ALGBTICAL General Business Meeting

November 17, 2010

The general business meeting was held on November 17, 2010, during the ALCA Fall Conference in Mobile, with Melissa Scott, president, presiding.

I want to welcome on board two new folks: Jeanell Norvell and George McMahon.

First, Jeanell Norvell. Jeanell is in private practice in Montgomery and has previously presented at our Winter Workshop. I'm thrilled to announce that she has agreed to be our new president-elect! Welcome, Jeanell!

Also, we welcome George McMahon. George is a professor at the University of South Alabama. While he doesn't have an official position at this time, he's going to be a key member in the southern part of the state, and we'll be "keeping him in the loop" about what we're doing. Welcome, George!

Overall, I think everyone agreed it was a great conference. All the ALGBTICAL-sponsored sessions were well-attended, and our reception was a huge success.

We generated a lot of interest in the upcoming Winter Workshop with our save-the-date fliers and word of mouth. The info table got a lot of traffic, and many people took Safe Space decals and other information.

Unfortunately, none of our nominees won awards, but we did have a very strong overall presence at the conference.

Also, Wear Purple Day was a huge success. My best guess is that at least half of the people in attendance wore purple on Thursday, although it may have been a little more. I had the opportunity to thank the presidents of all the co-sponsoring divisions in person, and many expressed interest in sponsoring the event again next year, if we decide we'd like to do it again.

We had a brief division business meeting on Wednesday of the conference. The topics discussed were:

- The remaining ALGBTICAL conference sessions

- A save-the-date announcement about the workshop

- The need for a president-elect (Jeanell agreed to serve in this position)

- We learned that Jamie Nabozny--the subject of the movie "Bullied"--is scheduled to come to Montgomery for a few days in the spring. There was general discussion about the possibility of co-sponsoring an event of some sort. I believe Paul is going to find out more details and let us know.

- We also discussed and voted on a donation to the Alabama Safe Schools Coalition to cover the cost of the Safe Space decals. We agreed to donate $200.

Thanks to all who attended and helped make it a great conference.

Our next task will be to shift into planning mode for our Winter Workshop, scheduled for February 11th.

Submitted by:

Melissa Scott, President

November 30, 2010