Regional Management Team Meeting

March 8, 2008

Kathy Lucken, RMT Assistant

 

PRESENT:  Shirley Christie, Marla Crowley, Judy Olson, Ann Westra, Audra Freeman,

                    Retta Sorenson, Marlys Bronson, Bev Swanson (new team member replacing Retta), and Kathy Lucken

ABSENT:   Joann Colville

 

Meeting was called to order by Marlys at 7:30 pm

Ÿ  A “Survival Kit” goodie bag was presented to Retta for her 6 years as Educational Coordinator

Ÿ  The feedback on the Quartet Day presented by 4-Star Collection was shared. Connie Miller took notes from the wrap-up faculty meeting and will make a report of those comments. Retta will mail/email workshop evaluation sheets to all attendees.

 

Minutes were reviewed and approved with the following changes:

Ÿ  Change the $200 reimbursement for IES to include faculty members along with front-line directors. The region had budgeted $2,000 for this reimbursement, however, all requests would be honored even if the requests exceeded the $2,000.

Ÿ  Marla had a question about the membership coordinator informing choruses about becoming members of their area Arts Councils. During a discussion about means of raising a chorus’s visibility in a community, it was suggested that choruses become an active member in their community Arts Councils or organizations.

Ÿ   

Events Coordinator - Shirley Christie

Ÿ  Convention dinner…a discussion followed as to if we should continue with this, and if we did not, how would we showcase our winners. It was explained that by purchasing the dinners for this event, it pays for the breakout rooms that we need. Please email Shirley with any suggestions that you might have on this subject.

Ÿ  We have 524 members registered for convention

Ÿ  Twin Cities Show Chorus will be bringing their 6 foot back-rails

Ÿ  One chorus has 18 members who have not paid their regional assessment

Ÿ  June 28, 2008 - DDD/LDD will be held at the Radisson Convention & Hotel Center in Plymouth, MN

Ÿ  August 15-16, 2008  - RMT meeting location will be at the new Mankato location where our 2009n regional convention will be held.

Ÿ  September 25-28, 2008  - Fall Weekend will be held at the Airport Marriott in Bloomington, MN

Ÿ  June 25-28, 2009 - Camp Rainbow will be held at St. Olaf College, St. Pete, MN (Mary Lou Kudela and Carol Grimmer are responsible for the arrangements)

Ÿ  It is becoming increasingly more difficult finding a hotel that can accommodate the number of rooms necessary to house all of the convention attendees. Considering the Radison Hotel for 2010 -  will present to the RMT as soon as all of the figures are in.

Action Items:

«  All RMT members are to email Shirley with suggestions they might have for a change in the convention dinner and showcase.

«  Shirley and Retta will check with Prairie Rose to see if they have to compete this year. Bismarck and Lakes area do and they are signed up

«  Shirley and Audra will follow-up with the 18 members who have not paid regional assessments.

 

Membership Coordinator - Marla Crowley

Ÿ  Member Recognition week, February 3, 2008 was a success and Marla heard from 13 chapters as to what they did to recognize their members

Ÿ  A decision was made to make this an annual event in the same week

Ÿ  The regional convention, the S.P.L.A.S.H. Bash will be a take off on class reunions, and the classes will be determined by how many years a member has been in SAI

Ÿ  Marla presented the team with samples of a longevity pin that she would like to order to be given to members with 25, 30, 35, 40, 45 and 50 years. Approval was given to purchase 300 pins at a cost of $700.

Ÿ  Audra will transfer funds from other area to accommodate this expense. IF there is a change in the price of these pins, Marla will email the team for approval.

Ÿ  Certificates will be done by Lowes Designs for the 10, 15, and 20 year members…they are mailed out. Upon review of the suggested designs for the certificate, it was suggested that the Region 6 logo also be included.

Ÿ  Marla asked for approval to purchase the Member ToolKit, the Policy Book and the Chapter Guide for her files. Approval was given.

Ÿ  Lake Country Chorus lost 3 long-term members, however, it seems that the chorus is back on track with 20+ members on the competition stage

Ÿ  Team 6 promotion has not as yet been active. The purpose is to communicate to choruses what is going on in other choruses and this information seems to be getting to the choruses through other communications.

Action Items:

«  Marla will send article to Regional Measures about the success of the Member Recognition week

«  Marla is to notify choruses that the Member Recognition Week will be an annual event the first week of February. She will also put this in the Regional Measures

«  Shirley will talk to the convention MC’s for the showcase (Northern Lights) about the theme of the convention as relates to the class/years that the members joined, e.g., will all members from the Class of the 80’s stand up, etc., etc.

«  Marla will do the individual yearly recognitions.

«  Marla will order the longevity pins and have the certificates made

«  Audra will transfer money from one account to membership to cover the cost of the member longevity pins.

«  Marla will contact choruses to encourage them to become members of their local performing arts councils/organizations.

«  Marla will order the Member ToolKit, Policy Book and Chapter Guide for her files.

 

Team Coordinator - Marlys Bronson

Ÿ  Add Acappella Xpress to the list of choruses having submitted their Standing Rules for review.

Ÿ  Discussion of Associate Coordinator Program proposal

§  Invite interested members to DDD/LDD for faculty or leadership training to see if they might be interested in being on the Regional Management Team

§  Send out talent sheets to see if members are interested

§  Send out a talent scout to individual choruses

§  Marlys has talent sheet which could be re-designed

§  No yearly shadow program

§  Team Coordinator would coordinate this program

§  The talent sheet could be a part of the chapter visit, presented by the administrative faculty

§  All RMT members review the Talent Interest sheet before Fargo

Ÿ  After much discussion, it was decided to table this project until 2009 and introduce at DDD.

