2015 Spring BOD

BQPA/PIONEERS

Barbershop Quartet Preservation Association

2015 Spring BOD Meeting

Thursday, April 9, 2015, Tempe, AZ

Attending: Tom Noble, President; Lee Taylor, Vice President; Jim Milner, VP

- West; Gerry Carroll, VP - East; Jim Gallagher, Treasurer; Jack Martin,

Immediate Past President; Rex Touslee, Past President (non-voting); Frank

Fliszar, Membership Records; June Noble, Secretary Pro-tem. Regrets: Ed

Simons, Secretary.

Prez Noble called the meeting to order at 3:07 pm, and a quorum was

declared, 6 of the 7 officers attending.

The list of Departed Friends was read, mentioning especially BQPA members

Arlene Bauder, George Hoffman and Frank Goode, as well as Thom and Carla

Hine, Dick Grapes, Dan Henry Bowser and Charlie McCann, and a reverent

rendition of The Old Songs was sung in their memory.

Taylor moved the minutes of the previous meeting be approved as posted on

the BQPA website. Martin seconded and the motion passed.

Gallagher provided a printed Treasurer's report, indicating solvency, and

noted that our balance has remained nearly flat, rising slightly even with

the expenses of last Fall's festival and the costs of advertising since

then. Our balance before the current Tempe festival was $6597.18. Milner

moved the Board accept the Treasurer's report. Martin seconded and the

motion passed.

Noble reported a series of actions taken since the previous meeting:

* Approved transfer of AZ Quartet Chapter's sound equipment to Mesa

Chapter, BHS

* Directed that Bill Gallagher's historical article on BQPA/Pioneers,

provided by Jerry McCay via Jim Gallagher, be posted to the History pages on

our website

* Arranged with Webmaster Milner to post on our website the link to

Robbie Neal's YouTube "channel" containing more than 70 songs performed by

quartets on the 1950s and '60s.

* Requested contact information for ordering contest medals and

membership pins - should be preserved in our documents

o Provider for pins has been identified by Gallagher, although details

are still sketchy as to whether the provider retains our artwork

o Provider for medals has not been identified, as our inventory of

medals is sufficient for at least 8 more years. However, our future buyer

can go to any trophy company with a sample medal and the artwork we have in

our files to manufacture more medals.

* Queried Board about subsidizing BQPA Festival travel for Keith

Eckhardt - quid pro quo to be upgrade work on our website

o Sentiment was not positive

o Preference was to offer to pay for upgrade work

* Engaged in Communications & Public Relations activities, which would

be detailed in the Committee Report later in the meeting

Carroll reported on the Chicago festivals, both last year and the upcoming

gathering in September. The only difficulty last September was the shuttle

delay in returning the group from the Saturday evening dinner. It's

reported that the hotel desk staff member responsible for the delay has

since been terminated.

The contract for this September has been set, although the gathering room we

usually occupy is not available this year. We will be in combined rooms -

along the familiar corridor - that will accommodate about 100, which should

be sufficient. The contract calls for the same guest room rate of $69.00,

with beer and soda included in addition to the buffet breakfast, and it was

noted that the hotel has not charged us for the use of the gathering room in

the past, which courtesy is most appreciated. Raymond Schwarzkopf has

accompanied Carroll in these negotiations, acting as backstop against any

future inability Carroll might have in continuing to serve as VP - East.

Milner reported on the Tempe festivals. Arrangements are about the same for

this year as last year, although we do have the gathering room and our

registration area from Thursday morning on. The group room rate remains

reasonable ($114.00), and the Embassy Suites staff are happy with us and

enthusiastic about having us with them.

Milner has researched another Tempe facility which would cost a few dollars

less for guest rooms, but discussion suggested there is very little

sentiment for moving. No motion to move was raised.

In Paul Ludwig's absence, Milner also reported on the talent contingent that

has been arranged. Six quartets will be appearing on our Saturday evening

parade, plus the winners of the pick-up quartet contest. Two pairs of

quartets share members, so - rather than being drawn by lots, as in previous

years - the order of appearance has been set to allow time for costume

changes. Audacity will again be our headliners.

Milner also reported that Tom Neal will MC the pick-up quartet contest on

Friday evening, but that Bob Dykstra is not able to attend this festival or

to MC the Saturday show, due to surgery he had earlier this year. Either

Noble or Ludwig will MC Saturday evening.

Milner then put on his Webmaster's hat and reported on our website. He

provided a thumb drive containing the current website content for backup,

exchanging with last years flash drive which has been stored in Noble's safe

deposit box.

There was some discussion about upgrading our website to provide better

response for tablet and smartphone users. Fliszar suggested Milner contact

David Melville, a Phoenix area web developer who works on the FWD site, for

possible upgrade assistance, and Milner will arrange for such a discussion.

What's needed is upgrade to the technical side of our site, with the

possible inclusion of some artistic re-design, and both Fliszar and Milner

agree that Melville is a good candidate for such upgrade work. In the

meantime, Milner continues to be the "owner" of our website, and contracts

with GoDaddy to retain our domain name and our website's "residence" on one

of their servers.

Martin recommended that the links we have on our website to other sites

should be reviewed, as some (e.g. Gondolier Chapter) are stale and result in

error messages. Milner will handle such updates as required.

Fliszar reported on the membership records database, which he has upgraded

to the Microsoft Access platform over the past seven months. He provided

samples of various reports and forms, as well as passing a thumb-drive

database backup to Noble for secure storage. There is a new roster book to

be used at the registration table. The database will not - at this time -

be available on-line at the registration table. A roster report will be

provided to the BQPA/Pioneers officers and chairs once the Festival is over.

