OPEG Meeting Minutes

Minutes for meeting of OPEG Board of Trustees 10-23-09 Conference Call

Rob Fischer, Shon Bunkley, Karen Shaner, Jan Upton, Rachel Holbert, Susan English, Ann O'Connell, and Mark Carrozza. Julianne Manchester and Jerry Bean were not able to attend.

Review of Minutes - Jan Upton: September minutes approved with minor correction to year.

Treasurer's Report - Karen Shaner:

Review of October 20, 2009 Financial Statement - Received payment from five members, but there is also a PayPal expense that needs to be deducted. Karen will add a line for PayPal Fee into Other Expenses. Fall Workshop mailing from Kinkos was $346.43. With 1.5 months into the 2009-2010 fiscal year, we have a net loss of $291 (total income = $145 and total expense = $436).

Revisions to 2009-2010 Proposed Budget - Karen made all the recommended changes. Changed membership projection to 100 at $30/member ($3,000), conference fees to 160 per $75/participant ($12,000). CEUs of 20/$18 ($360) are unchanged. Karen had previously specified total expected revenue at $17,390, and the revised figure is $15,390. Fall Workshop printing fees are now $350 and Spring Exchange printing fees are $450. Shon asked if printing needed for folders is included. Karen said that this figure just covers the Kinkos mailing. Rob explained that the printing expenses fell under Executive Committee, as it was part of the membership drive. These expenses should be moved under Program Committee. We decided to put $200 only in for speakers for each event. For this year, we are going to try to avoid paying honorarium. Since we invited presenters for the Fall Workshop, we are paying cost of breakfast/lunch. This doesn't apply to the Spring Exchange, but keep the $200 in that line as part of giving us some flexibility. Karen was able to balance the budget ($15,390-revenue and expenses). The 2009-2010 budget was unanimously approved.

Program Committee Report - Shon Bunkley:

Fall Workshop (11/20/09 at Quest) - The postcard went out in the Kinkos mailing (N=758 valid addresses of people/groups that have participated in OPEG events). All the presenters are set and agenda is now complete. The program is online. We just need to make copies for folders. The day is going to be 8:30-3:30. People can stay to network if they want. Water (not snacks) will be provided at the end of the day. Rachel is going to take the lead on planning table topics during lunch. Planning to discuss morning/afternoon sessions (six sessions will have taken place). Idea right now is to discuss those sessions, what people found interesting, ways topic might be applicable to their work. Tables could choose questions they want to discuss. It will be an opportunity for people who didn't get to see a session to hear about what was covered. We can also have a table for discussion about desire future topics. Rachel and the Membership Committee will help with this piece. Rachel will also do a brief presentation at the beginning of the day about the benefits of membership. A couple of presenters requested Internet access. Wireless access is available at Quest free of charge. Rob got approval for the CEUs. Shon may need help the day of the event to assist presenters with anything they might need. Rob is going to follow-up with Chip about the e-mail announcement to members (Chip sent out notice to members and former members/event attendees-400+ email addresses on 10/23/09). Shon also sent out the first page of the program, which can be used as a flyer announcing the event. Shon was planning to stuff the folders at 7:30 a.m. Susan, Karen, and Tucker will help Shon with this task. Shon also has the box of name badge holders. Chip posted notice on AEA listserv. Everyone is encouraged to distribute information about the event widely.

Spring Exchange (5/14/10 at Quest) - The only thing that we need to consider after the Fall Workshop is that the cost for Quest may go up if we decide to add food to the afternoon.

Membership Committee Report - Rachel Holbert: The Membership Committee had a phone meeting a few weeks ago and is planning a face-to-face meeting the week before the Fall Workshop. The group did some brainstorming about membership. Rachel shared some of their ideas: Planning some recruitment activities of members at the Fall Workshop. They talked about doing a Membership Drive. We are planning to do the Member Survey every other year. We also reviewed the by-laws. There is a long-term plan to update the by-laws and put them online. Susan English is going to lead this effort (detail provided below). A few Membership Committee members expressed interest in helping with this. There was also mention of establishing an OPEG presence on LinkedIn. AEA is on LinkedIn. LinkedIn is a professional-oriented network. The board was receptive to the idea. The Membership Committee will do more research on the value of LinkedIn, which is not moderated. OPEG's info and web site link could be listed so that people who want to learn more about the organization could do so. Some people are still interested in an organizational membership (more than one person from an organization). For example, organizations could pay for five memberships and could send any employees. Membership would not be tied to an individual. Jan sent Rachel the current mailing list so that she could check the organizations from which OPEG has multiple members. The Membership Committee can review this and develop a plan for discussing the possibility of an organizational membership for entities for which it would apply. Membership Committee would also like to send new members a "Welcome Letter" that thanks them for joining and outlines the benefits. We also need to get back to Shon's "gap analysis." We also learned that our current membership fee has been in place since 1982. This information is now included in the PowerPoint which is now on the OPEG web site. Question about presenters who don't have to pay registration fee, can they pay membership fee only online? Yes, they just need to go to PayPal payment page and click on Membership Fee only.

By-laws Update - Susan English: Rob forwarded all the materials and edits to Susan. Three quick questions: 1) Who worked on these last? Rob and Jan are the only ones left on the board who were involved in the editing process in 2007. We can also go to Steve Albanese if we have questions about the history or rationale. 2) Goal? Need to make more of a continuous document, needs to be updated, and made readable (can be a lot shorter). Some are policy documents and would need board vote only for change. Other parts require vote from the membership. 3) Timeframe? Aim for completion by Spring Exchange so that members can vote on needed sections. Ann offered to help Susan with the revision process. Susan will send the electronic version to the board.

Upcoming Meeting: Friday, December 4th via conference call at 10 a.m.

Submitted by: Jan Upton