WOMEN'S NATIONAL BOOK ASSOCIATION
Annual Board Meeting, June 4-6, 2010
Detroit, Michigan
Minutes of the Meeting
Friday, June 4, 2010
Embassy Suites Hotel
Attendees:
Joan Gelfand---San Francisco Chapter, National President
Mary Grey James---Nashville Chapter, National Vice President
Margaret Auer---Detroit Chapter, National Treasurer
Ruth Light---Los Angeles Chapter, National Secretary
Valerie Tomaselli---New York Chapter, National Vice President/President Elect, WNBA Pannell Award Chairperson
Annette Haley--Detroit Chapter President
Lynn Henriksen--San Francisco Chapter President
Katherine Dibble--Long Range Planning/Boston Chapter Representative
Ginna Foster Cannon--Nashville Chapter President
Michelle Gilstrap--Los Angeles Chapter President
Shannon Janeczek--Detroit Chapter, The Bookwoman Managing Editor
Bebe Brechner--Nashville Chapter, Web Site Manager
Carin Seigfried--Charlotte Chapter President
Emily Sachs--Washington D.C. Chapter President
Karen Livecchia--New York City Chapter President
Cathy Rustagi--Seattle Chapter President
Lee Fairbend---Nashville Chapter, WNBA Award
Jill Tardiff---New York City, NRGM/GGR Chairperson
Welcome and Introduction
The meeting began at 9:10
Joan welcomed the executive board and thanked Annette Haley and the Detroit chapter for organizing and hosting the national meeting.
Joan then introduced Mary Grey, who asked everyone to describe her favorite book in the last year.
Joan asked that the chapter presidents share information about their most exciting chapter event from the past year. Detailed information about those events can be accessed in the annual chapter reports which were sent to the executive board members via email during the latter part of May.
THE BOOKWOMAN DISCUSSION
Last year's action item of developing guidelines and submission schedules has been completed by Shannon.
The most recent issue of The Bookwoman is electronic only, and this was decided last year because there is usually not very much WNBA activity in the summer.
WNBA’s official policy now is that the third issue will be electronic. It's approximately sixteen pages long. Sustaining members get free ads, and Shannon wants feature articles and book reviews. She also said that members can "pitch" just about anything. Shannon asked about the privacy issue in terms of putting the board's personal contact information on the back page. Everybody seemed to be in favor of keeping the contact information on the back page, and Shannon will email people individually to confirm this.
ACTION ITEM – Shannon will provide quotes to the executive committee for printing The Bookwoman.
ACTION ITEM – Shannon will contact the members of the board on what information (e.g., name, position, email, phone number) each wishes to have in The Bookwoman
ACTION ITEM—Chapter presidents will make sure that their chapter contact lists are updated.
ACTION ITEM—Chapter presidents will inform their chapter members about The Bookwoman listserv, and encourage its use.
The submissions schedule guidelines are on the Web site, and also there were printed copies at the meeting. Shannon is in the process of deciding whether to use recycled paper for The Bookwoman.
ACTION ITEM--Annette volunteered to help with tasks involved with The Bookwoman.
ACTION ITEM--- Shannon will prepare a jobs resources article for the fall issue.
There was a discussion about chapter member benefits regarding The Bookwoman. Members who have published should be in every issue, and if we do 3 issues every year, at least one issue and maybe two should have a member book review The third issue could have a review of a book written by a non-member author.
Margaret said we need to focus on our members first and then think about promoting others. Jill talked about how there can be a balance between promoting our own, and embracing the outside world, saying that an organization needs to have a point of view in today's world. Katherine mentioned that we have a benefits list for our sustaining members. One of those benefits is that they can have their books reviewed in The Bookwoman. Valerie said we should have an experienced "reviewer" that would do that for us.
ACTION ITEM - Shannon indicated every issue should include a review of a member’s book or a sponsor’s book; one issue may include a review of a book outside this realm; the fall issue will note that The Bookwoman will begin in January to have reviews.
ACTION ITEM—Shannon will put an article in the fall issue of The Bookwoman about how members can get their books reviewed.
ACTION ITEM—Shannon will work out the details of how to find the person who will do the book reviews.
Shannon needs each chapter’s current email lists sent before every issue. In September The Bookwoman will be sent to the chapters early so we can hand it out for our October events.
Sometimes the visual quality of the pictures is not very good. The board agreed it would look better to use black and white, with a spot of green for our logo.
Margaret checks to see if the books mentioned by members are on the Web site and that the submitting author is indeed a chapter member. Our job is not to promote non-members; however, it is appropriate to promote the related activities of members, such as the editing of a book, or the illustrating of a book.
