Taken by: Tania
Present: Tania, Steve, Can, Mary Ellen, Tracie, Sally, Lynn, Stacey and Maria
1. Old Business
General Report -
(1) Lynn noted corrections to the minutes of the June meeting, which he agreed to email to Can, who then would incorporate the changes into the electronic record he maintains.
(2) Weekly dance status report. Maria reported that attendance is steady at 60 people and distributed a breakdown of attendance, costs and income.
(3) Hanover Square series for 2002. Crowds have been good at this event with 150 to 200 people attending. The hustle lesson that Kim taught on 6/21 was packed and people stayed and tried to hustle. Tracie is distributing 100 mini flyers per event. Tania will check on payment from the Updowntowners, who owe us for all events to date despite our invoice. Tracie is not available to teach 8/2 as scheduled. Tania needs to fill her slot and last two dates. Maria said that she would like to ask event organizers to install a dance floor or smooth out the concrete so that the surface is like the federal building. Tania agreed to mention the poor dancing surface and the potential for injuries in her usual follow-up letter at the end of the series. Steve said that this event is about exposure and publicity rather than quality dancing.
(4) Proposal to Ukrainian Home regarding floor refinishing. Steve reported that his latest contact at the UK Home was fired. Dave the floor guy gave an estimate of $5,700 for the floor and stage, hallways and balcony. We're only willing to pay for the dance floor. Steve plans to meet with the new manager and re-pitch our proposal.
(5) Demo on October 12 for Eldercare Foundation. Tania received an email from the Eldercare Foundation, which is affiliated with Home Aides of CNY. They are doing a fundraiser Saturday October 12 from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. at Hooligans on the Green at Green Lakes. The benefit will have about 100 to 150 people, many of them seniors. They want SSDS to do a demo of up to 45 minutes in exchange for publicity and possible honorarium. Lynn agreed to head up this demo due to his experience working with seniors in Oswego County. Anyone who has a dance team or demo should contact Lynn to coordinate the performance.
(6) Review of picnic on June 27. Tania reported that we had about 85 to 90 people, our largest turnout ever. Tracie and Stacey each heard complaints that there were too many games, especially the cereal box limbo which ran long, and not enough dancing. We had enough food and volunteer help. Our expenses were about $153 and we took in about $120, for a loss of only $30, which is very low for this event. The dance floor was tight, but OK in light of the doubling of attendance.
(7) Review of IRC demo on June 11. Tania read a very positive letter from the organizer of the IRC fundraising dinner and thanked Kim, Maria, and Steve and their performers for their work.
(8) Policy re hops on holidays. We formally adopted a previously informal policy about holiday conflicts with our weekly dances. If Thanksgiving (always), Christmas or Independence Day falls on a Thursday, then we will not have a record hop.
Financial Report - We deferred this report until August when the Mario workshop figures are complete.
Committee Reports
(1) Workshop documents. Tania reported that her committee met on July 2 (Greg, Kim and Tania) and reviewed, edited and combined the two draft documents. The committee will try to present its final recommendation at the August meeting. The biggest item of discussion will be volunteer compensation.
(2) Dance venues. Maria said her committee had no report.
(3) Workshop review classes. Tracie said that she will incorporate Tania's emailed comments into the previously circulated proposal. The substance of the revised proposal is unchanged. Maria reported on her plans for review classes for the Mario Robau workshops, which will take place from 6 to 8 p.m on 7/25 and 8/1 and 6 to 7 p.m. on 8/8. Sally asked if there was a problem finding time slots for review classes on Thursday nights, and Tracie responded that the committee already checked out the calendar for 2002 and determined there were enough slots. Next year's schedule will depend upon the workshops we sponsor and the additional wrinkle if Steve is out of town on leave. Tracie clarified the proposal's requirement that the workshop organizer must clear the review class fee with the Board before the event, but the policy is open-ended on a particular price. Can said he likes the open-ended and flexible policy and that the review class should not be free but inexpensive to workshop attendees so that people appreciate the class. Lynn agreed that it makes sense to vary review class structures depending upon the weekend as long as the SSDS Board and not the individual instructor is setting the fee. Tracie said that she expects to have the final policy in August and will email it out before the meeting.
Marketing Report.
(1) The bulk mailing went out in June with Greg, Stacey and Debbie helping to assemble it. Tracie's husband made cookies, and it was done in two hours. She has $45.52 in her petty cash fund and is being directly reimbursed for large expenses.
(2) Tracie bought a bulk mailing permit as directed, and she has an application for non-profit rates. Tania will fill out the form because she has the required info. Non-profit rates are about 25 cents less than the regular bulk mailing rate. Tracie said she will turn in the form at the Taft Road post office because they have the best service.
