North Alabama Chapter of ASTD, Inc.

Minutes of Board Meeting

April 3, 2008

            The board meet at the ASI building in Research Park. The following persons were present: Georgia Wertman (president), Colleen Cain (president-elect), John Hightower (treasurer), Lucy Gardner (programs chair), and Mike Crossley (membership chair). Because there was no quorum, these minutes only reflect the actions of those present and do not reflect official acts of the board of directors.

            John agreed to act as secretary for the meeting.

            The minutes from the March 6 meeting were accepted after correcting typographical errors.

            John presented a revised financial statement for 2007. He indicated that he had found a $21.02 error when he was balancing the checkbook. This expense was related to processing credit cards. John also presented a financial statement for February 2008 and March 2008. He noted that both statements don’t reflect the cost of having meetings at Redstone Federal Credit Union (RFCU) because we haven’t received bills from RFCU for those two meeting. RFCU is apparently a bit slow with sending out bills.

            Colleen noted that the Financial Review Committee had received the bank statements for 2006 and 2007. John answered a question relayed by Colleen from Amy Heard (past president) about a check.

            Mike C. reported that local-only membership stood at 39 and local-national memberships stood at 25, for a total chapter membership of 64.

            The members present agreed that the draft of the newsletter, circulated by e-mail by Mike Jones (communications chair) looked good.

            Lucy presented her list of programs for the rest of the year (although not all dates have been booked). The members present had no objections to her programs.

            We discussed the showcase, scheduled for August. The members present agreed that Adele Lynn would make a good keynote speaker for the showcase. The members present agreed that ADTRAN would be a great place to hold the showcase, but encouraged Lucy to book the facilities soon. We also discussed the importance of materials encouraging vendors and presenters to participate in the showcase being different from materials designed to reach people who would attend the event itself.

            The members present discussed some of the feedback from Kathy Ciliax (board member at large) about the last meeting. To speed up registration, especially for large numbers, the members present agreed that having a second receipt book and an assistant at the registration table would help. John also proposed having official no-carbon-required (NCR) receipts. This suggestion was agreeable to those present. John will get a bid for these to be presented at the next meeting. Colleen agreed to help at the registration table.

            The members present also discussed introductions when there are large groups present, as there were at the last chapter meeting (over 50). The members present agreed that, when there are large groups, it would be best to skip the introductions where each person stands. Various alternatives were discussed to allow for more interaction—as having attendees at each table introduce themselves to people at their table. We also discussed introducing new members and guests.

            We briefly discussed having a list goals for 2008. Georgia indicated that she would draft a set of goals, incorporating the discussion from the board workshop in January, to be presented at the next board meeting.

            The following action items were identified:

            ●  Georgia: Prepare goals for next meeting.

            ●  John: Get bid on NCR receipts and buy another receipt book.

            ●  Lucy: Book facilities for showcase.