Minutes, April 16, 2019

Minutes, April 16, 2019

--Victor Gascon

--Virginia Winn
--John Wetzel
--Dianne Britton
--Fred Drusekis

--Marguerite Frongillo

The minutes of the previous meeting was approved.

The treasurer gave a brief report on available funds.

We discussed booking related issues, specifically when booking for next season should begin.  We voted to delay booking at least until one dance had occurred at the new venue, as our experience there (will this even work?) should influence that decision.

No one has visited the "ballroom on Broad river road" yet.  However, if this is the "Esmerelda" ballroom, which it probably is, this is unsuitable, per comments by John Wetzel who has been there.

Ebenezer lutheran might be workable, we have danced there before, but is costly.

Liability insurance was discussed at length.  Result:

1. CDSS affiliated insurance covers only the group not the officers.

2. Therefore, it does not address our primary concern of protecting board members individually from being sued.

3. Therefore, we voted to purchase that insurance only if required to do so by a venue, and the treasurer is empowered to do so immediately if such conditions come to pass.

4. The issue of finding insurance (or convincing ourselves via research that this is not needed) to protect individual board members remains on the table.  Fred suggested that we begin by contacting CDSS to find out if there is any documented history of suits against dance group board members.

Accounts receivable: Jonathan still owes some money to group for speakers.

Victor spoke with many organizers from around the USA at the bug stomp.  The problems we are having are the same everywhere, and we are actually in fairly good shape compared to many groups.  Meaning we are not doing something wrong.

Victor will forge ahead on the name tags issue.

Victor announced that he is resigning as President (and from the board also) effective immediately.  

The slate of officers to be voted on at the next meeting is:

PRESIDENT: John Wetzel

VICE PRESIDENT: Marguerite Frongillo

SECRETARY: Fred Drusekis

TREASURER: Virginia Winn

The next meetng will be on the 21st of May

The meeting was adjourned,

Minutes, January 15, 2019

Minutes, January 15, 2019

Victor Gascon
Virginia Winn
John Wetzel
Dianne Britton
Fred Drusekis

Jonathan Janzen

Marguerite Frongillo

Cayce Thompson

The minutes of the previous TWO meetings were individually reviewed and approved.   

(NOTE:  For the record, there was no meeting in November of 2018.)

The treasurers report (including a new iteration of tracking spreadsheet) was provided, discussed and approved.

There were no reimbursements requested.

"Reports from the last dance":  There was discussion of the problem of a dirty or sooty (carbon black??) deposit on the floor.  Victor will discuss or mention this to Jim.

Mailing out of emailed notices/news is behind, and will be sent out before the next dance.

The booking report mainly consisted of the fact that there is still no band for the March dance, and details or possible solutions thereof.

A local old time string band is an upcoming possibility.

OLD BUISNESS was tabled for this meeting, as there was nothing new to discuss, EXCEPT FOR the "additional board members" category.

In that category, Mr. Cayce Hunter Thompson offered to serve on our board, and was officially voted in as a board member.

Virginia and Victor are still working on Paypal and Patreon accounts, as a way of accepting donations, should such become available.

CHANGES to dance fees.  The board had an extensive discussion of our steady losses, and formally agreed to the following "fixes".

A.  Beginning with the March 2019 dance, the charge per person will go from $8 to $10 per person.

B.  Dancers will be warned of this at the February dance.

C.  Door staff will be allowed, totally at their discretion, to charge "family groups" a flat fee of $30 per group.  This means that door staff  has the right to charge $10 per person if they are unsure that they are seeing an actual "family", or do not have time to make the determination.  Door staff actions and decisions on this are final in each case.  A family group would typically be a pair of parents and

one to three children.  Family groups are limited to TWO generations (parents & children or adult children).

We discussed that we are having the next (Feb.) dance in the "front room" of Blue Moon ballroom, and that this is just an experiment.  Notices about this are to be sent out via email and other channels, and a sign will be posted on the back door where we have been entering.

We agreed to make a final decision about doing a techno dance in March, if a band for March has not been finalized by some date certain.  That decision (and the date certain in question) will be the day after the February dance.  If a techno is to happen, J Janzen will be the caller and Victor will act as "DJ".

The next meeting will be on March 19, 2019.

The meeting was adjourned,

Minutes September 18, 2018

Minutes  September 18, 2018

Victor Gascon
Virginia Winn
John Wetzel
Dianne Britton
Fred Drusekis

Jonathan Janzen

The previous meeting minutes were NOT reviewed or approved, because Mr. Wetzel forgot to post them.  Said review and approval was tabled for future attention at the next meeting.

The treasurer reported that we were paid up and current with CDSS.

We lost money on our most recent dance, but exact amount was unavailable at the time of this meeting.  We showed losses of $157 in October, and $129 dollars in November, these amounts being rough markers for the continuing shrinkage of our funds.

No one had any new reimbursements.

Reporting on the last dance mainly included complaints about problems with the venue, which we decided to discuss later in this meeting.

We reviewed mailing list issues (mailchimp problems).

Marguerite was not present to discuss details of the status of hiring bands and callers.  Basically, one band slot remains to be filled.

The "OLD BUISNESS" portion of the agenda was tabled to allow extensive discussion of the various problems with our current venue.

Soundscape is excellent.  No echoes, crystal clear sound is possible here.

Shape of hall is not good.  Not long enough, three lines not possible without danger.

