November 2010

MOTIONS THIS MONTH

• • The board agreed to donate $250 to the Pro Bono Partnership, in response to a fund-raising letter.

  • The board agreed to continue the position of Webmaster but redefine it as a non-voting position within the Publicity Committee, reporting to the board as necessary through the Publicity chair.

OPENING CEREMONIES

The meeting was called to order at 8:01 PM on November 9, at the home of Mark and Robin Schaffer.

Roll Call

Present were Lois DeRitter, Scooter Ferguson, Jim King, Jim Gartner, Nancy Kelner, Allan Kugel, Evelyn Maurer and Ruth Wolfish (Trustees), Mike Agranoff, Carl Croce, Lori Falco, Elizabeth Lachowicz, Sandie Reilly, Chris Riemer, Pam Robinson, Ed Roffman, Bobbie Rosengarten, Bob Safranek, Mark Schaffer and Jean Scully (Other Board Members) and Joanne Cronin and Gloria Friedman (Guests). Absent were Pat Brangs, Connie Crawford, Brad Pryor and Rick Thomas.

Secretary’s Report

Three corrections to the minutes this month. Nancy amended the math on the cost of the ad in the Hometown Quarterly (which will be less than 1 cent/reader, not 2 cents/reader). Jim clarified his reasons for opting to retire from the Trustee job this year, and Mark pointed out that the "virtual scrapbook" and the "Minstrel history gadget" mentioned under publicity are actually the same thing. The minutes were approved as amended.

Chris also mentioned a new idea, aimed at capturing the testimonials we receive from time to time in a new "fan mail" section of the wiki. If you've got things to post there, please forward them to the Secretary.

Treasurer’s Report

As of October 31, the checking account shows a balance of $9,140 and the Money Market stands at $23,345. We are slightly in the red for the year, but Eddie is not concerned. "We're holding up," he said. Several of those present reported trouble opening the attached financial reports this month, and while Eddie has no idea why that would be so, he promised to investigate.

BUSINESS ITEMS

Preliminary Farewell

Before opening the floor for the business items, Scooter took the opportunity to say a few words on the occasion of his penultimate meeting. He thanked the board for their support over the past 10 months. He thinks we accomplished a lot of good stuff, handled some difficult situations and he's looking forward to the challenges ahead. "It's been fun," he said.

Constant Contact

As promised last month, Lori has prepared a briefing on the Constant Contact e-marketing tool, and has a handout to support our discussion (attached below).

This tool was suggested to the Festival Committee by Bill Cox, and Lori used it herself for promoting the October 2010 event. She found it very easy to use, and quite powerful, too. She doesn't want to make a motion tonight, but would like the board to absorb this information, let it percolate and perhaps consider the broader use of Constant Contact next year. She feels that at its $30 monthly subscription level, it would handle our needs for quite some time.

Much discussion ensued, and ownership was the first topic. Mark was not opposed in principle, but felt strongly that anything which leaves footprints in the virtual world should really be vetted by Webmaster John Lamb, and reviewed by Rick and Cathy Thomas. He thinks this is a Publicity committee thing, and shouldn't be considered by the board before Publicity has had a chance to review its implications. (Later, Allan would suggest that it's really a Membership thing, since the members are our most important communications constituency.) Scooter sort of agreed with Mark, but felt it was a Webmaster thing. Allan also felt that the time saved by such an application would certainly be worth $30 a month, and probably more.

Carl and Chris didn't necessarily agree on the ownership angle, seeing this more as an infrastructure decision that would impact all committees (since it would be both inward and outward facing: members as well as nonmembers). Chris added that while Constant Contact is certainly a well-established brand with a good customer list, Rick Thomas is looking into a new membership application that has its own email features. That needs to be factored in to any decision.

There was a fair amount of Q&A around the feature set, and Lori's answers generally indicated that Constant Contact could do everything we could imagine, as well as other things like Event Management and Online Surveys, albeit at an additional cost. One thing to be clarified was the matter of access control. Chris felt that sharing a single login among a dozen potential users would only drive us crazy. We need a multi-user version, so we need to find out what it would cost and use those numbers in our analysis.

