The Moderation Mess

Moderation Mess

Well it is now late Wednesday and our item sent to MFS Announce last Sunday hasn't seen the light of day. Three items for non-MFS events have gone out since then, including one that is on the same night as an MFS dance, and two other announcements. It seems that hard working MFS members like us come last.

We have asked MFS Committee what has happened to our MFS Announce item, no acknowledgement and no response. We sent it to all on the committee so we know it isn't languishing in any particular inbox waiting to be forwarded.

We have sent off our grievance to MFS Committee, no acknowledgement and no response (apart from one MFS Committee member advising that he is no longer on the committee). I guess that makes it a committee of six out of ten - is that legal?

You may be curious about the missing item, so here it is:

Good afternoon folks

Feel like a weekend at the coast bush dancing to live music, walking on the beach and in the National Park.

Why not book now and join in the fun?

Cabins are just $125 per night, ( each cabin can take up to 4 folks) and you can bring your caravan or just camp.

There will be bush dancing to live on both Friday and Saturday nights with walking on beach and in the National Park.

There will be great food, great friendship and great fun for all.

Why not read all about this great weekend at

http://mfs.org.au/wiki/index.php/Bush_Dancers_Weekend_Away

and ring Lakesea Caravan Park to make your booking.

Looking forward to seeing you there

Barbara and Lance Court

02 6161 2426

14th July 2013

Cheers

Lance

A Moderation Mess

MFS Announce is a mailing list that allows event announcements to be sent to Monaro Folk Society  members and those with similar interests. It used to be a reliable service with predictable results. Now it is impossible to know if and when our announcements will be sent out. Barbara and I have had announcements deleted because someone wrongly thought they were duplicates and deleted them without consultation or notification. All announcements are delayed unreasonably compared to the previous service. Dance publicity has been sent out too late, and on other occasions we have had to send belated emails to our lists because we have found out about the failure of MFS-Announce management.

Checking on a service that used to be reliable and needing no checking is onerous, made worse because we do not get our announcements back to our originating address, and we get no notification about whether or not they have been forwarded.

Even as I write, my blood pressure is rising as I see other folks' posts going out to MFS Announce while our post about Lakesea this weekend languishes who-knows-where. Maybe the "moderator" is sick or busy, but I contend that it is wrong for our posts to depend on someone else's availability.

So, what has caused this problem? It appears that MFS Committee or their delegates have changed our status on MFS Announce without any notification or reason being supplied. Someone has changed us from an unmoderated that always worked fine with no incident, to a moderated status that seems to be badly managed with a poor level of service.

And what to do about it? As each message has been delayed, I have thought long and hard about the options. I could walk away, as so many other good folk have done, but I would be walking away from something that I own as a member. I could revive my own substantial but now a little out of date "Canberra Dance News" email list. I could ring someone and ask them to do their self-appointed and pointless "job", but you can tell from my tone that this is a bad idea that will lead to an angry exchange every time.

So, I have decided to lodge a formal grievance, arising from my perception that my treatment by the MFS Committee has not been fair and respectful.

My grievance is that MFS Committee or their delegates have changed my status on MFS Announce without any notification or reason being supplied, and in circumstances that suggest misuse of power. This action appears to me to be aimed at harassing me and causing me offence, rather than to be based on any defensible reason. This change has had a deleterious affect on my legitimate publicity timing capabilities, and therefore is against the interests of members. It is also an insult to moderate me when others with no more integrity than me appear, based on the evidence available to me, to be unmoderated.

Please come back in a week or so, and I will post an update on this unfolding drama, and test-drive of the MFS grievance procedures, if I can.

L

“Welcome to Canberra 2013”

Were you at the “Welcome to Canberra 2013” bush dance at the Yarralumla Woolshed last night? What did you think?

I thought it was a fantastic night, with excellent dance music from the Bush Capital Band and a great crowd of dancers. The crowd numbers were up because of support from National Folk Festival volunteers and lots of newcomers and groups, and even groups of newcomers.

