International Plastic Modelers' Society / USA

International Plastic Modelers' Society / USA

IPMS/USA

IPMS/USA

Officers Present
  • John Noack (President)
  • Phil Peterson (1st VP)
  • T.J Misiolek (2nd VP)
  • Dennis Tennant (Secretary)
  • Mike Oberholtzer (Treasurer)
  • David Lockhart (DLC)
  • Ro Annis (Historian/Publication Director)
  • Marie Van Schoonhoven (Office Manager) *
  • Invited: Las Vegas Convention chair Bob Lomassaro *

* = Non-voting staff or Guest

Minutes

Action Items

  • None

Officer/Staff Reports

John Noack, President

  • Nothing to Report.

Phil Peterson, 1st VP

  • Nothing to report

T.J. Misiolek, 2nd Vice President

  • Working with Las Vegas crew almost constantly.
  • I've sent reminders to Convention Chairs Scott (Omaha) and Len (San Marcos) about their updates for the bid session and awards ceremony. 
  • Also, there shouldn't be any bids this year, as we've awarded the next two, since San Marcos got pushed back a year. 

Mike Oberholtzer, Treasurer

  • We continued our positive trend again in May. Convention revenues and membership dues are both up over last year, contributing to income $34,000 higher than last year at this time. On the expense side, lower convention and Journal expenses are partially offset by higher computer and web expenses, but overall expenses are down by almost $42,000. So far we have $28,500 in net revenue for the year compared to a loss of ($47,600) last year through May. Our cash balances are $11,000 higher as well. So all in all, a good recovery from a bad 2020 so far.
  • Wild Apricot set up work continues with Rodney Wise and the IPMS Wild Apricot team. We are gathering the needed information and decisions to get WA ready for implementation. Thanks to Eric Aitala, Marie Van Schoonhoven, Ro Annis, John Noack and Dave Lockhart for their help!

Dennis Tennant, Secretary

  • Nothing new to report.

David Lockhart, DLC

  • Chapter Renewals
    • 219 chapter
    • 152 have completed their recharter
    • 67 have not
      • 34 No FS or payment
      • 33 missing either a FS or payment

Ro Annis, Historian/Publication Dir.

  • IPMS/USA Journal: The process of making any changes has been slow going. The biggest hurdle is that all the work to produce each issue is done by Chris Bucholtz and John Heck. This production takes an enormous amount of their time, leaving them with no time to explain to me their processes and to make changes. This is not a criticism on my part that they are doing anything less than a great job or that the magazine is substandard. However: 1) How can the magazine evolve, both in terms of style and content, 2) How do we get members/non-members to send in more content, 3) How do we create/add new features, 4) How do we find more people to ease the workload of Chris and John and 5) how do document their process so that it can be passed onto the next generation of volunteers. I have set up a face to face meeting on Wednesday during the Nationals so we can address the many issues listed above. This will be the first time I have ever interacted with both of them and believe this will go a long way to sorting out what needs to be done.
  • Wild Apricot: I have been able to help out here supplying documents to help Rodney Wise create the IPMS website. There will be a lot more to do here such as, figuring out how the Journal will get integrated into the site, figuring out what parts of our new site will need moderators and who's responsible for news updates. Not to mention sorting through pics to put into galleries… There will be much to do to get everything sorted out.
  • Facebook: I am one of the moderators here, occasionally I go in and deal with approving posts and new members. Right now, our organization doesn't have any rules or position set up to deal with social media, such as FaceBook. This absolutely will need to change, especially if we want to reach new members. Whether we like it or not, social media will need to be integrated into our operations.
  • Historian: Not much going on here. No requests for information. The plan is to get everything online, in a searchable database for members. This is still just a dream, only once Wild Apricot has been put to bed will I be able to peel off some energy to do anything substantive here.

David Knights, Recruitment and Retention Secretary

  • New trifold pamphlet. New members.

Marie Van Schoonhoven, National Office Manager

  • Still working to get the Insurance consolidated to one agency if possible
  • Ballot will be in the May/June Journal V33J3
  • Extra Ballots will be on hand at the Convention for those who are active and have not voted by mail or online
  • Webmaster Eric Aitala is receiving votes via online
  • We have 3872 Active Members for the V33J2 April/May Journal issue

Submitted by Dennis Tennant, Secretary