Board of Directors Meeting May 2, 2009, Tahoma, Calif.
Highlights of the meeting:
· Reviewed concerns left over from the state convention; no behavior policy issues this year.
· Reviewed plans for the upcoming regional conferences. SoCal may have to look at cutting food expenses and raising rates to balance the budget for the conference.
· Authorized the events coordinator to negotiate a contract for the 2012 and 2014 state conventions with the Burbank Marriott Hotel.
· Established a board policy that all conference/convention budgets and organization operating budgets by June 30 of each year and append reports to the board minutes by Sept. 1 of each year. Posted reports would be available to the membership for review.
· Rejected a proposal to waive/eliminate mail‐in fees in light of recent membership fee increases.
· Discussed methods to support American journalists imprisoned in Iran and Korea.
· Rejected a proposal to require a minimum of two judges for all contests because it might create limitations in finding enough judges.
· Discussed judges’ comments that there are problems with the online photo essay competition.
· Deleted the limitation that stories that have versions posted both online and in print may submit only the print version for contests; either version may now be entered.
· Decided to combine the individual stipends for Secretary and Online Communications Director into one double‐sized stipend since we have combined the responsibilities.
· Reviewed 2008‐09 budgets for the organization, NorCal, SoCal, Morro Bay and state convention.
· Adopted a 2009‐10 operating budget and reviewed proposed budgets for conferences.
· Approved a fee increase for treasurer expenses for the current fiscal year.
· Authorized the state president to negotiate and renew a contract with JACC’s treasurer
· Links
2009‐10 Operating Budget and Proposed conference budgets
2008‐09 Line item budgets through May 1 (final by Sept. 1)
Ending 2008‐09 balance sheet (to be posted by Sept. 1)
Voting Members Present:
Jay Seidel, Fullerton College, Faculty President Michelle Olson, Chabot College, Student President Dympna Ugwu‐Oju, Fresno City College, NorCal Faculty Vice President Anttwan Stanberry, Skyline College, NorCal Student Vice President Danny Edwards, Bakersfield College, SoCal Faculty Vice President Brandon Hensley, Glendale College, SoCal Student President Vice President
Staff present:
Timi Poeppelman, Events Director Rich Cameron, Online Communications Director/Secretary Jaqcuie Thomley, Treasurer (arrived midway through Saturday meeting)
MINUTES
Minutes from the April Board meeting were discussed, but were not adopted at this time. No action items took place at the meeting.
REPORTS
State Faculty Report – Jay reserved his report for items on the agenda.
Student Reports were combined Students combined their reports to shared some of their concerns and plans for the next year on the board. These included:
1) Plan for more interaction among students from different schools during conferences, including mixing teams on projects.
2) Avoid scheduling of conflicting workshops (i.e., two sports workshops at the same time).
3) Do more to show the first place winner for on‐spot and mail‐in, shorter dinner and more focus on awards (don’t rush so much).
4) Tweak the peer review.
5) Give the Team Feature 2.0 participants more information at the beginning of the convention on what they are expected to create.
6) Pursue more comments on mail‐ins
7) Improve the sound portion of the mail‐in awards slide show
8) Provide more snacks throughout the convention so students don’t have to buy meals. Seek food donations from vendors for the convention.
9) Seek password access to the JACC Facebook page by the student officers so they can post more activities; include monthly articles from different schools on Facebook/the web site
10) Create open forums on the web site; new photos of the board members
11) Enlist student online editors to work with the JACC web site.
12) Plan a “speed networking” activity for making friends at the conference
13) Replicate the editors roundtable at regional conferences
14) Plan a dance/prom for the State convention dance that doesn’t conflict with other activities
15) Bring back the editors’ boot camp and get more schools to participate
16) Plan more entertainment at the conference
NorCal Faculty Report – Nancy Kaplan‐Biegel will be the chair of the NorCal. Faculty want more budget reporting. Faculty want to see more comments on mail‐in entries. Timi is working out AV issues for the NorCal conference at San Jose State University. The check‐in area for speakers will be moved closer to the area where they will be making their presentations and the awards presentation will be moved to a new hall closer to the Dwight Bentel Hall journalism building.