I have often said that the newest dancer is the most important person in the hall. They have the most to learn, and they are our future. And that was certainly apparent last night with the buzz of excitement that comes with lots of new folk. Newcomers bring fresh energy, new ideas, greater diversity, more dancers, more volunteers and more possibilities for promotion of bush dancing. Newcomers also shake us up and keep us on our toes. Newcomers represent growth.

Our caller Beryl not only provided an excellent program and calling but also imparted a little “corporate knowledge”, because it is the centenary of Canberra and a time to reflect on history, and because of the interest provided for old and new dancers alike by these little snippets.

Beryl reflected on the times when crowds were more like 300 dancers and they had to close the doors to latecomers when the house was full. Actually I have heard of recent (non-Monaro Folk Society) bush dances at the Yarralumla Woolshed attracting many more than that from around Australia, but of course they have to take it in turns to dance.

Judging by last night many in the crowd enjoy socialising and just chatting as well as dancing. With a big party crowd, sharing the dance floor is a good solution to over-crowding.

The dance floor was pleasantly filled last night, but nothing like the over-crowding that would follow from a crowd of 300. Beryl recalled seeing the power lines to the Woolshed jiggling to and fro as the Woolshed swayed to the dancing beat. I have often heard stories of the Woolshed moving on its stumps, and vaguely recollect the feeling, something unheard of in our risk averse times.

It was such a delightful night with such pleasant associations, that our caller was actually moved to tears by a particularly beautiful waltz number from the band, and the swirling patterns on the floor as viewed from the stage.

What a night to remember. It's great to see the new End of Month Dance Organising Team not just taking over the baton now that Barbara and I have retired, but extending the bush dancing calendar with new events like the “Welcome to Canberra 2013” bush dance.

When I asked folk last night how they found out about the event, the answer was often “word of mouth”. How many times do you hear someone say "Oh I saw a great movie, you have to go see it"? And how many times do you hear someone say "Oh I went to a great dance, you have to come try it"? If you enjoy a dance, or if you enjoy dancing, playing or helping, why not tell your friends? Just as you would if you enjoy a movie. We don't need to "convert" anybody, all we have to do is invite them to give it a try and they'll say things like "this is great, why didn't anyone tell us about it sooner?" and they'll come back for more.

Cheers

Lance

What Happened to the Balls?

Following on from my previous post, we have been asked why the existing permanent dance organising teams are not running the Centenary of Canberra Shearers Ball and Federation Ball.

The team that would have run the events spent a great deal of time trying to form a business-like working arrangement based on clear division of responsibilities and accountability, but in the end were forced to say "no". In fact they voted 10 to 2 to say "no", reluctantly but resoundingly.

I have heard it said that they voted no because I told them to. What nonsense. It was a carefully considered e-mail vote and my role was as an impartial convenor hearing all sides of the argument and counting votes.

I was a bit hampered in my normal role as chair of making sure decisions were fully informed, because I had signed a confidentiality agreement that had to be signed in hard copy (pen and paper no electronic facsimile allowed) and we were an email based team. But I think the team made a sufficiently well informed decision, without my disclosing confidential information.

Some of their reasons for saying no were

- Difficulty in obtaining information. When it was obtained, it indicated that the required event was not as expected, with content stipulations that were not in keeping with our ideas for the event.

- Lack of confidence in the MFS Committee and other's ability to delegate and manage. The probability of an impasse occurring following an attempt to change our decisions about the event.

- Rushed decisions make for untold problems.

- Impossible and contradictory demands being made.

- Suggestion that the convenor should proceed without consulting the team, because of time pressure and confidentiality, was unacceptable in an open transparent and democratic team, and would not be informed by the team wisdom.

- All the evidence was against this being a well-managed environment in which to work.

There were of course equally many arguments in favour of continuing, but the point is to explain the decision not revisit it.

If the organisers outside the team had said "You are the experts and we trust you to deliver wonderful events, go to it and keep us informed" then the outcome would have been quite different. But they didn't.

