3/4/2015 Board Meeting

Date: March 4, 2015 – Wednesday, 6:00-8:00PM 
Place: John R’s place in Camden 
In Attendance: John R, Brad, Ham, David, John B., Bob, Sepp, Lew 
Minutes submitted by: David 

1. Check in 

2. Minutes from Jan 14, 2015 meeting were accepted when men replied to e-mail from David – system worked well, men responded in timely manner. 

3. Treasure’s report – Ian or Don were not present so we assumed that the running balance of $2306.41 from last meeting is still accurate as no expenses were expected. 

4. Web page discussion: Web page needs to be updated with accurate information as soon as it is available. Tom B. our Webmaster is recognized for stepping forward to help out and the board feels that he possibly needs help. John R our board liaison, has contacted him several times with information to be updated. David spoke with Vince who is willing to provide support. According to Vince our website page is fairly easy to update if you have the password and minor training. 
a. Ham will contact Tom to discuss how to provide him assistance and get our website updated. Minutes from the past 4 board meetings, minutes from the general meeting at the weekend and the brochure information needs to be uploaded before our brochure goes out. 
b. Bob, with his computer skills, has offered to help out and assist if needed but would prefer not to take the project on. 
c. David will contact Vince and explain that we are looking for additional people to learn how to post on the website. 
d. The board will still OK anything before it is posted on the website. 
e. John R. suggested that a manual be developed to outline the steps of this process of posting on our website. The board agrees that we need to work toward written documents and not solely rely on people’s memories of how to do things. 
f. Bob and Ham will develop a workshop for the May weekend to teach a few people how to post on our Website. The Website format will also be discussed. 
Changing the format is at a different level of expertise so it will be discussed on who and how to make these changes if needed. It was also suggested that if we do not have a volunteer we would need to consider hiring someone to do it. This will be discussed at the next board meeting in May. 

5. Bob and Ham were recognized for the outstanding work they have done in updating the mailing lists. Addresses of men who have died as well as men who we have not heard from in many years were removed from the list. It was felt that if any man really wanted to attend they will check the website or contact a member that is still active to get information. 

6. Update on Brochure- Dan is to be recognized for putting together another work of art. Joe R helped out, as he is an excellent proofreader who provided several points for the board to discuss. All these recommendations were accepted. Ham and Vince worked on the theme and wrote the introduction. David and Karl provided additional information and encouragements used in the brochure. Thanks to all that have contributed to this weekend’s brochure. The poster was also reviewed with additional items to be added. David will send these corrections/additions to Dan ASAP. 
a. Fold and Stamp Party will be held at Ham’s house on March 17 from 6-? Ham will send out directions and a reminder to the board before this event. 
b. John will pick up stamps and contact Ian for payment details. 
c. David will contact Dan to be sure that the brochures and posters are at Ham’s house for this party. 
d. Number of stamps – 270. Brochures and posters 300. Extra copies were made so members at this party can have additional copies to post and distribute. For the past Oct. weekend an addition 40 were printed for that purpose. 
e. Bob will pre-print the mailing labels and bring them to the party. 
f. Confirmation letter that John B sends out after receiving registration: 
i. Brad will provide a statement about dietary needs that men may have and how to
request them. 
ii. Brad will also write up a sentence or two to encourage men to bring T-shirts to the
weekend for “50th” silk-screening. 
iii. John will add a statement saying that we are a “Nut Free Environment” at
Tanglewood. 
iv. John will contact Charles and confirm that he can be listed as the contact person for
workshops on the Confirmation letter. 
v. John B will contact Dan to discuss these changes, as Dan has been responsible for
putting this letter together. 
g. Scheduled mailing date for the brochure in March 23. If they are ready before that they will be sent out early. 

7. E-mail Announcement: The board reviewed the words of wisdom that Lew put into writing for the e-mail and wholeheartedly accepted these words of encouragement. This will go out March 27 after the men receive their snail mail brochure. Lew will contact Bob for directions on how to attach the confidential video from last weekend as well as attachments for the brochure and poster. This e-mail will go out to men from the 49th and 48th weekends. 

8. Tom J and Dan have agreed to write an article for the 50th weekend and have it placed in the usual newspapers that we have used in the past. They asked if the board had anything specific that we wanted in the article. The board agreed that they had a free hand to write this article. David will contact Dan and Tom to relay this decision. This should go out in late March/early April to coincide with the mailings and e-mails. 

9. Responsibilities for the May weekend: (from Oct Weekend Minutes) 
Program Committee: Vincent/Ham 
Coffee Meister: Carl (back up: David) 
Workshop Organization: Charles, Joe 
Tanglewood liaison: David 
Food- Master Chef: Brad 
Fri Night: Pot Luck 
Sat Breakfast: Daniel W., John C. 
Sat Lunch: Ham, John C 
Sat Dinner: Tom J, Vincent 
Sun Breakfast: Sepp, Tomas 

10. Other weekend business: 
a. John will continue to be the registrar 
b. David will be there early to assist, as he will meet with the Tanglewood representative. 
c. David will ask Tanglewood how we should handle our trash. Bring yellow bags? 
d. Brad will contact Rich to see if they need any help with projects that could use MCM volunteers. 
e. Brad commented that it generally comes down to $3.49-$3.89 per meal per man at the weekend. 
f. David will present on the topic of philanthropy at the Variety show. 

11. Summer celebration: BA was contacted but has not returned any information about a possible place. It was decided that if men want to plan this event they would have support from the board to do this. It was decided that it would be a “Chemical Free” event as this is our policy for weekends and board meetings. 

12. Weekend or Board expenses: At the next meeting we will discuss a procedure on how best to get reimbursed for expenses. It was felt that what we have done so far has worked however we would like input from Ian and Don if there is a better way. 

13. Other: 
a. The board will ask Ian or Don to review the budget process with us at our next meeting in May 
b. David will send out an e-mail to the board on April 1 to see if we need one more meeting on April 8 to pull together any lose ends for this up coming weekend. Please send any concerns or questions to him at any time. 

14. Next regular meeting will be otherwise it will be at the business meeting on the weekend. The next board meeting will be April 8th (if needed- see 13 b) otherwise it will be on Wednesday May 8 at John R place in Camden from 6-8. 

Minutes have been accepted via e-mail communication on March 17, 2015