Minutes from the Board Meeting: April 5, 2008
Meeting Location: Conference Call
Minutes prepared by: Benjamin Soencksen
Approved by the board with 6 'yea' votes and one 'absent': April 27, 2008
Attending
Absent:
Next Board Meeting:
The following items were agreed on:
Since this letter stated clearly that NASSPDA is sanctioning men's and women's state champion titles for the highest level winner in the International and American Style categories, a discussion ensued as to whether this can still be upheld, if an organizer combines men's and women's categories into one (i.e.: lack of participants), and whether NASSPDA should express any particular view on this issue to the organizers. It was concluded that running a competition under different conditions (i.e.: creating a mixed category with same-sex and opposite-sex couples) does not change the sanctioning of the event, and the ability to award those titles.
Even if an organizer combines categories, those titles can still be awarded to the highest placed couples in that category. For example: If men's and women's International Style Standard is held as a combined category, the highest placed female couple will be warded the Women's International Style Standard Championship title, and the highest placed male couple will be warded the Men's International Style Standard Championship title.
This actually was the scenario at the Philadelphia Liberty Dance Challenge on Saturday 29th, 2008. However, since the letter didn't go out until that particular day, the organizers were not aware of all the sanctioned titles that can be warded. But they had been verbally briefed on the sanctioning, and it was announced in very general terms. Therefore, it was agreed that no further action regarding the sanctioning letter has to be taken by the board of NASSPDA.
One of the organizers of California Dreaming requested or inquired whether NASSPDA would sanction events other than Int'l. Standard and Latin, Am. Smooth and Rhythm, and Showdance, such as Hustle, Salsa, West Coast Swing, Argentine Tango, Nightclub Two-Step, etc., as championship titles.
A conversation with IAGLCWDC (International Association of Gay & Lesbian Country Western Dance Clubs) about NASSPDA possibly awarding championship titles for Country Western dances brought up a conflict of interest, and a conflict with specific rules by IAGLCWDC for judging competition, which NASSPDA sanctioned events won't adhere to. It was also mentioned that Argentine Tango and Salsa communities are not necessarily interested in garnering any competitive titles, and that such awarded titles might actually be frowned upon.
After some further discussion and the clarification that an event sanctioned by NASSPDA is not automatically sanctioned to award championship titles, it was concluded that California Dreaming should definitely be sanctioned by NASSPDA, but that California Dreaming should not be permitted, if this sanctioning is desired, to offer championship titles.
However, the title of "Winner of the California Dreaming Competition" can, of course, be awarded, or any other desired title that does not include "Champion" in it. In other words, NASSPDA does not, at this point, wish to award California Dreaming championship status for any category.
Soon the content of NASSPDA's current website will be transfer to its new address www.NASSPDA.org. Additionally, NASSPDA's current e-mail address was changed from nassda@gmail.com to nasspda@gmail.com, and will soon further be changed to info@nasspda.org, once the new website is up and running.
The last draft of the mission statement, as posted by the committee to the board prior to this meeting, was read out loud, and after some corrections will be posted to the board for a final vote.
This committee had no further movement since the last meeting.
Much agreement has been found on most points of discussion. However, the discussion on length of terms served, whether those should overlap, and whether there should be a limitation on terms is still inconclusive.
NASSPDA had purchased a guidebook on non-for-profit organizations, which plan to incorporate in California. Initial reading brought up an interesting point to consider. Registering a non-for-profit organization in California requires identification of such organization of being based on membership or not. It seems that even membership-based organizations often register otherwise, in order to avoid having to get a vote on all rule changes from the entire membership. Apparently, a board of directors has more governing flexibility in an organization that is registered as not membership driven. All agreed that this is an important issue to reflect upon.
Team San Francisco contacted NASSPDA to point out, that NASSPDA is not listed on the team's directory. As a matter of fact, the directory didn't list any dance organization. However, this has already been rectified, which means NASSPDA is now listed on the directory of Team San Francisco. This prompted the expressed wish of the board members of NASSPDA to always be knowledgeable about any listings and links, which will enable updates, if needed, and may supply corresponding links on NASSPDA's website.
Proposed language for NASSPDA's Privacy and Information Policy was previously posted to the board, which was not an item on the agenda, and for which not much time for discussion was left. But all liked the contents of the proposal. It was agreed that it should be kept as simple as possible, and to that end the use of bullet points was suggested.