Regards
Lance

Succession After Two Years in the Planning

MFS EOMDOT, Aranda, 12 January 2013

Barbara and I (Lance) have retired from the Monaro Folk Society End of Month Dance Organising Team and Bush Dance Group Committee.

We have been asked questions about the Centenary of Canberra Shearers Ball and Federation Ball events but in fact we were not in any way associated with the running of these events, and they are not being run by either of the above two event organising teams. I can see no information about who is running these events on either the MFS public or members' web sites, and I do not have access to copies of MFS Comittee minutes either on-line or by email.

  

On a more cheerful note, Roni Giacobetti has been elected to replace me (Lance) as Convenor of the MFS End of Month Dance Organising Team. Barbara and I wish Roni well, and trust that members will support Roni as they have supported us. Thank you to everyone for that support and help, and especially to all those others who have stepped forward to take on particular roles. You know who you are ( as well as being listed at http://mfs.org.au/wiki/index.php/End_of_Month_Dance_Organising_Team and for MFS Members http://www.mfs.org.au/members/index.php/End_of_Month_Dance_Organising_Team) and we appreciate your volunteering spirit.

We leave knowing that Monaro Folk Society bush dancing is in capable hands.

Cheers

Lance

Another MFS AGM

I found the AGM a little worrying.

The Bush Dancers display group

It started with the treasurer reporting that he hears nothing from The Bush Dancers display group, putting the group in the same category as groups that do not in fact have the same financial relationship with the society.

The display group does not charge a performance fee (we are doing it to promote bush dancing and Australian traditional music; if we were doing it for the money we wouldn't be doing it!) but welcomes donations to the society. All receipts are and have been paid into the society bank account and outgoings are paid by the MFS Treasurer.

The donations to the society that we have attracted are sitting in the society bank account. The display group submits an annual budget, and quarterly and annual reports. Sometimes the financial transactions are nil and sometimes they are not - that is the nature of our business. We are there to promote bush dancing, not to make money. Whether we have a nil return or not in any one year does not change the permanent relationship that exists between the society and the display group. It is the same as that with the Bush Dance Group and the End of Month Dance Organising Team.

In spite of this, the treasurer appeared unwilling to correct his report, and I am not sure he understood that his categorisation of the display group was wrong. The meeting accepted the report subject to audit. We can only hope that the Treasurer realises his misapprehension and the display group can continue as it always has, as part of the society.

A Long Off-Agenda Item

The latter part of the meeting was particularly troubling. I was reminded of the saying that there are people who would rather have 100% of nothing than a share of something great. The defamatory comments against a member that was not at the meeting, in front of twenty witnesses, were astounding. It was particularly surprising given the litigation in our midst and the likely tit-for-tat legal consequences. As with a messy divorce, the winners will be the lawyers and everyone else will lose. I find it impossible to imagine anyone of substance not currently on the committee being attracted to such an environment.

In the real world, much of what is publically expressed could be considered as defamation by those being criticised. But generally, it does not go to court and when it does it seldom succeeds (unless one side is much more wealthy and therefore likely to succeed), and folk get on with their own lives.

My understanding from the AGM is that the litigant is acting under legal advice, the other party is following legal advice including having no contact with the litigant, and all that needs to be done now is to await the outcome of the legal processes.

When a new member at his first AGM suggested that the discussion was inappropriate for an AGM he was ignored, the meeting was not asked to vote on closure, and the one-sided defamatory comments continued. What must he think of this society?

Society Management

I have heard of fears about people losing their houses and the society folding, but in fact these are exaggerated fears and there is no reason that we should not continue business as usual. Each of our businesses are progressing under competent management, but the MFS Committee appears to me to need to work on the decentralised management skills that will achieve success in a multi-business volunteer organisation like ours.

An Open and Transparent Society

It is also appears to me that MFS Committee have not been properly accountable to members.

