MINUTES OF THE MANAGEMENT TEAM MEETING 8/21/12
Those present: Robin Cox, Tammy Schler, Colette Mayers, Sue Chapman, Sharon Madson, Marcia Borgen, Megan Levine, and Bette Lowenstein
Minutes of the 7/30/12 Management Team meeting approved as read. Robin reminded Team members to e-mail Bette with minutes approval within a week after receiving the final version.
FINANCE: Report by Marcia Borgen, Finance Manager. For August 1-21, 2012:Income $16736.57; Expenses$18084.98 . For fiscal year to date—Income 93577.91; Expenses$121503.56. We are in the red $27925.65. MARCIA will write an explanation of the increase in chapter dues for the chorus and get everyone started on monthly payments to cover the increase. Any member having an issue with this chapter dues increase should discuss it with Marcia or Robin, or attend a Team meeting to express their concerns. ROBIN will remind members to read the Team minutes, which include the finance report, on the website, and will encourage members, at the conclusion of each chorus meeting, to do this.
Expense-cutting measures:
Church donation already decreased.
Increasing co-pays for various Regional and International events was discussed.
Reducing the number of coaches vs. reducing the number of International and Regional schools
the chorus funds for members to attend was discussed briefly.
Attendance requirements as stated in revised Standing Rules (after approval of Standing Rules by chorus) must be met in order for a member to be in good standing and qualify for chorus-funding of events. KARMA KRIZ will keep track of attendance at rehearsals and Bingo participation. The DIRECTOR and TEAM MANAGERwill speak to those members who are falling behind on attendance requirements and discuss a plan with the member to assist her musically. Then said plan will be the member’s responsibility.
Travel Contracts for all chorus-paid events should be signed when co-pays are made. Chorus members need to be made aware of what’s in the contract before signing.
MARCIA will e-mail a copy of the current Travel Contract to Sharon for her inspection. Team will discuss it at the next meeting. Verbiage reflecting good standing will be added to the contract. SHARON will be responsible for getting Travel Contracts signed by each member participating in a chorus-funded event, well in advance of the event. Travel Contracts will be re-instituted after chorus approval of the revised Standing Rules.
Income generation: Shopping Card Program-- Cindy von Gough, coordinator. MEGAN will advise Cindy to approach members individually about signing up. Relatives of members can also be signed up.
COLETTE’S POSITION WITH THE TEAM: Colette wants to participate more on the Team but she isn’t a Team member. She could help coordinate a directing team which at present consists of Tammy, Colette and Linda. She would be a liaison between the Team, Music Staff, and Tammy, and could represent Tammy on the Team in Tammy’s absence. Colette would accept a Team appointment. The Team, in consensus, voted to appoint Colette to the Team.
MUSIC STAFF: Tammy states the director and Music Staff will determine attendance requirements and/or music qualification for Competition and RMRU.
BINGO: Megan Levine, Master Games Manager—Customer service issues, and strategies to make our games more fun for the players, discussed at length. Team members working Bingo need to set an example for good PR behavior—act as role models. The Games Manager’s job is to make sure GMC follows the rules and regulations set forth by the State, training new workers, and coordinating meal breaks.
NEW MEMBERS: Stephanie Hyrup, Cande Copeland, and Judy Grant have all passed their auditions; completed their membership applications; and paid their fees. They were all voted into membership by consensus.
YOUNG SINGER’S FOUNDATION GIFT BASKET FOR SILENT AUCTION AT INTERNATIONAL:
Each Region 8 chorus has been requested to donate a gift basket with a “real Rocky Mountain flavor”. At the rehearsal on 8/28/12 ROBIN will ask members to donate items( TAMMY will donate a basket) or money. SHARON will bring a secure box for collection of money donations. All items should be collected by the week of 10/21/12. ( After that date a bucket will be put out at every rehearsal for collection of money to be donated to YSF at RMRU next year.) On 8/28/12 SUE will do a short PR presentation about the gift basket.
RMRU: Sue and Bette reported on the Marketing seminar lead by Jamie Ryan and the Membership seminar lead by Nancy Schroeder.
Marketing: choruses are asked to incorporate the International logo (the double treble clef)and newslogans— ‘SWEET’ and ‘Real Women, Real Harmony, Real Fun’—into their logos and literature. Choruses are also requested to make the International Logo and the name Sweet Adelines more prominent than the chorus logo. The new International slogans have been designed to appeal to younger women. We should use fun chorus pictures on the website—competition pictures, as a general rule, shouldn’t be included. The GMC logo will eventually be redesigned to comply with these requirements.
