Cincinnati Pro SPJ Meeting - Oct 17, 2007
In attendance: President Hagit Limor, Treasurer Alex Coolidge, Vice President Felix Winternitz, Secretary Josh Rinaldi, Emil Dansker, Amanda Van Benschoten, Aiesha Little, Brian Duerring

1) Come to order at 11:39

2) Approval of minutes from last meeting.
Felix moves, Emil seconds. Passes

3) Old Business -

      I.  Recap of Banquet - Amanda

1. The banquet went very well. Several people said it was one of the best Cincy SPJ banquets they’d ever attended. It was also one of the best-attended: we had 190 people RSVP, and I would say we had about 175-180 attend. The program went as planned, the food was delicious, and the crowd was lively. All in all, it was a success. Thank you to everyone who helped plan and pull it off, particularly, Carol Williams, Hagit, Jeannine, Felix, Joe Wessels, Brian Patrick and Scott.

2. All the unclaimed awards have been delivered or will be delivered/mailed soon. I’ve also made contact with all silent auction winners who didn’t claim their items at the banquet, and will resolve that within the next two weeks. Other outstanding issues: Brentwood needs to be paid for programs and certificates. Programs were $377 and certificates were $254.96. Bill mailed to P.O. Box. Phoenix has billed us for $1,224 and Alex will mail the check soon.

3. SILENT AUCTION: We had 20 packages of various prices. All packages were bid upon. We stand to make $908 for the scholarship fund. $205 was collected at the banquet and given to Alex last week for deposit. Hagit has given Alex $100 she received from a winner, and I’ve collected $215, for a total of $520. The remaining $388 will be deposited as I receive it. Thanks to everyone who obtained items. The Borgman items, in particular, were big sellers.

4. ATTENDANCE: Hagit and I deposited $6,000 in prepaid tickets to Alex before event, and $400 after in tickets paid at the door. $200 check forthcoming from late WCPO adds. $6,600/40=165 people. We paid Phoenix for 195 people (190 RSVPs and 5 extra meals).  17 of those were comp tickets. That puts us at 182 people paid up (regular tickets + comp). I know of one other check en route; had to invoice someone for it after banquet. That’s 183 paid up, of 190 RSVPs. (I have 22 place cards for people who RSVP'd but didn’t show.) Unfortunately, there’s really no way to track down those 7 unpaid people. I have eight people on my RSVP list who didn’t pay in advance or at the door and whose place cards were not among the extras. (The Post overpaid by one person.) A couple people showed up who never RSVP’d and just paid at the door, but who knows if others slipped through. Check-in got crazy, and we did the best we could, but it looks like some slipped through the cracks. Any suggestions for how to streamline next year? Maybe have one line for walk-ins and people paying at the door, and not have their names on the regular lists?

5. BUDGET: Despite the discrepancy in RSVPs and attendees, we still made money on the banquet. See attached, but we stand to make more than $5,000. I attribute that to sponsorships and extremely low printing costs. That sum does NOT include the $908 we stand to make off silent auction. If we collect the full amount, I would suggest the board donate the remaining $92 to make it an even $1,000 so we can give away at least two scholarships in the spring.

6. NEXT YEAR: I would highly suggest we hold the banquet and cocktail reception in the same place. I’m extremely grateful to Cincy Business Magazine for sponsoring it and to Felix for organizing it, but I think the banquet would flow better if we held both in the same place next time, wherever we decide to have it. It would allow more time for silent auction bidding, mingling and check-in. I think we also need to streamline the check-in process somehow.

Any other suggestions for next year? With the board’s permission, I’d like to chair it again and assemble a banquet committee. Any volunteers? We’ll need Hall of Fame chair, Awards chair, Silent Auction chair, and at least one or two other members with duties to be determined. Any suggestions for a theme? If we want to do a tribute to the Post, we should probably begin now. Do we want a keynote speaker? (We usually have one, although Hagit delivered the keynote speech this year about the chapter’s 40th anniversary.)

-Discussion: Should we streamline the contest categories for next year? There are over 75. Possibly not dividing by dailies/non-dailies? Felix said it’s almost a knock on non-dailies saying they can’t compete with dailies. We’ll try to institute that for the next contest.
-Will lose about a thousand bucks next year from the Post. Perhaps raising contest fee to participate. Possible ideas are different prices for members and non-members. Or entry fees per name.
Decided to raise entry fees to $20 for members, $25 for non-members. Cap names at three per entry or enter as staff.
-How about timing? Is September good? Emil suggests moving it back to June.  Felix thinks June is too crowded. Hagit is afraid of August. Thinks people are psychologically still in summer
 -Hagit thanks Amanda for a good job and is very thankful she signed on for next year already.

 4) New Business -    

     I. Treasurer's Report - Alex  
- Some silent auction funds were deposited in main account. It is, however, easily corrected. $205
- We have a lot of checks pending. As of today we have $10
However, includes nearly $3,000 in checks already written. Will be closer to $6,000 when checks clear. So, we have $6,000 to fund our programs through the year.