Rule 40 makes it clear that members have the right to inspect any records of the society, and the intent of the rules and laws is clearly that MFS Committee is accountable and open to scrutiny by those they represent. Confidentiality applies to disclosure outside MFS, not within the membership. Those members who were not at the AGM have no information about matters that have apparently taken a lot of committee time and were the longest item by far at the AGM, but not even mentioned in the President's Report. Those who were at the AGM only have a one-sided expression of opinions to go on. The minutes of MFS Committee meetings are not a secret diary, they are part of MFS Committee accountability to members, and should be freely available for any member to peruse. It took us about six months to obtain partial copies of minutes.

Succession Planning

The final abuse of the night, was a "question" that appeared to us to be meant as some kind of slur on our reputation, about us advising the Canberra Times of our retirement plans and succession planning before telling the committee. We announced in 2011 that we were working towards retirement. Since then we have worked very hard to ensure that our various roles will be taken care of. The appointment of Roni Giacobetti as Assistant Convenor, EOMDOT, was reported to MFS Committee, along with a number of other appointments, in our March 2012 Quarterly Report sent 19 April 2012, with a request that MFS Committee confirm the appointments by acceptance of the report. Obviously the assistant convenor is the convenor-in-training in these circumstances, and that was certainly what the End of Month Dance Organising Team decided. I myself had discussions over several months with the previous president about Roni taking over, in the context of the need to update PayPal permissions to allow this.

All reports since then, including the Annual Report, have shown this assistant convenor role. All EOMDOT minutes and reports are openly available to members on the members' site, and the roles and responsibilities have always been shown in the members' "contact details" page.

In Perspective

So, it is a shame that this AGM should have left such a bad taste in our mouths, not a happy memory.

However there are overwhelmingly many wonderful folk in the wider MFS, and this year has otherwise seen so many successes, that those happy memories will win out.

Regards

Lance

Norfolk Island - My Perspective

I (Lance) was somewhat surprised to see recently that my part in the organisation of the Wonderful Week of Bush Dancing on Norfolk Island was reduced to a "related by marriage" role, with the rather faint praise that Barbara organised transport and accommodation.

Barbara and I are a team, have been for fifty years. I wouldn't have tackled the Norfolk Island trip without Barbara, but neither would Barbara have tackled it without my full support and equal driving force and plain hard work.

We are team players, and fully acknowledge that Norfolk Island would not have happened without lots of folk putting in the hard yards, particularly Lyn McGregor who came up with the idea and ran with it. Lyn asked for our help and we helped Lyn make her idea a reality. It was a moment of great sadness for us when illness in the family prevented Lyn from actually joining us on Norfolk Island.

For the record, here is a more detailed but still a tiny bit of the history of who did what in the organisation of Norfolk Island (NI). It is good to have accurate knowledge passed on, and this may also be a good resource for anyone planning a similar venture in the future.

Lyn discussed her ideas about NI with us at a bush dance. The initial concept was that we would teach bush dancing to the NI Ballroom Dancers, and they would teach us about Ballroom Dancing.

An Initial Meeting

Dale from the NI Ballroom Dancers was planning to be in Canberra briefly, so we organised a meeting at our place on 1 February 2007, to take advantage of that visit. We had in mind that the NI trip would be run by The Bush Dancers display group (TBDdg) and the NI Ballroom Dancers, with Lyn as Trip Co-ordinator.

From the ten-page record of that meeting:

Present: Barbara and Lance, Dale Hodgen, Bob Hodgson, Lyn McGregor

Discussions included:
- Length of holiday package - one week
- Logistics of flights in and out
- Cost
- Everything about NI
- Detailed information about NI package prepared by the Ballroom Dancers and Debbie from The Travel Centre NI
- Accommodation options
- Tours, discounts and deals
- Flyers and other publicity
- Bush Dance displays for schoolchildren and public
- Subsidies, grants, cross-funding
- Contact with politicians federal and local
- invitation list - musicians and dancer groups
- Venues
- Sound
- Decorations
- Trip Logo
- Day by Day schedule outline
- Transport
- Raffles and prizes
- Certificates
- Dress
- Meeting places, drinks, meals
- Stationery, welcome packages, badges, tea coffee & buiscuits
- Costs


Lyn as trip coordinator wrote up the meeting notes and followed up on a myriad of details. Lyn also drafted the initial flyers and certificates, and Lyn's daughter Clair produced the trip logo. Lyn kept up e-mail contact with the Ballroom Dancers and the Travel Centre on NI.

