<html><head><meta http-equiv="content-type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8"></head><body dir="auto">Bob, some good points and yes you are correct! To clarify, I am offering to coordinate with a small group of men bringing home made food for the event—so not a potluck.<div><br></div><div> In terms of a fee, a nominal fee could make sense—say $5 to $10 a head. Have we spent any money on childcare before? How often is a scholarship used? My guess is for both of these questions a very small number with a nominal expense. If charge $10, then those bringing food could get reimbursed for their ingredients.<div><br></div><div>Snacks are no more than a buck a head if buy chips. Beer is $3 per person if each gets two drinks. </div><div><div><br></div><div>Thanks for your questions and thoughts.</div><div><br></div><div>Erik</div><div><br id="lineBreakAtBeginningOfSignature"><div dir="ltr">Sent from my iPad</div><div dir="ltr"><br><blockquote type="cite">On Feb 11, 2024, at 8:36 PM, Bob Dinan <bdinan83@gmail.com> wrote:<br><br></blockquote></div><blockquote type="cite"><div dir="ltr"><div dir="ltr"><div class="gmail_default" style="font-size:large">I think I'm getting more confused as I read this thread.</div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-size:large"><br></div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-size:large">Jim mentioned a potluck for Model 2. But I thought in our January meeting that it was going to be along the lines of typical men's dinner. But instead of hiring out the food preparation, a small group of men (Erik, John Russell, et al) were going to prepare something delicious. To me, if we promote it as a potluck, the expectation is that everyone who attends will contribute something (funds, if they don't cook). A potluck is very informal.</div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-size:large"><br></div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-size:large">I checked back to the minutes of the last meeting. It looks like we didn't discuss what we might charge. My assumption would be that we would charge some amount, just like the other spring dinners that I've attended. Have we ever held a spring dinner with no fee? </div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-size:large"><br></div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-size:large">It doesn't need to be $25; we could charge a smaller amount.</div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-size:large"><br></div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-size:large">The fee would cover:</div><div class="gmail_default"><ul><li><font size="4">Scholarships</font></li><li><font size="4">Reimbursing child care (two things that we've offered for the last few retreats)</font></li><li><font size="4">Some number of free drinks/beverages</font></li><li><font size="4">Snacks for the first 30 minutes of socializing as men arrive.</font></li></ul><div><font size="4">I don't think a nominal fee would keep men from attending - the scholarships and child care coverage should make it possible for anyone who is interested to attend.</font></div><div><font size="4"><br></font></div></div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-size:large">How will we know what headcount to expect? Are we still going to ask people to register via a Google form even though there is no fee? I would think we would still want to, but estimating the size will be inherently difficult. When you don't charge anything, there will be people who register but decide that day to not show up (they're not out any money). There may also be people who show up without bothering to register, because, hey, it's free. My hunch is that the number in the former group would outnumber the latter, leaving us with a smaller headcount.</div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-size:large"><br></div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-size:large">I think that if we were looking at holding a free event, our planning would have gone in a different direction yesterday. I'm not sure this kind of dinner warrants the full program we were considering: panel of speakers, make-and-take activity, etc.</div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-size:large"><br></div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-size:large">If we can clarify what Model 2 is, I'm not against it at all. But that feels like a different kind of event, more like Dave Borneman's meet ups and less like the typical men's dinner we've offered in the past. We would need to plan for it and promote it differently, setting the expectation that it won't be your typical catered dinner. I'm not against trying it out, but it would be different.