Meeting Minutes

NABE Communications Section Business Meeting
Thursday, February 5, 2004, 7:30 a.m.
Gonzalez Convention Center
San Antonio, TX

Present: Cynthia Kuhn, Chair; Chris Blake, Toby Brown, Colleen Buggy, Marilyn Cavicchia, Christine Cendagorta, Dan Cirucci, Joe Conte, Emily Eastin, Kelley Jones King, Barry Kolar, Yvonne McGhee, Matt Silverman, Duane Stanley, and Holly Wilkerson. Guests: Tom Pyrz, NABE President; Elizabeth Derrico and Deborah Weixl of the American Bar Association staff.

Ms. Kuhn called the meeting to order at 7:45 p.m.

Approval of October 18, 2003, minutes: A motion was made by Ms. Cendagorta and seconded by Ms. Buggy to approve the minutes of the Section Business Meeting held on October 18, 2003, in St. Louis. The motion was adopted.

Treasurer's Report: Mr. Stanley reviewed the financial statement. Most of the expenses for the year have been incurred. The section came out ahead in revenue versus expense this year, with a positive balance of $3,851.13. Factors included the increase in dues revenue, which reflects a steady climb in membership and the workshop, which had expenses that ran a little under the budget projection. The section has a total surplus of $14,000 as of the end of the past fiscal year.

Program Committee: Ms. Cendagorta gave the report for Susan Andres, chair-elect, who was unable to attend the 2004 Midyear Meeting due to a back injury. The section is working on a program for the NABE Annual Meeting in Atlanta and is participating in a program for the Bar Leadership Institute in March. Among the ideas for future programs is one that would focus on the need for good writing and editing in an era when information moves so rapidly. Electronic publications is another program idea.

Luminary Awards: Ms. Kuhn announced that Matt Silverman of the State Bar of Arizona has agreed to serve as chair of the 2004 Luminary Awards Committee. Matt thanked Ms. Kuhn for asking him to chair. He noted that he has been a Luminary Awards judge several times. He said he welcomes any thoughts from section members to improve the judging and nomination processes. Ms. Kuhn then thanked Mark Mathewson of the Illinois State Bar, who has ably chaired the committee for the past two years.

Membership Committee: Ms. McGhee reported on the plans for the committee. She mentioned that Emily Eastin, Colleen Buggy and Barry Kolar have been active on two fronts: they are working with the 2004 workshop committee to develop an orientation program for new members, and they are also working with the ABA Division for Bar Services staff to establish protocols to recruit, orient, activate and retain section members. Other activities include developing welcome letters for prospective members and outreach to new members. Ms. McGhee said she is also interested in reactivating the buddy program under which a new member is paired with a veteran section member at the workshop. The committee will also be revising the section's marketing brochure.

2004 Section Workshop, Minneapolis (October 6-9, 2004): Duane Stanley reported that the workshop committee is working hard. The workshop theme is, "Where Creative Ideas Run Wild." The workshop committee is made up of local people, including representatives of the Hennepin County (Minneapolis), Ramsey County (St. Paul) and Minnesota State Bar associations, as well as Thomson West. Mr. Stanley said Dan Wise is chairing the sponsorship committee and would like some assistance. He said he is seeking program ideas and scheduling feedback.

2005 Workshop: Ms. Kuhn gave a brief report on the 2005 workshop. The Executive Council this week voted to select Florida as the site of the 2005 workshop, due to a scheduling conflict involving the original site, Albuquerque, New Mexico. The section wanted to schedule the workshop in conjunction with Albuquerque's balloon festival, but it is scheduled during the Jewish high holidays in 2005. The section would like to avoid scheduling the workshop during the Jewish high holidays. Since Francine Walker has expressed an interest in bringing the workshop to Florida, Ms. Kuhn recommended that the section should plan for a Florida workshop location in 2005 and then go to Albuquerque in 2006 and stay out West in 2007.

Section Newsletter: Mr. Blake outlined his plans as section newsletter editor. He said his goals are to establish a regular publication schedule, develop an editorial calendar and solicit contribution of articles from section members. Mr. Blake said he would like to establish standing features in each issue covering all of the areas of bar communications: publications, PR, media relations, web sites and electronic communication, and marketing. He said the recent member survey provided a lot of good ideas and suggestions about the focus of the newsletter. Section members want to see more "how to" and "best practices" articles, according to the survey.

Nominating Committee: Mr. Blake reported that the committee has been formed. The dates for sending out the call for nominations, ballot and election announcement are prescribed in the section bylaws.

Strategic planning task force: Mr. Blake proposed the formation of a strategic planning committee to follow up on the recommendations and results of the 2003 section member needs assessment survey.

Update on West Editorial Content: Ms. Kuhn gave an update on a proposal by Thomson West to offer articles to bar magazines through the NABE web site. Ms. Kuhn said the idea was first proposed last summer and she followed up with West. She had not heard from Thomson West until recently when Brant Skogrand contacted her. Ms. Kuhn suggested a survey of section members through the listserve to find out what topics for articles bar magazine editors would be interested in publishing in their magazines.

Communications Audit and Publications Counseling Service: The section had offered a communications audit and publications counseling service for many years. This service was gradually phased out due to lack of interest. Ms. Kuhn said she received an e-mail recently from a newer section member who requested assistance in evaluating her bar's publication. Ms. Kuhn contacted some past Luminary Award winners who were recognized for excellence in bar publications and put them in touch with the section member. For now, Ms. Kuhn said this procedure might be a good way of providing this service without having a standing project committee.

Division for Bar Services Report: Ms. Derrico said the Division for Bar Services has released three new publications, which are available for download. The Bar Leadership Institute is coming up from March 11-13, in Chicago. It will include sessions on leadership, governance, communications and finance. There will be a media training session on Saturday at the Institute featuring Michael Sheehan, a media trainer. There will also be training on developing messages and the use of the message triangle. Ms. Derrico urged section members who have suggestions about new services or publications to e-mail the DBS staff.

NABE President Tom Pyrz was recognized and invited to speak. Mr. Pyrz said he really enjoyed attending the section's 2003 workshop last fall in St. Louis. He said the NABE board is having discussions about the Midyear Meeting format. Some members want to have more focused programs. No formal proposal has been developed with regard to the Midyear Meeting format. What the board is considering is to retool the Midyear Meeting to get it more "track focused" so that it meets the needs of the members who work in different capacities, while the Annual Meeting would continue to be more general in nature. Ms. Kuhn thanked Mr. Pyrz for his remarks.

There being no further business, a motion was made by Mr. Conte and seconded by Mr. Silverman to adjourn the business meeting. The motion was approved. The meeting was adjourned at 8:00 a.m.

Respectfully submitted,

Christopher G. Blake, Temporary Secretary