International Plastic Modelers' Society / USA

International Plastic Modelers' Society / USA

IPMS/USA

IPMS/USA

Officers Present
  • Dave Lockhart - President
  • John Bonanni - 2nd VP
  • Rob Booth - Secretary
  • Mike Oberholtzer - Treasurer
  • Jeff Neal - Director of Local Chapters
  • Ro Annis - Historian/Publications Director
  • David Knights - Recruitment and Retention Secretary
  • Marie Van Schoonhoven - Office Manager *

Officers Not Available

  • Phil Peterson (1st VP)

* = Non-voting staff or Guest

Minutes

Officer/Staff Reports

Dave Lockhart – President

  • Initiated a “meet and greet” discussion in which each member of the board introduced themselves to the others and gave brief summaries of their modeling lives and ideas for IPMS.
  • IPMS Board email addresses assigned to each e-board member.
  • Working on a new website that will be interactive with the Wild Apricot system. Target launch is 1st of the year.
  • Working on some updates to the Journal and its distribution.
  • We have just under 4,500 “active” members.
  • Would like to broaden the number of chapters to increase membership.
  • John and Rob working to grow the National Convention.
  • Board meetings are held quarterly. Dave to set meeting dates and Rob to issue emailed Zoom meeting invitations to other board members. May have some interim meetings to set goals, facilitate the new members system, website, etc.
  • Dave would like the Board to be much more visible to the members at the Nats.
  • Name tags for officers are ready and will be sent in a few days.
  • Chapter “certificates and annual seals” to be discontinued. Looking into making them available digitally.

John Bonanni – 2nd Vice President

  • John shared some of his ideas on how to improve the National Convention and leverage social media to expand membership and exposure of the Society.
  • John will be reaching out to individuals to contribute time, experience, and expertise towards establishing a National Convention Steering Committee and contributing Journal articles.
  • John to set up a Zoom meeting with Nats subcommittee to establish some goals for the National Convention.
  • John indicated that many first time Nats attendees are going to Omaha because of exposure from social media sites.

Mike Oberholzer – Treasurer

  • Mike shared that the Society is in solid financial shape, and that the Vegas convention turned a profit of about $24,000.00.
  • Discussion with David involved the incentive to spend some money on things that are needed so that the organization doesn’t accumulate too much cash.
  • The board has been given a brief online demonstration and summary of the Wild Apricot online member management system and how it will interface with the IPMS website.
  • A current financial report is not available for the meeting, but Mike is working on one.
  • Working on Wild Apricot setup and testing with consultant and some of the chapter contacts, and how it interfaces with the website. Members will be able to update their profiles themselves, pay dues, chapter renewals, vote, register for the Nats, etc. The system will be used to register for the Omaha Nats.

Rob Booth - Secretary

  • Looking forward to assisting John B. with documenting the Nats bidding and hosting process.
  • Will get with Dave to get audio recording of this meeting to issue minutes.

Jeff Neal – Director of Local Chapters

  • Suggested some revisions to the Nats contest categories, specifically regarding Automotive. Dave indicated that should be discussed with the NCC and Mark Persichetti.

Ro Annis - Historian/Publications Director

  • Working to make the Journal distribution faster and more efficient.
  • IPMS USA logos up for copyright/trademark renewal (10 yr cycle). Marie maintains all of that.
  • Working on a vectored image of the logo for the IPMS website.
  • Working with Eric to update the website to make it more member centric. Presented a brief look at some of the new interface page layouts.

David Knights - Recruitment and Retention Secretary

  • Membership is growing.
  • Other board members acknowledged Dave’s presence on social media as a significant factor in membership growth.

Marie Van Schoonhoven - National Office Manager

  • Sept/Oct Journal is at the printers and should be going in the mail within a week or so.

Submitted by Rob Booth - Secretary-IPMS USA

11/27/2021