Potomac
Division Board Meeting Minutes
September
22, 2012
The Potomac Division Board of Directors meeting was
called to order by Marshall Abrams at 12 PM, September 22 at Marshall’s
home. Members present were Marshall
Abrams, Bill Day, Clint Hyde, Tom Brodrick, and Andrew Dodge. A
quorum was present and an agenda approved.
Room Usage:
The board
reviewed the room usage at the hotel and made preliminary decisions which
spaces would be set aside for the module layouts, modeling contest area, and
clinic rooms. The Remington Rooms I and
II would be open for the various module groups, Remington III for the larger
clinics. The White Elephant, auction,
and door prize display areas would be in one room, and the contest models would
be displayed in the Warhol Room because of its center doors. The hands-on clinics would be held in the
Whistler Room in order to keep the active modeling work as isolated as
possible. Security issues were reviewed,
and it appeared that the hotel systems would be adequate. The question of projectors and screens were
discussed and would be reviewed to ensure everything is in order prior to the
convention.
Convention Advertising:
Marty
McGuirk and Bill Day will promote the Rockville convention at the upcoming
convention in Suffolk, VA, with Bill manning a desk with literature and fliers
while Marty will give a Power Point presentation. The board reviewed in great depth the methods
of getting the message out to the modeling community concerning the programs
that will be available during the October 2013 convention. Color fliers and business cards will be
printed and distributed, a monthly newsletter reviewing different aspects of
the convention will be presented, three page notices will be placed in the
“Local,” other divisions will be contacted, and the board will work to have
notices placed in the calendar of events in various modeling publications. Marty and Bill will also work to place photos
and story lines about the various layouts that will be open during the
convention.
Budget:
The
board reviewed the budget in some detail and made several decisions concerning
the projected cost of signage, postage, door prizes, and security. The board adopted the proposal of eliminating
the registration fees for spouses and children in an effort to promote the
hobby to other family members. $200 was
approved as the budget for postage, and a final agreement was made on the name
badge issue.
Other General Convention Topics:
Because
of cost and the simplicity of today’s technology, the board agreed that all
communications for the convention will be done via email. P.J. Mattson, MER VP with cognizance over
conventions contacted Marshall to meet at Suffolk. Marshall will not be at Suffolk, so Bill will
meet with PJ. Clint and Bill are both
going to communicate with PJ before Suffolk. P. J. is also the registrar; Bill
will inform him that we will be printing one-page flyers and business cards for
insertion in the registration envelopes.
We do not have sufficient information to generate a registration form at
this time.
The board reviewed the proposal of
having a calendar of upcoming division programs be placed on the website in
order to help members set time aside for division events. Tom Brodrick volunteered to assemble the
information for the calendar. It was agreed that the calendar would be made
accessible directly from the home page.
Subsequent discussion has identified Google Calendar as supporting
plain text and download capabilities, both of which are desirable.
We are looking for someone who uses Google Calendar to help
implementation.
Other issues of the website were discussed, but since concrete
suggestions were not put forward, additional actions were not recommended. One of the suggestions included having a
counter on the web in order to see what most interested the members. Marshall informed the board that a counter would
cause the division to incur a cost for such a service, and the Board decided
not to change its policy keeping a cost-free website.
Bill Day and Andrew Dodge discussed
these programs and if they should be reorganized in order to achieve better
attendance. Since the seminar program is
so new, the board decided that the two leaders should work together to improve
interest and broaden the base of presentations.
Marty had previously volunteered
to host the next meeting. Dates were
identified, which Marshall will work out with Marty.
Paymaster: Mike
reported:
Assets of $3718.34 at the
beginning of the period.
Checks not posted amount to $4.
Balance to date is $3722.34.
Computer Clerk/Webmaster:
Mike reported:
He wished to resign his duties
and for the board to find a new clerk.
Layout Tours: Brian
reported:
There were no layout tours in August.
The September layout tour was at John Glaab's house.
There is no layout tour planned for October.
November 10 layout tour at Dan Vandermaus' layout in Ellicott City, MD.
December 8 layout tour at Paul Dolkos' layout in Alexandria, VA.
January 5, 2013, layout tour at Howard Zane’s layout in Columbia, MD.
White Flag Extras: Bill reported:
On Saturday, November 17, 2012,
from 2:00 – 4:00 pm clinics will be held at George Mason Library, 7701 Little
River Turnpike, Arlington, Virginia 22003-5975 (703/256-3800) Reserve with Bill Day, billday22@verizon.net,
703/406-4112 or Walk In
Clinicians and Topics are:
John
Drye, “Weathering”
Marty McGuirk, “Modeling the October
Scene: Trees”
On Sunday, January 20, 2013, at 10:00 am and 2 pm clinics on
Easy Animation will be held at 101 Sinegar Place, Potomac Falls,
Virginia 20165. Reserve with Bill Day,
billday22@verizon.net or 703/406-4112
White Flag Seminar: Andrew reported:
On Saturday, October 6, 2012, at 10 am he will hold a program on
preparing a live steam engine for operations,
16260 Batchellors Forest Road, Olney, MD, 301-774-7753 or
orocity@hotmail.com
Clerk: Andrew reported no new issues.
Andrew reported that his layout open house on
Saturday, July 7th drew approximately 50 people.
AP Program: Brian reported that there were no updates at
this time.