International Plastic Modelers' Society / USA

International Plastic Modelers' Society / USA

IPMS/USA

IPMS/USA

Officers Present
  • Dave Lockhart – President (DL)
  • Phil Peterson - 1st VP (PP)
  • John Bonanni - 2nd VP (JB)
  • Rob Booth – Secretary (RB)
  • Mike Oberholtzer – Treasurer (MO)
  • Ro Annis - Historian/Publications Director (RA)
  • David Knights - Recruitment and Retention Secretary (DK)

Others Present

  • Mark Persichetti – NCC Chair (MP) *
  • Len Pilhofer – Nats 2023 Chair (LP) *
  • Marie Van Schoonhoven - Office Manager (MVS) *
  • Nancy Kennedy-Hackney – Members and Event Systems Administrator (NK-H) *

* = Non-voting staff or Guest

Minutes

These minutes reflect the discussion during the 1st Quarter 2023 Executive Board meeting held on Sunday, January 8, 2023.

Minutes

  • DL called the meeting to order at 6:15PM, CST.
  • DL requested committee reports from NCC Chair, Nats 2023 Chair and IPMS/USA Office Manager.

Committee Reports

  • National Contest Committee – Mark Persichetti – Chairman
    • Thanks to EBoard for review and approval of the Nats 2023 Contest Rules and Categories.  LP confirmed that these have been posted to the Nats 2023 website.
    • MP to submit an article to the Journal for publishing the rules and category revisions in an upcoming issue.
    • Dioramas and vignettes are now included in the major class categories rather than as a complete class of their own.  The categories and designations are still the same as they were in the previous diorama class.
    • MP asked the EBoard for an approval of Gordon Ensing as the replacement Head Juniors Judge for Rick Jackson, who is retiring from that role.  The Board voted unanimously for approval.
    • MP requested an approval of the NCC Charter document previously submitted to the E-Board, and that he had not received any commentary thus far.  MP asked if there were any concerns from the Board that they would like to address with him tonight.  There were none.
    • MP asked if the board had reviewed the NCC’s outline summary of their reply to the Mathes paper, if the sub-committees proposed by the NCC were acceptable, and whether the proposed C&BL revisions will affect the current status, make-up and responsibilities of the NCC.
    • MP indicated that Dana Mathes obviously has a good sense of organization, and could he present an example of how the online judging documentation could be consolidated and cleaned up.
    • RB indicated that the Board has yet to consider the NCC Charter document or the Mathes paper summary response, and that they were scheduled as action items for tonight’s meeting.
    • The NCC has presented their charter doc, and the board will consider and discuss it as required, along with the Mathes paper response.
    • RB added that until any proposed actions on the exploratory propositions in the Mathes letter or proposed language revisions to the C&BL by the board are presented to the NCC, it is business as usual through at least the 2023 Convention and Contest.  JB reiterated that the NCC has complete responsibility for and control of the National Contest, and that nothing will change without coordination between the board and the NCC, and formal approval in accordance with the current C&BL of any proposed changes to any operating parameters.
    • MP will relay this to the NCC members.
    • PP asked if MP and LP could confirm that table space for the diorama categories would be made available in the specific class table areas for those entries, or whether they would be in a separate area.  MP & LP confirmed that diorama categories would be located with each class’s table area, and have coordinated with the 2023 Contest Coordinator, Tom Moon.
    • The NCC report concluded, and MP excused himself from the meeting.
  • IPMS/USA 2023 National Convention Committee – Len Pilhofer – Chairman
    • Categories and rules have been posted to the convention website.
    • Vendor tables are sold out, and there is a waiting list.
    • A “gold level” sponsorship has been obtained from Tamiya.  Their brand will be prominently displayed on all convention literature, media and at the venue.
    • Other sponsorships are pending for the second vendor hall and other items.
    • LP working to have a vendor list and map up on the website by the end of the month.
    • Same for the volunteer sign-up information.
    • DL asked if the table space for the proposed large-scale B-17 group build had been considered.  LP confirmed that it had.  There will be overflow space in the hallway North of the contest room for oversized group entries.
    • MO expressed concern about sales numbers for hats.  LP and RB confirmed that hats are a re-sale item that will be made after the close of pre-registration.
    • RB confirmed that Nats 2023 Challenge Coins had been received by the E-Board members, and that they will be distributed to deserving entries at local contests around the US prior to the Nats in August.
    • JB confirmed that he is working with some “celebrities” within the scale modeling community to attend the 2023 Nats to host some seminars as well as pay to attend workshops.  More info on those efforts to come.
    • LP indicated that the committee is working with a local transportation vendor to provide a continuous shuttle service to run a loop route from the remote hotels to the convention hotel and downtown San Marcos.  Also being considered is some level of airport shuttle service from the Austin airport (shuttle service from the San Antonio airport is not being considered).
    • The Nats 2023 report was concluded, and LP excused himself from the meeting.
  • C&BL Review Committee
    • RB asked to present this info during his Board report.
  • Office Manager’s Report
    • November/December journals are in the mail.  Late mailing is due to the holidays, and the printing vendor was closed for some time.
    • Current membership number is 4,778.  More members are updating their personal information on the MYIPMSUSA/Wild Apricot system.
    • MVS confirmed that elections nominations paperwork had been filed and sufficient endorsements received for the following:
      • President – David Lockhart
      • 1st VP – Phil Peterson
      • 1st VP – John Bonanni
      • 2nd VP – Len Pilhofer
      • Secretary – Rob Booth
      • DLC – John Figueroa
      • Publications/Historian – Ro Annis
      • Recruitment/Retention – David Knights
    • We will have a mostly incumbent board next year, with the exception of the 2nd VP office with Len Pilhofer running unopposed.  John Bonanni and Phil Peterson are running for 1st VP.  Phil is the incumbent 1st VP, and John is the current 2nd VP.  No other IPMS/USA members applied for nomination.
    • MVP indicated she has received several requests for tri-fold brochures.  DK indicated he would have those completed by the end of the month.
  • DL introduced Nancy Kennedy-Hackney as our Member and Event Systems Administrator and will work on Wild Apricot.  MO indicated she will initially be helping set up the system for the elections and convention registrations.  NH-K is looking forward to working with us.
  • MVS and NK-H were excused from the meeting.

