MINUTES
Sacramento ASTD Board Meeting
Tuesday, April 29, 2014
This meeting will be conducted via conference call
5:30 PM to 7:00 PM (or hopefully shorter)
CALL IN INFORMATION for April 29
Dial your telephone conference line: 1-719-785-4469 or 1-888-450-4821
Cell phone users dial: 1-719-785-4469
Enter your passcode: 598655
Board Members:Tom Moore, President, Tina Shaw, Past-President,Bruce Winner, Communications & Marketing, Judy Isaman, Finance, Alex Read, Co-Programs Director, Sherry Walck, Co-Programs Director, Scott Nipper, Special Events Director, and Janet Isom, Virtual Assistant
Absent: Michele Mariscal, Membership, Alona Jennings, Special Events Associate, Joseph Clement, Communication Associate
Speaker/Person / Topic / Time
Tom Moore
President
Bruce for Janet
Tom / Welcome, Call to order / Opening Remarks
1) State of the Chapter Rap up
2)
3) Support staff report – February – 37.25 hours – spreadsheet details available on request
4)Website Update
5) TTT Status
6) Regional ASTD Chapter Call Update; call with Sarah Jeffcoat NAC – ALC proposals are Due May 18th. Past-Presidents are encouraged to apply for NAC (National Advisors for Chapters) / 30minutes
NOTES:
State of the Chapter
Tom: I am submitting the March Meeting minutes for approval.
Scott made motion to approve following discussion period. Bruce seconded motion. Motion passed unanimously.
Staff Report given by Bruce Winner, in Janet Isom’s absence: 37.25 hours. Breakdown is available upon request.
Bruce: Website Update: Janet has been working on it including phase 2 to clean up the home page’s redundant and outdated info. Can’t give you a lot of information but there is a Wild Apricot update supposed to go into effect in June. Have a website designer available to do some work paid through Los Rios, so would really like to do the website updates sooner.
We started our ASTD Sacramento Blog, to be updated every 2 weeks. Check it out right below the Events Slideshow on the website’s front page. It has a Star Trek theme: “Workplace Learning: The Final Frontier. ASTD Sacramento’s continuing mission: to boldly go where no training blog has gone before…” This last week we had a relatively new member to the area, Todd Greider, as a guest blogger, on Using Twitter as a Trainer. I am committed to doing a bi-weekly blog through the end of the year but would like to have a guest blogger every other week. So if any BM or spread your net out to anyone who has a blog who would be worthy, I’d like to do some content marketing.
Bruce: TTT status – Started TF class last week at our educational sponsor’s site at CCE. Thank you, Alex. We have a full class once again. Lots of enthusiasm in the class. Gets new enthusiastic trainers or those trainers who have never had any formal training. Katrina Kennedy was just a godsend for us, as she has those folks wrapped around her finger after the first class. She is very good. Tom visited the first class. Alex and I were joined by the Training Manager of CALSTRS were there as guests on a short panel in the first session. Because we have had such interest in the TF this year, we’re going to repeat that in the summer in July. Instead of 6 ½ days sessions, it will be in a compressed 3 full day format 7/16-7/18. Register early, as our pattern has been to fill that class quickly each time.
Tom: Was anyone else on the regional chapter call? Alex attended briefly. A lot going on compared to some other chapters. Only thing: ALC proposals are due 5/18, very early this year. They encouraged past presidents to apply to be a NAC (Natl Adviser Chapter) Leader.
Judy Isaman
Finance / State of the Coffer / 10
NOTES:
Judy: Sent out State of the Coffer this morning to everyone.On the budget, I am still missing the forecast for Special Events, Conference and TF, as well as the expenses for those 3 items.
Bruce: I’ll get you that info for TF.
Scott: I’m remiss. I will get you the info on S.E. and Conference. Is there a template I can use?
Judy: I sent it out at the beginning of the year. I will re-send it to you.
Tina: Scott, look at 2013 Actuals and use that info for your forecast.
Scott: Tab in the Budget you sent out today?
Judy: Yes, the tab behind 2014 tab. I am also missing meeting forecasted meeting income for April and September.
Sherry: I sent you the financials for the April event yesterday.
Tina and Bruce: Judy, input the actuals, since we didn’t have an April forecast.
Judy: I will substitute the actuals for April.
On the Cash Reconciliation Report: Wasn’t sure what PaySLO. Guessing credit card services from PayPal. (Confirmed by Janet). Had an expense from PayPal showing $980 to Wild Apricot on budget actual. (Janet: That was our yearly fee to WA).PayPal did not charge a $30 fee for January, February, and March 2014. (Janet: I paid them in April for 3 months. That was why the amount was higher.) Noticed there was not March re-occuring transfer for Wells Fargo until a transfer was made in a branch near the end of March. (Janet: Wells Fargo showed us having a change in account ownership, so they cancelled the transfer. I went into the branch, had them transfer the March amount and set up it back up for automatic transfer from checking to savings on the 2nd of the month.)