The next NorCal Conference will be Nov. 7 at San Jose State University.Anne Belden and Judy House have volunteered to host judging sessions for NorCal. Beth will coordinate mail‐in judging. Entries will be due by June 30.
SoCal Faculty Report – Danny, as competition chair, talked about the issues involved in trying to get comments on entries.
Discussion from the faculty meeting focused on the need to raise membership fees and faculty felt more information was needed before they could decide. The expenses will be reduced by eliminating the Friday night food.
The next SoCal Conference will be Oct. 23‐24 at CSU, Fullerton. Danny will be the mail‐in coordinator. Mail‐in deadline is June 30.
There was discussion on possibly raising conference fees and it was determined that Jay needs to send out a note to the organization defining financial issues and the differences between organization operational expenses and regional/state conference/convention expenses.Communication Director/Secretary Report – Rich had no report
CalJEC Report – Rich reported that Cal‐JEC has a new web site and is working on a “State of Journalism Education” report to be presented to the California Press Association in December.
Events Coordinator Report – Timi responded to some of the concerns brought up in the earlier board reports.
- She explained why it is difficult to come up with a definitive final budget in a timely fashion, as there are lots of negotiations to remove charges from the first version of the bill submitted by the hotel. There were no behavior issues at this year’s convention.
She said that she would look into the issue of the conflicting workshops, but that she thought there were no conflicts this year, that she had worked hard on that, but there will always be issues of people having to make decisions from among good workshops on a variety of topics and other events occurring at the same time.- This was the first year the peer review even partially worked. In the past when we tried it in the past no one participated, but this year we had more people who showed up for it. This is good, but we need to plan for more participation in the future. In the past we would bring in outside professionals who would be disappointed when no students showed up, so we went to advisers doing the critiques, but it is still a challenge to schedule people to critique when we don’t know if students will show.
- Regarding the dance: This is a “yes” or “no” event; people decide on the spot whether they like it or not, so it is either a good thing or a bad thing. If you’ve put a lot of money into entertainment and it fails, though, it is really bad. Planning entertainment is hard, so we tend to go with low‐cost, low‐ maintenance entertainment. We have learned from that experience that bringing in a band is a losing proposition. We’ve tried bring in comedians and casino nights and other events that largely have failed. But we will try what the student officers really want to do.
- As for mixing teams, we’ve tried that with the Trivia Bowl and the Team Feature, and for the most part students have rejected that concept. We’re open to new idea, though.
- Regarding food, we have removed food costs from the registration to avoid increasing fees, but those costs have been transferred to individuals. Adding snacks would increase the cost of running the convention. Food costs are too high and we are prohibited from bringing in outside food and vendors.
- Regarding comments: Even getting judges is getting tougher with layoffs in the industry. That is on top of the large volume of entries that judges have to look at. We want comments, but it is a huge job just get judging done. Adding comments is another whole time‐consuming element.
- Workshops with people who are on the receiving end of interviewing.
- Michelle agreed to adopt putting together evaluation surveys for the convention as a student project.
MidWinter Faculty Conference – The conference will be the Jan 23‐24 with Blue Heron on Jan 22. Tentatively, the Blue Heron topic will be on Journalism and Trauma.
No fee increases are anticipated for this conference, but there will be there a higher “commuter charge” for those who choose to attend Blue Heron only, just as we have higher commuter fees at the state convention. Fees are kept artificially low already, so those who choose to come just for Blue Heron are not paying their fair share of costs.
NEW BUSINESS
FUTURE CONFERENCE SITES
The Wilshire Grand has indicated plans that it may demolish and rebuild its facility by 2011 and it is unclear how that will impact our 2010 convention, even if it just a winding down of services.