Size of hall will never allow us to break even

Stairway into upper part of facility is in the way of band, forcing band into dance space.

Contra force had to use 20% of the space that would be danceable with a "smaller footprint" band.

High cieling and sheets on walls, and lighting, produce a non-contra feel or vibe.

Lots of time needed to move chairs from front room.  Victor had to spend a lot of his time and effort on this.

These issues were discussed at length, and we decided to investigate the possibility of using the "front room".

Victor said he would discuss this possibility (and our concerns) with the owner.

Any board members who have time are urged to check out the front space.

John is supposed to go down and measure the back and front spaces, so that we can make realistic capacity estimates.

John and Victor agreed that the front space, though smaller, is not much smaller, and has a much better "vibe" or feel.

That conclusion may not survive actually making measurements.

John was asked to keep a close eye on (and report on) any news regarding possible usable church space, or new dance spaces he has rumours of happening soon.

There was a general consensus that the Blue Moon is not viable for our group in the long term, although we are grateful for it saving us short term.

The next board meeting is scheduled for January 15, 2019

Meeting was adjourned.

Minutes, 03-13-2018

Minutes, 03-13-2018

PRESENT:

John Wetzel

Marguerite Frongillo

Virginia Winn

Victor Gascon

Fred Druesikis

Dianne Britton

The treasurers report was presented, including funds banked and retained as cash.  Treasurer reported that our last dance seemed to be close to break even, but the numbers have not yet been formally analyzed to make a determination.  The treasurers report was formally approved.

Mailing lists, emails and such were discussed.  Many of us do not recieve emails sent to the group, and we know this because sometimes the sender does not get these as he or she should.  The issue was discussed, including the tendency of cyber attacks to disrupt email networks and service providers.

There were no reimbursements.  We lost about $30 in January, and February was probably no gain or loss, approximatly. 

The mailing lists are being updated, and there is some turnover.  Victor believes most of our traffic comes via facebook.  We discussed allowing Bonne Terre to play four times per season rather than three (since Cabin Fever is bowing out of playing, except for emergency situations).  We decided to keep it at three slots per season for Bonne Terre.

There was some discussion about growing new local bands, and current efforts to do so will continue.

"Bryan" (?) may be interested in serving on the board.  We need to try and find her email and get it to Victor.

There was some discussion of the CDSS survey of Canadian dance organizers, and the idea of repeating that in the U.S.  There was broad agreement that that survey reflects the situation already apparent throughout our part of the USA, and not much new would be learned from doing the work of running such a survey here.

Bottom line, everyone shares the problems we have here, and we are not doing a poor job of being a dance organization.

We  discussed that students are ephemeral, and do not really help the long term health of the group.  Because of this, we discussed the idea of a simpler $8 for all scheme.  We made an informal decision that it might be best to charge everyone $8 if they will pay it, including folks who might be students, but to allow people in for $5 who ask for the student break (if they are actual students).  In other words, the student break stays in place, but is no longer going to be a prominent selling point, as this affects our budget.

Open board meetings.  We discussed inviting dancers to attend our meetings as non voting members of the dance public, so they can see what it is we do, and hopefully ask to join.  Announcements about this to be made at each dance.

The board discussed the slate of officers and board members at large for the vote to be held at our next meeting.  All existing officers agreed to stand for reelection to the same office for the next season, and we agreed to place all those members at large who are current on the new slate also, except for those folks who have not been attending meetings to the extent that they are not willing or able to serve in that capacity.

The vote concerning this slate will occur at the next meeting.  The next meeting is to be held on May 15, 2018

Minutes January 16, 2018

Minutes  January 16, 2018

MEMBERS PRESENT

Marguerite Frongillo
John Wetzel
Victor Gascon
Virginia Winn
Natalie Weston
Dianne Britton
Fred Drusekis

The meeting began by reviewing the minutes of the last meeting (printouts provided as needed) and then formally approving those minutes.

Virginia presented the treasurers report.  We lost a total of $382 dollars in the last year, according to comparing our most recent bank-cash on hand record with the same from a year earlier.  The treasurers report was formally approved.

The mailing list was discussed.  Natalie has agreed to make sure that all board members are on the "big list" that is to be used to mail out dance newsletters to our dance email recipients (when and as such newsletters are available).  We also agreed that we would resume collecting emails, using a combined form that also allows for people to volunteer if they are interested.   

There were no new reimbursement items to deal with.

There were no reports of issues at the last two dances, which went pretty well except that we could have used a few more dancers to meet costs.

Marguerite gave the booking report.  In short, the current season is completely booked, except for one band that has not yet officially confirmed. John then bought up an item that was already on the agenda for later discussion, which was about Connie's email about possibly giving local bands and callers "first dibs" (right of first refusal?) on ALL dance dates. We formally agreed that once the booker supplies the "all available dance dates" list to the local bands and callers (presumably in writing, via an email perhaps?), those entities would have three weeks to get back to the booker with the subset of dates they would be available.  Also, the band or caller would inform the booker of the rankings of date preferences.  For example, Connie might indicate that her band would like to play the May dance as a first choice, the March dance as second choice etc.  This is assuming that bands or callers have some preference, which they may not.  The booker would then use that information to assign the dates preferred by local caller and bands using that information.  After that three weeks, the booker would be free to open all remaining available dates to all comers, local or distant.  We did not discuss or vote on the related issue of increasing the percentage of gigs to reserve for local bands and callers.  In other words, locals would have a three week sign up to gig advantage over out of town folks.

