May 2018 Meeting Minutes

Officers Present

* = Non-voting staff or Guest

Minutes

I’m working with two other hobby groups for partnerships in advertising/mutual support.

We received a large package of review samples as well as National raffle donations from a Russian supplier, AM Models.
A 15% off, IPMS/USA member-only, discount program with Micro-Mark has been established and an access code will be published in the next Journal. Also, Micro-Mark will begin sending us exclusive review items... a win-win all around.
Approximately 221 reviews have been processed to date in 2018.
The Hobbico bankruptcy has impacted the quantity of available items. I'm trying to work through Hobbico to get access to manufacturers directly. I will also use the convention vendor area to re-establish relationships and push for samples. I am also preparing for the Reviewers' Corps gathering at the National Convention as well as the Industry dinner. I will be scaling back the invitee list to active product donors and promising new ones.
The Reviewers' Corps display table has been arranged with the Phoenix Contest committee.

I've been on the phone more than usual lately on IPMS business. First was a discussion about our tax returns with the accountant, clearing up our taxable vs. non-taxable income. Second was trying to straighten out some postage issues with our Journal printers. Both issues are going to be fine, but have taken more time than expected to deal with.
April financial results are about $1,000 better than March. Overall, we are about $18,600 lower in net revenue year to date compared to 2017, primarily due to the slower start up of the 2018 convention vendor and registration sales and higher initial convention expenses. As I said last month, net revenues should improve as the convention revenues catch up. Membership revenues are still a bright spot, being about $5,600 higher than this time last year.

There are 227 chapters: 215 rechartered, 6 deactivated, 6 have not renewed and 1 reactivated (Ft. Wayne, Walker "Bud" Mahurin) We have a new Region 3 coordinator: James Corley.
Region 8's Coordinator, James Woody, is stepping down. I will be talking with Joe Porche from IPMS Las Vegas, as a possible replacement.
My goal between now and the Nationals is to update the database (match members to chapters) with the fact sheets received.
There have been no issues with the electronic distribution of the chapter newsletters. They are going out as soon as I get them. I should be using MailChimp to distribute next month's batch.

Submitted by Dennis Tennant, Secretary

International Plastic Modelers' Society / USA