Only books written by member authors can be in the Boston Public Library collection, but there is a difference between that and the articles in The Bookwoman.
For the particulars on the guidelines for submitting to The Bookwoman, go to the Web site.
ACTION ITEM - Shannon will change The Bookwoman to primarily black & white.
ACTION ITEM---Shannon will notify each chapter Bookwoman contact that the third issue will only be available electronically and will be placed in the members only section of the Web site; contact will notify their chapter’s membership.
ACTION ITEM---Chapter presidents must make sure their membership person is contacting Shannon with updates to the membership roll.
ACTION ITEM---Shannon will send to each chapter president and chapter membership person the excel template needed for mailing The Bookwoman including the deadlines for submissions. Shannon will separate out the membership information for each respective chapter.
If an issue of The Bookwoman is deemed undeliverable, it goes back to NY. Then NY pays for the postage. National is committed to continue reimbursing NY for this postage.
ACTION ITEM---Shannon will include in the fall issue the national and chapter blog addresses.
ACTION ITEM---There should be an interim communication committee to develop a cohesive communication packet for the chapters to use: chapter development, marketing, what has national done for me, that type of information. Carin, Michelle and Shannon volunteered to develop this packet.
ACTION ITEM---Both communication and development job descriptions should be sent in for the fall issue of The Bookwoman.
Joan reminded everyone that The Bookwoman is an underused member benefit.
10:30—Valerie Tomaselli arrived.
WEB SITE DISCUSSION
Work on the new Web site started last September. Bebe, NC, Joan, and Valerie are on the Web site committee. Bebe presented a review of the proposed Web site. One of the new features is a rotating book cover on the left navigation panel. There are links to blog posts, and there will be a button for donating through PayPal.
Bebe suggested an optional additional price might be added to membership dues that would have national Web site benefits. This solicitation would come from national. It would have nothing to do with chapter dues.
Mary Grey said one reason we started a new Web site is so that chapters can have some uniformity for their own Web sites.
11:30--Lee Fairbend arrived.
12:45---lunch break
The meeting began again at 1:45.
Joan talked about the fundraising for the Web site. We raised about 2/3 of the needed funds. Now is the time to ask our chapters for additional donations for the remaining $500.00 that is needed to complete the Web site set-up.
The Bookwoman had the fundraising donation request letter in it.
Valerie suggested a link to the beta version of the new Web site be printed in The Bookwoman to show people what it is so far. There should also be a link to send a donation.
ACTION ITEM--- Valerie will develop verbiage to include with the Web site funding request.
There was a discussion about the picture for the header on the Web site home page. Several pictures were submitted for consideration.
The board kept one of the pictures for consideration, but rejected the rest.
ACTION ITEM---Presidents will put out a call to their chapters for an artist/photographer to submit photos for the front page of the Web site. This will not be a paid project. June 14th will be the deadline for submission. There will be photo credit for the photographer.
The new slogan will be embedded on the photo in the header.
The board discussed words like community, value, etc. People said using 1917 was important because WNBA was begun in that year. We are approaching 100 years as an organization. We are one of the oldest literary organizations in the country.
ACTION ITEM---The board agreed that if WNBA has to pay 2-3 hundred dollars to get a licensed photo or the right professional looking photo it would be worth the investment.
Several slogans were submitted for consideration.
MOTION—Valerie moved that the slogan on the new Web site be “promoting the community of the book since 1917". Lynn seconded. Motion passed with 16 yes, 1 no, and one abstention.
Mary Grey said our goal should be to get the Web site up and running by the end of June.
We have an ad running in Poets and Writers magazine in July or August, and this ad should include notification of our new Web site.
ACTION ITEM--Margaret will change and update the officer information on the current Web site.
ACTION ITEM---Mary Grey will do a press release about the WNBA Pannell Award, and will include an announcement of our new chairperson, which is Valerie.
Annette said we should encourage the chapter presidents and members to become interested in the new Web site, but there will not be a press release. An important part of our Web site can be a blog spot. Our publicity has been disparate, and we need a communication person.
Will the current stat counter be moved over to the new Web site? Bebe said the hosting site will provide that. We have transferred Bebe's name to the LunarPages account. Transferring the Network Solutions account will come in the future.
TWITTER DISCUSSION
Last year's goal for Twitter was basic positioning, and now we need social media and more electronic connections. Jill wants every chapter member to be aware of WNBA’s Twitter presence. WNBA has a Facebook page which is dormant. Carin strongly recommends doing a page and not a group. Jill said members should create a Twitter page for themselves, plus every chapter should make a Twitter page. Twitter is a big promotional bonus for members. Three chapters now have Twitter accounts.