Addendum:  As secretary, I missed or forgot to write down an important additon to the above.  We formally decided to allow each local band three (as opposed to the former two) gigs per season, thus reserving roughly 50% of the contra dance band gigs of our group to local bands.  Also, we asked that local callers (if willing) each do three dances per season.  The idea of all this being to lower our operating costs and try to break even. John Wetzel, secretary.

We may have a possible new board member recruit.  More news on this as it develops....

No one has any new ideas this meeting on recruitment of new dancers and improving dance attendance.

We are still due some money on a pair of speakers.

Victor asked the group to re-approve the spending of between $100 and $150 for the purchase of 100 buttons, because the previous approval was done some time ago.  This was formally approved.

John mentioned that because of an event the night before our next dance, we will not have use of the area normally used by the band, and we will have to use a small zone of the dance floor for that function.

We also discussed that we will need to arrive ready to be flexible about the pot luck part of the evening, because of the cordoned off part of the dance hall.  It was mentioned that this time we are not providing any food out of the COTMD budget, and are hoping that the dance community steps up to provide all the food we will need.

We briefly discussed the redesign of our "bland" website.  Victor pointed out that although he did change the look and feel of the site, he was just doing a quick "unblanding" of the site, a temporary fix, and did not have any intention of hindering a more thoughtful and thorough redesign by the committee that was assigned that task.  No one has any problem with the site being changed again by the redesign committee.

We then discussed Victor's suggestion of moving to a bi-monthly dance utilizing canned music (see previous minutes for details). 

We discussed the issue of paying or not paying the bands who's recorded music we might utilize.  We decided that we can pay a specific band (such as Contra Force) if we use their music all evening.  However, if someone wishes to utilize a program of music from many sources and bands, we have the right to do so without paying, due to being covered by the ASCAP license Emerald Ballroom carries, and the fact that the music was purchased and is owned by the user for reasonable use purposes.

We also formally agreed to let Victor begin the implementation of his planned "first Saturdays" series, in the form of a three or four month trial run, to begin in February, pending negotiations with Emerald Ballroom about venue issues.

The need to "rebrand" the new series, and make sure people understand that it is different from our current/standard/original live music format, was stressed.

Finally we discussed setting up and utilizing both Paypal and Patreon as "free" vehicles for accepting donations.  Victor explained why doing so would work and would not cause us any expense, while allowing us to accept credit card and other types of donations very easily.

The next meeting will be on March 13, 2018

Meeting was adjourned.

Minutes November 7, 2017

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.

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.

Minutes. January 10, 2017

Minutes. January 10, 2017

Members present:

Victor Gascon

John Wetzel

Fred Druseikis

Virginia Winn

Marguerite Frongillo

Natalie Weston

The meeting began by approving the minutes of the previous meeting.

Virginia presented the treasurer's report.  We lost money at our last dance, but only about $30.

No reimbursements were reported to be needed by anyone.

The reports from our last dance were discussed.  The primary issue discussed was the occasional "observer" (admitted free) who ends up dancing.  We informally agreed that this was not a big issue, but does need watching, and we agreed that it would help if we DO NOT provide observers with wrist bands, so that they can be more easily monitored. Victor will also remind those in attendance to make sure they have paid during the mid-point announcements.

The mailing list was discussed.  A few changes to the list will need to be made and those will be added, probably by Aaron.

Marguerite indicated there was no change on the status of bookings.  The group discussed the balance of out of town bands to local bands (60% to 40%) and agreed that we should retain this ratio as we move into hiring for the next season.  We also agreed to attempt negotiating down fees for "super bands" so that we can continue to afford them.

We discussed recruiting students and other community members as dancers and board members.   No new candidates have been identified.

The selling of our old speakers came up briefly, JWetzel reported that the speakers have been delivered to Jonathan, and he will be sending Virginia a check for them as soon as he has the money.

We briefly discussed our underwhelming attendance numbers, and possible strategies to turn that around.

Victor presented some nametag/button ideas and designs, and the group is to mull these ideas and designs over, for future action and decisions.

The pot luck dinner was discussed.  We are doing a "hybrid" pot luck in January.  We will be investing up to $100 of group money to provide part of the food (sandwiches, a dessert and beverages, as agreed in the November meeting).

Action item: John to contact Emerald Ballroom (Barbara) about how early we can arrive without impacting some other group finishing up.

We had another mostly fruitless discussion about devices to accept debit cards, and finally decided it was too small a problem to justify any effort we might make.

Natalie is going to look into "Midland Gives" as a possible future source of funding. It appears we already missed this year's deadline.

We briefly discussed the officers election slate lineup for next year.  Basically it will be identical to this years uncontested slate (unless somebody decides to throw a hat into the ring).

President: Victor

VP/Booker: Marguerite

Treasurer: Virginia

Secretary: John

The holding (or not holding) of the two summer dances was discussed.  We voted that we WOULD hold these dances:

A Techno in July AND

A Live dance in August.

The discussion of DOOR PRIZES and AFTER DANCE OUTINGS was postponed until the March meeting.

The next meeting will be held on March 14, 2017.

The meeting was adjourned.

Minutes. November 15, 2016

Minutes. November 15, 2016

Members present:

Aaron Davis

Victor Gascon

John Wetzel

Fred Druseikis

Dianne Britton

Marguerite Frongillo

Natalie Weston (via telephone)

Connie Robinette (via telephone)

The meeting began by approving the minutes of the previous meeting.