Judy: I sent out the information to everyone about the CD Maturity letter. The interest is not as good as our savings account. In a quarter, we received .70 in interest on the Cd, while we made almost a $1 on the savings account. Not sure that is a good place for the money.
Tina: I do think it is time to move the money out of the CD. If you take it out when it’s not a maturity date, you are penalized. It’s not earning anything. At the time we put it into the savings account, it was. So probably good to put into savings and that’s one less account to keep track of.
Judy: We talked about this previously, but we didn’t do anything. So do we want to wait until the date comes and move it over when it comes due?
Tina: I think so and Janet would be the one to make that move.
Bruce: We spoke to a banker when we were there getting debit cards arrangements. We did not get any fabulous advice on alternatives. Minimizing the accounts by moving it into savings just makes sense.
Judy: Any other questions?
Bruce: In general, we are doing ok?
Judy: In January, we had such a big hit was the check paid to the TF instructor. So prior month expenses were in there. Sherry and Bruce, thank you for sending over your expenses. Any other expenses for April, please send over if you can by the end of this week. That would be very helpful.
A long, protracted discussion ensuedbetween Tina, Judy and Janet regarding how the Cash Reconciliation Report was done. Determined that we needed to talk to Ma Barker to confirm the information was being presented correctly.
Tina: Did you talk to Ma Barker about reviewing the books?
Janet: I did tell her at the time, that she was doing the book review and the taxes. I told her on Saturday night when I dropped them off.
Sherry Walckand Alex Read Programs / Programs Review
1) April
2) May
3) June
5) August / 20
NOTES:Sherry and Alex:April–had a very fun event yesterday with a maximum capacity of 60, still had 61 registered. 53 people attended. Using Improv techniques in training event with our guest speaker from our sister chapter, Golden Gate ASTD, Alan Montague. Very well received. Everyone was happy and excited when they left the meeting. Many stopped to speak with Alan. Surveys said they would appreciate more, more, more from him. May want to consider bringing him back. Attendees felt like they really got things they could use to take back to their workplaces.
April Event Evaluation Scores: 1) 4.79 2) 4.85 3) 4.71 on a scale to 5.
Alex, what is our goal again on Programs - 4 or better?
Alex: Yes, you knocked it out of the park, Sherry.
Tom: That is phenomenal.
Alex: That is the highest rated program of the year.
Tom: Sherry, statistically you can take off the top score and the lowest score and still have an accurate score. That one eval that was a 2 was a mistake, as they misread the directions.
Sherry: Yes, I agree, as they wrote had positive comments.
We spent a total of $839.02. We took in total revenue of $1670, with $830.98 resulting from this event.
Agreed that April was awesome event with a great return.
Tina: Who knew about Alan and booked him?
Sherry: Found about him when Laura, Alex and I met at the beginning of the year. I did a little research and went out to GG website to get ideas from their past programs. He’s a GG board member, so I thought we might succeed in getting him to come speak to us. He was very generous, as he agreed to do it for the price of a tank of gas. He did a phenomenal job.
Bruce: As close to a perfect event as we have ever had. People were into it and as Tom mentioned, pretty unique and different crowd than we usually get. There were some familiar faces but a number of training managers and new people.
Alex: Talked to Blue Shield people. Paid non-member rates. Training Manager out there is getting our email blasts and passing it along to their team if there is an interest in attending. Perhaps we should get their name and reach out to the TM.
Bruce: I’ll talk to Janet and reach out to Michele. That’s a great suggestion to reach out to them.
Alex: I talked to them yesterday. Blue Shield had 4-5 people there who had never attended before now. Really good feedback. Sherry, great job with that event.
Sherry: Bruce, thank you for recommending Cathy at Raley’s. The food was fresh and delicious. She showed up on time and was very easy to work with on this event. Can’t beat the price.
Bruce: Came to us via Sac State as approved vendor. They do our conference food. Excellent service at a great price. They were a find.
Alex: May event with Dr. Cam Carter. Tom, great job getting Greg Gollaher to do his graphic facilitation at that event too. We already have 10 attendees register. Whatever you need, Tom, just let us know.
Tom: Alex and Sherry, just do your usual spiel up front. I will introduce Cam. Will have Dos Coyotes for food. Alex and Sherry, do the eval forms for May.
Bruce: Putting together a 2-3 page handout with suggested books, as they relates to Cognitive and Neuroscience. I’ll send that to you so you can run it by Cam with caveat these books are not recommended by Cam. I’ll buy 4-5 of these books for the raffle.
Tom: We will have 2 $25 gift cards and some books for the May raffle.
Bruce: What do folks think of raffling 4-5 books instead of gift cards this time?
Agreed to hold back gift cards until June.
Tom: Want to get Cam a $50 gift card, as he is speaking to us for free.
Bruce, Tina, and Alex: You can get card online at Amazon.com and have it emailed to recipient or you can go to Safeway and pick up a physical gift card to present.
