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) 

Meeting Notes March 8, 2016

Attending:

Liberty

Jimmy

Kari

Natalie

John

Mellen

Julie

Shelagh

Audrey

Dave

Neil 

Chloe

Blake

Meeting began with a review of previous minutes and a reminder of our purpose

New Work

Renting the small hall during sunday dance - we decided to continue renting the small dance hall during sunday dance at a cost of an additional $75.  We like this space for overload, for people who want to dance w mirrors or with friends, and because renting that space keeps other groups out of Avant during Sunday Dance.

Non-Profit Status - John filed our Non-Profit application!

Retreat - We acknowledged that we should be able to accept checks, not just registration via Eventbrite.   We await our leaders Eva and Liz who are responsible for registration.  They are both away.

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.

Thursday Night in April - Neil proposed that we have our next Thursday night PCD at State Street Church.  We concluded that we will hold the April dance at State Street Church.

Thursday Night Management - The committee for Thursday night (Queva, Nev, Oracle, Elvis, and Deb) will be reminded by email from Julie that they are responsible for organizing the March 24 dance at Mechanics Hall, and are encouraged to come to the next Meraki with a plan for managing Thursday nights.

Safety Dance Update - tabled until next time.

DJ Gear  - Chloe has been researching volume meters - we will be getting a volume meter.  USB sound card - everyone can use it to get better sound.  

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.

Wiz - current members are Kari, Blair, Nev, Eva, Natalie, Chloe and Neil.  The wiz has been asked to re-coordinate it's responsibilities and meet at minimum quarterly, and to keep official notes from meetings, and have a meeting before our next Meraki to report on their organizational structure and to let us know how post-dance processor will be selected.

PCD Website - Chloe is going to fix the glitch that's blocking our google cal from populating the calendar.  Shelagh is going to partner with Chloe to get it up to date.

Partner Request from Family Dance Group - we heard the request of another group to consider partnering around a family dance.  We will let them know that, based upon our policy, we are not interested in partnering.  

Post-Dance Announcements - we discussed the event when a visitor spoke after dance to the whole community out of step from our post-dance limited discussions policy.  We will have an announcement post dance this week reminding people that we hold space in our circles for only official PCD business, all other comments, announcements, concerns are shared in separate community post-closing circle.  Why... because we want to maintain the sacred stillness of the dance.

Next Meeting - April 12th at Liberty's House - 8 Edwards St. South Portland.  207-286-7206.