The Treasurer's report was tabled, since we did not have up to date financial information (Virginia was unable to attend).

No reimbursements were reported to be needed by anyone.

The reports from our last dance were discussed, with the primary theme being that the
problems we are having are common across the southeast as far as we can tell, and so are not likely to be the result of anything we are doing wrong. 

The mailing list was discussed.  Aaron has taken over the mailing list, and there was some discussion to clarify this issue.  Aaron is using mailchimp as the email list tool.  Content to be supplied by any of us who are up for supplying it.

Marguerite indicated there was no change on the status of bookings.

We discussed recruiting students and other community members as dancers and board members.   No new candidates have been identified.

The mission/vision statement issue was bought up, and it was made quite clear that this issue is settled, and that this is a matter of record in previous minutes.  Just some minor confusion about it having been voted on.

The selling of our old speakers came up briefly, JWetzel reported that this was just a matter

of getting the deal done (Jonathan is to purchase them).

Liability insurance  JWetzel reported that the Emerald Ballroom does have some liability coverage, which provides us with some protection.

The possibility of having a pot luck dinner was discussed.  We decided to try a "hybrid" pot luck in January, meaning that we would invest up to $100 of group money to provide part of the food.

Aaron reported briefly about the contra video he is working on for us.

We discussed leadership positions and possibilities.  Victor indicated he would be willing to

serve at least one more year as president.  John and Connie both indicated a willingness to serve in that role after that, should it transpire that no one else is interested in doing that.  Everyone serving at present seems to be willing to serve in their current office for at least one more year.

There was considerable discussion of the low attendance, with no new ideas as to how to

deal with this issue, other than to soldier on for now as best we can.

Summer dances for next year were discussed.  FOR THE MOMENT, and pending the results and attendance of future dances, we are going to hold off on:

A Techno in July AND

A Live dance in August.

We will need to check and see if we still need to pay for the hall on those months.

The official donation receipt form was unveiled, and the need for it discussed.

Jonathan' birthday party date has been shifted to January 27,which eliminates anyone having to choose between his party and our December dance.

The next meeting will be held on January 10, 2017.

The meeting was adjourned.

Minutes. September 13, 2016

Minutes. September 13, 2016

Members present:

Aaron Davis

Virginia Winn

Victor Gascon

John Wetzel

Fred Druseikis

Dianne Britton

Marguerite Frongillo

Natalie Weston

Jonathan Janzen (via telephone)

The meeting began by approving the minutes of the previous meeting.

The Treasurer's report was provided, and accepted by voice vote.

The reports from our last dance were discussed, primarily our financial loss at the dance, which was approximately $278. This also brought up the fact that we need more "Jacob"s to help with our attendance issues. 

The mailing list was discussed, and we decided to have Aaron take over the mailing list, and move it over to mailchimp, and act as the publisher of content to be distrubuted thereby.  Said content to be supplied by any of us who are up for supplying it.

Marguerite provided a brief report on the status of bookings.

We discussed recruiting students and other community members as dancers and board members. 

Victor talked about his experience with attempting to network and gain publicity using MEETUPS as a tool.  In spite of having no luck, he is going to give it another try until the next meeting.

Victor and Aaron will be meeting to discuss details about/for our marketing efforts.

Victor has an action item, which is to add contra dance links to our website/blog space.

Poonam and Connie continue to post in facebook and other social networking spaces.

The group agreed to allow John Wetzel to attempt to sell our older speakers.  Jonathan Janzen expressed an interest in possibly purchasing these.

The board discussed again the issue of liability insurance. 
John has an action item, which is to check with Emerald Ballroom and try to find out whether we are covered under their insurance (if any).

Victor indicated that he continues to work on updating the website/blog for our group.

Jonathan suggested that we might do buttons, both NAME buttons but also MESSAGE buttons (messages like "I dance both roles").  Virginia responded with our history with name buttons and tags, and indicated that this is something she has done plenty of, and someone else would have to take on this issue.  This issue will be discussed again at future meetings.

The board decided that, because of the election, the next meeting will be held on November 15, 2016, a week later than it would normally take place.

The meeting was adjourned.

Minutes 05/10/2016

Minutes, May 10, 2016

Board Members present  (** denotes new members to be voted in at this meeting)

Amy Lacoste **

Aaron Davis **

Connie Robinette

Virginia Wynn

Victor Gascon

John Wetzel

Fred Druseikis

Dianne Britton

Poonam Dhull

The meeting began by approving the minutes of the previous meeting.

Virgina delivered the treasurers report, which was an abbreviated process owing to her not being able to print out anything, due to a fried computer. 
We lost about $85?? at the last dance (I did not record exact amount).

John Submitted receipts for a $30 expenditure to get an amplifier channel repaired (peavy power amp owned by COTMD).

Victor stated (on behalf of Marguerite who was not present) that the signing up of bands for the next season is almost complete, and signing up of callers is going pretty well.

We then held our election to elect officers and members at large.  All officers and members present at the meeting agreed to serve another year, and we therefore voted for all existing officers and members to continue in their present positions, with the caveat that any officers (Marguerite) and members (Jonathan, Natalie and Tim) not present at this meeting retain the right to refuse to serve in those positions.  Fred indicated that he and Dianne might not be able to serve on the board after the next season, this being intended as an early warning of that possibility.

