Minutes November 7, 2017
Marguerite Frongillo
John Wetzel
Connie Robinette
Virginia Winn
Natalie Weston
Dianne Britton
Fred Drusekis
The meeting began by first reviewing the minutes of the last meeting (printouts provided as needed) and then formally approving those minutes.
Virginia presented the treasurers report. We lost roughly $50 dollars on the last dance, which was otherwise a fun and fairly well attended event. There was a brief discussion of maybe talking about the need to change our prices, but we decided to table that for a future meeting, because of the need to talk about the idea of having bimonthly dances (see previous minutes). The treasurers report was formally approved.
The mailing list was discussed. There is confusion about what, if anything is being emailed to the mailchimp list, who (if anyone) is actually getting this done, and if so how often. Natalie agreed to talk to Victor and find out about this, and also to take and maintain a list of new emails, as and if such are gathered at dances. It turns out we were/are not asking new people for emails because no one is adding emails to the mailchimp list. The plan is for Natalie to at least keep a list of any email addresses we get, so that they will be available to add to mailchimp, if and when somebody starts handling that again.
On the subject of emails, we also breifly discussed how often a newsletter should be sent out, if sent out at all, especially given that we need to ramp up our marketing effort if we are going to be having bi-monthly dances. This discussion did not lead to any hard conclusions, given the other uncertainties about email outreach.
Marguerite provided a report on the status of bookings.Marguerite Frongillo
John Wetzel
Connie Robinette
Virginia Winn
Natalie Weston
Dianne Britton
Fred Drusekis
The meeting began by first reviewing the minutes of the last meeting (printouts provided as needed) and then formally approving those minutes.
Virginia presented the treasurers report. We lost roughly $50 dollars on the last dance, which was otherwise a fun and fairly well attended event. There was a brief discussion of maybe talking about the need to change our prices, but we decided to table that for a future meeting, because of the need to talk about the idea of having bimonthly dances (see previous minutes). The treasurers report was formally approved.
The mailing list was discussed. There is confusion about what, if anything is being emailed to the mailchimp list, who (if anyone) is actually getting this done, and if so how often. Natalie agreed to talk to Victor and find out about this, and also to take and maintain a list of new emails, as and if such are gathered at dances. It turns out we were/are not asking new people for emails because no one is adding emails to the mailchimp list. The plan is for Natalie to at least keep a list of any email addresses we get, so that they will be available to add to mailchimp, if and when somebody starts handling that again.
On the subject of emails, we also breifly discussed how often a newsletter should be sent out, if sent out at all, especially given that we need to ramp up our marketing effort if we are going to be having bi-monthly dances. This discussion did not lead to any hard conclusions, given the other uncertainties about email outreach.
We discussed and then voted on the next pot luck. First, we formally voted to have a pot luck at the January dance, and then, we formally voted to not fund it, and see how well the pot luck came together without money from the group added in. Our next meeting will be only four days before that dance, so preliminary organizing of the pot luck event will have to take place via emails between board members.
The main effort of the meeting was put into discussing Victor's suggestion of moving to a bi-monthly dance. After much discussion, we INFORMALLY voted (straw poll) in favor of trying this for a trial period of four to five months, with no start date/starting point defined. A formal vote on all this to be taken at the next meeting. Some limiting parameters are included in this, and they are:
1. Some branding needs to be done, to make it clear that the new dances are of a different type. Something similar to, but not as harsh as saying "alternating between live music dances and recorded music dances". We might want to refer to the "live bands dance series" and the "Modern sounds dance series" or whatever. Branding ideas are badly needed here.
2. We agreed that the majority of us (at this meeting) do not want to share any limited income from the new dance series with the bands providing the music, while understanding that Victor may have already promised such an arrangement to at least a couple of bands. This means that we may have to forgo using the music of Contra force (for example) in favor of other bands that we have not made any promises to. Under the umbrella of the Emerald Ballroom ASCAP license, we have the right to play recorded music at our dances. This issue may require further board discussion!
3. We have a consensus that if the new dance series "steals dancers" from the existing series, that this (bimonthly dance change) might on balance not be a viable long term plan, and that therefore, the new series must be clearly announced and marketed as being a "trial run" and not a permanent fixture.
4. We want to grow our base of local calllers, and we would like the new dance series to include "open mic" calling opportunities for any of the dance community to try and do some calling.
5. We need to get back up to speed on email outreach, to support both dance series.
As stated above, all this to be discussed again, and formally voted on, at the next meeting.Other issues briefly discussed:
Someone (Victor?) should add a "donation" button to our website, which would link the user to a statement that donations can be made by check, sent to Virginia's snail-mail address, said statement also indicating that a receipt for the donation will be mailed to the donor.
Connie indicated that our website/blog is a bit "sterile" and could use some jazzing up. Connie has agreed to chair a committee which will come up with some "themes" which will then be submitted to the board for review and possible inclusion into the blog pages.
The next meeting will be on January 16, 2018
Meeting was adjourned.