Barbara and I took overall responsibility for publicity. As Primary Contacts for TBDdg, we also maintained the top-level oversight of the project, thinking through proposals and assisting wherever needed.

Norfolk Island Ballroom Dancers

The NI ballroom dancers were our "folk on the ground". They liaised with the travel agent, local government and schools, booked the venue, the major components including the fish fry, and organised local supplies.

Initial Thoughts
On 05 February 2007 Barbara and I wrote to MFS Committee asking them to note that

- TBDdg committee were considering organising a cultural exchange trip to NI. The purpose was to provide a travel opportunity for MFS members and friends, and an opportunity for NI residents to learn and appreciate Australian traditional music and dance.

- The trip would be open to all MFS members and friends, and reciprocal interstate musicians and dancers. It was to be run by TBDdg committee in liaison with contacts in NI, using a package arranged with a travel agent.

- The trip co-ordinator was to be Lyn McG reporting to TBDdg Committee.

No decisions had yet been made, but the broad intention was to minimise any risk of loss by

- Band payments based on a percentage of net door takings and other fund-raising, rather than committing to fixed expenditure.

- Direct dealings between each participant and the travel agent for tickets etc

- All participants must take out their own travel insurance

- Assurance of "Break-Even" numbers before proceeding

Indications were that the "owner" of the workshops and dances in NI would be our NI contacts.

An indicative timing was a full week of workshops, dances, sightseeing and fun, culminating in a colonial ball, on NI.

The Internet

Lyn set up a web site dedicated to the trip, and Barbara and I placed material on the TBDdg site and printed and electronically distributed publicity materials. Lyn, Barbara and I used our extensive email lists to contact musicians and dancers throughout the land. I was amazed at the "reach" provided by the internet and the ease with which one could bring together musicians and dancers from across this wide land for a fantastic holiday together. The world is indeed now 80 milliseconds wide and the NI trip would never have happened without the internet.

Musicians, Callers and a Program
Our musician co-ordinator Bob Hodgson was unfortunately unable to make the trip, and so we put out the call for a music co-ordinator. David Johnson from Penrose responded magnificently with great ideas and the obvious ability to create and deliver an excellent program.

Down to Detail
I co-ordinated the production of the spreadsheets with pricing schedules, budget estimates and so forth.

On 17 November 2007, Barbara and I responded to a request for clarification of a number of details from the MFS Committee:

- The main committee wished to ensure that all MFS activities are covered by MFS insurance, and of course the NI Trip Committee shared this view.

- The NI Trip Committee was setting overall policy. Taking into account this overall policy, travel was generally to be arranged by the travel agent and everyone who travelled to NI needed to have their own travel insurance. The dances and workshops were to be covered by NI Ballroom Dancers (NIBD) public liability insurance as NIBD were booking the venue. The musicians and callers were working directly with the music co-ordinator, as individuals not as a resource provided by the Monaro Folk Society.

The working arrangements were:

- All policy decisions were the responsibility of the NI Trip Committee (NITC) consisting of NIBD, TBDdg, the trip co-ordinator Lyn McG, and the music co-ordinator David J.

- The travel agent (Debbie from NI Travel) was to handle travel, accommodation, travel insurance, and dancing and catering packages, where required by participants. Each participant was to deal directly with the travel agent. The travel agent was to pay the dancing and catering package receipts to the NIBD as they were received, to allow NIBD to make up-front payments for venues etc.

