COTMD ContraCola Board Meeting - minutes approved 2/10/2015
December 9, 2014
Meeting was convened at 7:37pm.
Present: John, Tim, Sandra,
Victor, Marguerite, Virginia
Absent: Fred, Dianne,
Connie, Kenny
Minutes: The minutes of the
November 11, 2014 Board meeting were reviewed. A motion to accept the minutes
as written was made and seconded. The
motion was approved.
Treasury: The treasurer
reported that we have had a $650 loss for the 2014-2015 season so far. We
presently have an available budget of $2026.92. A motion was made to accept the
treasurers report. The motion was seconded and approved.
Reimbursements: There
were no reimbursements.
Email lists: Dianne
reported via email that the Board email list and the dancer reminder email list
were up to date.
Seasonal Losses: There
was a discussion of what to do about the losses we are incurring this season.
>>Fliers: Board members are encouraged to do whatever they can to
get fliers posted around the community. They are also to encourage other
dancers to help post fliers at gyms, exercise classes, dances classes and events,
bookstores, coffee shops, etc. These fliers will be made available at the front
desk and/or the refreshment table. An announcement should be made at each dance
saying the fliers are available.
>>Business cards: Board
members are encouraged to carry and pass out card as appropriate. These cards
will be made available to the other dancers at the front desk and/or the
refreshment table. An announcement should be made at each dance saying the
cards are available.
>>USC: Sandra is going to
continue pursuing permission to post
fliers on the USC campus. Presently we do not have an official USC sponsor.
>> Social Media: We all
agreed that Connie is doing a good job getting our events posted to all the
avenues.
>>Present Venue: A
discussion was held concerning the pros and cons of our present venue.
Pro: It is centrally located and the size of the
room is excellent.
Pro: The cost is in line with the cost of our last
venue.
Con: The floor is linoleum over cement. Some of
our former dancers have said they no longer come because of the flooring.
Con: AC/Heating problems. Sometimes it just doesn't
work. In the summer you cannot drop the AC below 75. In the winter you cannot
turn the AC on at all. There is a specified date in the Spring and in the Fall
when the unit is converted between AC and heat.
Con: The windows will not open. This prevents
using them for ventilation especially in the summer.
Con: The folks that have to setup the room must
come extra early so they can tear down
whatever is presently there. Tables and chairs have to be moved and the
floor/room has to be cleaned up. The stage has to be cleaned up to accommodate
the musicians/caller. After the dance everything has to be put back the way we
found it.
>>Emerald Ballroom: Because we need to keep looking for a
possible new venue we again revisited checking out the Emerald Ballroom. We agreed
to ask at the next dance if folks would
be interested in having an extra dance in early Spring as an exploratory dance.
Victor will ask about this at break
time. John is to contact the Emerald Ballroom about a possible extra dance in April
either on the 2nd or the 4th Saturday.
>>Fundraisers: We
discussed several ways we could try and offset our losses. The one that got the
most momentum was selling
Tee-Shirts/Tank Tops. Victor said he would look into this.
Real Estate: We revisited
John's desire to purchase some real estate property and convert it to a dance
hall. John said he could not find
anything on the internet that would suit our purposes.
Disruptive Dancers: We
revisited this issue. It was decided
that even though we have not had a problem in the past, it would be advisable
to have a written policy on the topic.
The policy would provide Board members an acceptable standardized reaction. It was agreed that we
would need two forms of this policy. The first one would be a short, user
friendly document that expresses the essence of the policy in very positive
terms. This will be posted on the website where the public can easily access
it; posted at the front desk where dancers can read it; and, posted in the
newsletter. The second document would be
fleshed out and be posted on the website for Board members to access. It would
not be available to the general public. Victor said he would write it up for
review.
Volunteer Dancers: In response
to an email from Lucy Gordon (Charleston) that Victor had forwarded to the
Board concerning new dancer recruitment and volunteer dancers for demo dances,
Virginia designed a poster and sign-in sheet for volunteers. Virginia pointed
out that we have had to turn down requests because we don't have a pool of
dancers to draw from. We discussed the importance of showing people what contra
dancing is all about which could lead to recruitment of new dancers. It was
decided that we needed a source of responsive dancers so that we can accept
requests for "demo" performances.
Next Meeting: January 13,
2014
This meeting was adjourned at 8:45pm
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