April 2018 Meeting Minutes

Officers Present

* = Non-voting staff or Guest

Minutes

I will start collating the input from the non-techies in the website renovation and will then share them with Webmaster Eric Aitala for the tech part so we can write an RFP.
Working on partnership with another hobby organization for a membership/info table swap at each other's convention.
Something I am not doing the next Journal is writing a column. Dave Knight, the new Recruitment & Retention secretary, will take my place so he can explain his new position to the membership.

Added one new reviewer and 3 new suppliers.
Worked with MicroMark to establish a members-only discount program. Coordinating with Eric and Chris Bucholtz to get the word out to our membership. MicroMark wants to work on sharing of web content, working on getting a meeting set up with all parties.
Reviews are running a bit behind last year but I am trying to reach out to each supplier and shake the tree a bit. Lots of commentary around the recently announced closure of Revell USA, not much we can do except hope that Revell Germany will pick up the slack.

So far this year our net income is down about $19,600 over the same period last year. This is primarily due to three factors - Convention revenue is down $13,300 due to slower vendor table sales and registrations; Journal advertising revenues are down $8,200 due to slower collections and later issue printing; and convention expenses are up $7,100 due to earlier deposits on tour transportation costs and trophies. This is partially offset by $4,500 higher membership revenues and $4,400 lower general expenses year to date. Timing is likely the key driver of most of these differences, but I will continue to watch and report on them.
I submitted all of our tax data to our accountants, Sikich LLP, prior to March month end. Because our returns are due later than personal returns, they haven’t completed them yet. Once the returns are complete I will review them with the Eboard prior to filing, as required by policy.

The Board’s shared folder in Dropbox is currently about 3.2GB in size. Some of us have received notices advising us to upgrade our accounts because we’re running out of space. I don’t think that is the case and will continue to monitor the situation and keep the board informed if we need to change the way we do things. In the meantime, continue to use this shared folder to store info you feel needs to be archived and kept secure for future reference.

Nothing much on the DLC side of things. Just a couple of chapters left for recharter. Newsletters are going out. Some have not received them and I think it’s due to the fact I use a Mac. I’m going to try my Gmail account. What I really need to do is use our MailChimp account. It will take awhile to type in all the emails as I got them in the Word file.
I’ve got time. i had knee surgery last Monday for a ACL replacement. This is what happens when people over 60 use an attic ladder!

Following the board vote in favor, I will ask Bill Whipple, IPMS #7215, of Omaha to be the new Journal advertising manager. I have given Bill a list of duties, as provided by former Ad Manager Doug Reed, and Bill thinks he can manage the job. I also mailed the invoices for the January-February issue of the Journal.
I will follow up on late payments for the November-December issue.

Nothing much to report. Efforts continue to recruit new members. A number of chapter contacts have made extra efforts to recruit at local meetings and we are hoping these efforts will spread. In addition a number of new initiatives are being fleshed out. Members and chapters can now reach out directly to the R & R Sec. to get recruiting materials. Membership has risen to 3929 memberships as of latest Journal.

Submitted by Dennis Tennant, Secretary

International Plastic Modelers' Society / USA