- The NIBD was to bank all door receipts and package monies from the travel agent. After the festival was over, and final accounts have been paid and the books reconciled, NIBD was to pay the music co-ordinator David J in accordance with an agreed formula. Participants were to take care of the door and other volunteer activities, but any money taken was to be passed to NIBD for banking.

- NIBD was to pay for hall hire, sound equipment, catering, etc. from the takings. This expenditure was to be at NIBD discretion, with an accounting to NITC that was to be advised by NITC to MFS Committee.

- The workshops and dances in Norfolk Island were to be covered by NIBD public liability insurance. NIBD had already booked the venue and sound equipment and operator, and were to book catering.

- TBDdg were planning a fund-raising garage sale. This would take the form of a direct donation to the music co-ordinator to be used at his discretion to assist musicians and callers to participate in the trip.

Around the early part of 2008, Jannise from The Travel Centre NI had taken over from Debbie, and advised the names of all bookings to Barbara and me and we built up an email list so we could keep in contact with all actual participants as well as those on our potential participants list.

Lyn was fully engaged in writing emails, producing materials, and thinking through issues right up until our departure date. Lyn organised gifts and presentation materials.

Barbara and I organised the garage sale at our house on election day, as we were over the road from a voting booth. We also organised raffles to provide "seed" money to the musician co-ordinator.

Due to high costs on Norfolk Island, Barbara and I purchased supplies and arranged to spread them around many helpful participants' baggage. The musicians and dancers went "beyond the call of duty" in too many ways to list, but it made the trip totally enjoyable for all concerned.

On Norfolk Island
Barbara and I travelled to Norfolk Island a few days before the start of the festival, to undertake preparatory work including putting up dodgers in shop windows and talking on Radio Norfolk.

In the time between organising the trip and the trip itself, ill-health had caused the decline of the NI Ballroom Dancers group. We found them to be in recess and as a result they had little involvement in running the festival. In spite of their much reduced numbers and ill-health they undertook the banking and helped in many other ways.

Things that worked well were the whole thing, but particularly when Barbara and I organised with the RSL club for our musicians to run a "War-Time Dances" session on Anzac Day. The musicians and dancers responded magnificently. Having a notice board and place for tourist dodgers etc worked well, with folk having the ability to leave messages for each other, and for us to post notices about program changes etc, all in a central location.

All Over All Too Soon
It was indeed a wonderful week, covered in the links below. Barbara and I stayed on for a few days after the festival, for clean-up and a final meeting with the NI Ballroom Dancers. At this meeting we took delivery of cheques for various purposes:

- Reimbursement of Barbara and my expenses for pre-purchase of supplies etc, then

- 1% of net proceeds to be donated to MFS and

- 97% to be paid to the music co-ordinator for distribution to the musicians and callers

2% of the net proceeds of monies handled by NIBD were retained by NIBD

Not The Half Of It

This has been a fairly lengthy item, but it is still the tip of the iceberg. David Johnson was a pleasure to work with on NI as we both had similar working styles. David was in charge of the program and we were in charge of the admin and general management. We offered each other valuable advice and support, but in the end didn't try to interfere in each other's roles.

I haven't been able to cover David's assembly of musicians and callers from Australia all over, the workshops, dances and ball, the dance writing competition, and the booklets that David produced, the informal barbecues and group sightseeing, and all the volunteers who saw something that needed doing and did it.

Norfolk Links
A reprint from 'Monaro Musings' the magazine of the Monaro Folk Society June 2008:

http://dance.pcug.org.au/0806_musings_ni_ah.htm

Reports from:
Coral Eden
Peter Ellis
Stuart Sims

158 pics from Norfolk Island, including our time before and after the festival.

NI Dance Instructions

Bundanoon

The following year, we were asked repeatedly "what will follow Norfolk?". So, David and we helped by other much-appreciated volunteers established the Bundanoon Bush Dancing festival in many ways along the same lines as the Norfolk trip. David is very much the driving force, but I am sure that David would be the first to tell you that Bundanoon would not have been born without us.
Cheers
Lance