(3) Tracie distributed a spreadsheet of contact information for regional teachers and dance organizations that she used for mailing out Mario flyers. Maria said she would give Tracie feedback from the Mario weekend to streamline the number of flyers we mail regionally.
(4) Tracie distributed a current shirt inventory. We gave away seven at the picnic as prizes and sold $146 worth in 2002. We approved a sale on vintage tanks for $5 instead of $8. We had a long discussion about possibly giving the extra shirts (mostly tanks) away at Hanover Square or the Mario weekend. We accepted Can's suggestion that we have a monthly drawing of the birthday dance people at the hop and give the winner a shirt. That way the shirts go to people who support SSDS.
(5) Mary Ellen reported that she purchased 500 fans as we directed for $205.64, or 41 cents each. The fans primarily are for Mario weekend, and Tracie will determine how to use them for promotions in the future.
(6) Tracie reported she is making 800 more half page mini flyers for Hanover Square.
(7) Tracie and Kim will update the SSDS mailing list.
Progress on upcoming events.
(1) Mario workshops July 12-14, 2002. Maria reported that she has 85 pre-registered including 65 weekend passes (her goal was 70). She is currently over her projected income for the event; travel and lodging are below budget. She needs two more volunteers for door duty, but otherwise volunteer slots are filled. The private lessons also are full, and she did it on first-come, first served basis. Maria noted that some people are taking privates but not supporting the event by buying a weekend pass. An issue for the future is how to weight the privates list to favor people who buy weekend passes. Can said he would like to see local dancers given extra weight on the list too. Both issues will be resolved in the workshop documents committee. The review class fee will be $2 per hour if student attended the Mario workshop, otherwise $15. Maria will be at the review classes with her records to keep track of who attended the workshop. She may schedule review classes in half-hour slots to keep it simple.
(2) Kyle & Sara workshops Sept. 20-22, 2002. Steve reported that K&S want to change the date to Sept. 14 and 15. We have a conflict with Hanover Square on Sept. 13. They want to attend another event on 9/20-22, and the last-minute switch is not professional. They are not saying that they won't come on 9/20-22 but asking for the change. Their proposed contract says a minimum of 6 hours and no more than 4 hours per day, plus they want guaranteed privates. We will make a new proposal for the new dates, and they can agree or not. Steve has to make sure UK Home is available and then will call K&S with a proposal renegotiating their contract, especially the privates provision, because of the date change. Steve said that they are motivated to come here but want to do two events at once. He said K&S never said that they wouldn't come as they previously promised.
(3) Diane Nardone. Nov. 15-17. (Kim). No report
(4) Halloween Dance October 26. Can said that Israel Hagan has pencilled in the date and Can is still trying to put Israel in touch with Seaway Swing for their collaboration. Steve will make sure that we are down in the calendar at UK Home. Maria's team is available for a demo.
(5)Lindy events. Lynn and Sally talked with Bill Borgida about possible workshops in Syracuse and will talk more about this at the summer planning meeting. Lynn & Sally are bringing Frankie Manning in October 2002.
2. New Business
Bookkeeping clarification. Tania reported that the SSDS Board met on July 1 and decided to convert our bookkeeping from a petty cash system to maintaining a checking account. We will no longer have petty cash funds held by several different people. Tania stressed that this change is not a suggestion that anyone is mishandling SSDS funds; to the contrary, everyone to date has been very careful in their record-keeping and is extremely trustworthy. Tracie asked the board to consider issuing debit cards to people in SSDS who make a lot of SSDS transactions; they still would have to present receipts to back up withdrawals. We would need to make sure that access to funds through a debit card is limited to a fairly low amount. Tania said she will pass this idea along to Greg, who is working out the details. Tania said that part of the board's rationale in making the switch to a checking account is the increased size of SSDS and the need to maintain better records, especially in light of a possible IRS non-profit status review at then end of 2002. The same three people (the board) will have access to the bank accounts. The board also decided to accelerate the transition of bookkeeping duties from Steve to Greg in light of Steve's plans to take a leave of absence. Tania will draft housekeeping resolutions to switch treasurer and secretary roles between Can and Greg, respectively, and rescind a prior resolution appointing Steve as bookkeeper. It was agreed that the board's decision was a good step in the right direction. Tania invited people to email additional comments to the board.
Volunteer recognition by list at picnic and holiday party. Tania reported a new proposal to formally recognize SSDS volunteers by publishing a list at our biannual social events (summer picnic and holiday dinner). Workshop and other event coordinators will need to give her a list of all volunteers.
Other business. Maria asked that dancers support Party in the Plaza events on July 31 (band is Prime Time) and August 21 (band is United Booty Foundation). She will announce these dates at hops and Can will include them in our email calendar.