September Board Meeting Notes

September 27, 2018 – John B brought up the idea of having food (presumably ordered / catered) more regularly at meetings. This idea was not contested by anyone nor was it officially “seconded” by anyone, but remains a strong consideration. Financing would be a consideration, and in other topics we discussed, we mentioned financial aspects, but not specifically for this proposal. – We discussed the upcoming September Meeting and decided it will be a Summer “Brag Night” where people can bring in specimens acquired over summer and show and discuss. Also the Field Trip schedule will be distributed and touched on. There will not be an official speaker for this meeting. I will also have several DVDs on hand if there is a extra time after all of mineral showing / discussion is done, and business portion is done. – KC mentioned and we discussed having at least one meeting sometime in future, where we focus on talking with members about “Themes” in collecting: what do they like to collect, how do they store / arrange / display; species vs “everything” collectors; one “specialty” collectors. This can be a pretty neat topic if several people (KC, myself, John B, etc.) all narrate a portion of a presentation and discuss the pros and cons of their personal styles of collecting, and what amateur collectors may or may not take to. This was seconded by all attending. – KC also mentioned incorporating maybe a regular 15 min. educational component into meetings, something that goes over geology concepts with a fair amount of scientific detail. Whether it be through DVDs (this was favored) or other means. – We discussed a future program or involvement with Boy Scouts for Geology Badge. John and KC both mentioned having done this before and enjoyed it. I seconded it. Back at Fellowship OTR, Julia C. mentioned her son being in the Scouts and his recent assignment of obtaining the Geology Badge, and thought it would be good club involvement. KC mentioned also maybe doing a program for them with a modest depth of science and theory, and incorporating a recruiting effort (not to overshadow the program). John and Dave seconded KC’s idea and agreed we would collaborate on constructing the program. – We discussed the current arrangement of who gets mailed membership forms and communication between Treasurer and 1st V.P., etc. We decided that membership forms from now on will be mailed to Ken Jasko at his address, and he or Dave will relay all new member info to KC. KC will continue to maintain the Active Roster with all member info. This was seconded by everyone. – We briefly discussed Fellowship OTR in terms of turnout, expectations, etc. KC expressed some disappointment in few vendors showing up and bringing anything to sell. We briefly discussed previous Fellowship turnouts if vendors were present. John and I were more of the opinion that it should be viewed as a casual get together for mineral collectors and club friends, and not necessarily have expectations of a show-like environment. However it was noted that having some rocks to look at for purchase is a definite good thing. We did not get far with this conversation but it did sound like Fellowship will continue even if there is not a vendor commitment and turnout. We all seconded the continuation of Fellowship, for better or worse. -I brought up the idea of having elections this fall. It would give members the opportunity to voice opinion on whether they like the people in the assignments they operate in, and if they feel things are running efficiently. The officers attending all stated they were comfortable with their current assignments. This was seconded by everyone. – I brought up our recent presentation at New Brunswick Library, and mentioned that I would like our members to give their inputs on how to better present and edit to a better presentation format. We can send everyone the PowerPoint files and people can add or edit their own contributions and eventually, we would have as our own (maybe published) work. It would be a good platform to have as our own to do presentations for a number of venues. This was seconded by everyone. – We decided we will possibly initiate another t-shirt order in November, after the club dues are collected. We can look at our membership and see the level of interest. If needed, waiting until some point in 2019 was brought up by John B. (every other year) and is a definite option if needed. John B mentioned the idea of the club profiting $1 or $2 per shirt, which was a well-received idea and seconded by Dave and KC. In the past, this was not done as it was our first time ordering. – We had a brief discussion about speakers for meetings and who might be good to ask. KC mentioned maybe asking John Betts if he wants to present for us at some point. Also mentioned was Bob Batic, who has said he might be able to present for us in Nov. I mentioned Breck Kent but the consensus was he might command a high fee and if he brings inventory, it might be high end. We agreed we will continue to look into speakers going forward. – I mentioned that I sent an email out to several members that we have not seen this year with respect to the fact that renewal time is coming up. This was understood in purpose, but John B and KC both stated they feel that the club would be better served to let people “naturally” re-up at their leisure without email reminders and urges. To this, I stated I will send out one big email reminder to everyone that re-upping time is approaching, and not just focus on the few that have been inactive in the club. Also, it was agreed that people that are at meetings and re-up there, do not have to re-fill out a membership form. Only those who do by mail, shall re-fill the form and mail with check. That was agreed on by everyone. Submitted by President Dave “Groundhog” ShapiroSeptember 27, 2018 – John B brought up the idea of having food (presumably ordered / catered) more regularly at meetings. This idea was not contested by anyone nor was it officially “seconded” by anyone, but remains a strong consideration. Financing would be a consideration, and in other topics we discussed, we mentioned financial aspects, but not specifically for this proposal. – We discussed the upcoming September Meeting and decided it will be a Summer “Brag Night” where people can bring in specimens acquired over summer and show and discuss. Also the Field Trip schedule will be distributed and touched on. There will not be an official speaker for this meeting. I will also have several DVDs on hand if there is a extra time after all of mineral showing / discussion is done, and business portion is done. – KC mentioned and we discussed having at least one meeting sometime in future, where we focus on talking with members about “Themes” in collecting: what do they like to collect, how do they store / arrange / display; species vs “everything” collectors; one “specialty” collectors. This can be a pretty neat topic if several people (KC, myself, John B, etc.) all narrate a portion of a presentation and discuss the pros and cons of their personal styles of collecting, and what amateur collectors may or may not take to. This was seconded by all attending. – KC also mentioned incorporating maybe a regular 15 min. educational component into meetings, something that goes over geology concepts with a fair amount of scientific detail. Whether it be through DVDs (this was favored) or other means. – We discussed a future program or involvement with Boy Scouts for Geology Badge. John and KC both mentioned having done this before and enjoyed it. I seconded it. Back at Fellowship OTR, Julia C. mentioned her son being in the Scouts and his recent assignment of obtaining the Geology Badge, and thought it would be good club involvement. KC mentioned also maybe doing a program for them with a modest depth of science and theory, and incorporating a recruiting effort (not to overshadow the program). John and Dave seconded KC’s idea and agreed we would collaborate on constructing the program. – We discussed the current arrangement of who gets mailed membership forms and communication between Treasurer and 1st V.P., etc. We decided that membership forms from now on will be mailed to Ken Jasko at his address, and he or Dave will relay all new member info to KC. KC will continue to maintain the Active Roster with all member info. This was seconded by everyone. – We briefly discussed Fellowship OTR in terms of turnout, expectations, etc. KC expressed some disappointment in few vendors showing up and bringing anything to sell. We briefly discussed previous Fellowship turnouts if vendors were present. John and I were more of the opinion that it should be viewed as a casual get together for mineral collectors and club friends, and not necessarily have expectations of a show-like environment. However it was noted that having some rocks to look at for purchase is a definite good thing. We did not get far with this conversation but it did sound like Fellowship will continue even if there is not a vendor commitment and turnout. We all seconded the continuation of Fellowship, for better or worse. -I brought up the idea of having elections this fall. It would give members the opportunity to voice opinion on whether they like the people in the assignments they operate in, and if they feel things are running efficiently. The officers attending all stated they were comfortable with their current assignments. This was seconded by everyone. – I brought up our recent presentation at New Brunswick Library, and mentioned that I would like our members to give their inputs on how to better present and edit to a better presentation format. We can send everyone the PowerPoint files and people can add or edit their own contributions and eventually, we would have as our own (maybe published) work. It would be a good platform to have as our own to do presentations for a number of venues. This was seconded by everyone. – We decided we will possibly initiate another t-shirt order in November, after the club dues are collected. We can look at our membership and see the level of interest. If needed, waiting until some point in 2019 was brought up by John B. (every other year) and is a definite option if needed. John B mentioned the idea of the club profiting $1 or $2 per shirt, which was a well-received idea and seconded by Dave and KC. In the past, this was not done as it was our first time ordering. – We had a brief discussion about speakers for meetings and who might be good to ask. KC mentioned maybe asking John Betts if he wants to present for us at some point. Also mentioned was Bob Batic, who has said he might be able to present for us in Nov. I mentioned Breck Kent but the consensus was he might command a high fee and if he brings inventory, it might be high end. We agreed we will continue to look into speakers going forward. – I mentioned that I sent an email out to several members that we have not seen this year with respect to the fact that renewal time is coming up. This was understood in purpose, but John B and KC both stated they feel that the club would be better served to let people “naturally” re-up at their leisure without email reminders and urges. To this, I stated I will send out one big email reminder to everyone that re-upping time is approaching, and not just focus on the few that have been inactive in the club. Also, it was agreed that people that are at meetings and re-up there, do not have to re-fill out a membership form. Only those who do by mail, shall re-fill the form and mail with check. That was agreed on by everyone. Submitted by President Dave “Groundhog” Shapiro