Outline · [ Standard ] · Linear+ Board Meeting Minutes 2009-2010, Notes from the Board Meetings

[dbrad]

Austin Swing Syndicate Board Meeting Agenda
Date and Time: Saturday, Nov. 14 @ 1 PM - 2:30 PM
Location: Phillipe's House
14801 Calaveras Dr.
Austin, TX


Attendees: Philippe, Reed, David, Chia-Wen, Jennifer, Wendy

________________________________________________________________________________
__

Review Minutes from Last Meeting (10 mins):
- Nothing too review

Report on Coordinators' Statuses (10 mins):

* The following coordinator positions need to be filled:
o DJ Coordinator
+ Laura has volunteered to take over the dj coordinator role.
- Passed (4-0)
o Teacher Coordinator
+ Jeremy Emack has volunteered to take over the teacher coordinator role. He would train for the month of December and officially take over in January.
- Passed (4-0)

o Membership Coordinator
o Social / Outreach Coordinator - Sarah Simon - Philippe to talk to her
o Publicity Coordinator
o Tech Coordinator - David will look into the current status, John Escabato might be interested

o I would like to create a new coordinator position, Financial coordinator, their role would be to manage the finances for the syndicate. The treasurer would act as a liaison between the financial coordinator and the board. Jennifer Humphries has volunteered to take this position.
- Passed (4-0)


Agenda Items:

* We need to have a budget meeting in December (5 min).
o Right now the important thing to decide on is a date to have the meeting.
- Jennifer has been invited to attend.
- Jennifer to send out email with info.
- Meeting will be about an hour.
- Jennifer to crunch numbers.
- If there are any problems, we will have to make decisions about what we want.
- Options
- Tuesday, Dec 1, 7:30
- Tuesday, Dec 8, 7:30
- Saturday, Dec 5, 2:30
- Locations
- Chia-Win's company's conference room*
- Wendy's house on Not on Tuesday
* Need a Houston for Christmas Eve. Any Volunteers? (5 min)
- Volunteer night
- Doesn't need to be a board member
- Wendy might be able to do it
- Church group meeting until 7:30 that night, setup crew need to come later

* I've created a google calendar that contains the houston schedule (5 min). I will send out the calendar to the board so that they can subscribe to it. I'll will also send out the houston schedule by email on a regular basis.
o http://www.google.com/calendar/embed?src=3...America/Chicago

* Board Meetings (10 min)
o We need to decide on: frequency, time/date, location, etc.
- Could have the meeting at the Fed.
- Meetings could make you not want to dance afterwards
- Texpresso - across from alamo draft house
- Monday nights 8:45 - 9:45 on S. Congress (maybe zen)

- Sunday nights (1st, 3rd, 5th) - Texpresso - 7:00
- Monday night (2nd, 4th) - Zen - 8:30

* Brainstorm board ideas (30 min): What do we want to accomplish as a board?
- Website - want to bring out media page more. (Reed)
- want archiving, more syndicate history
- More attention to website (Chia-Win)
- Promote local event through syndicate website (Reed)
- See more west coast growth in swing syndicate (Wendy)
- Promote swing dancing to general public (Chia-Win)
- Collaborate more between different groups[balaustin, lindy project, fotf, blues, west coast] (Chia-Win)
- Comments/Feedback, (DJ feedback could be issues) (Reed)
- Extra value for syndicate membership (Chia-Win)
- Like free classes for members
- Improve Sound quality (Philippe)
- People have done the best they can do.
- Keith seems to know something about sound and is passionate about it
- Keith has 5 year plan for sound quality
- The best so far, hired Damon Lang $550 a night
- Keith learned from him the setup
- Might be a DJ issue as well
- Live Bands - Get an out of town band (Reed)
- More live music (Chia-Win)
- Find a way to deal with creepy dancing (Chia-Win)
- Doing a better job of helping out the coordinator (David)
- Promotion and Market (David)
- Jerry Jordan seemed good at marketing/theming (Philippe)
- Just dancing seems boring to some people
- Parking is an issue (Wendy)


Jennifer Needs Minutes from last meeting on letter head

Vote on President(David Bradford), Vice-President(Reed Penney), Treasurer(Philippe Wilson), Finicial Manager(Jennifer Humphreys) should be added to all accounts at Austin Telco Federal Credit Union including Checking, Savings, CDs, and ALX Checking.
- Passed (5-0)

Austin TelCo Federal Credit Union
- Shoal Creek South of 183.

