Minutes of SSDS Meeting November 2, 2003

Present: Greg, Can, Kim, Anne, Sally, Lynn, Alice, Mike, Tania, Maria, Debbie

Minutes by: Tania

Old Business
- General Report
  1. Weekly dance status report. Alice reported that she is having some trouble getting people to volunteer at the door. We had 229 people at the weekly dances in October, with average attendance at 45 per week. People are getting information about the dance from the New Times and Arthur Murray classes, and we get four or five new people per week. The barn dance mixer on 10/30 received generally positive feedback. Even a simple "change partner" mixer would be good; both dances get people dancing with new partners. Tania will revive the monthly birthday dances.
  2. Purchase of storage cabinet (Greg). Greg bought and possesses the cabinet. He will transport it to Ballybay within a week and make keys for those who need them. Cost was about $180.
  3. Review of Halloween Dance. Attendance was down, about 70 to 80 people. Ithaca had its own Halloween dance on 11/1; a dance event at the State Fairgrounds on 10/25 competed for dancers. Most of the attendance problem probably was due to the mailer and flyers getting out late so that publicity consisted mainly of word-of-mouth. Maria suggested we consider moving the dance to a Friday night to avoid competing with the State Fair event, but that may pose a problem for getting the hall decorated in time and/or for people getting out of work and ready for the event. Costs were $500 for band, $250 for hall, $45 decorating party, $25 refreshments, $32 for prizes. We took in $524 at the door. Loss was about $328.
- Consent agenda -- nothing to report.
- Financial Report – Greg reported a loss for the month of about $500 due to the Halloween dance and mailing expense. We will apportion the $398 cost of the mailer among the Halloween dance, Nardone workshops and holiday party. Weekly dance attendance and income is steady.
- Committee Reports
  1. Equipment rental policy. Carried over.
  2. Ordering new T-shirts. Committee is Tania, Sally, Alice & Debbie. Alice suggested American Apparel .com as a source for quality shirts.
  3. Encouraging meeting attendance/participation. Nothing to report.
  4. Welcoming newcomers. DJs need to make sure we play slower jitterbugs when the survival class lets out so they can practice what they just learned. Suggested titles: The Wanderer, Return to Sender, Good Luck Charm.
  5. March band dance. Mike and Lynn will work on this.
- Progress on upcoming events.
  1. Nardone Hustle workshops November 21-23. Kim said Can is in charge of dance DJs, Alice in charge of housing, Ann Adams in charge of refreshments. She needs someone to coordinate registration, contests, set-up and tear-down. Can will transport sound system. Greg will help with clean-up. Advance registration is through 11/12. Nardone's fee is $75 per hour; hall is $500 for the weekend.
  2. Holiday Dance December 18. Tania, Sally and Alice will coordinate. Maria will do her mixer/games again this year.
  3. New Years Eve Dance. The Polish Home is available for $400. After discussing our options, we asked Maria to book the hall and inquire of catering possibilities/costs and whether we could organize a pot-luck meal if catering is not available. Last year costs were $20 in advance or $25 at the door, and we want to keep within those parameters. Can will email Andy and Ilona to ask whether they want to participate in organizing and/or to give us another USABDA contact. There is no Heffron NYE dance this year but there is a dance at the Knights of Columbus. We will work out the decorations with the hall/Andy & Ilona.
  4. Winterfest 2004 Dances Fridays 2/13 and 2/20 at Persian Terrace. Tania has spoken with Bill Cooper and provided him with band suggestions. SSDS will receive $125 per event for publicity and teaching lessons. Due to a regional WCS event on 2/20, we may try to teach an ECS lesson that night and a WCS lesson on 2/13.
New Business
- Events Schedule for 2004. The committee of Kim, Maria & Steve has had trouble connecting but will do so soon. Mario is scheduled for 4/30 through 5/2; Nardone will be September 2004. A mini-workshop with Blake Hobby (with Maria as the SSDS contact) may be November or August 2004. We need to set a time slot for Robert Cordoba and Deborah S. Halloween dance will be 10/30 (Saturday but possibly 10/29 Friday). Lynn's Frankie Manning weekend will be mid September or early October.
- Web site navigation. Can received four responses to his inquiry about ease or difficulty in getting around the site; all were positive.
- Publicity person to coordinate mailings. Debbie Smith agreed to take on the task of coordinating our publicity. Her job will be to anticipate the timing of mailings three or four times per year and make sure that event organizers supply her with flyers to put in the mailing. She will work with the scheduling committee to plan mailings with enough lead time for upcoming events; the next mailing may be around March 1. She also will investigate getting a bulk mailing permit from the Taft Road post office.
- Other business
  1. Tania will book Summer 2004 picnic date in January 2004.
  2. We have a Saturday dance scheduled for 11/29 but the usual organizers (Can, Greg, Tania, perhaps Steve) are out of town. Kim and perhaps Chris Egan will be in town. We need to confirm we'll have the volunteers to staff the dance. Alice will have door volunteers take a poll on Thursday to see if people will attend.
  3. Anne is helping with pictures on the web page but she needs Can's help to get her started.
  4. Volunteer appreciation/recognition. Kim and Maria working on this.

Next Monthly Meeting: Sunday December 7 at 7 p.m. at Can and Salwa's house.

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