International Plastic Modelers' Society / USA

International Plastic Modelers' Society / USA

IPMS/USA

IPMS/USA

Posted on: July 15, 2021

Action Items

  • None

Officer/Staff Reports

Ron Bell, President

  • Balloting for the election and survey is now closed and Office Manager Marie is working on getting the totals pulled together from mailed in, on-line and convention site voting.

John Noack, 1st VP

  • Peter Veltri, president of Atlantis Models, has offered to include an IPMS membership application in the kits he boxes at a discount rate (3 cents per insert vs. his normal rate of 10 cents). He's recommending an initial run of 10000 inserts, a $300 investment should we choose to move forward. The board approved an investment...
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Posted on: July 15, 2021

Action Items

  • Motion made by Secretary Tennant and seconded by TJ Misiolek that IPMS/USA offer a free one year membership to any disabled veteran joining the IPMS/USA. This is for NEW members only. Motion passed. Tennant will be working to get the info out to the membership.

Officer/Staff Reports

Ron Bell, President

  • Nothing to report.

John Noack, 1st VP

  • No new items for me, just the usual 1VP traffic in and out.  

T.J. Misiolek, 2nd Vice President

  • I have one convention pre-bid so far. 

Mike Oberholtzer, Treasurer

  • Revenues continue to do well so far this year due to continued...
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Posted on: July 15, 2021

Action Items

  • None

Officer/Staff Reports

Ron Bell, President

  • Working on election ballot/Journal election issue and getting on-line voting ready.
  • Coordinating with group of members concerning contest judging system survey to be in Journal and at Nationals.
  • Working on new booklet for recruiting members called "Basically Speaking."

John Noack, 1st VP

  • Picking up additional manufacturers and publishers for review products.
  • Coordinating with Chattanooga to assist them with soliciting industry donations and raffle items.
  • Pace has picked up on reviews in the first quarter of 2019.

T.J. Misiolek, 2nd Vice President

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Posted on: July 15, 2021

Action Items

  • None

Officer/Staff Reports

Ron Bell, President

  • Elections. Changes to the IPMS/USA Constitution caused some confusion with the candidate nomination process for our upcoming election in the Fall of 2019. The nomination document contained several errors including the deadline for filing. Secretary Tennant has updated the form and the updated version is now on the website. President Bell will coordinate with John Heck to make sure there is room for candidate bios as well as voting info in the election issue of the Journal later this year.
  • I am working on a "Basically Speaking" booklet for new members. It contains hints and tips compiled from an old column I used to write. I (and the rest of the...
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Posted on: July 15, 2021

Actions Items

Two motions were made and approved.

A motion to appoint Ro Annis as Director of Publications/Historian to fill the remainder of Jim Pearsall's term was made and unanimously approved by the board.

Following group discussion, a motion was made by Dave Knights to proceed with a six-month evaluation of Wild Apricot, a web-based content management firm, to see if it can handle our current (and future) operational needs. Our reliance on "homegrown" and maintained systems for things like convention registration and other operating processes need to be updated and standardized using commercially available systems and Treasurer Michael Oberholtzer and his technology review team felt this vendor may fit the bill. The motion passed and the trial period will...

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Posted on: July 15, 2021

Actions Taken

Given the fact there hasn’t been a lot of board activity in recent months, it was unanimously decided to move to quarterly meetings/updates instead of monthly updates.

Sec. Tennant made the motion (1VP Peterson seconded) that the IPMS/USA explore the possibility of sponsoring podcasts related to the hobby as a trial to see if they would be an effective way to recruit new members. Given their growing popularity, Tennant said, it would be good for the Society to get in on the ground floor and be a sponsor for two or three of the more successful modeling programs. R&R Sec. Knights concurred. The motion passed unanimously. Knights and Tennant will explore the costs and figure out a way to offer a discount/rebate for new members who join IPMS/USA through...

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Posted on: July 15, 2021

General discussion and action on the 2020 Nationals

  • The board met, at President John Noack's request, on June 25 for a special meeting concerning the 2020 National Convention. Given the current state of the COVID-19 virus in Texas at that time, the majority of the board and Convention Chair Len Pilhofer felt that the best course was to cancel the 2020 convention and move it to 2023 at the same location. Noack, Pilhofer and Knights (acting as our legal counsel) negotiated with Embassy Suites to cancel and reschedule the convention for a cancellation fee of $10,000. Negotiations were not final at the time of this meeting and the three will continue working with Embassy Suites management to finalize arrangements and move the convention to 2023.
  • A motion to pay...
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Posted on: July 15, 2021

Action Items

  • Marie’s contract has been renewed for another year.
  • A motion was made and passed to spend $100 to sponsor a trophy pack in the upcoming Italian Nationals. (the Italy Nationals have since been canceled for 2020)
  • We have formed a technology review team to look over options for updating our technology and website. Treasurer Mike Oberholtzer is chairing the effort with DLC David Lockhart, Secretary Dennis Tennant, Webmaster Eric Aitala and Office Manager Marie Van Schoonhoven as team members.
  • Pres. Noack initiated a discussion about creating a new adjunct position to better support our various outreach programs with active and retired military members. The majority of the board is in favor but we need to finesse some of the...
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Posted on: July 15, 2021

Action Items

  • Motion made and approved to give a free year’s membership to any NEW active military or veteran membership request. This expands on our earlier, previously approved, motion to extend a free year’s membership to disabled vets. Prospective members need to provide either their current MOS or dates of service to National Office Manager Marie to get the discount. She’ll handle the coding in the database. Tennant to contact the Journal to get something included in the next issue to inform the membership. Motion made by David Lockhart and seconded by David Knights.
  • Motion made and approved to provide $100 to chapters who host a Make N Take event at their shows. To qualify for the money, chapters should provide info about the event and include photos...
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Posted on: July 15, 2021

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,...
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