Meeting Minutes

Meeting Minutes - October 18, 1997
The Ambassador West, Illinois
October 18, 1997

Call to Order

Chairperson Joyce Hastings called the meeting to order.

Bylaw Amendments

Joyce Hastings reported that the Section's two Bylaw amendments were approved at the San Francisco meeting. Our name officially has been changed to Communications Section. Also we have expanded our membership and function to include marketing professionals. Joyce asked for volunteers to chair the Marketing Committee.

Minutes

Minutes from the Section Business Meeting at the NABE Annual Meeting in San Francisco, California (July 30, 1997) were approved as submitted by Secretary Jennifer M. Davis (see Exhibit A).

Treasurer's Report

Treasurer Gary Toohey provided a financial statement (see Exhibit B) adding that it does not reflect additional expenses and revenue from the Workshop.

1997 Workshop Report

Co-chairs Gary Toohey and Jennifer Davis thanked everyone for participating in the Workshop and thanked heaven it was almost over.

1998 Workshop Report

Ann Scarle and Lori Ruello will co-chair the next workshop which will take place in New Orleans, Louisiana from September 22- 26, 1998 at the Fairmont Hotel. They asked for volunteers and suggestions to aid in planning.

Program Committee

Co-chair Ginger Banks reported she and Becky Weiner submitted 10 ideas for the Midyear and Annual Meetings. For the Midyear, the Section will sponsor: Electronic Media Relations; Six Tips in 60 Minutes (photography, web, media relations, speech writing, etc.); and Stop the Noise (how to determine a target audience, establish a message, and implement). We will also have an opportunity to network at the meeting during a "root beer and bull" session.

Newsletter Committee

Chair Dan Kittay announced plans for the upcoming reinstitution of the Section Newsletter. It will start out as quarterly, 8 1/2 x 11", 4 pages. According to the survey, most prefer to receive it by mail or blast fax. The Committee is working on a design and name. The first issue should debut in January or February.

Section Survey

Members were asked to fill out the survey if they had not already done so and return it to Becky Weiner. This will aid us in structuring Section programs to fit everyone's needs.

Section Awards

Joyce Hastings congratulated the winners of the Luminary Award and Richter Award. She encouraged everyone to enter next year, and announced the addition of a web site category.

New Member Outreach

Joyce Hastings asked everyone to make a special effort to reach out to new members. We will try to continue special programs for first-timers like we did at the Workshop-each was assigned a buddy who contacted them prior to arrival. Then there was an opening reception for them to get better acquainted. New members were encouraged to take advantage of the communications audit and publications counseling services.

Scholarship Committee

Chair Frank Ciervo reported the Committee awarded two scholarships to the Workshop to: Melissa Sais of the New Mexico Bar and Judy Gibes of the Nevada Bar.

Section Services

Ginger Banks explained the communications audit and publications counseling services. The Section is going to increase marketing these two programs and target Executive Directors too.

Section List Serve

Joyce suggested everyone take advantage of the List Serve which gives us an opportunity to connect with our colleagues between conferences. Send a message to Joyce if you wish to sign up: jhastings@wisbar.org. The Section is also going to add information to the NABE site including sample forms, surveys, etc.

NABE Oral History

The Section approved assisting the NABE Executive Committee and the Division for Bar Services (DBS) in recording an oral history of the National Association of Bar Executives. DBS Associate Director Elizabeth Derrico discussed the project whose budget, timeline and uses are still being determined. Section volunteers will assist by conducting interviews of retired NABE icons like Ed Bonney, and still-working albeit really old NABE gurus like Brad Carr.

Division for Bar Services

Director Roseanne Lucianek announced the deadline for ABA Partnership Awards as October 22. She also reported the ABA is in the fourth year of a dues cycle and there may be slim times ahead with possible budget cuts. She asked everyone to let her know if the information we receive from DBS is useful or useless.

Adjournment

There being no further business, the meeting was adjourned at 9 a.m.

Respectfully submitted,
Jennifer M. Davis, Vice-Chairperson and Acting Secretary