Mike also felt that if we go this way, Constant Contact will need an administrator to make it work. Lori had somewhat tentatively agreed to take on that job earlier, but Chris also threw his hat in the ring. With that settled, Mike was OK with the idea as long as he wasn't personally expected to use it.

And that led to the final issue, emphasized by Chris, which had to do with transition and buy-in. He's absolutely convinced of the value of moving to Web-based "professional" third-party tools in favor of our various home-brewed solutions. But we won't get the full value unless we all agree to move in the same direction. He expects those who already have some kind of email list in place may resist moving to something new. As Mike said, "If it ain't broke, don't fix it." Evelyn disagreed with Mike's assessment, believing that his Minstrel Gram system (which is only accessible to and understood by Mike himself) is an area of organizational risk that should be mitigated. (Mike was also amused that consolidating data now seems a priority, when for many years, other list owners absolutlely refused to accept corrections and updates from him. From whence came this new-found trust?)

In closing, Lori agreed to follow-up on the questions she was unable to answer, discuss the idea with John, Rick and Cathy and come to the January meeting for another discussion.

Nominations Committee Follow-Up

As per our discussion last month, there have been some adjustments to the recommended slate of Directors for 2011, with an eye toward more new blood. (See the revised attachment below.) Scooter is giving up his trustee slot to make room for Carolyn Messina, and Nancy is doing the same to open a slot for Gloria Friedman. Margaret Crowl has (in fact) resigned, and Robin Schaffer will take over the Merchandising Committee.

There was some confusion, though, since Gloria believed she was taking on the role of Swingin' Tern representative to the board. ("Trustees get paid more," said Eddie.) Scooter will confer with Connie and sort things out before the next meeting.

The January Meeting

As has become our custom, Scooter asked for volunteers to host the January board meeting, so that this bit of business is not forgotten in the hustle and bustle of the annual dinner. Pam Robinson and Bob Safranek agreed to open their doors for us.

Donation to the ProBono Partnership

Pam has received a letter from the ProBono Partnership, asking if we might consider a donation to help support their activities. Most of those present felt this would be an appropriate gesture, considering the many hours of free legal work they've done for us over the past five years. There was some discussion about the amount, though. Eddie floated $250 as a trial number, but Scooter, Mark and Evelyn thought that was too low.

Chris pointed out that after making this donation, they will certainly add us to their regular fund-raising list and continue to hit us up in the future. Given our history, we will always say yes, so let's not go crazy here. $250 is enough. This was moved, seconded and approved.

REPORTS OF THE STANDING COMMITTEES

Membership

No report from the absent Rick Thomas, beyond that submitted via email.

Newsletter

Carl recapped the points made in his usual email report.

Publicity/Web

Mark is happy to be handing over the chair of the Publicity Committee to Nancy as of 2011, since she's been doing such a great job on the "paper" side. John Lamb has accepted the role Webmaster, reporting to the board through Nancy. He may attend meetings when he wants input, but the Webmaster will no longer be a voting position. (And while Scooter pointed out that any committee can dissolve itself according to our constitution, Mike thought it should be done more formally. So the dissolution of the Webmaster position was moved, seconded and approved by the board.)

Allan, Rick and Cathy are working on various parts of the new site, but Mark still doesn't have a firm go-live date. Mike would like the Web folks to give priority to the Minstrel, since it is the most visible and most dynamic of our activitites. He's faintly bothered by the fact that he still hasn't seen anything about how the new system is supposed to work, and Allan will walk him through it in the next few days.

On the non-virtual front, Nancy added that we will be featured in the next booklet printed by the NJ Department of Travel and Tourism, and may also get a mention in a future issue of Sing Out!. The Hometown Quarterly wasn't interested in getting only a single article from us, and also didn't want copy that was "an infomercial in disguise." They want people who will commit to contributing four articles a year, so Nancy has written off this possibility. However, Jim King would like her to revisit it, and might be willing to take on the assignment. "Can you write four, two-page articles a year?" asked Nancy. "I can talk two pages," said Jim.

Jim King and Liz Pagan have put together a very nice ad for the Quarterly, though, and Nancy had a lessons-learned moment. It seems that including the words "bring this ad to the Minstrel" in the copy magically converts it from an ad to a coupon in the Quarterly's eyes. And that gets it moved to the back pages with the landscapers and the plumbing contractors. So the copy now says "mention this ad" in order to retain our preferred placement.

