1. Call to Order
Chair, Nathan Wakefield, called the meeting to order at: 7:04 pm EDT
2. Roll: Nathan Wakefield, Louie Skaradek, Ian Michael Loughlin, Eric Shibuya, Exuro Piechocki, Josie Marks-McQuade, Scott Cain, Mike Sullivan, Afton Benson, Erin Stephens, Martin Frost, Noel Yee
Present: Nathan, Ian, Exuro, Scott, Mike, Erin, Martin, Matan
Absent: Louie, Eric, Josie, Afton, Noel
3. Approval of Agenda
Motion: Exuro
Second by: Scott
Discussion: None
Vote: Unanimously Approved
4. Approval of Minutes:
Business Board Meeting December 18, 2017
Motion: Ian
Second: Scott
Discussion: None
Vote: Unanimously Approved
5. Reports (Please keep verbal reports to 5 min or less except for festival and future festival discussion)
Financial Report (Afton Benson)
Long story short, the credit card processes were going into a different bank account that Dennis found as he was reconciling at the end of the year. This has been remedied for the future festival transactions. With the adjusted numbers there was a $3,075 that is owed to Dan Holtzman. So overall a very good festival!
Discussion: Happy accident. Did better than we had thought. Healthy festival in 2017. Will close that account and consolidate so that future Square payments went to Bank of America account. It was from ticket revenues on-site at Cedar Rapids – $15,000+.
2018 Festival Report (Noel Yee)
Discussion: Need to get information together for the public facing website. Martin sent Noel an email yesterday, but no response yet. Shivella has been trained as registrar. She needs the price structures, and for Erin and Martin to post. Early bird registration is scheduled to start soon. Noel sent pricing info in late December. Promo videos/photos for festival being prepared and posted by Erin. Early buzz is good. Noel is doing another site visit in March. Discussion about changing pricing levels based on the number of early bird registrations and timing.
Future Festival Planning Report (Mike Sullivan)
Not much to report this month. Still working on qualifying 2021 sites. Best prospects so far, in the initial discussion stages, are Provo Valley, UT, Mobile, AL and Wichita, KS.
Discussion: Nathan asked about Ann Arbor, and Mike said he wasn’t really pursuing anything in that area (outside of one mention for the Detroit area). Shivella was trained and seemed to get it and was enthusiastic. They will share the Evernote from Springfield planning. Mike will be happy to advise and assist pre-fest and on-site.
eJuggle Report (Scott Seltzer)
Discussion: Erin and Matan have been in touch with Scott S. They are looking at what gets the most traffic. They are offering advice for images in posts and articles to help with the marketing side of posts.
Membership (Marilyn Sullivan)
Discussion: Promotion of things lately might have led to a small increase. Marilyn has updated the spreadsheet. Hope upward trend continues with New England based fest.
Marketing Report (Erin Stephens)
Discussion: Erin signed up for free trial to get statistics pulled for various social media sites (Facebook, Instagram, Youtube). Only got 2 months worth of data, but interesting. Matan joined the team with Erin – helpful with brainstorming, discussions, etc. Stats show that a shift from trying to save the reputation of the IJA to just promoting the great things the IJA is doing. Went from 3,000 to 35,000 hits in marketing hits. Wanting to take the marketing to the next level. Report lists plans for each platform. Work on new platform – Musical.ly – 10 – 17 year old focus might be good to focus on youth jugglers (video clips with music). E-Newsletters and Webinars are opportunities to get a cohesive brand. Thinking about optimizing email opportunities and strategies to distinguish between members and non-members. Finding that many people are eager to volunteer to help the IJA in different ways. Nathan asked how data will be used – Erin said the ability to analyze and to help in getting corporate sponsorship. Thinking about an “End Screen” strategy and provide insights on future marketing. Nathan expressed some concern about IRC focus for marketing or corporate sponsorships. Considering all IJA fundraising for 2018 and considering sponsorships across various areas for IJA. There is an opportunity to do some very small, targeted emails promoting specific things (eJuggle articles, Fest info, etc).
IRC Report (Erin Stephens)
Discussion: Proposals for Central America and North Asia coming up today. Fundraiser was very successful – $15,500. A lot of people participated and help the IJA. Gena SC and Viktor Kee offered items to help. Exuro expressed that the fundraiser also raised the general awareness of the IRCs during the push and that he appreciated it. Erin just did a webinar about creating a yearlong fundraising plan (email, own Giving Day, etc.).
YJA Report (Galen Harp)
Discussion: Three options narrowed down from seven for fundraising through Chocolate bar sales to raise funds to get IJA festival comp or props. 2 of 3 companies have customizable wrappers. Potential for growth in membership and fest attendance as a result. Could post to social media. Kids could take to regional festivals.
6. Motions for Consideration
A. Motion to bring from the table the motion to approve the 2018 festival budget.
2018 Festival Budget
Motion: Scott
Second: Exuro
Discussion: Previous straw poll.
Outcome: Unanimously approved
B. Motion to approve the first IRC North Asia 2018 to be held at the Russian Juggling Convention in Moscow, Russia during the week of June 27 – July 1, 2018.
Proposal
Motion: Ian
Second: Scott
Discussion: Name of region might change (location / dates are the important things)
Outcome: Unanimously approved
C. Motion to approve the IRC Central America 2018 to be held at the World Juggling Day celebration in San Salvador, El Salvador on June 16.
Proposal
Motion: Scott
Second: Exuro
Discussion:
Outcome: Unanimously approved
D. Motion to accept the revised 2017 IJA Festival P & L.
Revised 2017 Festival P & L
Motion: Scott
Second: Ian
Discussion: Reflects additional income found. Dan H will received additional bonus.
Outcome: Unanimously approved
E. Motion to approve the revised GigSalad Vendor Discount Program contract.
GigSalad Contract
Motion: Exuro
Second: Ian
Discussion: Exuro said it was great that GigSalad gave up some of their terms to allow for us to include them in the Discount Program.
Outcome: Unanimously approved
7. Varia:
Committees – Honorary Awards Committee should be done by next month for a board vote. Two people have agreed to continue from last year on the Awesomeness Fund Committee, will need a third person. Waiting to hear from UnnaMed on Awesomeness Fund.
Server – Erin updated our options for a new server (to take it off of Smart Group server). Smart Group is in no rush to remove our site from their site. One option is for Dreamhost for dedicated servers ($200+ per month). Dreamhost wordpress (DreamPress) is another option ($35 per month), but we need to ensure it will not break and have enough umph! DreamPress includes support to fix issues.
8. Set February Meetings
Next Vision Planning Meeting – February 5, 2018 at 7:00 ET
Next Business Board Meeting – February 19, 2018 at 7:00 ET.
9. Adjournment
Motion to adjourn: Exuro
Discussion: Lots of good discussion tonight and progress in many areas. Welcome to Matan on first board meeting.
Voting: Unanimously approved
Meeting adjourned at 8:49 pm ET.