</div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-size:large"><br></div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-size:large">Does anyone have other thoughts before we decide on whether to pursue one model over the other? I don't want to turn down Erik's gracious offer. I just want to make sure that I understand which direction the council wants to pursue, since I now realize that we weren't clear coming out of the January meeting.</div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-size:large"><br></div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-size:large">Bob</div></div><br><div class="gmail_quote"><div dir="ltr" class="gmail_attr">On Sun, Feb 11, 2024 at 5:05 PM Jim Schaefer <<a href="mailto:jim@jvscontrols.com">jim@jvscontrols.com</a>> wrote:<br></div><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0px 0px 0px 0.8ex;border-left-width:1px;border-left-style:solid;border-left-color:rgb(204,204,204);padding-left:1ex"><div dir="auto"><div dir="ltr"></div><div dir="ltr">Seems like we have two models for dinner..</div><div dir="ltr">Model 1: the restaurant where you just pay and expect a meal </div><div dir="ltr">Model 2: the potluck where we work together bring food to each other and expect variety and tolerate hiccups that MAY occur.</div><div dir="ltr"><br></div><div dir="ltr">I am in favor of model 2 in this case. Using our own skills and creativity to make the food aligns with the theme and we have someone who is committed to making it happen. It’s a nice break from our pattern. </div><div dir="ltr"><br></div><div dir="ltr">We can have a cash bar and pay for other non alcoholic drinks from our ample budget. </div><div dir="ltr"><br></div><div dir="ltr"><br></div><div dir="ltr"><br></div><div dir="ltr"><br></div><div dir="ltr"><br></div><div dir="ltr"><blockquote type="cite">On Feb 11, 2024, at 4:39 PM, Pat Herbst <<a href="mailto:pgherbst@umich.edu" target="_blank">pgherbst@umich.edu</a>> wrote:<br><br></blockquote></div><blockquote type="cite"><div dir="ltr"><div dir="ltr">While the amount could be lower, we discussed having some threshold to be able to require registration and to have a count of attendees so that the cooks can calculate how much food to make. We would not want to over or under-estimate by too much. <div>We would also be giving more drinks for free than other years. Having said that, i don't think we debated much the price point. </div><div><br></div><div>I also think that paying something constitutes insurance for people coming who can thereby expect to have a reasonable meal (e.g., vegetarians or vegans having food they can eat, all of us having enough volume, having it at a reasonable time, etc.). All of these things become relevant for people when they are told that the cooking is done by volunteers. I think of this not as a meal that anyone personally offers, but something that the council organizes and so we need to be able to deliver to those expectations regardless of the personal preferences of volunteers. Namely, if people pay for their dinner, they can expect that if a volunteer burns their dish or it is not ready in time, someone will have the resources and feel the obligation to run to a store and buy the food in a pinch. </div><div><br></div><div>We need to think like an organization even if we are a bunch of guys.</div><div><br></div><div><br></div><div><br></div><div><br></div><div><br></div><div><br clear="all"><div><div dir="ltr" class="gmail_signature"><div dir="ltr"><div dir="ltr"><div dir="ltr"><div dir="ltr"><div dir="ltr"><span><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><font color="#000000" face="Arial"><span style="font-size:13.3333px"><b>Pat Herbst</b></span></font></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:Arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline">Professor of Mathematics Education</span></p><p style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:Arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline">Editor in Chief, Journal for Research in Mathematics Education</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:Arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline">Marsal Family School of Education | University of Michigan</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:Arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline">610 East University Avenue | Room 4117</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:Arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline">Ann Arbor, MI | 48109-1259 </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:Arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline">734.763.3745 | <a href="mailto:pgherbst@umich.edu" target="_blank">pgherbst@umich.edu</a></span></p><br><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:Arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline"><span style="border:medium;display:inline-block;overflow:hidden;width:195px;height:26px"><img