OPEG Meeting Minutes

Minutes for meeting of OPEG Board of Trustees 4-11-08 Conference Call

Rob Fischer, Nancy Hood, Randy Leite, Jan Upton, Debbie Crawford, Chip Partridge, and Tucker Handley. Rick George, Shiloh Turner, and Marsha Zabecki were absent.

Review of Minutes – Jan Upton: February minutes were approved with minor changes:  1) Correction to Tucker’s name, and 2) Change to line about mailing costs being absorbed by board members’ organizations.

Treasurer’s Report – Randy Leite:  There has not been much activity since the last meeting. The checking account has increased to $11,870.45. The financial statement does not include the bill from Fedex-Kinkos for $758.79. We also have received over $800 in conference registration and membership fees that have not been deposited yet. The ending balance through the end of March is $19,243.29.  We are right on target for revenue (about 50% of projection). We are only through 40% of budgeted expenses. There was some discussion about which budget line should incur the Kinkos expense. Randy assumed that it should be part of the Administrative Services line. The group recommended that specifying Kinkos printing and postage costs separately would be helpful. In addition, the cost for Renee’s cleaning of the mailing database should also be separate. The mailing served both the Membership Committee and Program Committee. Randy recommended putting it in the Membership Committee line, and we can then review when we do the budget next year. We may want to create a separate line for the mailing.  

Program Committee Report – Nancy Hood:

Spring Exchange (May 16, 2008) - The Spring Exchange is looking good. We had a good response to the call for papers. We have two keynotes, nine breakouts, and one of the submissions was of sufficient high quality and across-the-board interest that we asked that person to do the closing session (Beth Honadle – Shiloh knows her and was going to follow-up with her). We are not paying honorarium to any of the keynotes, as all are local people, but we are waiving their registration fees. The presentations are evenly split between policy and practice sessions. The submissions were somewhat heavy on mental health and criminal justice, with the remainder being more general. The keynote speakers also represent broader areas, so we should be fine in terms of appeal to a wide audience. Nancy thanked Jan for handling the mailing. Jan explained that Kinkos were easy to work with and they were great about correcting Rob’s letter at the last minute. She will forward Kinkos contact information and documentation to Rob and Nancy. Nancy will ask Program Committee members to assist with the Fall Workshop mailing. She will be scheduling another Program Committee meeting in the next couple of weeks. As an aside, the Program Committee is using Meeting Wizard, a free online tool that is working well for scheduling meetings, as our meetings are not a priority compared to work responsibilities, which makes it difficult to schedule far in advance.

Fall Workshop (November 14, 2008) - The Fall Workshop is going to be on Friday, November 14 at The Quest Conference Center, which is located at the intersection of 270 and 71. Since this will be a new location for OPEG, Nancy made a point of providing details about this decision for the minutes. There is plenty of parking. It is very professional. The food is amazing (Nancy has previous attended an event at this center), and she thinks it is provided by Polaris Grill. The acute catalyst for the change in venue was availability. The Fawcett Center was not available on the 14^th; the only available Friday in November was before the OSU/Michigan game.

The total costs for Quest are almost the same as the Fawcett Center. Although rooms are $50 more, an LCD projector and technical support are included in the price. Chip and others have done an excellent job of providing technical support, but this could enhance the professional quality of our meetings. Chip cautioned that he has been involved in conferences in which the included support was not as complete as expected; he will still be available to help if needed.

Nancy’s only concern with Quest is that it is an unknown and there may be possible added costs. Fawcett has always been flexible and come through for us in the past if we have a room cancellation. Nancy doubted that Quest would be as flexible and noted that they have various extra charges (e.g., TI service is available in every room for $40/room). She has reviewed all the costs item by item, and overall they appear comparable.

The benefits of Quest are that it is more centrally located and the facilities are more up-to-date (e.g., whiteboards on the walls, more windows, designated area for registration, places where participants can plug in laptops, and a copier in the lobby). Rob pointed out that the board considered Quest a few years ago. He suggested that since we have a good relationship with Fawcett, Nancy will share with them that our change in venue has to do with the scheduling issue. It offers an opportunity to see the competition. There is a question about which location should be the site for the 2009 Spring Exchange; Nancy wants to lock in the date as soon as possible, ideally within the next two weeks.

