Line Dance Association Of Australia

Tamworth Tennis Club, Napier Street, TAMWORTH

26 January, 2002

Meeting commenced at 1pm

1. Sid opened and welcomed everyone to the meeting. He immediately asked for a motion that the item of the Agenda dealing with election of the Management Committee be re-numbered so to be dealt with earlier, the new chairman could then chair the this meeting.
   
   Moved Cathryn and seconded Miriam . Being No objection it was accepted
   
2. Sid explained that we had a total of 13 proxies (listed above)and asked for a motion that all proxies be accepted. Cathryn proposed and Miriam seconded.
   
   Peter Heath voiced some reservations that there were more proxies in favour of the Chairman than people present at the meeting. That no matter what was on the floor to be voted on, the members at the meeting didn’t have a say because of the chairs casting vote.. Sid said that he could understand his concern however people who are not able to attend do if fact have a voice with whomever has the proxy. Because of the vast distances with members in each state in our organisation this means it is virtually impossible for them to attend the meeting. Cherine mentioned that if there was something concerning a member they would have raised it with the person receiving the proxy. A person [member] would not give a proxy "willy nilly" if there was something that they where concerned about. David said that a post out to all the members must ratify anything that was brought up at the meeting. Sid further said that you can’t spring a motion unless it has been sent to all members giving them enough time for them to reply.
   
   There was some more discussion about this and the motion was carried.

   Election of Management Committee:

3. Georgina Parker was elected unopposed as Chairman.
   Nominations for committee were Peter Heath, Derrick Clowe, Tracey Cramm, David Bowers, Sue Simon and Kelvin Dale. There being no other nominations, all nominees where elected.
4. Georgina Parker assumed the chair and conducted the rest of the meeting
5. Copies of Minutes from last year’s Annual General Meeting held in Tamworth in 2001 were passed around and read. Sid asked that discussion about the training of teachers written in the minutes take place in General Business.
   
   Moved Sid and seconded Peter that the Minutes be accepted.

   Interim Committee Report and Balance Sheet:

6. David handed out copies of the balance sheet to all members. It was agreed at the last AGM that the trade debtors would be deleted, so the amount of $5,6587.74 should come off the total. APRA was paid in the amount of $6,673 in November 2001 so that doesn’t appear on the balance sheet.
   
   A copy of the activities of the association will be passed on to all members.
   
   Moved Peter and seconded Derrick that the Report and Balance Sheet be accepted.
   
7. David hand out 4 replies that he had received from members about things they would like raised at the meeting. All of these were relating to the profile of linedancing and the association. An good example is that a lot of people still don’t know that the association even exists.
   
   4,000 brochures where given out at the longest line. There was a good response by people to the brochure. Also, early this year[2002] a letter with a brochure from LDAA will be sent to each local Council in Australia letting them know about the association and asking for replies by email, to save on postage.

   Media Advertising

8. David handed out copies of his draft letter asking for members to fulfil various positions for LDAA. These are not committee position, however committee members can apply. Positions which NEED TO BE FILLED are:
   Editor - Newsletter and web page
   Festival Liaison Officer
   Licence Liaison Officer
   Auditor
   Dance List Compiler
   PR people
   Education Officer
   Membership benefits Officer
   Sponsorship Officer
   
   People accepting these positions will be paid a nominal fee for any work they undertake, and they do not have to be members of LDAA. David went on to give descriptions of what some of the jobs would entail and then asked for a response from those present.
   
9. Kelvin thought it was a good idea to try and fill these positions within the Association first, and then we could approach people from outside the Association. Kelvin thinks all professionals should be members of Associations. He stated how many Instructors are not insured or who think their own venue’s insurance covers them. Some don’t even care. All teachers should be made aware of the benefits involved in belonging to LDAA. Cheap insurance for gear would be another benefit we could look into.
   
   Cherine stated that she has a very good policy connected to her house. Thus keeping the policy costs down for her equipment
   
10. Peter suggested that instead of going out and getting more benefits we should go within and ask them what they like. We need to develop some relevance to instructors something they feel that they have to be member. We should send out a survey asking, "what are the 5 most awkward things you have to deal with" or "what are the hardest thing that you have to deal with as a instructor".
    
    Cherine said that country people have a lot of trouble keeping up the all the news and information going around the place.
    
11. Sid suggested that in the survey we should ask what other members could do for members. Cutting CD’s, Getting correct dance sheets, Lending music, Lending equipment.
    
    Tracey said that LDAA should produced a LDAA CD every 1 or 2 months. To make it easier for people.
    