src="https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/irvcxY5zS2aDLgZ9AbdiriAR17IFoE0VphlQRoOxMSUlyRze5CAXTtmYxznyvI0hLNFF9v2zYGKvfkfKjn0YvGAFEtvYaDxIgNar-9EFWJl0GyR6szLswfjp_g6X_1LAes49F7Ok9ue8nq4gnwFhb-o" width="195" height="26" data-unique-identifier=""></span></span><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:Arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline"> </span></p><p dir="ltr" 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data-unique-identifier=""></span></span></a></p><div><br></div></span></div><div dir="ltr"><div><br></div><div>Director, GRIP Lab</div><div>2400 SEB</div><div>University of Michigan</div><div><font color="#0000ee"><u><a href="https://www.gripumich.org/" target="_blank">https://www.gripumich.org/</a></u></font><br></div><div><br></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div><br></div></div><br><div class="gmail_quote"><div dir="ltr" class="gmail_attr">On Sun, Feb 11, 2024 at 4:15 PM erik stalhandske <<a href="mailto:estalhand@yahoo.com" target="_blank">estalhand@yahoo.com</a>> wrote:<br></div><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0px 0px 0px 0.8ex;border-left-width:1px;border-left-style:solid;border-left-color:rgb(204,204,204);padding-left:1ex"><div dir="auto">Thanks for the update! I am prepared to donate my food for the dinner, and anticipated others would do the same. Is there a reason to charge a fee? Part of my desire to cook and line up others, was to lower the threshold for entry and make it no cost. I was not anticipating making food for a fund raiser for the men’s council—<div><br></div><div>Appreciate any clarification. </div><div><br></div><div>Erik<br><div><br></div><div><br><div><br></div><div><br id="m_-1645661847812268658m_-5277264689203752233lineBreakAtBeginningOfSignature"><div dir="ltr">Sent from my iPad</div><div dir="ltr"><br><blockquote type="cite">On Feb 10, 2024, at 11:05 AM, Bob Dinan <<a href="mailto:bdinan83@gmail.com" target="_blank">bdinan83@gmail.com</a>> wrote:<br><br></blockquote></div><blockquote type="cite"><div dir="ltr"><div dir="ltr"><div class="gmail_default" style="font-size:large">Gentlemen,</div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-size:large"><br></div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-size:large">Pat, Bill, and I met this morning via Zoom to begin plans for the dinner.</div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-size:large"><br></div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-size:large">Some of items we agreed on:</div><div class="gmail_default"><ul><li><font size="4">Saturday, April 13, at the church (actually, this was agree to several weeks ago)</font></li><li><font size="4">Theme: "Making Friends while Making Things"</font></li><li><font size="4">How we can make connections while building, creating, repairing</font></li><li><font size="4">Tying the dinner into the Skills Inventory that Jim is creating</font></li><li><font size="4">$25 per person (scholarships available)</font></li><li><font size="4">Erik will be providing the food</font></li></ul><div><font size="4">Before our next council meeting in two weeks, please give <a href="https://docs.google.com/document/d/1BoVLbs-K_ZlzAImJOG6E-Teo0wd9y6nJzXa42av5B3I/edit?usp=sharing" target="_blank">the notes</a> a quick read. This will be a focus of our next meeting.</font></div><div><font size="4"><br></font></div><div><font size="4">Enjoy your weekend,</font></div><div><font size="4"><br></font></div><div><font size="4">Bob</font></div></div><div><br></div><span class="gmail_signature_prefix">-- </span><br><div dir="ltr" class="gmail_signature"><div dir="ltr"><div><div dir="ltr"><div><div dir="ltr"><div dir="ltr"><div dir="ltr"><div dir="ltr"><div><div dir="ltr" style="text-align:center"><span style="background-color:rgb(255,255,255)"><b><font color="#ff0000">bob dinan | </font><font color="#38761d"><a href="mailto:bdinan83@gmail.com" target="_blank">bdinan83@gmail.com</a> | </font></b><b><font size="2" color="#6aa84f">734.674.7452</font></b></span></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div>
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</blockquote></div><br clear="all"><div><br></div><span class="gmail_signature_prefix">-- </span><br><div dir="ltr" class="gmail_signature"><div dir="ltr"><div><div dir="ltr"><div><div dir="ltr"><div dir="ltr"><div dir="ltr"><div dir="ltr"><div><div dir="ltr" style="text-align:center"><span style="background-color:rgb(255,255,255)"><b><font color="#ff0000">bob dinan | </font><font color="#38761d"><a href="mailto:bdinan83@gmail.com" target="_blank">bdinan83@gmail.com</a> | </font></b><b><font size="2" color="#6aa84f">734.674.7452</font></b></span></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div>
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