Meeting Minutes

The Fairmont Hotel

New Orleans, Louisiana

September 26, 1998

The regular business meeting of the NABE Communications Section was called to order by Chair Jennifer Davis.

Jennifer welcomed everyone to the meeting. She recognized the outstanding service of immediate past Section Chair Joyce Hastings.

The minutes of the section's business meeting on July 29, 1998 in Toronto were approved.

The section officers were introduced.

Section Workshops

1998 in New Orleans: Jennifer Davis and the section thanked Workshop Co-Chairs Lori Ruello and Ann Scarle for their work. Ann said that evaluations of the workshop will be mailed to each participant.

1999 in San Antonio: Workshop Chair Ginger Banks reminded everyone that the workshop will be held October 20-23, 1999 at the Menger Hotel. Ginger asked for input about topics to cover and a possible theme. Nancy Hebble suggested that leadership skills be a major focus.

Program

Elizabeth Derrico of the ABA Division for Bar Services reported that the programming during the 1999 NABE Mid-Year Meeting in Los Angeles will be more unified than during past meetings. The section was asked to conduct two programs during the Mid-Year meeting: one is designed to concentrate on creating credibility through marketing with a focus on branding; the second session will be "Ready or Not - It's Here - Information Overload." It will feature Art Saffran of State Bar of Wisconsin discussing managing the overflow of information on our desks -- from e-mail to old-fashioned mail to faxes.

Newsletter

Joyce Hastings encouraged each section member to make at least one contribution to the newsletter during the next few years. Articles and suggestions can be sent to Joyce and Gary Toohey.

Marketing

Ann Scarle mentioned Marketing Commandments for Bar Communicators, a manual that the committee produced. Each registrant at the 1998 Section Workshop received a manual. Every other section member will be mailed a copy of it.

Wally A. Richter Award

Chair Janet Eveleth reported that the 1998 winner of the Richter Award was Elizabeth Derrico. Elizabeth will serve as chair of the committee to determine the 1999 award recipient.

New Member Outreach

Co-Chairs Carol Manning and Paje Felts reported that they will get the names of new NABE members and call them before NABE Annual and Mid-Year Meetings and the Section Workshop. The committee is developing a mentor program. Section members interested in serving as mentors should contact Carol. Jennifer Davis said she would use the section's List Serve to invite members to join section committees.

Luminary Awards

Chair Christine Cendagorta reported that the committee restructured the awards this year into three bar size categories. The committee also made the entry form more user-friendly. The number of entries increased and the number of bar associations participating went from 19 in 1997 to 30 in 1998. Christine encouraged section members to provide the committee input about the awards program.

Communications Audit Service and Publications Counseling Service

Chair Nancy Hebble gave an overview of the services and encouraged section members to use them.

Section List Serve and NABE Web Site

Jennifer Davis encouraged all section members to subscribe to the section's List Serve. She said the List Serve is a good benefit of section membership. Section members who want to subscribe to the List Serve should send an e-mail message to Joyce Hastings at jhastings@wisbar.org. Plans are underway to build a clearinghouse of information gathered from the Listerv and put the information on the NABE web site. Mark Mathewson (mmathew@isba.org) will post section material on the web site.

Leadership Development

Jennifer Davis reported that she has appointed a committee to start cultivating members' involvement in the section soon after they join the section.

Communications Plan

Jennifer Davis announced that a session planned for Saturday morning during the 1998 Workshop was originally conceived to revisit the bar association communications plan that had been developed by the section in Scottsdale, Arizona, in 1988. Instead, session leaders Janet Eveleth and Sarina Butler planned to suggest that a new communications plan be developed from scratch.

Due to Hurricane Georges approaching New Orleans, this morning's communications plan session was cancelled. Time will be allotted during the 1999 Workshop in San Antonio to discuss the plan.

Treasurer's Report

Treasurer Christine Cendagorta reported that as of August 31, 1998, the section's income was $10,075 and expenses were $3,717. For fiscal year 1999-2000, the balanced budge projects total income and expense at $38,450 each. She reported that the 1998 Section Workshop would be successful financially. Christine said workshop planners had done a good job at getting sponsors.

Other Business

Roseanne Lucianek, Director of the ABA Division for Bar Services, reported on several activities of the Division and ABA:

a) A major theme of the ABA is independence of the judiciary and restoring public trust and confidence in it. Two symposiums are planned. Attendance is by invitation only. Section members were encouraged to contact Roseanne if they want to attend.

b) 1999 Law Day material has been published and distributed.

c) Information about the Partnership Award has been distributed. The deadline for entries is November 4, 1998.

d) Themes at various ABA and NABE meetings will be on parallel tracks. For example, the National Conference of Bar Executives 1999 Mid-Year Meeting theme is about reform in the legal profession (what the profession can do to increase ethical behavior and restore public trust and confidence in the profession).

Elizabeth Derrico of the ABA Division for Bar Services said the Division will work with section members to revise the publications survey. Anyone interested in assisting with the survey should contact Jennifer Davis.

Jack Sweeney of the ABA discussed the Justice Initiatives project and a conference on the topic that will be held in May 1999.

Anne Charles said that she had been elected to serve on the NABE Executive Committee. She mentioned that NABE President Kathy Bifaro and Executive Committee member Sue Martin had attended the 1998 Section Workshop. Anne reported that the Executive Committee has many changes in progress. She encouraged section members to be involved in NABE, as well as in the section. A regular feature in the section's newsletter will help keep members informed about NABE activities.

Jennifer Davis suggested that the Section Council be expanded to include the Immediate Past Section Chair. The section discussed this as a means of retaining institutional knowledge. A motion was made and passed to take the necessary steps to amend the section bylaws to add the Immediate Past Section Chair to the Council. Accordingly, a notice to that effect will be put in the section's newsletter. The bylaws amendment will be voted on during the NABE Mid-Year Meeting in February 1999.

There being no further business, a motion was made to evacuate. Since the hurricane seemed to be approaching rapidly, the motion was agreed to unanimously and we were out of there.

Submitted by

Ginger Banks

Secretary