Minutes from October 18, 2011
BOARD MEETING MINUTES
SPJ South Florida Pro Chapter
Tuesday, October 18, 2011, 7:15-9 p.m.
University Press at FAU
777 Glades Road, Boca Raton
Roll Call
Members present: Michael Koretzky, Dori Zinn, Lucy Reed, Rachael Joyner, Jason Parsley, Sergy Odiduro, Lisa Lucas, Karla Bowsher.
Approval of Meeting Minutes from August 9, 2011.
ACTION: Dori made a motion to approve the minutes from the last meeting. Lisa seconded. Motion passed unanimously.
UPDATES
1. Elections for 2012 Board (Koretzky)
• We are shooting for a day in the second week of December. Members will be able to vote online. We will advertize at least 30 days in advance. Two new people contacted Koretzky about running for the board. A few of the current board members will not be running again.
• Koretzky will send out a Doodle to the board so we can decide on a date for the elections.
• Jason was nominated by Koretzky as the nominating chair. He will send out the slate of candidates.
2. Chapter Finances (Jason)
• The budget for next year projects the chapter having a $1,000+ surplus. We saved money with travel costs because the national convention is in Fort Lauderdale.
3. Next Year’s Sunshine State Awards & Banquet (Jason)
• The committee decided that we should keep the awards banquet in some form. There is a demand for it; it draws in the biggest crowd of all our events. They believe we can cut costs by changing the venue. Now we need to discuss how we will continue it. Jason checked pricing at Calder Casino & Race Course in Miami Gardens, which would be $15 per head for a buffet.
• Koretzky – I think it is important that we don’t lose money on the event.
• Lisa – I think we should have it as long as we break even.
• Lucy – I feel very strongly that we should have it. It is the only time that people in the journalism community get together.
• Koretzky – We have to make this a priority and spend time organizing it.
• Lucy – I think we need to have a speaker at the banquet to draw people in. We should also have the big award winners tell the backstory, as Jason suggested before. Last year people said they liked the categories and wanted more.
• The board discussed whether to add or consolidate categories.
• Jason – We need to appoint someone to market the awards and the categories.
• A committee will discuss what to do about the categories, awards, and banquet. Jason, Lucy, Gideon, Dori, Sergy will be members.
4. Recap of New Orleans National Convention (Koretzky)
• Koretzky was elected as the Region 3 director. He has money for programming, but national doesn’t know where it is. The previous regional director had the money in a private account, and it is now unaccounted for.
ACTION: Sergy made a motion that SPJ National investigates where Region 3’s funds are and suggests safeguards for handling the money in the future. Lucy seconded. Motion passed unanimously.
• (Koretzky) Gideon, editor-in-chief of FAU’s student newspaper, defeated three other candidates to win one of two student seats on the national board. He gave a rousing speech.
• The Helen Thomas resolution to reinstate the award was debated and voted on. It failed by about 10 votes. Another big change was that there will now be online voting for the SPJ national board. There is a $3 dues increase for professionals, $1.50 for students. Sergy was one of the diversity fellows and she addressed the national board.
• The board members who went briefly shared what they learned at the convention.
ACTION: Rachael made a motion to adjourn the meeting. Lucy seconded. Motion passed unanimously.
Update: Minutes approved at Jan. 10 board meeting.