Need address on all our mail:
Austin Swing Syndicate
1108 Lavaca St.
Suite 110-273
Austin TX 78701-2172

All New Board Members should be added to mailbox:
David Bradford
Reed Penney
Philippe Wilson
Ben West
Chia-Win Lin
Wendy Beathard
Mallory Grigg
Jennifer Humphreys

Next Meeting
Date and Time: Monday, 23 Nov 2009 @ 8:30pm
Location: Zen, Next to Continental Club

Adjourn


ToDos:
- Philippe to talk to Sarah about Social / Outreach Coordinator
- David to see status of tech coordinator
- Philippe to find scheduling website
- David send out email to determine budget meeting.
- David to get minutes on letter head for Jennifer.

[benkwest]

Sunday Nov. 19
7:15 pm
Schlotzsky’s Deli
Attendance: David, Pilippe, Wendy, Ben, Jennifer

1.) Need to send out reminder email about Winter Formal
-this email should be send to austinswing@yahoogroups.com, copy pasted version from the website (David will send this one out)

2.) Budget Meeting
-Tuesday December 8, 7pm at Chia Wen’s workplace
-David will check with him to get his address – it’s somewhere around Parmer
-Jennifer is going to send out instructions for coordinator liaisons
-each board member should talk to their coordinators to go over budget and overall needs
-get a best case, worst case and then figure out a middle ground.

3.) Still no publicity coordinator
-Sabrina said that last year’s amount was fine so
-Chia Wen and Mallory have lots of experience in design, so they might be good choices
-might be good to create of “publicity committee” of 3-4 people instead of dumping all that work on one person. Coordinator would then be in charge of this committee and would name.
-everyone keep on the lookout for a new publicity and tech coordinator

4.) Lone Star
-Did Reed follow up with Scott to determine a band selection?

5.) Wendy is working on a contract for equipment leasing
-leasee would have to hire someone from ASS to set up and strike equipment
-leasee would be responsible for cost of repair if any damage is done
-Wendy is coming up with a rough draft of this contract

6.) Floors are being redone at the Fed week of December 14 (meaning Dec. 17 dance will be affected)
-Wendy is talking to DJ coordinator to let them know about this
-Chia Wen needs to talk to Lindsay about set up – make sure everyone knows we’re using the side rooms
-Mallory needs to talk to Jeremy (teacher coordinator) to let them know

7.) Cancel next Sunday meeting Dec. 6
-Dave will be out of town and we’re meeting for the budget on Dec. 1

8.) Reed will be Houston this coming Thursday, Dec. 3

9.) Wendy suggests getting bottles of hand sanitizer at various places at the fed
-Cosco or Sam’s club card to get supplies?
-decorations or publicity person should get the card
-talk to Lindsay Elmore about Cosco/Sam’s club (Ben)
-Wendy will bring hand sanitizer in the meantime

10.) Parking: possible new locations? For long-term brainstorming.
-Quatro’s parking? House of Tutors?
-everyone keep your eyes out

11.) Status of donations – should we solicit for donations

12.) Jennifer spoke with Bill Borgida today, he’s going to step down from live music coordinator
-he will help out with Lone Star, could contact Scott directly to coordinate that
-he’s going to pass on his list of contacts to us so we can utilize that

13.) Need to get more free membership cards
-Jennifer can log in and pay
-Sabrina/David Bradford/Ben West has all that. Ask Sabrina what website she’s using, let Jennifer do the payment stuff and one of us will give them the data. Ben West will check in with Sabrina to see about that. Ask her which website she’s been using for this.

14.) Meeting adjourned at 8:09

[benkwest]

Board Meeting
December 14, 2009
Zen restaurant
Present: Dave, Chia Wen, Philippe, Reed, Ben
Start: 8:50

1.) From Last Meeting
a. Dave will post action items from the budget meeting and each board member will pick an issue to develop over the next few months
b. Jennifer will meet with the board to go over new budget figures
c. Houston schedule has been assigned through October 2010 and has been posted
d. T-Shirts, where are they? Need to find and inventory them.
2.) Still need coordinators
a. Live music coordinator (Philippe)
b. Publicity coordinator – Karim is interested in graphics (Chia Wen will shoot Ben his email)
c. Membership coordinator
d. Social outreach coordinator (Mallory) Needs to talk to Sarah Simon
e. Tech/Web coordinator (Reed will be liaison for that)
3.) Move 8pm lessons to the gallery from the ballroom
a. Unanimous vote “yes”
b. This would mean that we’d need an extra hour of DJ
c. Alert teacher coordinator
d. Alert staffing coordinator
e. This will begin January 7 (first Thursday in January)
4.) Site for coming up meetings?
a. Possibly Ben’s house? (45th and Red River)
b. Are Mallory and Wendy game?
5.) Go Dance relationship
a. What are Nathan’s ideas for this?
6.) Need legal paperwork for lending out sound equipment
a. Wendy is on this, need an update
7.) Compensation for Lindy Project performance
a. Performers at the winter formal were not compensated
b. Lindy project expected to be compensated, but there was no promise in the beginning to compensate the performers
c. Need to find out the precedent on this to see if ASS has compensated performers in the past
d. Dave is going to talk to Mike and Laura to clear it up
8.) Next meeting is December 20 7pm and Ben’s house
a. Cancel Dec. 28, meeting after that will be January 3
9.) Meeting adjurned at 9:30
a. Unanimous agreement