     II. Secretary's Report - Josh  -   
           a. website update  -  demonstration of new site by Brian Duerring   
                Discuss options for website -
                 1. Joe suggests Krazy Dog Web Design is $1500
                 2. Felix suggests Jeff Tindall of Enquirer.com - $200 for html work
                 3. Hagit suggests Brian - $200 for work already done plus $50/month
Josh moves to appoint Brian Webmaster and as part of his appointment pay him $300 for work already done and then a monthly stipend of $50. Approved.

            b. e-newsletter update- going out today.    
-Will promote new Web site on Myspace.

      III. President's Report - Hagit
     
         a. Membership drive   -  77 members, Hagit's recruiting two more now.
             i. Proposed Motion to levy  $0 membership fees so anyone who joins SPJ in our region automatically joins our chapter. Would add at least 56 people we could tap for more involvement.
- Current enrollment is a long process. We should make it as easy as possible.

1. Amanda is torn on the issue, because it’s so hard to make money.
2. Felix thinks that almost doubling membership overnight has got to return to us somehow.
3. Should we put 56 names on our Web site welcoming new members.

Action taken: Emil moves, Felix seconds. Motion passes.
-Hagit is contacting national about the zip codes that are included. Should include Northern Kentucky and Dayton.

             ii. Gen-J project - Suzanne Murray -  recap of Thurs 9/20 6-8 Mulligan's Bar in Hyde Park -Had about 10-12 attendees. A good start.

          b.  Convention recap  

          c. Contest judging help - Need help judging for central Florida chapter so that next year we can split our own contest between two chapters, which will make it easier on those helping us - Deadline is November 30. I need help with print entries. Lion's share is broadcast entries. I propose a "judging party" with $100 food/soft drink budget.  Approved, set date for Monday, Nov. 19th 6 p.m. @ WCPO.

        d.  Board  membership  - I propose three new members: Tony Mastrioni, Suzanne Murray, Brian Duerring
         Checking bylaws – confusing language. We will consult with Monica, our attorney about changing our bylaws to have new board members.
         Action Taken: Motion to add the members as non-voting board members of the board and we will inquire with Monica about changing our bylaws to allow. 15 board members. Rinaldi moved, Felix seconds. 6-0

     
         e . State contest -  Is anyone going? Saturday Oct 27
               i.  Propose to state to add a  "best producer" category
              ii. Felix discusses Cleveland proposal for the following motion:
"Authority for spending decisions on the 2007 Ohio SPJ Awards is vested in the "Oversight Committee" consisting of two representatives of each Ohio pro chapter, plus the committee chair. The committee may act by email or telephone communication. The Oversight Committee members are Hagit Limor and Felix Winternitz of Cincinnati SPJ, Mike Lorz and Brian Ball of Columbus SPJ and Steve Fitzgerald, Dick Hendrickson and Tony Kozlowski of Cleveland SPJ."
Action Taken: Felix moves, Hagit seconds, 5-0

            iii. Discussion of this chapter's future with the contest
Felix won’t be working on it anymore.  If board still wants to be involved, someone else will have to be state chair. Hagit is looking for anyone to step into the gap.

         f. Need a speaker - The UC Society of Professional Journalists and Association of Black Journalists are holding a joint program. They asked Hagit to come speak but she can't that night. It's Thursday October 25 at 7pm, Room 423 TUC (located in the center of UC's campus adjacent to Nippert Stadium). Josh agrees to represent SPJ.

      g. Programming - Remaining 2007 schedule:
      1. October 24 - Bar Bites at Morton’s 5 to 6:30
      2. November 14 - another location -  Willie's in Covington?
          Discussion - Do we want to fund up to $100 per event? (food only; no alcohol) NABJ members might be there as well. Members agree to fund food.
      3. Thursday, November 29 (Thursday after Thanksgiving) - A forum with Steve Leeper and other city leaders about Cincinnati's revitalization. Location/time TBD
      4. Monday, December 17   Holiday Party  -Banker's Club (No denim, no sneakers)
      
For 2008
1. Aiesha will work on January program inviting the Kirwan Institute for the Study of Race and Ethnicity run by Ohio State  -presentation to members of SPJ and CABJ as well as the student chapters.  
2. New media - Brad King, director of Media Informatics, NKU. He already has some programs (for students and professionals) ready to go. In fact he has a new media presentation he's given at various venues recently.
3. Mary Ellyn Hutton, Music Writer, The Cincinnati Post  - program about covering non-profit organizations. Do they have a duty to be open with the public about their internal affairs and to what extent?  What is the media's duty towards them, if any?       
 4. Patti Newberry (at Miami):   War on News 2008: Week of April 7 or April 14. Invitee hit list includes Susan Page or Ken Paulson of USA Today; Frank Rich of The New York Times; and Walter Pincus of the Washington Post; with Inside Washington’s Chad Pergram as possible moderator.

    h . Mentoring program -  Jeff's report:  We have about 15 mentors from various broadcast and print outlets.  Elissa Sonnenberg at UC will be coming up with the students.   
 
6) Adjournment at 1:13 P.M.