There was extensive discussion of the Mission/Vision statement.  The result of this discussion was that Fred will blend the best elements of a couple of versions of statement that seemed to be preferred by most of those present, with some verbiage to be added (community building, etc.).  The resulting revised statement will be presented for an up or down vote at the next meeting.

There was a brief discussion of "Midlands Gives", with the result that we will try again with this next year, there having been a lot of issues and problems with that this last year.

Aaron offered to create a professional video to answer the question: "What is Contra".  Victor will set up a scripting meeting with himself, Aaron and John to try and create a script to act as a starting point for this process.

The use of Meetup groups and other methods of  outreach were discussed.

We agreed that a July meeting would be a good idea, owing to the summer dances scheduled.  The next meeting will be held on July 12, 2016

Meeting adjourned.

Minutes 11/17/2015

Minutes of the COTMD Board meeting of November 17, 2015

Attending were:

Natalie Weston

John Wetzel

Dianne Britton

Virginia Winn

Connie Robinette

Fred Druseikis

Marguerite Frongillo

Victor Gascon

Poonam Dhull

Tim Piesch

The meeting was opened, and began by approving the minutes of the previous meeting.

Virginia presented the treasurers report.  We lost $111 at our most recent dance (some of this may have been funds disbursed between dances, not funds "lost" at the dance).

The losses at our most recent dance was discussed, this included a long discussion about beginner classes.  The board voted to begin all beginner lessons as close as possible to 7PM, using either the hired caller or any available member of the board, whenever possible, regardless of the size of the group being taught.

The mailing list status was briefly reviewed.

Marguerite presented the current status of her booking efforts.

COTMD booking policies have been completed and posted on our website.

COTMD safety & comfort policies have been completed and posted on our website.

Natalie Weston and Poonam Dhull agreed to serve on the board, and were voted in as members at large.

Recruitment among students was discussed at some length, and Poonam agreed to post wherever she could at USC.

Recruitment among non-students was discussed at length, including many ideas for recruiting from churches and other non student community groups of all sorts.  

The "Summer 2016" agenda item for this meeting was tabled for future discussion.

NEW BUSINESS

1. Tim suggested that we add links to dance videos to our website.
2. Poonam suggested that we post our dance events on other dance groups Facebook pages (not limited to Contra groups). We already cross-post with Lake Murray and Charleston, but we can expand to include Swing and Ballroom dance organizations, and perhaps even Meetup groups that we belong to.
3. Connie mentioned the related possibility of joining Midlands Gives with other non profits, to garner some contributions and hopefully a lot of attention.

The next meeting will be on January 12, 2016.

Meeting was adjourned.

Minutes 10/20/2015

Meeting minutes, October 20, 2015

Attendees:

Fred Druseikis
Dianne Britton
John Wetzel
Tim Piesch
Virginia Winn
Connie Robinette
Marguerite Frongillo
---------------
Victor Gascon (by phone link)

Victor telephoned in, and called the meeting to order.

The meeting began by approving the previous minutes, as posted in draft form on the
Board blog/website.

The treasurer's report was presented.  We lost roughly $270 at the September dance, and lost $111 dollars at the October dance.  With those losses, plus a substantial donation by an anonymous donor, our available funds (cash+banked) now stand at $3,425.  The treasurers report was approved.

Virginia mentioned that we are expecting a form from CDSS, and John said he had the form in his car, and would continue to recieve mail from CDSS until their database was updated to show Victor as the current point of contact.

Mailing list status was briefly discussed.

Marguerite reported on the booking situation.  This developed into a discussion about the possibility of collaborating with neighboring contra organizations to bring a band called The Contrarians to our region and to our own dance.

The group voted to approve the posting of our booking policy and our Safety and Comfort policy (authored by Victor) on our website.  Victor will post these policies sometime soon.

The issues of REVIEWING MISSION and REVIEWING VISION (from the agenda for this meeting)
have been set aside to be dealt with at a future meeting, owing to difficulties with telephone conferencing at this meeting.

For the same reason, the issue of having a live band and doing a techno contra for the two dances we anticipate having next summer was set aside, to be handled at the next meeting.  This also includes discussion of sharing an event with another dance group, such as the swing dancers.

The current possibilities for recruiting new board members, and the status of that effort, were discussed.

The pressing need to increase efforts to reach out to students was discussed in detail.

The fact that there was no pricing information available on recent iterations of our website presence, and that some folks were confused about whether we were still even collecting required ticket money at dances, was discussed.  We decided it was important for "somebody" (this probably means all of us) to make sure that pricing information is always present and easily findable on any websites, posters, documents etc.  This probably resulted from taking down the pricing info during the "donations only" summer dances, and then forgetting to put them back up.  We discussed the need to make it VERY CLEAR that such arrangements are temporary, if we use them again in the future.

The urgent need to have another meeting to discuss items passed over in this one was discussed.  We decided to have our next meeting on November 17th, 2015

The meeting was adjourned.

Minutes, August 18, 2015

MEMBERS PRESENT:
Fred
Dianne
John
Victor
Virginia

The minutes of the previous meeting (June 30, 2015) were modified using updated financial information, and then approved.

The treasurer's report was presented by Virginia, and we have a total of $1891 in funds available as of the end of July.  There were no new reimbursements.

Victor presented a brief report on our two over-summer dances, which went quite well.

