SPJ Washington, D.C. Chapter Meeting
Yards Park
7/14/13
1:09 p.m.: Chapter President Elizabeth Jia calls meeting to order.
First Order of Business:
Swearing in of new members.
Second Order of Business:
The board discusses filing three vacancies. Carl Ericson will be serving a one year term. Others serving. Thanks to Bill McCloskey for all his years of service.
The board proceeds to review the candidate bios of Ann Augherton and Chris Gunty for their nominations to the board.
Immediate past chapter president Julie Asher moves to elect them. Corresponding Secretary Joe Cirone seconds and the motion passes.
Review of Previous Board Meeting’s Minutes:
Need to add dinner chair after Andy Schotz name.
All board minutes are in national archives of the National Press Club.
Outgoing president Julie is dinner chair for next year.
Julie moves to approve minutes. Minal Bopaiah seconds. The motion is approved.
Presidents Report:
Set dates for board meetings. Board decides to do second Monday in September, 9 at 7:20 pm. Need to get in touch with press club maître d’ to reserve it for reservations. Joe will handle this. There is a $15 charge for each use. Reservation is needed for the McClendon room. It’s noted that 1325 G Street will eliminate parking cost if you dine at the press club. There’s also a garage on 13. Date confirmation postponed.
Next Item: Elizabeth went to a meeting and mobile was a big part of the discussion. Statistics showed that people spending more time on news with mobile. This especially applies to the Washington, D.C. area. It’s more in depth when reading on mobile. Discussion centers around how SPJ’s D.C. Chapter can focus around mobile specific content.
Discussion Notes from Board Members:
Minal Bopaiah: Preference of RSS plain feed over mobile.
Bill McCloskey: at national board. One chapter has made money on doing Google ads.
Board discussion notes we must remember to communicate with members.
Programs: (Kathy Burns and Minal Bopaiah)
Kathy inquired when we do plan on doing our next series of programs
Julie notes we should think of different venues to spread it out a bit more across the D.C. metro.
Bill notes we did a series of luncheon.
Kathy suggests partnering with different journalism groups with a note that the Al-Jazeera America bureau will be opening soon.
Other Topics for Programming:
On issues of free speech we could contact New York Times bureau chief.
Joe Cirone can talk about doing to programs on tips for how journalists can work with military PAOs.
Political cartooning! Get the Politico cartoonist to speak.
Andrew Scott can look at mobile apps as a topic for the news room (can feature FCW and GCN).
The board also notes that the chapter needs communication and member involvement on the programs committee. The bard discussed the need for survey monkey, etc. to find members who would be interested.
Quarterly Print Newsletter:
The board notes that we need an email newsletter every month.
Look at email roster and compare chapter to nationals.
As a board member, we have access to our roster and other SPJ members who live in this area.
Joe will look into Constant Contact for our new monthly emails.
Kathy asks about programming admission fees which the board notes is typically free for members.
Kathy requests that the board send her ideas for programming. The hardball deadline is to have ideas turned in by August 15.
Other Topics of Programming:
Julie mentions that the July 18 mixer will starting at 7 p.m.
The board discusses a fall workshop for high school journalism students. Time is growing short and the chapter will need a list.
High School Event Ideas:
Ethics issues
First Amendment
Work with the Student Press Law Center.
Discussion Note: Newseum is successful with middle school students but not so much with high schoolers.
Old Business:
Elizabeth Jia will know whether she will be able to go to the SPJ National Convention (Excellence in Journalism Conference) by Wednesday.
Bill McCloskey motions that the chapter pay for the chapter president’s travel and all early bird registration costs, including the opening night reception and national president’s installation banquet. Carl motions, Julie seconds. Motion passes.
Steve : Before the hall of fame induction last year, we offered one free year of membership for the inductees.
Treasurer’s Report:
Julie moves to accept treasurer’s report. Joe Cirone seconds and the motion passes.
For Amy Fickling’s records she needs a receipt for postage from the last awards competition. The board determines that the email from Joel serves as receipt.
Motion was made to pay the bill as submitted.
Amy suggests an updated motion to accept Joel’s email as an invoice and as a reimbursement request. Joe motions, Carl seconds and the motion passes.
Dateline Awards Contest Coordinator:
Dateline Awards contest coordinator, starting a new board, need to put out application. The board discusses whether not it’s electronic or not affects some interest participants. Joel strongly requests to go electronic.
Julie has done some leg work. Dana Nuets with nationals has two suggestions. Omni is the best option for size of contest and costs.
Minal inquires combining contest and newsletter as dual responsibility. Julie asks Joel for his thoughts and he strongly suggests against it given the tedious work load. The newsletter will need member involvement. Minal withdraws motion.
Julie outlines that the Dateline dinner is scheduled for June 10 and that if the chapter signs the contract early, we will lock in food, too.
Minal: Motion to accept June 10 for dateline awards. Andrew seconds, motion passes.
2:33 p.m.: Minal Bopaiah motions to close, Julie Asher seconds and the motion passes.
Respectfully Submitted,
Andrew Mullen Scott