JEANC Annual Meeting: January 24, 2009
CNPA Headquarters
708 10thSt., Sacramento, CA
Present: Sarah Nichols (President), Ellen Austin, Randy Hamm (Treasurer), Tracy Sena, Steve O’Donoghue, Michelle Balmeo, Diane Honda, Greg Stobbe, Ed Galdrikian, Marjorie Bell, Rachel West (Secretary), Lynne McDaniel, Karl Grubaugh, Joe Wirt
Not present: Paul Kandell, Don Bott
I. Call to order (10:07)
II. Approval of October Minutes – (10:15) Randy made motion to approve minutes as they stand. Greg seconded. Motion passed unanimously.
III. Communications
a. Effective immediately, Dwight Evans has chosen to resign from the board. Please remove him from your email distribution list if necessary. Card for board members to sign available tosay thank you. We really appreciate all of the service that he provided in his many roles as a part of the JEANC board.
IV. Report of Officers (10:18)
a. Treasurer (Randy)
i. All copies were emailed asattachments.
ii. Category summary report shows what we spent in every category this year.
iii. Please note that the convention expenses were during 2007, but many didn’t come through until 2008because the convention was in October.
iv. $12 credit to travel: check to reimburse speaker for gas expenses was never cashed. After 18 months,credited that check back to account.
v. Have already spent almost$6000 on the 2009 convention. This is the bulk of the facilities cost for thisupcoming convention.
vi. Mail in contest reflects everything, except for trophies and postage to send out awards.
vii. Adviser workshop in SF was$463 and we took in $235 dollars. Cost seems reasonable.
viii. This year took in $1453 in dues from members.
ix. Net Worth Report shows$11338.63 at the end of 2008.
x. The Biannual Report to the Secretary of State was $20 and informs all of our addresses and officers. IRS annual report was also completed online.
b. President (Sarah)
i. Received an email from Kevin Randall advertising his services (improveyourpaper.com). He has a blog that students can send in technical questions for answering, and there is also a CD available for purchase. This does not seem to be anything that we need to purchase as a group, but wanted to share. Overall consensus seems to be that this is unnecessary for us, not something to advertise.
ii. This is a great time for JEANC. We are starting 2009 with a bigger board than in the past, and very excited about all of the new and continuing advisers that are currently on the board.With our new website and ideas we are able to do more, and the entire board is “moving and shaking” and heading in the right direction. Yay JEANC!
iii. We do not know the status of Mark Chrasta and whether he will be on the board or not. He has not responded to JEANC communications lately. We will look to find out his status this coming week.
iv. High school journalism dayat University of Nevada, Reno was yesterday, January 23. It was a great day.This was their first attempt at a day like this, and it was hugely successful.Wanted to promote the convention and JEANC itself to the advisers in the Renoarea.
v. Steve O’D reported that the Dean of the school – Jerry Ceppos – used to be an editor of the Mercury News. He wants to be the place to go for high school journalism. He did not waste anytime to organize advisers in Northern Nevada. He has big plans for summer camp in 2010. We can work with him to plan events and he is willing to work with us.Already has a full time person doing scholastic journalism
c. Others
V. Old Business (10:37)
a. Signature card
i. Randy explained that we hadto switch bank accounts because we are a corporation, not an association. Manymonths ago started trying to switch so the people who are signers on the bankaccounts are registered with the bank. This has been an ongoing issue, but wefinally have it resolved and only Don needs to re-sign.
b. Mail-in Contest
i. Sarah reported the results to the contest were posted before most schools went on winter break. Results havebeen coming in, and are now current on the website and certificates printed for the winners. All results are in.
ii. Sarah is also concerned because of the cost of the plaques. We order them each time from the cheapestvendor (approx. $7.50/plaque). This time they needed to be assembled. If thereis a better way, let’s find it. We also need to get more entries to at least break even. It seems like it fluctuates and depends on the category. It is currently $5. Brainstorm:
1. Michelle suggested not doing a plaque and a more special certificate for winners.
2. Tracy believes plaques are important, and many schools hang individual plaques in the school newsroom. The plaques are a huge part of this particular contest, and something that JEANC offers that is special. Consensus that this is something to continue.