The regular mailing list and the Board mailing list were discussed, and we also decided to combine these two items into one on future meeting agendas.

We discussed publishing our booking policies on our website, and decided to do so, as recently edited by Marguerite.

We decided that our Safety & Comfort policies, which have already been posted at dances, can be posted on our website.

We decided to keep our new caller stand/ladder, even though it is not always needed.

We discussed the need to review (and if needed Write or rewrite) our mission statement, and also to develop a vision for the nearer term.

The "Newsletter" concept was discussed at length.  We decided that in future, that we will forgo newsletter creation and dissemination, and replace this with:
1.  email "notifications" (two per dance), one at 2 weeks and the other at a few days out from each dance, with all essential info in subject line, to minimize the spamming effect.  This to be handled by Dianne.
2.  Fliers, to be created (most likely) twice per season, then posted on our website (and other vehicles) for distribution, but not emailed out (unless requested).  This to be handled by Virginia.
3.  Event photos and videos, to be created on an ad hoc basis, and disseminated via postings to our website and facebook, to be handled by various people as available.

We discussed where our calendar should live, and decided to maintain our calendar on both Google and Facebook.

We discussed what happens when somebody tries to contact us, and decided there is no pressing reason to publicly list our board member names/positions.  We can revisit this decision as needed.

We discussed having a local "combo band" centered on (constructed around) Fred, Dianne and John for the December dance, and that we will almost certainly be forced to hire an out of town band for the June dance.

We discussed having dances next summer, and trying out a live band on one of those dates.  We also agreed that we would need to make a firm decision about that before the end of 2015.

The next meeting is scheduled for September 22, 2015

Meeting adjourned

Minutes, June 30, 2015

ContraCola Board
Meeting Minutes, June 30, 2015 - not yet approved

Meeting came to order: 7:45 pm

Present: Virginia, Marguerite, John, Fred, Dianne, Sandra, Connie (by phone)

Minutes approved.
Reimbursements: none.
Dancers' email list: up-to-date.

Treasurer's report was combined with an analysis of our situation.  Predicted balance for end of June, including estimate of income/expenses for June dance, is $2162.  We had a seasonal loss of $512, which would have been $805 had we not received extra donations.  The extra dance at the end of April was a "wash".  Given our current treasury balance and a loss
rate of approximately $50 per dance, we can operate for another 4 years.

Treasurer's report was approved with amendments to be submitted.

We decided not to change the policy regarding bands and rates.  We plan to combine local bands for a fifth date -- i.e., for the season, five out-of-town bands, two dates each for two local bands, and the combined band on another date.

Marguerite will rewrite the booking policy to be posted on the website.  Connie to continue doing Facebook and social media.

Motion passed: Due to the time crush, we are abandoning the proposed survey for summer dances and we will hold a dance event with caller workshop on the third Saturdays of July and August.

"Dance Etiquette" draft was presented to the Board for posting on the website.  The draft will go out to the board via email for comments to be returned to Victor.  It was suggested that the title be changed from "Dance Etiquette" to "Responsible Conduct".

John brought up whether we should buy a caller platform, and a couple of designs were discussed.  Motion passed: Purchase a two-step stool for approximately $30.

Signatures were added to the thank you letter to the Methodist Church on Heyward Street.  The letter thanks the church for the use of the facilities.  Virginia will deliver the letter to the church.

There is additional parking for the Emerald Ballroom directly across the street.  Virginia will make a sign with the words "More parking" and an arrow.

We discussed the problem of inebriated dancers.  Any confrontation needs to be motivated by behavior or visible evidence of alcohol.  Any such problem will be addressed on an as-needed basis.

Adjourned: 9:30 pm
Next meeting: 8/18/2015

Minutes, May 19, 2015

ContraCola Board
Meeting Minutes, May 19, 2015 - approved June 30, 2015

Meeting came to order: 7:40pm

Present: Marguerite, John, Fred, Dianne, Sandra, Tim P., Virginia, Connie, Victor (by phone).

Absent: Kenny

Minutes read and approved.

$1616.92 end of April
$105 loss/dance avg.

Donations received at Emerald Ballroom dance in April.
At current rate of loss, estimate 12-15 dances left.
May dance had a profit of $53.

Virginia presented a table of season costs for bands, sound, callers which showed moderate increase in cost relative to use of out-of-town bands.

Agenda item for next meeting: variety of bands, rate, policy, student rate, etc.

There were no reimbursements requested.

COTMD Board list - no change.  It was noted that this agenda item needs occur annually, in the first meeting following the election of officers and board members.

ContraCola dancer email list: Outstanding updates to the list are to be sent to Dianne.  Dianne is to send email reminder each month to the contracola dancers list.  Victor will research a self-service email list, which will become a future agenda item.

The board voted that the Vice President would be the booker generally.

Connie agreed to be re-added to the slate.

Motion unanimously passed to elect entire slate of officers and members-at-large as amended, to whit:

President: Victor
VP: Marguerite
Treasurer: Virginia
Secretary: John
Members at large: Fred, Sandra, Dianne, Tim P., Kenny, Connie

The booking policy was amended, in agreement with Marguerite.

July and August: It was briefly discussed why we abandoned holding dances in July and August, citing historical poor attendance of dancers and unavailability of key board members during those months.  Victor offered to call dances in July and August of this year for free, using recorded music, if there is enough interest from the dancers.  The dances would also function as a callers' workshop with an "open mike" for would-be callers.  Donations would be accepted but not mandatory.  The dances would be on 3rd Saturday of July and August, with reservations available through EventBrite. To determine a likely attendance number, Victor will put together a survey, pass it through the board for comment, and email it out subsequently.