[benkwest]

Board Meeting
January 3, 2010
Coffee Bean
Present: Dave, Philippe, Reed, Ben, Jennifer
Start: 7:14

1. Houston report:
Ben – all is fine, we just need to figure out who has keys and where are they now
Reed – DON’T break into ASS closets to get to equipment
Keys: Ryan Martin, Lindsay Elmore, Lindsay Chronister, Keith Shapiro, Matt Jones (just to the Fed), Philippe Wilson

2. Philippe: has not yet contacted Aunt Ruby’s
a. Confusion over whether or not we’re having a live band
3. Mic for the sideroom, wendy was supposed to check on this – not here
4. Also need to check on the status of the contract for LoneStar
a. Jen is going to get a temporary check for the sound guy
5. Keith wants a band on March 11 because there’s a band in town he likes
a. This is the Thursday before lindy fest
b. Unanimous rejection
c. He also wants a band for Blues Shout (April 15)
i. Can he help financially?
ii. How else can we make it special?
1. When will people get into town? About how many people are expected? Possibly invite a guest DJ, feature a DJ room and split extra DJ costs with Blues Shout. (Dave will take this)
2. Mallory is willing to liaison for this event
6. Movement to approve the budget: passed unanimously
7. Projects for 2010
a. Ben is taking parking issue
b. Reed wants to take building up the archiving issue
c. David is going to go over their duties, responsibilities, goals, etc. include liaisons on that

8. Opposition to changing the lessons room
a. Let’s stick to having the lessons in the art gallery
b. Houston’s are going to keep an eye on it (make decision by beg. Of February)
c. Mallory will contact Jeremy to let him know
9. Next Meeting
a. January 11, Ben’s house
Issues for Wendy:
Status of agreements
Talking to Keith about getting an extra mic for sideroom
Any items from 2010 list?
Issues for Philippe:
Aunt Ruby’s


Board Meeting
January 11, 2010
Ben’s house
Present: Mallory, Chia-Wen, Reed, Ben, Dave and Wendy
Start: 8:55


Houston Report
When you count money at the end of the night, leave lots of $5 and $1
If this happens to you, let the board email list know so that they can fix it during the week
Wendy will take Houston on 1/14 in Mallory’s place
Band this week, is everything ready?
Need to check with Philippe for how much each person is paid and what name to put on checks
Band for next month
Philippe is going to check on this – follow up with the jazz babies on availability

Valentines auction
Who will want to auction themselves off? Need about 6-8 people (leads and follows)
What about offering private lessons or tickets for dancers?
Raffle or silent auction?
Sarah Simon will be around next week to discuss possibilities.

Status of mic for side room
Wendy is going to talk to Keith Shapiro about that – will let us know by next week

Assign Goal Items
Chia Wen – extra value for the syndicate membership
Mallory – address the teacher issue, figure out the best location and get a good plan for the year
Ben – parking issue. Approximately 70 parking places currently available. Put out a questionnaire sometime in Spring to see what people think.
Reed – Talking to Nathan about archiving video footage from the past
Dave – Talking to each coordinator. Talked with Lindsay this week and updated the google doc for staffing

Lone Star Equipment borrowing
Wendy is going to clarify with Scott that we have a gentleman’s agreement with ASS on the liability for the sound equipment.
Keith S. will be responsible for overseeing equipment
Next meeting will be Monday January 25
Ben’s house at 8:45

