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