Timi will work with the Wilshire Grand staff to make sure we have the services we need to run our convention and maybe reduce prices if we have reduced services. In the meantime, she has tentatively booked the DoubleTree in Sacramento for the 2010 and 2012 weekends should we find that the Wilshire Grand will not be able to accommodate our needs and we cannot find an acceptable alternative site in Southern California.
But for 2012 we are likely to need a new convention site. (We already are booked in Sacramento for 2011 and 2013.) Sites we have looked at include Riverside, Ontario and Burbank. Other sites, such as San Diego and Long Beach have been researched, but they will not give us competitive bids that meet our unique lodging and meeting space needs – there are few locations in Southern California that can meet our needs at the rates we can afford.
Currently, the most promising bid for 2012 is from the Burbank location. The other option would be to stay in Sacramento again.
M/S/C (Danny/Dympna) to authorize Timi to negotiate and sign a contract for the 2012 and 2014 conventions with the Burbank Marriott Hotel.
REPORTING OF BUDGETS TO MEMBERS
The board recognizes the desire for additional transparency on budget reports and had an extended discussion on reporting completed budgets.
M/S/C (Dympa/Anttwon) that we close out all conferences and convention expenses and operational expenses for the fiscal year on June 30 each year and that a completed report for each be appended to the June board of directors minutes and made available to members of the organization by Sept. 1 each year.
WAIVING OF MAILIN CONTEST FEES
The board discussed a member’s proposal of waiving mail‐in fees in light of the recent membership fee increase, that they be considered part of the membership fee. The board felt that this would be regressive and would be mixing of operational and conference fees inappropriately. No action was taken.
No increases in mail‐in fees are anticipated at this time.
STATEMENT OF SUPPORT FOR AMERICAN JOURNALISTS
IMPRISIONED IN OTHER COUNTRIES
The board discussed a member’s proposal that JACC issue a statement of support for two American journalists imprisoned in other countries, one in Iran and one in Korea. The board, while in sympathy with the requests, but was concerned about doing so without jeopardizing its non‐profit status. It was decided to see if another organization is making a statement we could support rather than issuing our own statement.
Jay will do additional research and if appropriate conduct an online vote of the board.
If we want to take political positions on issues we need to consider creating a parallel Political Action Group.
MINIMUM JUDGING NUMBERS FOR CONTESTS
The board discussed a member’s request that we establish a rule that we require a minimum number of judges for each JACC contest. The board sympathized with the intent of the request but felt that establishing a rule might create unworkable limitations considering the upheaval of the industry.
Along those lines, additional discussion continued on possible logistical changes in judging to make things more transparent and address concerns about lack of comments on entries.
CLARIFICATION OF ONLINE STORY CONTESTS
The board discussed judges’ comments that the online photo essay competition is too broad in that it can pit a slide show against a video. Judging is too difficult. The judges felt that the contest entries should actually tell stories, not just be a video of the journalists talking about a story to be covered. But there are still issues of judging video vs slideshow.
The current guidelines actually include two contests, one for slideshows and one for broadcast video and the board guessed that entries may be being entered in the wrong categories. More thought needed to be given to how to fix the problem and no action was taken.
Related discussion ensued about JACC’s limitation of writing entries that are published to online publications. Currently, any story that is published online is eligible for competition, but if any version of the same story appears in print only the print version can be entered.
M/S/C with one no vote and one abstention (Anttwon/Olson) to remove this limitation and allow either version of the story to be entered into competition.
STAFF STIPENDS
The Communication Director’s position and Secretary position have been combined this year and the board decided that it would be appropriate to combine the two staff stipends in the new budget as well.
BUDGET ISSUES
200809 budget review
The board reviewed JACC operating and conference budgets. The final reports are not complete yet because the fiscal year ends June 30. Final reports will be appended to these minutes by Sept. 1. The reports show line item income and expenses. A separate report will show bank balances, including reserves.
