Via Zoom — In Attendance: David, Brad, John B, Bob, John S, Ian, Charles, Tomas, Joss,
Guest –  George
Minutes Submitted by: David assisted by John S

  1. Check In
    a. Minutes from 3/25/20 were reviewed and accepted
  2. Treasurer’s Report: Balance $5554.00
    a. John B reports that the bank sent a packet of forms to be filled out. Banks wants to meet with John B and Joss
    b. Checks from Dan and Ham deposited
  3.  The Zoom Variety Show was a success. It was attended by 18 men. Five men were from Mainly Men and inspired by the performance.
    a. Audio quality was difficult to get right. A man from Mainly Men helped with adjusting the quality of the audio using “Advanced Audio”.  Bob understands what to do and can give a tutorial about the setting at the beginning of the show. This cuts out all the background sounds.
    b. Sing a longs are impossible or at least very difficult…Allow the performer to sing, mute everyone and let them virtually sing along at home to themselves.
    c. Men from the MCM Variety Zoom Show encouraged us to plan another event later in the summer
    d. Tomas reports that being the MC as well as the Tech person is difficult for one person. Suggests that 2 people do it in the future. Tomas did an awesome job for our first show. Thank You.
    e. Maine Bob , the Zoom Czar,  supported Tomas for this past gathering and will mute all the people in the future zoom performances.
    f. We will not post the taped version of the show as we do not have signed permission from the participants. This supports our confidentiality statement from MCM.
  4.  Tomas reported in about the Mainly Men Virtual weekend experience. He experienced the opening circle and 1 workshop and found the experience worthwhile.
    a. We need to consider a virtual weekend down the road. Maine Bob attended the Mainly Men virtual workshop and was impressed with the 2 presentations he witnessed
    i. MCM should consider asking men to put together workshops and then we can post them on out on our website. (Discuss at the next board meeting)
  5. MCM will have a virtual “Check In”, an opening circle, on July 17 using Zoom.  John S will write up a statement stressing confidentiality and send to Maine Bob for editing and posting using the mail chimp.
  6. A second Variety Show will be planned for 8/22. (needs to be finalized at next board meeting)
  7. A suggestion was made that we, the board, look on YouTube to identify videos that we want to list on our website. These could be Ted talks, inspiring speeches, motivation topics etc.
    a. Could we sponsor a class that is offered on the web and MCM will pay for it. We would have to find courses, how many men can join, costs etc. We could then ask men from MCM who would be interested. The board members will look on line and make suggestions at the next meeting. Further discussion to follow.
    b. Brad strongly suggested that we check out Minnesota Men’s Conference – google them. They have approximately 160 videos to choose from.
    c. Maine Bob spoke about a course presented by “Guy Michaelmore” had on the web as an example of paying for a 6 – hour course.
    d. We would need a volunteer to coordinate this effort – Table to next meeting.
  8. Currently we have a “Rainey Day Fund” set at $3500. We have been using money over this amount to support the New Man’s Initiative. Any monies beyond that can be used for the New Man’s initiative, supplies etc. Still to be decided is how much money do we feel comfortable with holding. At this time the money we have is to support our MCM and money is not given out to support other groups, people or memorials.
    a. John B , Treasurer and Joss, Co-Treasurer were asked to follow up on a past suggestion to detail the areas of where we make and spend money. How much we take in for weekend retreats, the auction, donations. Where it is spent: Tanglewood rental, food, supplies, scholarships etc. This will help us have a better idea on how best to use our funds. It is also a good accounting practice should we be audited.
    b. We need 16 people to attend a retreat for us to have it. This accounts for new men who would have the fee waived as well as men who may be on scholarship.
    c. At this time, we will not spend any money from the bank account until we know where this virus is heading. Exceptions can be made by the board.
  9. Dan K continues to work on our new website.
    a. Maine Bob will contact Dan and discuss if part of the website can be public and part can be password protected.  The website should be open to the public so people searching for this type of experience can find us.
    b. Facebook page for MCM is currently closed. It was decided that people who use Facebook from the board and the FB administrators get together and make recommendations in making it public or keeping it private. If it is private, new men will not be able to access it and its use is limited.
  10. October Retreat: David will contact Patti at Tanglewood to find out the status of the camp. Discussion on having a retreat will be held at the next board meeting.
  11. Large financial donations. We, the board need to figure out who we are and what is our purpose. What would we do with a large amount of money if it was left to the group. Are we a service organization or are we a philanthropic organization? Currently MCM supports the men who want to attend MCM retreats as new members or with scholarships. Monies at this point are used only to support the efforts of MCM.  Tabled to next board meeting for more discussion.
  12. Other: Next board meeting will be August 13 at 6:30 via Zoom

Minutes accepted via e-mail on August 15, 2020