M. A. S. N. A. BOARD OF DIRECTORS

Meeting Minutes For April 11, 2001
Meeting was held electronically 9:00 PM EST

Board Members Present:
Nancy Swart  -               President/Webmaster
Dennis Gallagher -         Vice-President
David Adkins -               Treasurer
Connie Hannon -            Membership/Public Relations
John Brandt -                 MAC/USCRTF
Eric West -                    At Large           

Absent:
Tim Tucker -                  Scholarship/Fundraising

Other Delegates Present:
None

Agenda 

1.         Approval of February and March Minutes(?)
2.         Officers' Reports

a)         President
b)         Vice-President
c)         Secretary
d)         Treasurer
e)         Editor
f)          MAC/USCRTF
g)         Public Relations
h)         Scholarship/Fundraising
i)          Web

3.         Committees
a)         Membership 

4.         Old Business

a)                   Return of Corporate Seal

b)                   Re-Incorporation (Have we received recorded papers?)

c)                   M13 Status Report

d)                   Summary of Chat on #Reefs

e)                   AMDA/MASNA joint meeting (delayed until late April or early May)

5.         New Business

a)         Nomination of Eric West as BOD Member At Large (Eric is considering accepting the appointment as M14 Co-Coordinator so it's important that he be involved in hotel selection and negotiation.)

b)         Nomination of Dave Sinn as Secretary (Since Cindy hasn't replied to my emails and we have no Minutes for February or March, I can only assume she has resigned without notice.)  Dave's been an individual member for some time and recently helped start a new club in Florida.

c)         Online Coral Auction

d)         Baltimore Site Check

e)         Texas Site Check

 6.         Open Discussion 

 7.         Adjournment

 Meeting called to order 9:09 PM EST

 

Approval of February and March Minutes

Tabled due to Cindy Jones’ resignation on 4/11/01 – will approve through e-mail

 Officers’ Reports

President – Nancy Swart:  Spent time working with Connie.  Brought Tim on board and discussed ideas for scholarship and fundraising. Talked to members who have contacted us about volunteering for open positions.  Spoke to the Texas group about the bid process and familiarization of co-hosting responsibilities of a MACNA.  Helped coordinate M13 mass mailings with Tom Walsh and Connie. 

Communication with AMDA and MAC in regard to reciprocal support and exposure.  AMDA requested we delay joint meeting until late April early May.

Vice-President – Dennis Gallagher:  Western Marine Conference (WMC) 2001 update: 14 speakers were scheduled but 2 canceled, 11 exhibitors.  Friday and Saturday all the sessions were concurrent, Sunday 3 General Session speakers, the total attendance was 125. 

The organizers felt the high cost of the conference ($275) was responsible for the low attendance.  Friday reception held at the Monterey Bay Aquarium. 

The Program Book had a few typos and there was only 1 ad.  The quality of the general sessions was fair to good.  The banquet speaker (David Behrens) had some nice pictures. 

Bob Fenner spoke, sometimes a little fast, and Morgan Lidster presented a talk. There were no T-shirts, and the raffle was not expansive. 

The Embassy Suites was very nice and had an open bar in the evening.   Everyone I spoke with seemed to be enjoying the conference and felt it was worth the higher cost.  About 90% of the attendees were from the west coast area (California).

Dennis has a new e-mail address (dennis2@mediaone.net).

 Secretary –resigned earlier on today’s date

Treasurer – Dave Adkins:  Selling booths and handling all MACNA Exhibitors.  Our treasury account is $16,890.00.  Corporate Seal has been returned. 

Editor – Nancy Swart: Spring 2001 issue of Marine Scene completed and mailed to all members plus ten extra copies to Connie for new members.  Complimentary issues are available. 

At Large and MACNA XIII Editor – Eric West:

-Produced three ads for three publications, which have been submitted to TFH, AFM, and FAMA.

-Produced one MACNA XIII Poster (18" x 36") for WMC.

-Zero (0) conference program ads have been submitted.  Tim Tucker was forwarded a list of potential advertisers to aggressively pursue before the June 1st deadline.

-I am still lacking some speaker bios, pictures, and topics.

-In contact with TFH/Microcosm Publications for the production of the conference program...awaiting final print quantity from the MXIII committee to receive an estimate.

 MAC/USCRTF – John Brandt:  Strengthening MASNA relationships with USCRTF and MAC. Some of John’s reports have been posted on web message boards and good discussions have resulted. MAC Spring 2001 (1st Quarter) Report is out.  MAC has posted the Standards and Practices for public view.

Public Relations - Connie Hannon: Membership Drive is in full swing. Also, giving MASNA and MACNA more Internet exposure and publicity this year than ever before. Came up with an awesome M13 poster and helped CMAS with mass mailings.  There have been eight (8) new individual members since our last meeting, March 10, 2001: Frank Wilson, John Chinnici, Keith Magyar, Joe Zone, James Thomas, Sarah Kasab, April Kirkondoll, and Ricky J. Smith.  Gave a chat on #reefs for Starting a Club, attended by approx 60 people.           

Scholarship/Fundraising – Tim Tucker: (absent) Had a very productive talk with Ron Shimek regarding Scholarships, a free ad in TFH for MACNA XIII, and in the planning stages of an online auction.  Have e-mailed Walt Smith and have spoken to other potential participants for the fundraising auction. Also, selling booths, ads and finding items to sell at the MASNA Booth in Baltimore. 

Web - Nancy Swart: Updated Legislation Section on our website.  Strengthening and improving our relationship with AMDA. Started a page for Exhibitors and Corporate Sponsors.  Routine updates. Started the MACNA XIV Section.  Setup a private discussion area for DFWMAS and added a chat room for DFWMAS.

 Committees

 Membership: There have been 8 new individual members since our last meeting.

Old Business

Return of Corporate Seal- Seal has been returned

Re-Incorporation- Recorded documents not yet received

M13 Status Report- (See Eric West’s Report Above)

            Summary of Chat on #Reefs- See PR above

            AMDA meeting has been postponed

 New Business

 a)         Nomination of Eric West as BOD Member At Large - Passed

b)         Nomination of Dave Sinn as Secretary, (Cindy has officially resigned)  - Passed

c)         Online Coral Auction – Is shaping up to be very exciting

d)         Baltimore Site Check – Not scheduled yet Making sure everything is in place according to the contract.

f)                     Texas Site Check – Put off until we have firm bid

 Open Discussion 

            Progress to date:

-Membership Drive is in full swing and breaking records thanks to Connie. In addition, MASNA and MACNA are enjoying more Internet exposure and publicity this year than ever before, thanks Connie. Also, created a M13 Poster and helped CMAS with mass mailings. 

-Our Scholarship and Fundraising efforts are back in full swing again thanks to Tim. He's gotten us a free ad in TFH for MACNA XIII, and he's in the planning stages of an online auction. He's working on selling booths and ads and items to sell at the MASNA Booth in Baltimore.

 -John, progress made in strengthening our relationships with USCRTF and MAC. The Legislation Section on our website is getting more hits than it ever has in the past. You will also be a key in strengthening our relationship with AMDA....

 -Dave, runs own business, acts as MASNA's Treasurer, C-SEA's Treasurer sells booths AND handle all MACNA Exhibitors, process and ship video orders.

 -Nancy, Has been able to bring 3 new people on board and bring one back, do 2 issues of the Newsletter and maintain the website.

 -Cindy's gotten most of her duties done in spite of time constraints.

 -Dennis is doing his usual phenomenal job of MACNA planning.

 Thanks for your support.

 Adjournment

             Meeting was adjourned at 11:00 PM EST.