Chapter members should be encouraged to be followers of WNBA national Twitter accounts, and then when Twitter messages come up they are automatically sent to Jill, who monitors them and re-tweets them if appropriate.
Blogs will be listed on the left panel of the new Web site.
MENTORING/CHAPTER BREAK-OUT SESSIONS/WHERE ARE YOUR CONCERNS/WHERE ARE YOUR EXCITEMENTS DISCUSSION…this became a discussion of the whole board rather than break-outs.
Margaret talked about the responsibility of chapter presidents to the national, and to the chapters.
Another issue is bylaws, and whether they are being followed by the chapters. Margaret has a copy of chapter bylaws which have been written and sent to her where the official file is maintained. On the existing Web site there is a template for bylaws.
ACTION ITEM –Margaret will check her files to determine what chapter by-laws are on record. .
Joan asked what are your chapter issues? Membership terms, succession planning, meeting space issues, attendance at meetings, member retention, making national relevant, teaching the members about our history, attracting members.
ATTRACTING MEMBERS—
Have raffles and give-aways.
Give complimentary memberships.
Respond to current events (the recession).
When new person joins, try to put her/him into some position of authority.
IDEA---The membership chair, at every board meeting, could prepare a list of new members which mentions their committee interests. This information is then discussed by the board.
IDEA---At renewal time, Charlotte adds to the renewal request these two questions; "Do you need to update your contact information? Where is your current committee interest?"
When renewal request goes out, should include “what's coming up.”
Have an all-day planning meeting.
Send out a hard-copy of the meeting results.
Have president introduce herself to every new face, and connect them to someone else.
Charge less for a guest at an event to encourage "newbies."
Break up terms to encourage people to be officers.
Help people to understand their roles…training…teaching.
Manuals need to be developed/written.
Joan posed the question; Are we asking too much of our officers? Could that be the problem with succession planning?
Do surveys to find out what people want.
Is the way we do things viable? We don't want to do programs that are too much work…that wear people out.
Have people take ownership of an event, other than the few big events that the chapter organizes.
Do other chapters have insurance for their events? A bookstore required it for one of the SF events. Perhaps someone in the group would have a lawyer friend that could advise us. Lee said that board liability varies from state to state.
Most condominiums have rental space.
Public libraries are a good venue, but they often need to close right on the dot.
Chambers of commerce sometimes have rooms that are available.
Community colleges might have rooms on weekends.
HOW DO YOU TRACK YOUR MEMBERS' SUCCESSES?
Literary calendar that has member events.
Have member news flow right to the newsletter.
LEE FAIRBEND AND WNBA AWARD—Lee encouraged everybody to read over the nominations.
The meeting adjourned at 4:45.
SATURDAY, JUNE 5, 2010---9 am
Same location
Same attendees as Friday
Charlotte was chosen as the chapter that will receive $500.00 for the WNBA Eastman Award. The Charlotte chapter will select a libraryassociation in their state to receive the funds. The national president will prepare a letter to accompany the donation. This is done by putting the names of the chapters into a hat, and then one name is drawn out. The winning chapter will not be eligible again until each chapter has been chosen to receive the $500.00.
THE WNBA PANNELL AWARD—This award consists of two gifts of $1,000.00 each given to two bookstores that offer children’s programming; the Pannell fund is more stable financially than it has been in previous years. The Penguin Young Readers Group underwrites it.
Penguin has assured Mary Grey that they are committed to supporting the WNBA Pannell Award for the foreseeable future.
THE GENERAL ACCOUNT
Margaret is concerned about the general account. Expenses for the officers has increased dramatically. The fact that the allowance is not enough to cover travel expenses is a large concern.
Giving the WNBA Award could be used for transitioning into a fundraising event to subsidize the ceremony itself.
At the 2007 board meeting it was decided that the per capita would go to $14.00 on January 1, 2010. At next year's board meeting it will be decided how much the per capita will again be raised. This gives the chapters time to adjust their dues to accommodate the increase in per capita.
There was a discussion about what happens to the IRS status and reporting if a chapter brings in more than $25,000.00/year.
Joan talked about fundraising. It took a long time to get out our fundraising letter. We have a huge membership but the chapters are not doing enough to publicize our monetary needs. Chapter presidents should take this issue seriously. Membership is down by over 200 members since it's been tracked.
Mary Grey asked everyone to communicate to the chapter members what national has done for them. Members are often unaware of what the national benefits are.
Jill talked about the person-to-person value of this organization. Margaret spoke about Jill's fundraising efforts. Jill is pivotal in putting NRGM together. That's one big program that national coordinates for chapter members.