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)
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