Georgette Grossman called the meeting to order at 6:35 pm at the Dunn Loring Firehouse.Members in attendance were:
| Alan Goldstein
Amy Dixon Beth Morris Bob Friedman Colena Turner Dale Nelson Fran Bastress Georgette Grossman Melanie Marts |
Ginger Werz-Petricka
Jamie Kiechlin Kevin Egan Mike Whalen Sam Schaen Sandi Croan Roger Lancaster Joy Brathwaite Kieu-Hanh Vu |
Scott Musson
Tami Stieger Tom Brett Tom Pratuch Willa Friedman Willa Siegel Susan Phillips Jeff Hancock |
BOARD MEMBER REPORTS and OTHER ISSUES
End-of-Year Banquet, June 5, 2015
Dale Nelson reported on Location.
Since Best Western is closed and no longer available, Dale evaluated several new venues in terms of cost, convenience, parking, and meal options. These included the Marriott Fairview Park, Embassy Suites Dulles, and Waterford Fair Oaks. Dale likes the Waterford best for reasons including its relatively convenient location, the free parking, room size and configuration, and restroom location.
A discussion ensued about the use of sound systems at a banquet held at Waterford. The sound system rental equipment fee there would be $750, only $200 of which is for the equipment. The remainder is for setup and teardown. Tom Brett stated that last year’s cost per person for the banquet was $44, but equipment rental at this price would pump up the ticket prices. After Dale said contractually we could bring our own equipment, Jeff Hancock said we’d need a screen, a projector, power for the projector, and a microphone. Then Mike Whalen offered his personal sound system equipment for use at the banquet. This discussion prompted board members to decide to supply our own equipment, rather than use Waterford’s. Dale will follow up with Waterford to ensure that this approach is acceptable. Bob Friedman moved to use Waterford for the NVPS banquet on June 5, and Roger Lancaster seconded the motion. The motion passed unanimously.
Tom Brett reported on Budget/Cost of EOY Banquet
Georgette Grossman asked Tom if NVPS could afford an EOY banquet this year, to which he replied that we have the money. He explained the NVPS financial situation, incorporating data from his handout:
| Cost of 2014 EOY banquet: meal & hotel fees | $4,327.41 |
| Per person cost of 2014 EOY banquet | $44 |
| Subsidy for 2014 banquet paid by board | $890 |
| NVPS per person charge for banquet in recent years | $35 |
| Expected per person banquet meal fee—2015, excluding any
audio-visual costs. |
$43.70 |
| Bank balance, as of February 9 | $16,367.25 |
| 2015 income (from membership and more) | $8,632.05 |
| Expenses to date | $1,563.37 |
| Biggest known future expense in 2015 is Firehouse rent | $5,200 |
Tom stated that we have plenty of income; in fact, as compared to last year, we’ll have approximately $3,000 more at the end of the year. He projects that our expenses for the rest of the year will be approximately $2,300, leaving us with an end-of- year balance of approximately $11,200. Given this level of financial stability and depending on the hotel cost and A/V fee, Tom recommended we subsidize banquet tickets up to $1,000 and keep the per person charge as close to $35 as possible (if paid in advance; $40 if purchased at the door; as in the past, he encourages payment by cash or check, to reduce the $1.07 PayPal fee on $35).
Fran Bastress, Ginger Werz-Petricka, and others on Content and Structure
Fran recommended that changes be made to the banquet to make it more appealing to attendees. She suggested projecting the winning print images as well as the winning digitals. She also suggested abbreviating the process for distributing certificates, especially to the many receiving awards for honorable mention. Beth Morris suggested that all the honorable mention individuals just stand up, rather than walk to the front of the hall to receive their certificates. Willa Siegel voiced concern about this approach, especially regarding novices who need to be recognized for their efforts no matter how small.
Ginger suggested ideas for making the banquet more inclusive: 1) Encourage each member to choose his/her favorite image for projection at the banquet. 2) Incorporate the Portfolio Project into the banquet, and project three images from each portfolio. 3) Project recipients’ winning images on the screen when their awards are distributed.
50th Anniversary Celebration, April 7, 2015
Beth Morris shared some plans for the fiftieth anniversary celebration. Among other ideas, she suggested having members submit one image each that is their favorite image ever taken. After mentioning possible overlap with the EOY Banquet, Georgette appealed to those present to email Beth and Jamie Kiechlin with ideas for the banquet. Regarding the EOY banquet, Beth recommended a procedure for awarding the Ollie Fife Image of the Year: have the previous year’s recipient award it to the next winner. She has spoken with Mike Whalen about this, and he agreed.
Blast Emails
Scott Musson recommended that NVPS no longer use the miscellaneous email list and instead have all emails sent to the main email list and get rid of the miscellaneous one. He made a motion to this effect, and Bob Friedman seconded it. The motion was voted on, and it passed unanimously.
Feedback Surveys for Speakers and Judges
The board discussed whether or not to pay for SurveyMonkey or to have the VPs do manual surveys. Tom Pratuch said SurveyMonkey charges by the month and costs $35 a month when we use it. Beth Morris said that since it’s very difficult even to get judges for the NVPS competitions, it’s a moot point to discuss surveys. Jamie Kiechlin added that we’re running out of judges, and we don’t have one for our May competition. The suggestion was made that, since our members judge at clubs in the area, we should consider trying to get judges from other clubs. We agreed not to spend money on SurveyMonkey. There was a suggestion that board members complete a survey at the end of each competition on the quality of the judge and pass this information on to the next year’s board. Georgette asked if we could gather information about judges and speakers, using methodology used prior to SurveyMonkey. Sandi said she would share the old evaluation surveys with the VP’s of Competition and Programs, if she could find them. The unresolved issue that these VPs need to answer: Would they send out surveys, collate information they collect, and share this information with next year’s VPs (or perhaps the whole board)?
Snow Policy
The group discussed whether or not to continue with the current NVPS policy of canceling meetings when Fairfax County cancels schools, or adopt a different policy. Members expressed a variety of opinions, but the primary concern about changing the policy related to members possibly being unable to receive the NVPS message in a timely manner. Sandi Croan made a motion that we stick with our same plan regarding meeting cancellation. Bob Friedman seconded it. The motion passed.
Other Issues
Regarding collecting membership fees at the beginning of the year, Georgette suggested we develop a better system, because the current method is chaotic. Re the application process, Willa Friedman recommended we work out a system and keep it simple.
Willa Friedman requested permission to offer the Frame Factory in Vienna a listing in FotoFax and/or the NVPS website as we do for speakers, because they’ve agreed to display NVPS photos and possibly offer members specials. Board members agreed to this.
Georgette raised the issue of why NVPS has competitions with themes. While there wasn’t sufficient time for a discussion on this, a member commented that it stretches people by prompting them to try something new they otherwise wouldn’t have.
Bob Friedman moved to adjourn the meeting, and Willa Siegel seconded the motion. It passed unanimously.
The meeting closed at approximately 9:30 pm.
Respectfully submitted,
Fran Bastress
NVPS Secretary/Historian