Minutes of the ITMDG Annual Membership Meeting, February 07, 2005

Present: Fiona Solkowski, Susan Meyer, Tony Gregory, Jan Withers, Barry Levitt, Susan Ma, Kelly Rauch, Vicki White, Jeanette Bagley

I. Susan Meyer delivered the Financial Report

a. Attendance had been light until recently, but has increased quite substantially. Overall, with the decrease in rent from the Athenaeum, we have continued to come out slightly ahead.

b. We are in very good shape on our bank account, with the highest balance it has had historically.

c. We made money on the Gypsy Moon Ball.

d. Donations from some band members of fees, plus outright donations from some members have helped as well.

II. Attendance

a. The group discussed why the attendance had increased rather dramatically over the past few weeks.

i. Attendance of Greencastle dancers

ii. Impact of having hired special bands with draw for several dances

iii. Impact of Better e-mail notification

iv. The impact of Fiona’s program of bringing and encouraging others to bring food and snacks to the dance to make it more of a generally social event.

III. Post-Weekend Tuesday Dances

a. It was agreed that it would be better to not hold the regular Tuesday dance on the Tuesday after the Gypsy Moon Ball.

i. There should be announcements well-ahead on this point.

ii. This date will not be on the schedule.

b. It was agreed that the Tuesday night dance after the Beach Party would be held as usual.

IV. Getting extra participation by members and candidates for the Board.

a. It was suggested that we make more of an effort to identify the Board members during the year.

i. Extra recognition might make the function of the Board more visible, and make being a Board member more desirable.

ii. Buttons with Board and officer ID’s would add some recognition.

1. Generally, it was thought that ID buttons for all participants would be a good idea again.

2. We could ask for a donation for buttons, and do something fancy (perhaps with two buttons for each person – one to “go” and one to “stay” for when they forget theirs.

V. It was noted that Louisville had generated a lot of interest and revenue.

a. Following their lead, it was suggested that a “second dance free” coupon to get new folks to come back after dancing once might be a very good idea.

VI. Elections

a. Tony noted that despite efforts to recruit candidates, we had only just enough candidates to fill the slate for available Board positions.

b. The ballet will reflect this with a box to vote for the entire slate.

c. The election will be held in one week, during the mid-dance break.

There being no further business the meeting was adjourned.

Respectfully submitted,

Tony Gregory