July 13, 2011 — San Mateo Daily Journal offices
Present: Marshall Wilson, Darryl Compton, Jon Mays, Ed Remitz, Kristy Blackburn, Dave Price, Micki Carter, Peter Cleaveland. Absent: Jamie Casini White, Antonia Ehlers
The meeting was called to order at 6:40 p.m.
MINUTES: The April minutes were approved as read.
FINANCIALS: Darryl presented the financial statement noting that the awards contest and banquet netted $24,462.54 and cost $17,230.81. The two scholarships for $1,500 were paid out as well for a net gain of $4,231.73.
AWARDS CONTEST/BANQUET: Darryl reviewed the contest and noted that the greatest increase in participation was in the Broadband/Web category with 95 entries. He said Patch.com was responsible for most of that increase as well as an increase in membership (140) since Patch paid for memberships and entries. He said that the Contra Costa County Jail, which makes the plaques, gave us a 10 percent discount. However, we ordered more than in the past.
The banquet drew 129 this year, compared to 105 last year. The board decided to order a banner with the Press Club logo on it to provide a better backdrop for photos next year and made plans to split the MC duties next year to ease the load on just one MC.
In recognition of the huge load the contest and banquet have become, Micki moved to increase Darryl’s pay as coordinator from $4,000 to $5,000. It was seconded and passed. Dave then moved to make the change retroactive to include this year’s contest as well. It was seconded and passed.
BOARD OPENING: Marshall announced that Jamie Casini White is moving to Boston and has resigned her board position. The board decided to provide a gift certificate to Jamie, a former president, for her devotion to the Press Club. Marshall said that Jamie had suggested Laura Dudnick, Patch.com’s Belmont chief, as a replacement. He will invite her to attend the next board meeting to gauge her interest. Micki asked Marshall to write a short story on the opening for the newsletter.
PICNIC: Jon will reserve a picnic space at Beresford Park in San Mateo from noon to 3 p.m. Saturday Sept. 17. The Press Club will provide meat for barbecuing and some drinks; the rest of the food and drinks will be potluck. Peter will contact Al Bullock to see if he wants to barbecue.
HIGH SCHOOL BOOT CAMP: Ed reserved the CSM Theatre for Sept. 9, but that proved to be a difficult date for many. The following day he was able to reserve the theatre for Friday, Oct. 21. He will try to find out the maximum number of rooms around the theatre that we could reserve. That number will determine how many break-out sessions we can offer. We will expand hours to 12:30-5 p.m. and will include a 10-minute passing period between sessions. It was suggested that we begin with a greeting from Marshall and then go directly to Jim Wagstaffe’s presentation in the theatre. Then a break-out period and then back to the theatre for a panel of some sort, then another break-out. Jon and Marshall will work on the panel discussion, and Kristy will help Micki with the break-out sessions. Dave was urged to do a section on headline writing, and Micki suggested that session on PhotoShopping photos for print was needed. Micki will get a Save the Date notice out to high school advisors ASAP. This year only the schools represented at the Boot Camp can participate in the High School Journalism Contest in the spring.
NEWSLETTER: Micki asked for articles and gossip so she can get a newsletter out this month.
PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT SEMINAR: Still on the back burner.
The meeting was adjourned at 7:40 p.m.
Respectfully submitted, Micki Carter, Secretary