Virginia read suggestions/feedback on the Demo Dance at Red Bank Elementary

The draft of the document concerning our "slowly developing 'emergency'" needs to be revised for a more positive tone.  Everyone agreed to the "So, What to Do" section, which promotes community.  Sandra and Virginia are to rework this document, written by John, with the intent of disseminating it to the dancers via as many means as possible - email, FaceBook, Twitter, website, etc.

Agenda item concerning our disruptive dancers policy skipped.

Health risks of dancing:  Discussed signatures and a warning sign.  Sandra came up with a wording that we all liked:  "Contra dancing is a strenuous activity!  Please be mindful of your own health and respect your dance partners by dancing safely."

Adjourned: 9:18pm
Next meeting: 6/23

-- Dianne

Minutes, April 21, 2015

COTMD Board
Meeting Minutes -- April 21, 2015 - approved 5/19/2015

Attendance:
John W.
Victor G.
Marguerite F.
Fred D.
Sandra K.
Virginia W.

Absent:
Dianne B.
Kenny G.
Tim P.
Connie R.

Fred agreed to take minutes in Dianne's absence.

Previous Meeting Minutes were approved.

Treasurer's Report:
$1774.92 balance in checking account
$821 loss for dance operations as of 4/21/2015
No Reimbursements
John & Virginia will formulate an e-mail to the dance community regarding our financial health.

List Maintenance:
General discussion about "Who should be able to send to the general e-mail list?"
All board members? or some subset?
There are currently three people authorized.
Add John Wetzel to the general list.

Discussion about potentially setting aside moneys for restart after an extended suspension of operations.
No specific action was decided.

Discussion about our disruptive dancer policy.
Victor will send a recommendation to board consisting of two parts:
(1) what we say about our policy in the way of a small sign at the gate (i.e., one or two sentences);
(2) what we say as a fully elaborated (lengthy, several paragraphs) policy published on our website.

Demo Dance May 9.
Five men, three women volunteers.
It's a Saturday.  But it's also USC Graduation day.
Planning to have flyers at the Emerald Ballroom dance.

Venues:
Dance at Emerald Ballroom -- drive before we buy.
Prospect of Trinity Cathedral

Slate for next year's Board:

President: Victor
VP: Victor to explore possibilities.
Treasurer: Virginia
Secretary: John
Booker: Margurite

At large members:
Fred
Sandra
Connie ?
Dianne ?
Tim ?
Kenny ?

Carry-over Agenda topics:
Liability declaration vs. signatures taken at the gate.
Booking document to be settled by John, Marguerite, and Virginia.


Next Meeting: May 12, 2015
Location: Virginia's

Minutes, February 10, 2015

COTMD ContraCola Board Meeting - approved 4/21/2015

Meeting convened 7:30-ish

Present: John, Connie, Virginia, Sandra, Fred, Dianne
Absent: Kenny, Tim, Victor, Marguerite

Minutes: Minutes of December 9, 2014 Board meeting were reviewed and approved.

Treasury: The treasurer reported that we have had a $891 loss for the 2014-2015 season so far. January's available balance is $1,737.92.  The treasurers report was approved.

Reimbursements:  There were no reimbursements.

Email lists: Virginia reported that a few additions to the dancer email list still need to be sent to Dianne. The board email list was not reviewed this time.

Scheduling: The need for a local band to play for the May dance was discussed.  Bonne Terre is unavailable to play for it, and whether Cabin Fever can play for it is questionable due to the undecided timing of Fred's upcoming surgery and recovery.  It was decided that if Cabin Fever cannot play in its usual configuration with Fred playing piano, that John would play guitar instead.

Logo and branding: A vote was taken, approving the use of the high-contrast (black and white) "Rhett and Julie" (two dancers doing a contra swing) as our official logo.  When words are used, "Contracola" will be in large-ish letters with, optionally, the phrase "Columbia Traditional Music and Dance" in smaller letters.

Fred volunteered to research the word "contracola" as trademark, to be reported at next meeting.

Financial woes: At the rate we are losing money, there are only 9.75 dances left until we are broke. This led to the following discussions.

a) Raising the use of local bands next season.  Currently we use local bands for four of the ten dancers.  Next season we can raise that to six or eight.
b) Raising student rate.  We would not do this until next season.
c) Emerald Ballroom Special Dance, scheduled for the fourth weekend in April.  The out-of-town band has already been hired.

Venue:

a) Still trying to contact McKissick Museum representative regarding the AME church which is near Baptist Hospital and is now owned by McKissick Museum as a general arts space.
b) Emerald Ballroom.  In light of our financial situation, we discussed cancelling this dance, even though the band has already been hired.  After much discussion, a vote was taken, the result of which is not to cancel the dance.
c) Discussed possibility of partnering with Lake Murray Contra to put on contra dances.  This led to the topic of liability.  Sandra will bring a copy of the liability document she signs for swing dancing to the next meeting.
d) Sandra noted there is a building, formerly a church, for sale on Two-Notch Road.  John knew of the building and nixed it as a venue for us.

Demos: Thirteen people have signed up so far.  Lucy G. suggests we would need to have twenty dancers signed up to guarantee eight dancers for a given demo event.  Demo signup needs to be announced at each dance.

