alone want.
At some point we may want to consider educating inexperienced or new dancers about how to engage with other dancers, from a dance perspective.
We don't have any instructor saying "find a partner"
Idea: Once or twice a dance DJs could provide music that implies or invites dancing with a partner or group dance or stupid line dance. Bring up with the DJs.

Next topic:  Discussion of a community issue.

Topic for future discussion/review: Membership: Committee needs to meet first (Dave G, John B, Blair F). Otherwise tabled for now.

Next topic: Website
SEO. Others can link to site, add a few keywords, but otherwise don't worry about it.

Topic for future discussion/review: Create a policy statement that reserves the right to ask a member/participant to leave.

Next topic: Outdoor dance/special event: Nev/Julie to work on planning one or more summer beach events. Neil to call State St. church to secure facility for New Year's eve.

Next Topic: Announcements: put on the whiteboard, reduce spoken announcements at closing circle. Try for a month (having no announcements at closing circle). Chloe to get info to DJs.

Additional tasks: John to check with Kristin about putting us on the website.  John to get whiteboard.  Deb to make sign that reminds dancers about safety.

Next meeting:EXCLUSIVE TOPIC IS MEMBERSHIP.  LET'S GET THIS PUPPY DONE! TUESDAY MAY 20,  7-9,  at Traca's, 39 Highland Ave, Gorham, 207.252.4059    Liberty's home as backup!

PCD Steering Committee (Meraki) Meeting Notes 4/15/14

We met at Chloe's apartment - Thanks for your hospitality, Chloe!

Attending: Traca, Don, Blair, Mellen, Xiknawi, Parks, Chloe, Liberty, Neil, Eva, John, Sherrie.

Eva led the meeting and ran a tight ship. We finished early! John took notes.

• Uncovering mirrors: A community member asked why we covered the mirrors. Perhaps a holdover from Ecstatic Dance? Suggestion: experiment with having mirrors uncovered. We discussed this earlier when we decided to do it, and: we like to have mirrors covered. Self-consciousness, able to drop deeper into an internal experience. Suggestion: try an experiment of uncovering one or more mirrors. We arrived at no consensus on the experiment. So: leave them as they are (covered, except for the two closest to the entryway).

• Blankets: When Xiknawi was hurt, there were no blankets to cover him with. Suggestion was made to donate a couple of blankets and keep with the first aid kit. A few at the meeting said they might be able to donate one. Blair will take on making sure this happens as part of his Wizengamot safety lead role. Also, we'll leave the first aid kit by the greeter table so people know to find it. 

• DJ Criteria doc: Xiknawi wanted to see it. Contact DJ Coordinator (now Sage) who will provide copy of the doc.

• DJ Compensation: Still as sense of wanting more compensation. Now $80/local, $100/travelers. DJs want to acquire music legally, which means $$. A suggestion: at year end, buy gift cards for DJs when we know we have funds. Another idea: get an iPad and a paid PCD Spotify account. Any DJ could put together a playlist and play it on the iPad. Challenge: logistics + DJ's pride of ownership. Meraki to DJs: we're willing to consider buying iPad and Spotify account. DJs to discuss. Meraki will also review funds at the end of the year and consider paying a bonus to the DJs.

• Domain names: We have portlandcommunitydance .com and .org, but haven't turned on .org. We should redirect from one to the other and publish just one: portlandcommunitydance.com. Neil fronted domain registration cost out of his pocket. Treasurer: submit a bill for reimbursement.

• Name conflict: Mellen saw an ad in Go magazine for another group called Greater Portland Community Dance. This raised some concern, but Mellen feels she's not the right person to contact them. She will provide contact info to Don, who will contact them about the name.

• Social Services: Eva could have used some conflict resolution/social service person. We are equipped to provide neither medical nor counseling services. But the Wizengamot is the first go-to point for interpersonal or conflict resolution or mediation. Xiknawi and Blair will put some reference or crisis hotline number(s) into the first aid kit.

• Photos: Terrell posted a note on facebook about the picture-taking incident and tagged several PCDers. Parks and Eva responded, but Eva felt we needed to discuss as a group. We discussed; we don't need a photographer right now. PCD to send private message to Terrell.

• Bylaws: We're working on them; nothing else to report now.

• Membership: Read Dave's document, discussed. Want to include but deemphasize Meraki participation. (Not make it sound like you're signing up for Meraki if you become a member.) Don suggested to boil it down to simple bullet points:
• 5 or more dances
• Free
• Allows participation in Meraki
• Announcements
• Vote on board at annual and special meetings, and bylaws
• Can be an officer
• Can serve on the Wiz (ed: or any other committee)

• Membership committee needed:
• Initial membership information sheet and signup
• Keep track of membership contact info
• Be involved in membership meeting
• Committee: Xiknawi, Blair, and Dave
• Let's neither rush nor delay on getting membership going
• Mellen will review Dave's draft

• Membership meeting deferred to membership committee

• Retreat: Neil and Chloe presented ideas for retreat. Suggest a different venue than ED retreat. Neil has looked at a possible alternative (lodge as part of a camp). Last ED retreat: hardly any dancing. Want to have organized dances. Needs more structure to makes sure dance happens.
• Do we want a retreat? Yes
• Should PCD subsidize cost? => Partly
• What time of year? Spring or fall. Spring 2014 probably not possible at this point.
• Let's research costs etc. and report back.
• Traca: consider EarthDance. Great facility. Xiknawi: may exclude some because of distance and travel expense. Others: we could rent a few vans for the trip.
• Committee: Neil, Chloe, Sherrie, with Mellen advising on camps
• Timing: This fall or next spring. Perhaps pull a daylong event soon? Maybe in the summer on the beach with a bonfire?

• Next meeting: May 6, 7-9PM, tentatively at Traca's (39 Highland Ave., Gorham), with Eva's as a backup

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!!!!!