Mike felt this kind of program causes additional management and communications burdens for the Minstrel, but Mark and Elizabeth disagreed. In Elizabeth's view, dealing with lots of first timers would be a good problem to have.

Merchandising

No report, given that we are currently without a chair for this committee.

Internal Affairs

Things are going well. There was no Evening of Music in October, and November will be at Cecilia's and Allan's. The holiday party will be at Judy Hagen's, where there is a strict no-shoes policy.

Community Affairs

No report from the absent Pat Brangs, beyond that submitted via email.

Sound Reinforcement

We discovered at Festival that the Minstrel's equalizer had failed. It was cheaper to replace than repair, so that's what we've done.

Minstrel Booking

A good month in October, although not the record-breaker that Mike had expected based on the quality of the shows. The average attendance was 78.5, compared to 96.7 for the past 12 months. Expanding on his email report, Mike admitted that due to a clerical error, he swapped the estimate and the guarantee numbers in a recent contract, a mistake that cost us about $230. Even so, we're $2,400 in the black for the year.

Mark put in a special plug for Diane Perry, who will be opening for Bucky Pizzarelli next year. Joanne asked about the attendance at last Friday's Headlong Retreat show. It was lower than expected, and Mike was also very unhappy at the quality of the sound. The band brought in their own sound crew, so it's not really our fault. But the audience wouldn't know that.

Minstrel Staffing

The staffing is going "swimmingly well," according to Sandie. Scooter thanked her for her many years of service, and hoped that he'd be able to fill her shoes next year. Several former volunteer coordinators testified to the difficulty of this job, and much applause for Sandie ensued.

Horses Sing

Sandie briefly recapped the information presented by Ralph via email.

Swingin' Tern

Scooter read Connie's email report aloud, partially to get the board's input on the proposed outreach memo for local colleges. Gloria suggested that a catchy subject line would be very important, and Nancy suggested that the note specify that the building is a church. It will make it easier for new folks to find. Allan added that in his view, the note should come from a person not the "Swingin' Tern Committee."

Special Concerts

Pam is working on things for 2011, but has nothing firm yet.

Festival

Lori reported that we lost about $1,400 on the Fall Festival. That's more than she expected, but roughly equal to the amount of the Agranoff Endowment, so we can consider it to be a break-even event.

The results of the Festival survey indicate that people prefer a weekend event to a commuter festival, even if it means going to a hotel/conference center instead of our more traditional camp facility. The costs are higher with that option, of course, but it would make the Festival committee's life much easier and we should consider it an option. Eisteddfod went that route this year, and Lori is planning to meet with some of their folks to hear about the experience. NERFA is happening this weekend at the Hudson Valley Resort and Spa, and Lori will be looking into what that site could offer, as well. Ultimately, of course, Carl will be calling the shots as the new Festival chair, but Lori is doing some legwork.

This led to the usual discussion about ways to keep the Festival's prices down, over and above the current contribution from the Agranoff Endowment. Jim Gartner wondered if we could throw a benefit concert, an idea that at first seemed to have merit, but which Evelyn and Pam later questioned. For Festival goers, it would mean attending a benefit in order to give money back to yourself. For non-Festival goers, it would mean putting money in the hat so someone else could have a good time. Tsunami relief is one thing, but this idea felt wrong to some of those present.

Answering a question from Joanne, Chris clarified that there really is no George Miller Fund, beyond the conceptual level. People apply for Festival scholarships, and in her role as George Miller Fund administrator, Margaret Crowl decides whether to grant them. If she says yes, she contributes the money out of her own pocket. Other folks have made donations too, from time to time, but there's no actual pool of cash in the background.

In closing, Scooter thanked Lori for all her hard work on the Festival. Much applause ensued.

Fellowship

No report from Scooter, although he reminded the group that this committee is dissolving itself in 2011.

ADJOURNMENT

The meeting was adjourned at 9:55. Next month’s meeting is at the Chimney Rock Inn, in Gillette, starting with a dinner at 6:30.

Respectfully submitted,

Chris Riemer

Secretary