2010 General Membership Meeting

Last night, we attended the DC Lambda Squares' annual general membership meeting, complete with board elections.

kent4str and I opened with a Plus tip to entertain the masses while the board signed in members and ensured a quorum. I think we had about 30 people attending overall, an average turnout.

The financial reports indicated the club is very strong currently although attendance at both our Harvest Festival and ACDC weekend dance festivals/fly-ins is lower than we'd like. Part of the problem is the recession, along with a general decline in the overall numbers of square dancers; heaven knows the weather wasn't exactly cooperating for ACDC last February.

New board members were elected by acclamation: Olivia Pickett as vice-president, Nick Mattera as treasurer, Joe Branch as membership coordinator and Joe Harr & Ronnie Roerig in at-large positions. Jim Bogden continues as secretary and Happy Doodle as president. Charles Taylor retired from the membership position a year early so Joe Branch's election to the role will only be for a year to complete the term.

A bunch of us got our 10 year dangles for our name badges, included both kent4str and myself. My official DCLS badge is growing by the year as these little attachments accumulate.

There was a proposal from the board to restructure our club nights. We dance on Thursdays, Mainstream/Plus on 1st & 3rd Thursdays, Plus/Advanced on 2nd & 4th Thursdays and A2/C1 on the occasional 5th Thursday. The by-laws require any permanent changes in venue or schedule to be approved by the membership so the we were discussing dancing Plus on 1st & 3rd Thursdays, Plus/Advanced on 2nd & 4th Thursdays and C1/C2 on 5th Thursdays.

The discussion was mixed. Many members wanted to explicitly keep Mainstream support even though we have only a couple of Mainstream dancers; if we can't support the entry level, how can we grow? They also recognize that since the bulk of the club dances Plus & Advanced, we need to enhance our support to those programs. Nearly 1/3 of the membership however is composed of C1 & C2 dancers these days, the largest percentage in years, but only get 3-4 dances per year at that level for our $155 annual membership dues: while there are lots of challenge dancing opportunities outside of DCLS, if we toss the Challenge dancers overboard, we lose a huge chunk of our long-standing & strongest supporters as well as blow a huge hole in the budget. There's no easy answer for this one. Indeed, the motion was deferred for future so we can look at more creative ways of showing support and earning the support (and dues) of all members.

2010 General Membership Meeting

Last night, we attended the DC Lambda Squares' annual general membership meeting, complete with board elections.

kent4str and I opened with a Plus tip to entertain the masses while the board signed in members and ensured a quorum. I think we had about 30 people attending overall, an average turnout.

The financial reports indicated the club is very strong currently although attendance at both our Harvest Festival and ACDC weekend dance festivals/fly-ins is lower than we'd like. Part of the problem is the recession, along with a general decline in the overall numbers of square dancers; heaven knows the weather wasn't exactly cooperating for ACDC last February.

New board members were elected by acclamation: Olivia Pickett as vice-president, Nick Mattera as treasurer, Joe Branch as membership coordinator and Joe Harr & Ronnie Roerig in at-large positions. Jim Bogden continues as secretary and Happy Doodle as president. Charles Taylor retired from the membership position a year early so Joe Branch's election to the role will only be for a year to complete the term.

A bunch of us got our 10 year dangles for our name badges, included both kent4str and myself. My official DCLS badge is growing by the year as these little attachments accumulate.

There was a proposal from the board to restructure our club nights. We dance on Thursdays, Mainstream/Plus on 1st & 3rd Thursdays, Plus/Advanced on 2nd & 4th Thursdays and A2/C1 on the occasional 5th Thursday. The by-laws require any permanent changes in venue or schedule to be approved by the membership so the we were discussing dancing Plus on 1st & 3rd Thursdays, Plus/Advanced on 2nd & 4th Thursdays and C1/C2 on 5th Thursdays.

The discussion was mixed. Many members wanted to explicitly keep Mainstream support even though we have only a couple of Mainstream dancers; if we can't support the entry level, how can we grow? They also recognize that since the bulk of the club dances Plus & Advanced, we need to enhance our support to those programs. Nearly 1/3 of the membership however is composed of C1 & C2 dancers these days, the largest percentage in years, but only get 3-4 dances per year at that level for our $155 annual membership dues: while there are lots of challenge dancing opportunities outside of DCLS, if we toss the Challenge dancers overboard, we lose a huge chunk of our long-standing & strongest supporters as well as blow a huge hole in the budget. There's no easy answer for this one. Indeed, the motion was deferred for future so we can look at more creative ways of showing support and earning the support (and dues) of all members.