Operating As of May 1, the general operating account shows an income of $12,300 and expenses of $17,162. This kind of deficit should be addressed in the future with the recent organization decision to increase membership fees.
Morro Bay Conference – The Morro Bay conference generated $5,080 income and had $4,803.11 expenses, for a profit of $326.80.
NorCal – As of May 1, NorCal income was $10,190 and expenses are $6,046.61, for a profit of $4,219.94.
SoCal – As of May 1, SoCal income was $26,990 and expenses are $36,374.03, for a deficit of $8,929.15.
State Convention – Some convention expenses are still being negotiated with the hotel, but as of May 1 income was $117,880 and expenses are $113,104.90, showing a profit of $8,195.03.
Overall – Combined income and expenses for the organization are $160,120 and expenses are $177,491.44, for a deficit of $1,050.08. This will grow as there are additional expenses expected for the fiscal year.
Balances – Total current checking and saving balances for the organization are $16,278. There still is $4,470 owed to the organization.
200910 Budget – The board adopted proposed budgets for the 2009‐10 fiscal year. The operational budget is normally approved by the general assembly at the state convention, but because our new treasurer was still in the process of rebuilding records, it was not available for that meeting. A copy of these budgets is appended to these minutes.
The policy of the board has been to budget conservatively and to budget expenses liberally. For income, the following figures were included:
- 60 members
- 200 NorCal attendees
- 400 SoCal attendees
- 30 Morro Bay attendees
- 500 State Convention attendees
For 2008‐09 NorCal, SoCal and the state convention attracted slightly more than these figures. Morro Bay’s 2009 attendance of 30 for the weekend conference represented lows for the organization.Operating – Budgeted income for the organization with increased membership fees is $30,000 and anticipated expenses are $27,934.90, including $13,500 for board expenses and $8,300 in staff stipends.
NorCal – Budgeted income is $9,475 and anticipated expenses are $6,046.61. No fee increases for the NorCal conference are expected.
SoCal – Budgeted income is $30,000 if conference fees are increased $10 per delegate to $70 and anticipated expenses are $30,078.49. The expenses anticipate the elimination of the Friday night food reception.
Morro Bay – Budgeted income is $5,100 and anticipated expenses are $4,403.11. Fees will remain the same, but there may be a new commuter fee for those who choose to attend the Blue Heron workshop but not the full weekend. Full weekend attendees have been subsidizing the Blue Heron workshop in the past. But as more people choose to attend Blue Heron only, the new commuter fee would include full per person costs.
Annual Convention – Budgeted income is $103,805 with current $200 per delegate fees (miscellaneous other income is added) and anticipated expenses are $113,894.90, or a $9,849.90 deficit.Overall – The overall budgeted income for all accounts is $178,380 and anticipated expenses are $182, 717.95, or a $4027.95 deficit.
The board discussed whether state convention fees should be increased incrementally, but felt an increase at this time was not necessary given the recent increase of membership fees and other decisions to move the southern venue for the state convention starting in 2012. The new venue is expected to result in lower convention expenses, but incremental increases may be needed later.
M/S/C (Danny/Dympna) to adopt the proposed operating budget for 2009‐10. Regions will use the other proposed budgets as guidelines for their conferences.
TREASURER ISSUES
M/S/C (Danny/Anttwon) to increase the payments to the treasurer by $1,500 for the just‐ending fiscal year to accurately reflect the hourly time for start‐up work in rebuilding the JACC books. Accurate estimates are already included in the 2009‐10 budget.
M/S/C (Danny/Michelle) to authorize the state president negotiate and renew a one‐year contract Jacquie Thomley as JACC’s treasuer.
ADJOURNMENT
M/S/C (Anttwon/Brandon) to adjourn the meeting at 10:30 a.m. May 3.
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