Dallas / Ft. Worth NORML

I hate to say that I agree with changing our meeting location because I live only a couple of miles from it but, I do think that if we want to attract a larger crowd to our organization then we need a much nicer place. Can I suggest maybe a place in Arlington? This would be somewhat of a central location between Ft. Worth and Dallas. This way people from Ft. Worth wouldn't have to travel all the way to Dallas and vise versa.

I would like to suggest that the leadership do a study of the membership to determine a centraly located place. By centraly located place, I mean one wheere a majority of the membership could easily attend.

Hello, I'm sort of new here.

How many members does DFW Normal have? I agree with Ironman that a central location based on membership is a wise idea.
I wouldn't mind if we chose somewhere here in Denton ;P I would think the times could be a few days after payday?

Jim Cullen

I'm new and looking forward to going to my first meeting. The current location in Fort Worth will certainly be a challenge (About 75 miles for me), I will make every effort to make it. Personally, the first part of the month is better than the last.

Maybe in the futrue something near DFW Airport may be more centrally located or perhaps several regional meetings rather than a single location.

The general agreement so far is that we are looking for a place in mid cities/arlington, to make it as centrally located as possible.

We are concerned with a few different things regarding meeting places, the primary being we would really like NOT to move it a lot. If the meeting place is always the same, its a lot easier for people to remember it. We have been at 1919 for a long while now, so we aren't taking this lightly. We love 1919 and what they stand for, and what they have done for us. As an organization, we need to be available to a larger cross section of the public on a few levels, so a more central and culturally neutral location is what is needed. As our visibility rises, our presentation must be accessible and acceptable to as wide an audience as possible.

With all that in mind, let me say as Treasurer that we have enough overhead to support a modest fee for our meeting location. One of the primary advantages to us early on was that 1919 is provided free of charge. I have seen success with restaurants and volunteer org meetings, primarily because the meetings usually take place around dinner time, so combining the two makes it easier and more attractive for people to attend, and stay later. Another option is a conference room at a city facility or school. These have the advantage of a bit more permanence, but obviously they lack the food option.

If you have a great idea for a location, by all means let us know! Post it here, mail it to officers@dfwnorml.org, whatever works best for you.

Thanks!
Lily

Hi Lilly,

Another idea might be to have 2 meetings a month in different locations to support the different demographics. If we have enough people to support the idea (i.e. people to attend the meetings), we could continue to have the 1919 Hemphill address meeting at the same time every month. In addition, we could have another meeting at the first of the month in a different location in DFW - maybe in Hurst, Bedford, Arlington, DFW, Grapevine area - and perhaps that location could be at a restaurant - something akin to a cheap pizza place or something.

I think Ryan had alluded to a specific pizza place near Hurst (somewhere?) - he said he'd get back with us.

Ingrid has been doing some research on other locations - specifically those owned by the city and provided to groups like ours for meeting places (usually libraries or conference rooms within city halls and such), but each location wants a copy of our tax status paperwork.

If we had 2 meeting places - like I'm proposing in this idea, I would be happy to spearhead, organize, and run the "2nd location meetings" in the absence of another officer - or - commission me a position within DFWNorml to act for the director. Perhaps something like Meeting Coordinator - or something of the sort.

What do you think?

Thanks!
Shannon

I think its too much to try and organize and co-ordinate with our current staff, and we simply dont have enough attendance to justify it. I would like to see how centralizing affects things first.

Im happy to give you a copy of what I have for tax paperwork, send me some email.

Lily

I agree with Ironman, too.

I can't remember .. I do remember having a good time at the Green Elephant last year.

I wish I could get to meetings, but I have no car. ;_;