Facebook: Andrew is Lake Murray Contra's Facebook person.  Connie has communicated with him in an effort to get more Facebook "press" for our group.  She has also communicated with Susan at Lake Murray.

Meeting adjourned at 9:46pm.  Next meeting scheduled for April 14.

Submitted 3/20/2015 by Dianne

Minutes, December 9, 2014

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

Submitted on 12/18/2014 by Virginia Winn

Minutes, November 11, 2014

COTMD Minutes 11/11/2014 - approved at 12/09/2014 meeting

Meeting convened at 7:50 pm.
In attendance: John, Virginia, Connie, Dianne, Sandra, Victor, Marguerite.

Minutes reviewed and approved.

Treasurer reported a balance of $2238.92.  Approved.

Regarding new dancer email addresses -- John encouraged Virgina to get the new email addresses to Dianne asap generally, since we need the new dancers.

Sandra Keller was voted in as new board member.  And on Victor's report that Kenny Greer wanted to be on the board, we also voted him in.  We discussed using some kind of call conferencing so that Kenny could take part in the board meetings remotely.

Our current venue has AC/heating problems.  The setting is changed from "AC" to "Heat" (or vice-versa) just twice a year and is out of our control.

We voted to pursue the Emerald Ballroom as a possible dance venue.  It is located just off Dutch Square and is available on 4th Saturdays.  Advantages would be better AC/heat, better parking, and less setup/teardown.  The floor - wood over concrete - is also somewhat better than in our current venue.  Victor offered to call for a free extra dance, and Marguerite offered to look for possible dance dates for an extra dance which would to be held at the Emerald Ballroom.

There was a suggestion to advertise our dance at yoga studios.

We discussed having a themed dance.  We agreed it was generally a good idea, but felt we shouldn't go overboard as it could turn people off.

There was a discussion of obtaining our own building ("building project"), which would be self-sustaining through rentals.  John will look into to find out whether there is someone who specializes in finding/building buildings for non-profits, and if so, talk to him/her.

Victor passed out a handout on "Problem Dancers and Written Policies", which included three different existing policies from other dance groups, ranging in length from brief to medium to verbose.  It was generally agreed that we need to decide what things are important for our situation.  There was a spirited discussion about appropriate behavior and appropriate responses.  We want our written policy to have specificity without wordiness.  All board members are to read this handout, and are invited to email any related thoughts and/or verbiage to the board at cotmdboard@googlegroups.com.

Meeting adjourned.  Next meeting scheduled for 12/9/2014.

-- Dianne

Minutes, September 16, 2014

COTMD Minutes 9/16/2014 - approved November 11, 2014

Meeting convened at 7:40 pm.
In attendance: John, Marguerite, Dianne, Fred, Virginia, Victor.

Following a discussion about current board membership, Victor agreed to contact board members going off the board this year.

The board reached a consensus that meeting minutes should be specific enough to be useful.  For example, the total balance from the treasurer's report should appear in the minutes.

Several mistakes/omissions from last month's meeting minutes were noted:  misspelling of Dianne's name, "scheduler" should be "booker", missing Treasurer's report total balance.  Virginia to communicate these changes to last season's secretary for correction.

There was discussion about whether or not to publish summaries of the operational reports.  A yearly summary document was suggested.

Minutes from last month's meeting, as corrected (see above), were accepted by unanimous vote.

Virginia noted that the $75 check to CDSS has not been cashed yet.  The total balance is $2578.92 as of 8/31/2014.

The treasurer's report was approved by unanimous vote pending changes to year dates in the detail sheet distributed at the meeting.

Wrist bands have been paid for.  They seem to be well-accepted by the dancers.

Dianne is to clean up the COTMD Board google group to reflect current board membership.

The status of band/caller schedule was reported by Marguerite, including a rundown of band costs.  There was a discussion of holes in the schedule that need to be filled.  A local band may be pulled together if other bands do not materialize to fill the gaps.

Virgina passed out flyers for us all to post before the dance, as well as Contracola business cards containing the web address www.contracola.org.  Marguerite's suggestion to add the flyer as an attachment to the emailed newsletters was informally approved.

The planned discussion of WUSC as a dance host was largely tabled due to Laura's absence.  There was some discussion of the possibility of a future dance at USC and the board was favorably disposed toward it.

Victor presented some feedback from other dance groups, e.g., River Falls.  This led to a discussion of what constitutes a successful dance group - longevity? dancers per regional capita? 

Virgina inquired as to whether we would be interested in pursuing a possible Arts Commission grant in the $5000 range.  This led to discussion of a portable dance floor, building a dance hall, architectural plans for a dance hall, an annual dance weekend.  Virgina is to get information on what kinds of things have been funded by the Arts Commission in the past.

The group showed some enthusiasm for a dance hall building or pavilion of our own.  One idea would be to build a pavilion at a park.  Another idea would be to move the Women's Tennis Center.

Victor brought to the group's attention the need for us to have an agreed-upon policy for dealing with disruptive dancers.  He will attempt to find existing such policies to be used as a template for us to customize.

John will be holding sound equipment training sessions for Victor and Fred and whomever else is interested.  Sessions, to be hosted by Virgina, are tentatively scheduled for Tuesday 9/23 or 9/30.

Meeting adjourned without objection at 9:47pm.
Next meeting is scheduled for 11/11/2014.