Meeting adjourned at 9:30


Meeting minutes
31 Jan 2010
Dave's House
---------------

Attendees: Heather, Reed, Philippe, Ben, Dave

- Houston Report (Ben)
- No Lindy Project instructors
- DJ issues
- 2 David B.
- Eric Lim
- Register was $800 short
- Think that register wasn't cleared last week
- Houstons need to do 'z-total' to clear the register at end of night.
- Shift Leader should count money at beginning of night
- Valentines Day dance
- Flyers and Handouts were up Thursday.
- Heather has stuff on facebook and website
- Sarah has 4-5 instructors for private lessons
- want 3-4 more
- ARSJB CD
- Free Membership
- Will ask Matt or Mike to MC
- Any new flyers should be changed say 8:00 not 8:15.
- Vortex meeting
- They don't want to take much initiative.
- They don't seem to want to put in the work.
- HRB - do we have more detailed information yet?
- Reed sent an email to Ryan on Friday
- Canceling dance Nov 17, 2011 - any new information?
- No new info
- Goal Item Status Update
- Chia-Wen - Extra value for syndicate members
- Mallory - best location for teachers
- Jeremy is compiling a report to present to the board
- Ben - parking
- Nothing New
- Reed - Video archiving
- Got some videos about 2005 exchange
- Reached out to Jonathan Jow and Matt Jones
- Want to explore posting videos on main page
- Dave - Updating google docs
- Meet with Heather about publicity
- Philippe - Interested in making improvements to website
- Anthony DiRaddo - is getting into Joomla work

Next Meeting: Monday, Feb. 8 @ 8:45 at Ben's house

Meetings will move to Thursdays @ 8:15 Upstairs at the Fed starting Feb 18.

TODO: brainstorm ideas for when teachers don't show up for beginner class

Next Houstons:
Thu Feb 4 8pm – 12am Reed - Houston
Thu Feb 11 8pm – 12am Chia-Wen - Houston
Thu Feb 18 8pm – 12am Philippe - Houston
Thu Feb 25 8pm – 12am David - Houston
February 8, 2010
Ben’s house
Present: David Bradford, Reed Penney, Philippe Wilson, Chia Wen, Mallory Griggs
Heather Kaplan, Andrew Lee, Sarah Simon
Convened at 9pm

1. Engine Room proposal: Andrew Lee
a. Requesting $400 per month to subsidize Engine Room
b. Goal to get musicians involved in dance community
c. Event has been going on for over a year, has been losing money
d. Board suggested other ways of raising money
e. Expenses, efforts
i. $600 for band
ii. $150 for space 12
iii. $50 for snacks
iv. Email list, facebook event, posting on several websites
f. Trial period for 3 months
g. Proposal: fund the first 3 months @ $300 per month
h. Approved
2. Valentine’s Dance
a. prizes
i. 8 private lessons
ii. ARSJB cd
iii. Movin’ Easy $20 gift certificate
iv. One year ASS membership
v. 2 engine room entries
b. $2 per ticket, $10 for 6 (Dave B. has tickets)
c. Need gift certificates (Karim)
d. Need 12 boxes in all (everyone) and wrapping paper
e. Print up pictures of prizes (Ben and Sarah)
f. MC schedule (Ben and Sarah)
g. Post to austinswing@yahoogroups.com (Heather)
h. Lindsey E. and Heather will go get food Wed. \
i. Need donation jar and signs (Karim)
j. Reed, Sarah, Heather, Jordan*, Lindsey Elmore and Holly
3. Houston Report
a. UT ballroom class showed up
b. One small problem = speaker cables
c. Need more $5 bills
d. Rachel Jordan didn’t show up for DJ shift
i. Email Laura Glaess to update
4. Hot Rhythm Holiday
a. No update
5. Dance cancellation on Nov. 17?
a. No, will go ahead as planned
6. DJ summit on Sunday
a. Cancelling side rooms during winter months?
i. No
b. Going to switch over to google groups instead of yahoo groups
c. Another DJ summit in May
7. Keith’s concerns for sound equipment
a. Need to train up 3-4 people who know how to handle the equipment
b. Get more people involved in general in the sound department
8. Action Items
a. Ben- parking
i. Contact business behind fed
ii. Bus routes
iii. If you live nearby, walk
iv. Map of street parking
b. Mallory – teachers
i. Hasn’t heard back from Jeremy Emack
c. Dave – changing to doing inventory on sound equipment
9. Moving meetings to the Fed in the future?
a. Yes, Thursdays 8:30 – 9pm
b. Start this Feb. 18
10. Houstons
a. Chia Wen
b. Philippe
c. Dave
11. Meeting adjourned 10pm