3. Possibility to get everything done for the convention in October and passed out at the awardceremony on Sunday.
4. Greg suggested that we can make it an option for winners; they can choose to pay for the plaque if theywin. What if we sent out the fancy certificates with covers to the winners, butwe can give them the option to purchase the plaque if they wanted to. We can also purchase in bulk so we cut our cost per item.
5. Karl suggested looking forcorporate sponsorship and we can have the sponsor purchase the plaques.
iii. Sarah provided backgroundinformation: contest is three years old. Discussed at length in the Octobermeeting. Categories do need to be revamped and we are looking into it.Submission process also needs to be streamlined. Online submissions ofuploading and judges able to get online to judge, but we return to the problemof changing entries for digital submissions.
1. Steve’s great suggestion: as a way to combat changing PDFs before they are submitted would be include a statement that says all winners must be verified before they are announced andbe able to produce their original tear pages. This may open access to staffs that cannot afford the mailing or have other issues. Most schools would be willing to mail tear sheets
2. Let’s plan on working this out. Consensus seems to be that we should head towards digital submissions.
iv. NSPA is interested in working with us so that they can essentially host our contest. They would charge for this as an initial cost, so at first glance, this was great.However, it does not seem to benefit us as much as it could. It’s probably abetter idea to keep it separate and keep a strong presence on our own. Sarah will let NSPA know that we are not interested at this time.
v. Might be smart to push back the entry deadline so that it is after the convention, as a way to encourage entries. However, consensus seems to be that the deadline should be the same asa way to keep it consistent.
VI. Continuing Business (11:41)
a. Convention – October 23-25,2009
i. Will be at the Sheraton in the Convention Center. There will be no “convention hotel” and we will includelinks on the website for everyone to reserve rooms that they can afford.
ii. The theme is “All of It” and we are trying to show that journalists need to be able to do everything these days. However, we are not going to get away from the basics. Not just focused on new media.
iii. Big push to limit thingsthat are unnecessary and as a way to use our money with focus on technology and hands on activities, rather than on things we don’t need much.
iv. Not continuing luncheon with editor/adviser as we lost money and don’t have a program. Swap shop on Friday night would be alternative to dance and costume contest.
v. Ellen suggested that we do the tennis thing. (Look online for “layer tennis”) As a contest for students who don’t want the dance. Sarah said that there are a lot of options for journalism “games” and contest to keep the journalism going.
vi. One session should be“general membership” so that all members can get updates and be informed on howtheir organization is working for them.
vii. Facilities again were almost$6K. A/V costs are undetermined at this point, but if we can all bringmaterials that would be helpful to cost. There will be costs for judging,dinner, speaker gifts, DJ and dance, and other incidental costs.
viii. We do need to determine a cost for the convention itself. So far, the$10 write-off contest, $10 Best of the West entry, $15 publication critiquecosts all seem good, but we need to decide on the cost of the entireconvention. In 2007 the cost was $45/$55.
ix. Hotel rooms for boardmembers needs to be discussed. We need a consensus on what our standard will be– or even that there will be different standards for different circumstances. Butthere does need to be a decision made today that we will stick to for thisyear. We do not want to ask board members who are donating their time to haveto pay for volunteering. There does need to be a “convention office” in theSheraton and Sarah and Tracy said they are willing to do that.
