Oct. 13, 2010 — Board Room, San Mateo Daily Journal

Present: Jon Mays, Micki Carter, Dave Price, Melissa McRobbie, Darryl Compton, Peter Cleaveland, Marshall Wilson. Absent: Antonia Ehlers, Kristy Blackburn, Ed Remitz

The meeting was called to order at 6:40 p.m.

Minutes of September were approved.

Treasurer’s Report: Darryl reported that $309.30 was spent for refreshments for Boot Camp. He hasn’t yet got the printer’s bill. Food for the picnic came to $63. 65.

High School Journalism Boot Camp: The board reviewed the highly successful Boot Camp Oct. 1 at College of San Mateo. Attendance topped 250 and we admit we weren’t quite prepared for the large numbers. Next year we will offer all 50-minute sessions with a 10-minute transfer period between. We will also utilize the theatre for the two largest sessions and ask for three more classrooms. Dave suggested inviting community college students to attend. We will also invite schools to submit PDFs of their papers for critiquing so we can pass them around and get broader comments. We definitely will invite Jim Wagstaffe back, and perhaps ask the students at Palo Alto High School to lead a session.

Professional Journalism Contest: Darryl is still waiting to hear back from smalltownpapers.com about the price tag for using their software for our contest. Since we can have up to three contests a year, perhaps we could ask RTNDA to join us and share the tab.

Professional development workshop: A March date is planned for a brown bag salon featuring Pulitzer Prize-winner Matt Richtel of the New York Times and a session on records searches at the County Government Center in Redwood City. Darryl suggested that California Aware would send a speaker on the open records topic. Peter suggested Vic Lee or David Louie, and Melissa and Marshall brought up the name of Jaxon Van Derbeken of the Chronicle.

Christmas Party and Annual Meeting: Since the attendance has been low at this event for the past two years, Marshall suggested merging it with holiday party in the Janet Parker Beck Press Room at the County Government Center. Marshall is going to check on the possibility of having it at 4:30 p.m. Wednesday, Dec. 8. It would be BYOB and food could be catered from the cafeteria in the building.

The meeting was adjourned at 7:40 p.m.

Respectfully submitted, Micki Carter, Secretary