In the Fall Workshop, Nancy is planning to have the focus be on training, with two streams--beginner and one more specialized. The Program Committee will begin working on this, but if Board members have any ideas, she would love to hear them. Jan mentioned that she and Debbie have had some communication about the beginner’s session. She will share the details at the upcoming Program Committee meeting.

We had discussed getting a location with a computer lab so that we could have training on software. Quest has computer labs, but they are expensive ($5,000-10,000). This is much more than we could afford at this point. Nancy has talked with Jerry Bean (and Chip has also been involved) about doing an SPSS training. Jerry has worked at locations with small groups in which participants brought their own laptops. Jerry is exploring this and will participate in the next Program Committee meeting. Jerry offered to do this for members at no to low cost. This is also something that could be done at locations across the state. Nancy views this as exciting way that the Fall Workshop could be expanded.

Rob noted that he could arrange free lab space at Case and he teaches SPSS in his quantitative methods class at Case. His only concern is training people in something they may not be able to afford. Chip had previously explored free software options. We have to be careful not to market a particular software package, but we can show people how to do something in SPSS, R, and public use software. Chip noted that more focused training will likely be approximately 30 people based on OPEG survey responses per specific training. The exception is the interest in “Evaluation 101,” for which many people expressed an interest.   

OPEG Annual Meeting (at Exchange) – Rob Fischer: During the Spring Exchange lunch time Board meeting, Rob would like to share a handout of the multi-year membership numbers that Randy pulled together as well as the financial report. Chip will announce the election results. Rick will announce and introduce the awardees. Jan will prepare place names and topic areas for each table. Although there will not be a lot of time for networking, the table assignments help ensure that attendees get to know the name of at least one Board member and that Board members do not sit together. [FOLLOW-UP: Nancy will check with Randy to see if he wants to include his financial documents in the Exchange packet or if he would prefer to distribute them during the meeting].

Elections – Chip Partridge

We have a full slate of candidates. Nominations close on April 16. Chip will then set up election process on Survey Monkey (just like we did last year). We will give them two weeks to vote. Chip will share the results with the Board via a web link, and he will then make the announcement at the Exchange. Neither Rick nor Debbie (both currently At-Large) or Randy (currently Treasurer) will be running for reelection. Candidates on the ballot:

 

Treasurer – Karen Shaner [New OPEG member who changed status from At-Large to Treasurer via e-mail on 4/18/08.]

 

Secretary – Jan Upton – Currently on Board

 

At-Large:

 

Chip Partridge – Currently on Board

 

Tucker Handley – Currently on Board

 

Jerry Bean – 2007 OPEG Evaluation Recognition Award Recipient

 

Shon Bunkley – On Program Committee

 

Susan English – On Program Committee

 

Rachel Holbert – On Membership Committee

 

Julianne Manchester – On Program Committee

Awards – Rick George

Rick has not yet received any nominations for awards. Chip will send out another announcement. The Elections/Awards announcement was also included in the mailing. Awardees do not have to be members.

Membership Committee Report – Debbie Crawford: The Membership Committee is just getting started. There was discussion about the “Bring a Buddy” idea. The intention is to encourage members to bring new people with them. The member and buddy would both be eligible for the raffle. Each could win a year’s membership or a book. Nancy pointed out that Sage is donating five books for a raffle. Rob is also contributing a few books. The plan is have a general raffle and a small raffle for the "buddy" activity. Everyone will have to buy a membership to attend this meeting, but “buddies” can win an additional year.

The registration area is usually a chaotic place. We need to work out logistics so that eligibility is not complicated. Debbie explained that Membership Committee members are willing to staff this activity, but she is not sure where it could be located except for the registration table. Nancy and Debbie planned to discuss logistics following the Board meeting. [UPDATE: They recommended that implementation of the “Buddy” idea be moved to the Fall Workshop.]

The Membership Committee is working on additional ideas. They still need to specify details of the organizational membership idea, such as what it will look like, how much it cost, and what members will receive as part of it. Debbie may be able to provide some suggestions before the summer.

Next Meeting: Friday, June 13, 2008 at 10:00 a.m. in person. Chip is going to check on the availability of the Center for Learning Excellence.

Summary of Needed Follow-up:

1)        Nancy will check with Randy to see if he wants to include his financial documents in the Exchange packet or if he would prefer to distribute them during the meeting.

Submitted by: Jan Upton