    Because of time restraint the Chair asks the members to put some of their ideas in writing and send them to us

    General Business:

12. Cathryn thought LDAA should be linked with other linedance web sites, eg Country Goss etc.

    Re Auditor

13. If we need an auditor Cathryn said we should pay a professional to do it. David said last time our books were audited it cost $2,500 and we can’t afford this. We will be asking for someone to audit our books when the letter goes out asking for positions to be filled.

    Re Education Officer

14. David explained that this was touched on at the last AGM when Sid suggested investigating VTAB, which is a system of being certified to teach teachers [train the trainer], in other words, able to be trained on how to predict the necessary requirements needed to be a line dance instructor and to teach that on to other instructor. Peter is a graduate of the "Train the trainer" system based on the national competency standards in the education system. He explained the system to the meeting and offered some suggestions of creating a standard level of competence in line dancing eg accreditation through LDAA. Sid said linedance teachers could do a correspondence course, the cost of which could be as much as $500. There is no national standard for line dancing instructors and this is a difficulty which needs to be overcome.
    
    David said that Sue Simon looked at Ausdance where we came into the category of "folk" dancing and found the costs to be around $300, nothing has really happened since then.
    
    Derrick suggested Peter could offer his expertise to LDAA’s Committee because Peter is an accredited examiner and can bestow accreditation on other teachers if they fulfil certain criteria.
    
    Derrick moved and Kelvin seconded that Peter explores an accreditation course for LDAA.
15. Peter accepted and will try to have something up and running for Tamworth next year. David is worried that other line dance teachers won’t support it. When speaking to Gordon Elliott when this first cropped up you have to think of 2 types of teachers. Whose who are fully professional and find it a advantage being accredited and whose who have taken over from a teacher with no experience in teaching, only dancing and doesn’t want to know about accreditation. We need to accommodate both of these ideas.
    
    Peter can set up a course, which gives accreditation for LDAA standards, where he can examine teachers and their accreditation will be recognised by LDAA. Further down the track we can approach a national body for further recognition.
    
16. Derrick asked if LDAA would consider taking over the Australian Championships if he can deliver them free of all encumbrances. David said we would have to put this to the Committee and to the members. There was discussion about this and it was suggested that we would need a head person and under them a committee for each stage, each with a sub committee.
    
    Peter said in square dancing there is a National Body and a State Body and there is a National Convention where a Festival is held. And it rotates around each state in a seven yearly cycle. In Tamworth it is a static base, therefore a convenor would need to be elected for 3 years in advance, so that each convenor would have 3 years to be trained for their event. There would be on going training and learning so it wouldn’t be left up to one person like it is now. Peter also said that in square dancing there is a book on the guide lines on running a event. At the present time Tamworth is all in Joe’s MacManamon head.
    
    Cherine said LDAA already has people who are organising the Championships and these people have undertaken to continue their role in the organisation of the Championships.
    
    Sid said that there is nothing stopping LDAA members holding the Championships under the LDAA banner. It doesn’t mean that the management committee is going to run the championship.
    
17. Cathryn moved, seconded by Tracey,
    that a letter be sent to all LDAA members asking if they would like LDAA members under the banner of the LDAA running an Annual Line Dance Competition in Tamworth, and that if this is not accepted would they object to LDAA could sponsor an event.
    
18. Peter suggested Ambassadors for linedance need rules, eg how long the position is held etc.
    
    David brought to Peter’s attention that this was discussed last year at the AGM. That Ambassadors were selected by Joe MacManamon and are not connected to the association, there has been no formal notice or election of such positions.
    
    Derrick suggested that instead of Ambassadors we could appoint State Co-Ordinators. This was left to be looked at by the Management committee.
    
19. David supplied the meeting with a report about RIPOSE, which is an organisation that can streamline our data base and accountancy system by way of the Intranet. This would mean that members can gather, change and verify all their information themselves without posting information to them.
    
20. Re the problem of people not leaving a message on the answering machine, Peter said we can get calling line identification from Telstra which would enable LDAA to contact those people. He also said it would be a good idea to have a separate fax number.
    
21. Kelvin said we could write to all members telling them the minimum requirements for a teacher (re classes and socials) for insurance and licence purposes. Can we get approximate prices and contact numbers.
    
22. Sid brought to the attention of the meeting that all correspondence and e-mails are acknowledged so that if members hear nothing after 14 days they should contact LDAA again.
    
23. There being no further business Georgina thanked everyone for their attendance and said the next AGM will be held in the Tennis Club in Tamworth on the same Saturday next year.
    
24. After the AGM the Management Committee wanted it noted that LDAA thanks Warren Hicks [previous chairman] for his support and effort he devoted to LDAA.