1. We need to send out are servation request to board members who would need rooms so that we can planon their cost.
x. Board members also do not need to pay registration costs if they are working.
xi. CNPA’s meeting planner can help out with contacts at the Sheraton as CNPA uses them a lot every year.
xii. Randy moved to pay thelodging cost of board members who have a job at the convention who don’t haveany other way to have that expense covered. We also pay the lodging based ondouble occupancy at a driving distance hotel, unless said member is a key pieceof the convention and needs to be closer. Greg seconded. Ed offered a friendlyamendment for the president to decide if there is any question. Not accepted.Michelle made a friendly amendment to name specific jobs being done that willhave a hotel room paid for. Amendment accepted. Ellen made a second friendlyamendment: that there is a list of expectations and time frames for boardmember advisers who will be participating and expecting a hotel room paid for.Amendment accepted. Motion passed.
xiii. Rachel will be responsible for the scavenger hunt and can help withanything else needed. Marjorie will manage the bookstore. Greg will helpchaperone the dance and registration desk at some time. Randy will help withthe bookstore. Lynne will help getjudges for contests. Ed would liketo be a speaker, judge, and will also work the Friday morning registration.
xiv. There will be no paper worksent out hard copy; all information is online.
xv. Option to place an ad inC:JET magazine. Deadline is Tuesday. $70/quarter page. We will do this.
xvi. Rachel thinks T-Shirts should be sold. Karl asked if we should pre-sell only or if we order a certain number and sell them on site. Both options are necessary.
xvii. Sarah is in charge of all speakers. Let her know if you have any contacts.
xviii. We will really need someone to be in charge of critiques. Karl will cover that.
b. Student journalist of the year:
i. All entries are coming through the CNPA office. Tracy, Don, and Sarah are the volunteer judges for this contest. JEANC and JEASC will be bringing the journalists to the CAL JEC meeting and allowing them to decide. There was a discrepancy last year, as California sent both a Northern California representative and Southern California representative, and a hastily convened group chose on the spot. So this year we are trying to ensure this will not happen.
1. Action point: There needs to be a formal letter of inquiry to JEA headquarters to follow up on last year’soversight. Diane will write the letter, as she is supposed to be informed of all of this information and look into it further.
VII. New Business (1:36)
a. Emeritus status (Ed)
i. Ed moved to change the“JEANC Board Member Emeritus” to “JEANC Board Director Emeritus.” Randy second.Motion passed unanimously.
ii. Hilda Walker has been on theJEANC board since the 1970s and just retired. She was highly involved and donea lot for the organization. Ed moved that Hilda Walker be inducted into theJEANC Board Directors, Emeritus Status. This honors those who have workedclosely with the board itself. Greg seconded. Motion passed unanimously.
iii. Sarah would like to useJEANC money to set a precedent that when anyone reaches that status there willbe a plaque purchased and sent using to recognize their contributions.
b. JEANC Web site (Michelle)
i. Created our updated websitethrough Joomla, an open source software for web design. Many things are same,but a key difference is anyone’s ability to upload.
ii. Send any ideas to Michellefor anything you want to have included on the page.
iii. Working with student onSacramento promo.
iv. Offering a free service tomembers to upload their PDFs and other images and be able to post them to ourgroup through Flickr. Anyone can create an account in Flickr and then have theirimages of the pages linked to our Flickr group. Please do that by March 1 if you have a staff. There is another wayto upload pictures without a Flickr account. Directions are on the website.
v. Register on the site. Thatwill allow us to give all board members to upload articles and have “author”privileges.
vi. Please spend time navigatingand looking for things that require editing.
vii. Currently we are on a sharedserver. Eventually we should look to purchasing our own server eventually.Shared servers are relatively slow, and not sharing would keep the speed of oursite up.
viii. Also need to look at security certificates so that it encrypts our memberinformation, but it can get to be almost $1200-1700. However, they do haveshared certificates. Right now, we only have money coming in through Paypal,and they are secured so we are ok, but if we choose to do registration throughour own site, we will need to purchase a security certificate.
c. Photo Contest/NSPA
i. See Mail-in Contest, itemiv, above.
VIII. Good of the Order
a. Next meeting will be in the Bay Area – Convent of the Sacred Heart in San Francisco. We will determine a date through email.
IX. Adjournment (2:19)