Before
We most commonly member people because they graduate the class or ask to be membered, although ideally frequent guests we might notice and offer membership to before they ask. Membership needs to be approved by the EC (either as part of the pre-graduation meeting for class members or individually, likely in an email vote).
Things to do
Once we've voted to member somebody, do the following:
- Add them to SquaresDB
- Class graduates: see the "Updating roster" section of Graduation & Post-Graduation Checklists for bulk import instructions
- Off-cycle members: use the add form - in the event that it is confusing, talk to Alex, and then maybe improve the docs here
- Add them tech-squares@
- Send them a welcome email (see below for template)
- Tech Squares mailing lists (-discuss, -social, -rounds) and how to join them
- Who to contact with issues (-officers, officers' webpage?)
- Safer dances
- Club jobs
- Badge order – either ~"let us know if you want a badge" (if there's one soon) or ~"we do them sometimes, ask next time"
- How to access the wiki
- Website, calendar, etc.
- Brief mention of how voting works – attend regularly, constitution link
Welcome email
(insert relevant intro text, and modify various sections below if necessary, such as whether to include the standing policy text, when the next badge order is, and whether the new member has an Athena account)
Hi <name>,
Welcome to Tech Squares! Per our standing policies, the Tech Squares Executive Committee has voted to make you a member. Next time there's a badge order (always one around graduation, sometimes at other times), we'll email the club mailing list, and you can order a club badge if you want.
There are several mailing lists associated with the club. I've added you to tech-squares, which is our main announcement list. We also have:
tech-squares-rounds@mit.edu
for news about round dance stuff, like organizing early rounds before a Saturday dance
tech-squares-discuss@mit.edu
Where there are sometimes discussions and/or flame wars about club policy
tech-squares-social@mit.edu
where people advertise parties, stuff they are in (like plays or singing groups) and occasionally look for room mates, jobs, and homes for their used stuff.
a1-dancers@mit.edu, a2-dancers@mit.edu, c1-dancers@mit.edu, etc.
where people advertise dances at other levels that might be of interest to Tech Squares dancers, or try to organize a group to attend an event, etc. (We generally ask people to sign up for the highest level they are interested in, and all the levels below that, so there's never a need to advertise a given dance on more than one list.)
challenge-discuss@mit.edu
Where dancers chat about whether some piece of choreography is legal, how to interpret some weird stacked concept they ran into, why a call is defined the way it is, and that sort of thing.
You can add yourself to any of these lists by going to http://mailman.mit.edu/mailman/listinfo/tech-squares , replacing tech-squares with the name of the list you'd like to subscribe to, or by letting us know.
You can also join our Discord using the following link: <link here>.The Discord is limited to club members, so please don't share this link with anyone. If someone wants to join but doesn't have the link, they are welcome to email us. The discord contains various channels with many of the functions of the above email lists (socializing, advertising other dances or fun events, organizing administrivia within the club, etc).
You should also be aware that Tech Squares has a Safer Dances Policy. If you have concerns about anybody's behavior (inappropriate physical contact, unwanted sexual attention, etc.), we encourage you to reach out to a safer dances coordinator (safer-squares AT mit.edu or in person) or another officer.
We have a wiki with lots of information on it. To access the wiki, go to https://wikis.mit.edu/confluence/display/techsquares.
Tech Squares's weekly dances happen smoothly due to a commitment from club member volunteers. We need club members to help with weekly jobs such as setup, gate, and breakdown. If you are attending weekly dances regularly, we ask that you sign up for a job about once a month. We’ll provide complete instructions and any help you need. It’s a great way to meet people and to contribute to the club, so we urge you to sign up when the jobs coordinator goes around Tuesdays asking for volunteers.
Since you've attended at least 4 of the last 15 dances, you're now also a voting member, and can vote during elections. For more information about voting membership and elections, you can refer to our constitution at http://www.mit.edu/~tech-squares/govdocs/
If you have any questions or need to contact the officers for any reason, you can contact us at squares@mit.edu, or you can refer to the specific officers at http://www.mit.edu/~tech-squares/officers.html .
Welcome again, and we're glad to have you with us!