May 1, 2020
San Francisco Press Club
Board of Director’s Meeting (via Zoom conference call)
 

1. Dinner / Awards

Because of the uncertainty surrounding the pandemic, the annual November awards ceremony will likely need a change of format.
The discussion focused mostly on abandoning a physical awards dinner and instead honoring the winners with a Zoom presentation.
In conjunction with that change, the board also considered discount pricing for this year’s entry fees. In subsequent emails, Antonia Ehlers recommended $35 for entries this year, in part because of the pandemic and in part because that lower rate might help generate multiple entries from single participants. (The board will consider this proposal via email vote).
It was noted that entries fell last year from 315 (in 2018) to 210 (in 2019).
Dave Price and Jim Kirkland estimate that the cost of running a no-dinner contest this fall would be $3,900, which accounts for fees for the Better Newspaper Contest website, Terry’s marketing help and the mailing of the winners’ certificates.
Dave adds that the SF Press club has $9,600 in the bank as of May 1.

1. Seminar

The board discussed ideas for our next seminar and the consensus is that our best bet is a panel discussion along the lines of “Freelancing during an economic downturn.” Dan Brown planned on writing up the parameters for such an event.
There was also talk of an in-person event, coordinated with help from Curtis Sparrer, that would allow PR professionals journalists to ask questions of each other about best practices.