Ÿ  The next RMT meeting is August 15-16, 2008 and it will be scheduled in Mankato

Ÿ  Fall weekend, September 28, 2008 we will have an RMT meeting on Saturday night

Ÿ  Fall weekend, we will also have a RAMM and a CLEF meeting

Ÿ  February 2009 RMT meeting rescheduled to March 13-14 to coincide with the Faculty training meeting.

Ÿ  March 13-14, 2009 Faculty and RMT meeting

Ÿ  We will have an International visit in 2010...NOT 2009

Action Items:

«  Marlys send Audra Freeman a copy of the regional by-laws as relates to term of office

«  Joann put interest sheet on the website

 

Marketing - Ann Westra

Ÿ  The Dress For Success flyers have gone out to all choruses and we are hopeful to make a huge donation in Fargo

Ÿ  The last Regional Measures included an ad for Twin Forks Hawaiian cruise which contained a for-profit travel agent’s contact information. This insertion caused the region to lose its non-profit postage rate when it was mailed out. In the future ads will be more scrutinized for such information.

Ÿ  Judy was talking about Carol Grimmer’s rainbow bracelet and thought if we could get some we could sell them at the convention boutique…she will check into this.

Ÿ  It was suggested that members of the Sound of the Prairie Chorus could man a region 6 table at the boutique to sell the bracelets.

Ÿ  Bev asked if any advertising would be done at the 2009 MMEA Clinic

Ÿ  Discussion on how to “get the word out” about upcoming events. Ann will create tabletop tents listing upcoming events and a brochure/flyer with RMT coordinator positions and “job descriptions.”

Action Items:

«  Ann will make another S.P.L.A.S.H. sign

«  Ann will make table tents for the dinner tables at regional with upcoming dates

«  Ann will put an advertisement for the X-stand in the regional program

«  Judy will ask Carol Grimmer about her rainbow bracelet

«  Bev will mail MMEA information to Ann for review

 

Education - Retta Sorenson

Ÿ  Sweet Adelines International pays for 15 chapter visits and 14 have been completed

Ÿ  Regional advisory team plans the idea and the script for the chapter visits

Ÿ  June 28, 2008 - Director Development Day/Leadership Development Day

Ÿ        DDD - Vicki Mayberry                       LDD - Regional Faculty

Ÿ        Plymouth Radisson at a cost of $50/each

Ÿ  September 26-27, 2008 - Regional Fall Seminar - Nancy Field

Ÿ        There will be a crazy quartet or VLQ contest to entice more members to attend

Ÿ        Marriott Bloomington at a cost of  $75/each

Ÿ  March 13-14, 2009 - Faculty Training

Ÿ  June 25-28, 2009 - Camp Rainbow

Ÿ        Carol Grimmer and Mary Lou Kudela are co-chairs

Ÿ        Outside faculty - Tori Postma and Sharon Babb

Ÿ        There are plans to have a YWIH Festival during this time as well

Ÿ  Scholarship Funds - 2007-2008 fiscal year, Region 6 front line directors or faculty member who plans to attend IES in July can receive $200 toward their registration

Ÿ  Everyone welcomed Bev Swanson as the new Education Coordinator for 2008-2010.

 

Communications - Joann Colville (input from Ann and Audra in Joann‘s absence)

Ÿ  Directly Speaking to be at region website

Ÿ  YIWH has its own website page with a link on the home page.

Ÿ  The address for sending emails at the website is FC@region6.org so that private emails are not available

Ÿ  On-line registration for regional events and the use of Pay Pal will soon be available.

Ÿ  Advertising fundraisers on the website is free when the profits go to benefit the chorus. There is a fee for personal or business advertisers.

Ÿ  Address changes, the membership coordinators of the chapters need to notify the region as well as international

Ÿ  Regional Assessment form---wait until after contest

Ÿ  Nominating Committee: There must be one RMT member and 2 members at large on this committee. The regional bylaws has recently been changed so the RMT selects the nominating committee.

Ÿ  A discussion of how International Appointments are announced to the regions and if the process could be done more efficiently.

Ÿ  Joann asked that members of the team being thinking about someone to replace her on the team.

Action Items:

«  Judy will send Pat LeVezu a note and ask that she update the director of Zumbro Valley, removing Jim Hall and adding Carol Sorenson

«  Joann will discuss how the PayPal accounts work at our next meeting

«  Bev and Judy will look for a gift for Barb Harvey to say Thank You for her many years as our webmaster. They will email Joann with their findings.

«  Marla will let the Membership Coordinators know that they need to advise the region of address change

«  Bev, Audra, and Marla are to review the State of the Region Report and send changes or make additions to Joann.

«  Marlys will let Joann know that the RMT has selected the following members to be asked to be on the Nominating Committee:  Vonnie Ottem, Joann Colville, Carol Wiersema and Marilyn Jacobsen

«  Marlys will talk to Joann about the handling of International Appointments. Joann should write a letter to SAI if one is needed.

 

Director’s Coordinator - Judy Olson

Ÿ  Judy announced that Joan Lowe will continue the run the Director’s Certification Program

Ÿ  Judy also announced that she will not be running for a second term on the management team, she prefers coaching and just isn’t finding enough time to do it.

Ÿ  We currently have 20 active choruses in our region

Ÿ  Acappella Xpress and Twin Forks both have new directors

Ÿ  Zumbro Valley has an interim director

Ÿ  Of the 20 choruses, 12 are competing in the contest and 2 are singing for evaluation

 

 Treasurer - Audra Freeman

Ÿ  Audra will transfer $1,000 under the Membership Coordinator to cover her request for longevity pins and certificates to recognize our members.

 

 Meeting was adjourned at 10:20 pm