Executive Board Reports and Business Discussions

  • President’s Report and Discussions
    • DL requested that board members submit their choices for the Hobbytown USA model contest winners from the information that was emailed earlier today.  Winners will be published in the Journal, and will receive a 1 yr membership in IPMS/USA.
    • DL indicated he will write an article for the Journal outlining the procedures and requirements for members to run for election to Executive Board positions, and how the election is being administrated, and adapted to use Wild Apricot to assist in voting.  Hard copy ballots will still be made available at the Convention and in the Journal (with candidate bios), for those who prefer to use them.  Ballots must be received by the Office Manager no later than September 1, 2023 to be valid.
    • Since the incoming board will be incumbent with the exception of the 1st & 2nd VP positions, we can begin to plan for 2024 and 2025.
  • 1st Vice President’s Report and Discussions
    • Total of 485 reviews published in 2022.
    • Working with HK and Zouki-Mura for new products.
    • PP will do a “clean-up” of the corps membership list to remove inactive members.
    • PP has been coordinating with RA to consider putting selected review articles in the Journal.  They will need to be modified from the website version, and contain a link for members to look at the expanded online version.  That would allow manufacturers direct exposure to 4,776 modelers, based on the latest Journal mailing.
    • DL requested that PP write an article for the Journal to inform the membership of the benefits of participating in the reviewer corps.
  • 2nd Vice President’s Report and Discussions
    • The NCSC held it’s first meeting on 11/28, and is off to a good start.
    • The board approved the NCSC Charter on 12/11.
    • JB to work with Alex Silvia to reach out to the Gundam community and Kaliste Saloom to work on potential National Convention venues through Marriott and Hilton.  That will allow groups from areas that haven’t hosted in a while to submit bids for the Nats.
    • The committee will be providing a standardized IPMS/USA National Convention RFP package by the end of March, 2023, and will conduct an online town hall meeting to review the material with interested members.  Date/time TBD.
    • Venue contract for the 2024 convention has not yet been received.  JB to work with Jeff Hearne and the venue to be sure that document is in hand by the end of January.  A backup plan is being put together just in case that venue falls through.
    • 2023 Convention is on track (see LP report above).
    • JB expressed concern that some members were upset that discussion threads on the IPMS/USA Forum regarding the C&BL review that asked specific questions of E-board members were being ignored.  Upon investigating the issue, we discovered that these posts were being carried out in a “members only” segment of the Forum.  When JB and RB attempted to access these posts through web links provided to them by other members who could access them, they received a message that they were ”not authorized to view that content”.  JB & RB contacted the webmaster, who was able to override the problem and granted access to RB & JB to view the posts.  RB & JB contacted DL, who also was not able to access the posts, and expressed concern over a “members only” discussion scenario on the IPMS/USA Forum that censored private discussions.  DL to contact the Forum Administrator to resolve the issue, and confirm whether Officers had been intentionally excluded from the discussion access.
    • RB asked about the status of appointment of a Director of Engagement (Social Media).  JB indicated that that position will be important to manage that function.  He is considering individuals to submit for that position, and we should discuss the position and those candidates at a special meeting.  It may be better served through a special committee of several individuals who serve as admins and moderators now, reporting to this person.  The Board will discuss further in a special session TBD.