Membership: Every member is a membership person, not just the committee members; offer guests a ride to their first rehearsal; when guests attend rehearsals, meet their individual needs, don’t overload them with information, and find out their interests relating to the chorus.
EVENING UNDER THE STARS CONCERT 8/25/12:
The entire chorus will meet at the concert stage at 5:45 p.m.—sound check at 6 p.m.
Warm-up after the sound check will be held at the stone building south of the swimming pool.
We will use our own risers—Duncan Rowley will deliver them the morning of the concert.
Shirley Porter will do a membership pitch after “One Fine Day”.
The chorus members will distribute recruitment flyers to the audience after the performance.
AGENDA ITEMS FOR PAULA DAVIS’ VISIT: (LINDA will put the agenda together) How should we set up a music staff for a chorus our size? How should we set goals and be more goals oriented? How can we motivate our members to practice their music between rehearsals?
COMMITTEE REPORTS:
Show, Marcia co-chair. The show is on schedule, next committee meeting 8/28/12.
Afterglow—Robin is coordinating. The chorus can’t afford anything elaborate due to limited funds. Marcia suggested holding it at a restaurant and have everyone order off the menu and pay for themselves. Robin suggested wine, beer, water, cheese, and fruit at a venue to be decided. Attendance could be limited to cast and crew members, and others who have assisted. Colette suggested more singing and partying and less Thank You—cards could be either mailed or handed out at the Afterglow, but no formal announcements or speeches.
Printing costs—Sue did a cost comparison between Adams Quick Print and Office Max. The figures have been e-mailed to Team and Show Committee members. Adams is considerably less expensive than Office Max.
All suggestions will be passed onto the show Committee and the committee’s decisions should be given to Tammy ASAP.
Membership: Shirley Porter (chair), Bette Lowenstein, Janice Frame, Nola Stephens, Ruth Levine. Team suggestions—committee should devise a recruitment that isn’t a “One-shot deal”. Perhaps offer quarterly vocal lessons, or six weeks of “free” vocal lessons. Colette said she would be glad to teach the lessons during rehearsals while Tammy conducts the chorus rehearsal. Marcia stated that the trend for guest nights over the last few held is decreased attendance and poor results despite much money expended on advertising. We don’t want to eliminate guest nights altogether, however. Tammy suggested holding them in September rather than in the summer or in January. Guest night experiences were discussed: Sharon—the chorus put on a mini-show for guests. “Colorado My Home” and “How We Sang Today” pulled her in; Megan—the guests were invited to sing on the risers with the chorus; Marcia—appreciated the “Ready, Set, Grow” classes that were a part of the new member orientation.
TAMMY TALK: Tammy is in a new quartet named Elixir. They have been together three months and have been coached by Darin Drown, director of Sound of the Rockies men’s chorus and bari in Storm Front quartet. Elixir’s other members are Gina Womble, bari; Emily Pfeiffer, lead; and Anna Lisa Glad, tenor. They will compete at the Region 8 Convention next year. Tammy’s current quartet will perform on GMC’s January 2013 show as planned. Tammy would like Elixir to be invited to perform on the January show. The quartet will be coached again by Darin Drown during International in Denver—the Music Staff could listen in and audition them at that time. Linda and Marcia, show co-chairs, are aware of this development, as is Sandy Olson.
Emily Pfeiffer now lives in GJ. She has a Master’s Degree in music and is a vocal teacher. She is the former director of Bella Voce. Tammy suggests that Emily could be one of GMC’s coaches and could also work with the Directing Team. Marciastated that we have to hire coaches anyway and could include her in our coaching roster. Robin suggested that Emily come to a rehearsal and direct vocal warm-ups for no fee and see how it goes. Robin and Sharon suggested that the chorus members could be asked to donate money towards her coaching fees if necessary.
Next Management Team /Music Staff meeting is 10/01/12, RUMC library room-- 6 p.m. Management Team and 7:15 p.m. Music Staff.
Submitted by Bette Lowenstein, Secretarial Manager, 8/25/12
ADDENDUM: The sound check at the Evening Under the Stars Concert will be held at 5:40 p.m. as requested by Kirk Gustafson, director of the GJ Symphony.