Web Produced by: Brian Duerring

Cincinnati Pro SPJ Meeting -  April 15, 2008  - WCPO-TV

In Attendance: Hagit Limor, Aiesha Little, Jon Huges, Taelonnda Sewell, Tony Mastriani, Amanda van Benschoten

The meeting came to order at 11:36 AM.

Tony Mastriani moved approval of March meeting. Jon Hughes seconds. Passes 5-0 with one abstention

Under Old Business, Hagit distributed Monica Dias' rewritten bylaws for everyone to mull over and be familiar enough to vote on final language at the May board meeting. At that time, we will post the new bylaws on our website and mail them to our membership for an online vote.

Next, Amanda discussed the banquet, now set for the Phoenix on Friday, September 19, 2008. We've booked the Archway Ballroom and adjoining Cincinnati room. We’ll have the cocktail reception there at 6:30 p.m. this year in the Cincinnati Room with the silent auction. We should try to get someone (ideally, a media company like last year) to sponsor the hors d’oeuvres. Banquet begins at 7:30 p.m. again. We discussed the theme. This year’s focus will be a tribute to the Post. We have a wonderful PowerPoint presentation prepared by the Post of front pages through the ages. That will run continuously in the Cincinnati Room (with the cash bar, silent auction and a display of Post memorabilia) throughout the night. Our guest speaker(s) will also make remarks about the Post. Nick Clooney has agreed to be our guest speaker. We also want to invite Bill Burleigh to speak and Hagit will find an emcee for the event. Amanda is assembling the invite list. We sent 271 last year, and had about 190-200 people attend last year. The Archway Ballroom can’t sit more than 200. Hagit suggested a consideration of the larger Grand Ballroom. Amanda will look into it and report back to the board. Amanda is beginning to work on the invitations with Brentwood Printing. There was no objection from the board, as they did a cost-efficient job last year. Amanda's goal is to get invitations in the mail in early June and set the RSVP deadline for late August, probably three to four weeks in advance of the banquet. The board agreed to stick with the $40 ticket price, barring huge upcharges from the Phoenix. Taelonnda agreed to chair the Silent Auction committee this year to help coordinate this effort which benefits student scholarships. Amanda encouraged all to begin approaching corporations for sponsorships. Last year we secured $7,500. she wants to  shoot for $8,000 or $8,500 this year. Sponsors will get ads and two tickets to the banquet.

Hagit explained the one-week extension for our Journalism Contest, in light of so many huge, developing stories in recent weeks and so many people emailing and asking for more time. The new deadline is April 22 and we're posting this on our website as well as emailing our listserv.

Under New Business, Hagit submitted Alex Coolidge's Treasurer's Report. As of today we have $7,044.96 in our primary account. Recent transactions include withdrawals totaling $1,986.05, including a $1,500 down payment on the Phoenix, a $408 reimbursement to Hagit for conference expenses, $50 in web service to Brian and $28 to Vandenberg Media. Deposits have totaled $4390.01 for our cut from the Ohio 2007 SPJ Contest. We also deposited $1,000 to our scholarship fund – bringing that account balance to more than $2,400.

Hagit also discussed defining our fiscal year to reflect calendar year, January 1 to December 31. Tony moved to make this our chapter policy. Amanda seconded.

Hagit then submitted Josh's secretary report thanking Taelonnda for kickstarting the monthly e-newsletter and asking all members to submit their current preferred email addresses so we can update our listserv.

In the President's Report, Hagit reported that membership declined to 98 members, but Hagit contacted all and those still in the area and in the business indicate they will rejoin. We have two new members as well. Hagit renewed a call for every board members to recruit at least one new member.

Aiesha discussed her upcoming trip to the Ted Scripps Leadership Conference in Indianapolis in June. The chapter is only responsible for one $50 commitment; Scripps Howard finances the rest of the expenses.

Hagit asked the board to consider supporting UC's upcoming Women in Media Seminar, primarily May 9. Jon explained the scope of the programming and guests. Amanda moved the chapter spend $250 to show its support. Aiesha seconded. Passed by a 5-0 vote, with Jon abstaining.

Board members discussed the March Bar-Media seminar and its success. We had more than 50 attend and all agreed we should make this an annual program. We're in discussion with the Bar Association's incoming president for a training seminar for journalists in January '09.

Aiesha then discussed upcoming programs, including the May 13 "Surviving the First Five Years" at UC's Tangeman Center. More details are available on our website www.cincyspj.org <http://www.cincyspj.org>  We also discussed our upcoming June dinner with the National SPJ Board and our June 24th program with author Dave Sirotta, set for 7 PM at Joseph Beth Book Store at Rookwood. We're planning a Happy Hour for July and a Fall Kickoff Party for late August. October 11 we'll host a "Newsroom Ethics/Values" program that National SPJ will be putting on for us. Members then discussed other potential programs for the future.

Meeting adjourned at 12:41