  • Treasurer’s Report and Discussions
    • As of today, we are about $7,500 to the good.  MO reminded that we are not trying to make a profit but strive to break even.
    • The end of year financial statements are available online and are published in the latest Journal.
  • Director of Local Chapter’s Report and Discussions
    • As of 1/6/23, there are 158 of 207 chapters (76.3%) that are fully re-chartered.  An additional 16 have paid fees, but for other reasons (#of paid members, chapter profile update or other factors) have not fully completed the process.
    • Certificates of Insurance are up to date and distributed for all local shows scheduled in January.
    • 9 shows are scheduled in February, and JF is working on (distributing COIs to) those.
    • DL indicated that having 76% of chapters rechartered in January is excellent.
  • Secretary’s Report and Discussion
    • RB confirmed all Board members have received challenge coins for use from now until the convention.
    • RB will schedule a Zoom meeting with the volunteers who have agreed to serve on the (expanded) C&BL Review Committee in the next several days.  RB to review the draft charter with those individuals and finalize to submit for board approval ASAP, after the initial meeting.
    • RB confirmed that the final draft of the revisions and any amendments will need to be published in the Journal prior to the convention.
    • RB requested that the Board review the E-Board Operations Handbook received from James Corley that was put together by previous boards.  Content to be discussed at a future meeting.
    • The IPMS/USA Corporate Charter a has been renewed and is on file in the IPMS/USA Dropbox.
    • RB suggested chartering an independent committee to administrate the moving forward of exploratory work on the Mathes letter judging proposals.  RB moved to ask for board approval to charter an independent, temporary committee to administrate the exploration of the proposals put forth by the Mathes paper and amended by the NCC response to the letter.  MO suggested that the board have more time to review the information presented by the NCC in response to the letter.  The board will convene a special meeting for further discussion of the topic, TBD.  JB indicated that the way forward should include a third party (non NCC, non E-Board led) administrative committee to explore the viability of the proposals to refine the judging process requested by Dana Mathes, and responded to by the NCC.  RB to contact MP to discuss the NCC’s ideas on how to move forward without burdening of the NCC’s time to focus on the 2023 contest, and what the chartering of that committee would look like.
    • RB & DL proposed that additional discussion on the NCC Charter approval be deferred to a special meeting for the board to have more time to consider, as time is running short for tonight.
  • Publications Director/Historian’s Reports and Discussion
    • RA suggested that the Journal staff needs some position redundancy and perhaps additional staff to prevent the late publishing of the magazine.  DL suggested RA reach out to editors from local chapter newsletters who use the same software for support and assistance.
  • Recruitment/Retention Director
    • DK to get tri-fold designs to Marie by the end of January.
    • Lots of feedback via PMM podcast that folks are joining IPMS/USA.  Goal is to hit the 5,000 member mark by/during the 2023 Nats.
  • DL stated that time for tonight is up, and we need to defer additional discussions (noted herein) for a special session meeting, time and date to be determined, ASAP.  RB to poll the board for a suitable date and time and set up.
  • DL adjourned the meeting at 8:09PM CST.

The next quarterly meeting of the IPMS/USA Executive Board will be held via Zoom on Sunday, April 16, 2023 at 6:00PM CST.  The membership is encouraged to provide input or feedback at ipmssec@ipmsusa.org.

Submitted by Rob Booth - Secretary-IPMS/USA

01/11/2023