UT: $3200
Hyatt Riverside: $2700
Saengerrunde Hall: $900+

Feb. 18 meeting – TFWC
Commence at 830
Dave B, Reed, Philippe, Ben
1. Houston Report: Chia Wen – all good
2. Valentine’s Dance, report went out, all winners and donors have been matched up
3. Hot Rhythm Holiday
a. Asking for $1000
b. All marketing ready to go by March
c. Unanimous board approval
4. Blues Shout Weekend
a. Also asking for $1000 or “whatever we could give them”
b. Need to respond, explain that this is neither local nor swing, so it’s lower priority
c. Need to set priorities for dances to support - figure out how much Austin Blues Party needs
d. Also would like to use equipment and being in charge of Thursday sideroom
i. For equipment, keith will be coordinating that, so that’s fine
ii. Switch it up that month so that that night will be the blues room (make it the third Thursday of the month) Let people know about this! Liaisons, let your appropriate coordinators know
5. Email from Laura about DJ summit on ideas
a. Have a table that specifically features local events – run this by staffing coordinator
b. Have a flier for local instructors and where you can take lessons – dance studios should take head on this – teacher coordinator
c. Have DJ announce lessons and point out the table – possibly creating an “MC” position
d. Have a “host” who goes around to make sure people are having a good time
6. Email from Dee
a. Doing a benefit at Go Dance – not run by Go Dance
b. Need to talk to her to get more information
7. Goals
a. Reed: talked to News8 about getting clips, was told to check with another place for the digital file, build up Youtube page
b. Dave talkd to Keith about equipment set-up, hasn’t heard back from him
8. Website – need to find a tech coordinator and assign this to them
a. Be on the lookout for someone with basic HTML knowledge
9. Next meeting will be March 4, 830 at the fed
Meeting adjourned at 925



March 4 meeting – TFWC
Commence at 840
Dave B, Reed, Philippe, Ben, Chia Wen, Wendy
Houston Report: not much
Wendy trading Houston shifts with Ben
Valentine’s dance
Raised $480, going to donate $500
Tell Heather to send out email congratulating everyone on Vday dance (BEN)
Austin Blues Party
They have money, don’t anticipate asking for money
Blues Shout Weekend
Agree to donate $300 to the event
If they make a profit, need to pay us 50% until they pay us back
Need to be mentioned on the website as a supporter
Special Performances
Lindy Project (Austin Blues Shout Thursday)
Let performers in for free
Shag performance (not clear when)
Austin American Statesman
Quirky stories
Talk to Heather about contacting them, collect ideas
Time lapse video
Goal items
Wendy – coordinating with other groups
-and being in charge of promoting West Coast Swing
Reed- thinking of incentives to get people to donate footage, tax
Ben- parking, TIEC says no
What about Cuatros? Good business sense for them.
Chia Wen – membership benefits. Get discounts to lessons, workshops and events
Need membership coordinator
Dave – inventory of all the equipment we have

Meeting adjourned at 930

March 18, 2010
Convened 835
Texas Women’s Federation of Clubs
David B. Reed, Philippe, Ben, Wendy, Chia Wen, Heather
1. Houston report
a. Keys issue
b. Need more membership and complimentary entry cards
2. Lindsay might be leaving after she graduates. Need to replace her as staffing coordinator
a. Meet on this in April
3. Need to talk about ALX
a. And need a coordinator (get Patrick and Jennifer to report on last year)
4. Fundraiser jack and jill for leukemia research
a. Side room competition?
b. Go dance? Good promotion for them – do it on a saturday
c. Chris and Julie Lowe
i. Reed will talk to Nathan about coordinating with go dance
ii. Ben and Heather will work with them for promotion
5. Potential band for July 4 weekend blues party (held on July 1)
6. Anniversary band suggestions?
a. Bring back John Doyle All Stars for anniversary dance
b. Let’s propose June 3 or 10
7. Austin Blues Party weekend
a. Not sure they want to take the $300 loan
b. Let them borrow the equipment
8. Next meeting is April 1
9. Meeting adjourned 911pm


This post has been edited by benkwest: Mar 20 2010, 10:07 AM

[dbrad]

Board Meeting
July 22, 2010
-------------

Attending: Reed, Chia-Wen, Jon, Philippe, David,

- Back to school dance
- band and sound booked

- Fourth week side room
- Have another meeting with everyone to hash it out.
- maybe have a trial run of no 4th side room
- Is this really a problem?

- Election Committee
- Alice Johnson, Lindsey Chronister were part last year

- New Cash Register
- $100 - $200
- Philippe to get it.
- Chia-Win to let Lindsey Chronister know

- Suggestion box at front desk
- Would djs like input on a form?
- If we don't get a lot of responses in 2 months discontinue

- Professional sound system tuning
- $75 - $100
- need 2-3 hours when we can make noise
- Reed to contact Bob about when
- need keys


Next Meeting: Next Thursday @ 9:15