The new database is capable of capturing the names of those members who have

attended a festival, and this will permit limiting the number of name badges

we print, reducing the costs for those items. The database will also permit

sorting and extracting various sub-groups of members, such as those who

joined two years ago but have not attended since. Analytical reports can be

provided by request to Fliszar.

A motion made by Milner, and seconded by Carroll, was passed, expressing the

Board's appreciation to Fliszar for his efforts in updating and upgrading

our BQPA/Pioneers membership records.

Martin suggested that the report of each Festival be sent out by all

available channels, including direct email as well as the Google Group.

June Noble gave the Registrar's report, as follows:

* Attendance counts from 2014 Chicago festival:

o Total signed-in membership: 53 (including 5 new members)

o House Friday: 54

o House Saturday: 75

* Inventory of BQPA pins:

o Secretary's cache for new members - 12 pins

o Registrar's cache on hand for Tempe festival - 38 pins

* Reminder of items available for sale:

o BQPA/Pioneers self-adhesive labels - 3 for $3

o SPEBSQSA self-adhesive labels - 21 for $3

o BQPA cloth patches - $5 each

Martin asked that we look into having the BQPA Store produce a banner-sized

copy of the BQPA patch; Noble will research or turn over to PR & Comm.

Prez Noble gave the PR & Communications report:

* Since Las Vegas International, BQPA/Pioneers big-screen ads also

appeared at:

o Mid-Atlantic District Convention

o Harmony, Inc. International Convention

* BQPA/Pioneers flyers and business cards were placed in strategic

locations at:

o BHS International

o Harmony University

o Harmony College North-East

o Illinois District Convention

o Mid-Atlantic District Convention

o Harmony, Inc. International Convention

o BHS Mid-Winter Convention

o Comedy Quartet Cruise - November, 2014

o Solid Gold Cruise - January, 2015

* Press releases have gone to:

o Midl-Antics (Mid-Atlantic District Bulletin)

o All District Presidents

o 9 BHS Chapters in 100-mile radius of Tempe

o 5 Sweet Adelines Chapters in 100-mile radius of Tempe

o BHS LiveWire - promised but not published in the current issue

* Very nice article appeared in Winter issue of Midl-Antics

o Copies were available

* New BQPA/Pioneers Facebook "Page" has been established

o A Facebook "Page" is outward-facing, for announcing our activities

o We also have a "Group" (inward-facing - members-only)

* Google Group invitations were sent to about 200 BQPA members who are

not subscribers to that email group (which is used to communicate our

activities)

o About 45 respondents have subscribed to the Google Group since the

invitations were sent

Gallagher suggested expanding the descriptive info on our Key Notes song

lists and distributing them at Platoon and Brigade events as well as

District, Division and other such events. Discussion established that the

previous methodology (having requests sent to Fliszar to permit capture of

the requestor's email address) has resulted in only a single request for the

song list. The sentiment was to print and distribute larger quantities of

the song list. It was also suggested that the list be re-formatted to place

all the song titles on one side of the sheet and expanded promotional

material on the other.

Milner moved that we appropriate up to $100 for production of larger

quantities of the song lists, the format modified per the suggestion above.

Martin seconded, and the motion passed. Taylor will distribute at the

upcoming platoon, as long as he receives by the 22nd of April. Noble will

provide.

Fliszar noted that our offer last year to financially support Bill Kane's

Platoons has automatically expired with the passage of time and would need

to be re-considered by the board if we were to receive such a request in

future.

At this point, VP (East) Carroll departed the meeting in favor of a personal

appointment, and there followed discussion regarding whether this

represented dereliction of duty on his part. However, there was no

agreement regarding censure, so he got off scot-free...

There followed discussion of the possible continuation of big-screen ads or

displays at various into the coming year. Comments established that we

cannot attribute getting applications for any new members to the big screen

ads, but it was agreed that our displays have represented positive exposure

that has been noticed. Martin moved we continue big screen ads for the

coming cycle. Gallagher seconded, and the motion passed.

Martin recommended that the reports of our festivals be sent to every

District president, requesting that it be forwarded to the district bulletin

editors for inclusion. He also mentioned the previous practice of sending

press releases to the district bulletin editors, with email addresses

discovered by Ed Simons, which we can facilitate, ongoing.

Gallagher passed along an informational message from Montana Jack, quoting a

message from Marty Monson, CEO of SPEBSQSA: "You have my commitment that we

will be promoting a lot more quartetting in the months and years ahead."

Touslee will be meeting with Monson in the near future, so we need to get

some Key Notes song lists to Touslee.

Noble reported having had breakfast at the Harmony, Inc. International with

Monson, Don Fuson (new BHS President) and Shannon Elswick (past BHS

President) as well as Jeanne O'Connor, President of Harmony, Inc., and

plugging BQPA/Pioneers to all as part of the discussion.

A suggestion was made that BQPA/Pioneers consider contributing to Harmony

Foundation in support of the youth outreach programs they fund. However,

there was little positive sentiment expressed for the suggestion at this

point in time.

Gallagher recommended that Paul Olguin's Harmony University woodshedding

presentation should be linked to our website. Sentiment was positive -

Milner will link.

Gallagher will send to the BOD Darwin Shield's tag sheet with tagging

etiquette, with the intent of putting it up on the website. Sentiment was

for posting this - Milner will post.

June Noble agreed to stay on as Registrar Pro-tem for the next cycle.

A motion to adjourn was made by Gallagher and seconded by Taylor. The

motion was passed, and the meeting was adjourned at approximately 5: 35 pm.

Respectfully submitted,

Tom Noble, President (for Ed Simons, Secretary)