Sherry and Alex: Recommend giving Greg a gift card as well for graphic facilitation.
Roadshow in June is coming up. Everyone’s excited about that. Hoping to get more info from CALSTRS this week. Talked to Alex about getting info back and forth. They are really into it. I think they will be a great host. Sherry, you and Alex can help me on that. I’d like to use this May event to promote the idea of a Roadshow. Get 1-2 Roadshow hosts lined up for next year.
Tom: I spoke to the manager at Cache Creek today. She said she was into it. About 1 hour from Sacramento.
Alex: The TM at Thunder Valley, John , is a past Board Member of ASTD Sac.
Bruce: Thunder Valley would be better, as Cache Creek would be a hike for people.
Tom: Could also have SMUD. Had a class today on innovation with Chris ???and Dawn Karner.
Tina: We had 2 people from Red Hawk attend TF. Virginia Crowe at the May event is at Los Rios.
Bruce: Maybe we need to take a casino trip to check out all the options.
Alex: Bruce, you are taking the lead on that. Let me know how we can help with marketing the event and promote people to attend and businesses to want to host.
Bruce: By end of week, I will have that wrapped up and send it out. Need some group think on how to market that and really maximize that. For those who weren’t on the call with other chapters around the country, there are other chapters that do 2 roadshows every year. Those are their most popular events. Would be such a plus for us and simplify the planning for the program directors every year if they could count on 1-2 roadshows. I will get some info from CALSTRS to market this event.
Tom: August: Pending Network Event. Location – National University – potential sponsor for August? No, not really the venue for that. Can’t have alcohol there. Room is oblong and wrong shape.
Bruce: That might be the casino thing. We could do network event at Thunder Valley.
Alex: I can reach out to John. Still ends up costing him, as they can’t give us any deals on anything like room rental, as it is a separate business.
Bruce: Might as well investigate it, as it is so unique. Might be a great draw. Wouldn’t have to sell to SAHRA. Such a draw that we could get them in.
Tom: Alex, let’s work on that and get some info.
Scott Nipper/Alona Jennings
Special Events / Special Events – any updates? / 5
NOTES:Scott: We had a meeting last week with Tom, Bruce, Alex, Janet and me attending. Talked about conference ideas and potential speakers. Main thrust of conference being a big name speaker (give 1 long keynote presentation in the morning or give shorter address in morning and repeat in afternoon) and little names for shorter sessions. Smaller number of speakers, more focused, giving the same topic over again, so folks could attend 3-4 sessions throughout the day and get valuable info that way. Be easier to manage and administer, both logistically and financially. Idea to try and reach out to relatively big names, so draw wouldn’t be lots of variety and speakers but small number of quality speakers. Really focus on things the member survey results told us is wanted, like hands-on presentations. Everyone was targeted to go out and recruit and bring back possible speaker suggestions. Working on those and have some activity on that. Bruce has contacted different chapters.
Bruce: I’m saving that info for our call on 5/16. Really good idea of ½ day (3 hours) with our Improv guy and short session speaker. Got several things back. Some approachable and affordable. Ideas are flowing in. I’ll send the invite for Friday, 5/16 at 2 p.m. I’ll get that out to that subcommittee.
Scott: Folks are out gathering information. I’ve talked to a few folks as well. I’m zeroing in on Dr. Allen of Allen Interactions being able to present. Speaking to Steve Lee at AI. He said that possibility have one of the principles come out and Skype in Dr. Allen. We have lots of potential ideas for speakers and concepts. We’re off to a great start and moving along very well.
Michele Mariscal
Membership / Membership activities report / 5
NOTES:Membership: Tom: 320 active members.
Bruce: We’ve reached a landmark, folks. This is the only time we have cracked 300 members.
Tina: Added 22 in the last week. Guessing that’s the TF folks.
Tom: 11 renewals since 3/24.
Bruce: Usually only 15-17 TF new members. We have gone from 90 to 320 in last 4 years.
Janet: 24 out of 25 new members are from this TF class. We have 42 overdue renewals from last year’s TF classes. I’ll be sending out the membership call list tomorrow.
Bruce: Status on the Membership call list? Is anyone willing to call a few folks? Tom, Alex, Sherry, Tina, Bruce, Judy and Scott said yes.
Sherry: Do we have a script?
Janet: Gave membership call list status. I will forward over scripts to everyone. Judy, I will send over an improved Excel spreadsheet. I am also willing to make calls, since we have so many to make. I need direction from the board if you want me do that.
Bruce: Give out a minimum number of calls distribute 3-4 max calls per week, then give back any calls we have not made for you to follow up, Janet. If we get 5-10 renewals of those 42 renewals that would be a great ROI and could pay for itself.
Tom: Give us a chance at it. I did call all of my people.
Janet: I put the notes in the worksheet and WA.I talked to some folks re: TF class. We are getting very positive reviews on the TF class. I’ll send out email in the morning, everyone will have names.
Bruce Winner
Communications / Communication activities report / 5