August Town Hall Notes! September field trip dates? New UUWASC blog!
Melle Hock
Utterly Unpretentious Ones:
Thanks again to everyone who came out last month to discuss new ideas and directions for our beloved wine club. Please see below for Eren's fabulous notes and take a moment to read through, especially if you weren't able to make it. *Importantly*, please email me back with your availability the last two weeks of this month to embark on a field trip through the transforming foliage of the upstate New York to the Finger Lakes wine region. Let me know what works - Sat. Sept. 20th or Sat. September 26th (or both). Voila! That's all you have to do and everything else will be handled. Here's to ringing in two strong years...Woot!
August 2008 Town Hall Minutes
- Current state of UU WASC (no, "drunk" doesn't count)
1) Two years strong
2) Recently off format
3) Commitment to Forging Ahead!
4) Vision – A core group of wine /good company lovers who are committed to attending, hosting, and learning about wine and terroir - based on their own pallets - and who are happy to invite new members into the fold who share these affections.
- New ideas and recommendations
1) Switch it up – explore tastings of scotch and rum
a. RESOLVED- Everyone was keen on this idea but it was decided we should shore up our format before moving on to new libations
b. Liquor tastings will be done by committees or 4-5 people who each buy a bottle and lead us in non-wine tastings to avoid bottle duplication and everyone buying $30 bottles of scotch. New libations will be revisited at the Spring Town Hall.
2) We need better documentation
a. Everyone likes the notecards/post its to write their comments
i. New idea! – the owner of the bottle will write a "story" about the bottle on the notecard first e.g. this store was open, the guy said this has undertones of apples and citrus with a waft of….
b. Bring back the minutes!
i. RESOLVED- every meeting will have a secretary for facts responsible for documenting: list of wines, the favorites, and group decisions
ii. Secretary will forward notes to melle who will compile the official minutes.
iii. This format will be evaluated at the Spring Town Hall
3) We Should Have a Blog! –
a. RESOLVED- UUWASC blog to be created
b. http://uuwasc.wordpress.com/ - Please go to the site and register to become a user so you can comment on postings. If you'd like to post something now or in the future, please send your email address directly to eren at eren...@gmail.com so she can set you as a contributor.
c. We will see how this format works for communication
d. Open forum that will allow everyone to post wine-related events or articles, comment on postings, and archive our minutes
4) Summer hiatus? Lots going on difficult to get together
a. Revaluate in Spring Town Hall
5) Explore Sponsorship opportunities and public venues
a. Public? South 4th? Roses? Velvet? Bridges? Byob?
b. $25-30 pp for private events
c. Commitment to format! We need venues with private space/ability to accommodate the format
- Building membership
1) Weed out email list- don't come 3 times off the list?
d. Mel will send email to facilitate the process to ensure everyone who is on the list wants to be
2) Add new interested people – the more the merrier!!
3) RESOLVED - another rsvp system is necessary know who is coming and allow for better planning - Evite everytime!
4) Minimum attendance at meetings?
e. Maybe, but we always have fun despite the crowd! Evite system will allow us to evaluate the need to cancel in advance of the meeting.
5) Incentives for attendance?? Everyone brainstorm!
6) New membership committee?
- Roles & responsibilities
1) Commitment to membership
f. Levels of membership: Members vs. guests
g. Advance notice of meetings is needed to facilitate this (see evite and secretary resolutions)
2) RSVP!!!! – YOU NEED TO RSVP WHETHER YOU ARE A MEMBER OR GUEST
3) Hosting and Co-hosting
h. Host and Co-host will share duties for each meeting. Duties to divvy up: buying the food, prepping the house, giving the lesson, facilitate the game and clean up!
i. $50-75 hosting budget – Host doesn't need to buy a bottle
j. RESOLVED: UUWASC will have a host and co-host for every meeting
k. RESOLVED: UUWASC asks members to be a host or co-host within a reasonable period
4) Steering committee!
l. RESOLVED: Steering Committee to be formed for each meeting: Melle, Eren, Host and Co-Host. Will check in on details of meeting in advance and one week before meeting when RSVPs are tallied.
m. Note: If Melle or Eren is hosting, 2 additional persons will volunteer for the committee
5) Bring extra bottles if you don't come! You know if you've been a bad member – bring us extra bottles so we forget!
- September trip to the Finger Lakes wine region (and our two year anniversary mark!)
1) Planning Committee: Eren, Melle, Lashana, Ed Diaz(?)
2) September 20 and 27 as possible dates
3) Possibility of overnight stay
4) Price will be as cheap as possible but will be increased from last year as we did not cover costs.
- Miscellaneous Decisions:
1) October wine club- evaluate steering committee format
2) Spring Town Hall Meeting in March or April to reevaluate
3) Host and members who are present will determine the date for the next wine club
4) Meetings will continue to be Monthly with no meeting in December
Kai Campbell
http://winelibrary.com/show_special.asp?rater=§ion=bigsale&search=&Vint=&size=&sDept=&OrderBy=onhand&OrderAD=DESC&x=27&y=14