WESTAGS

FWD President John Krizek convened the summer session of the FWD Board of Directors meeting at John Ascuaga’s Nugget in Reno, Nevada on Saturday, June 8, 2002. Present for the meeting were:

President – John Krizek

Immediate Past President – Deane Scoville

Secretary – John Ford

Treasurer – Jim Sherman

FWD Nominating Committee Chairman – Carl Truman

District Vice Presidents:

Chapter Spt & Ldrship Training – Bernard Priceman

Chorus Director Development – Jim Turnmire

Events – Chris Wilson

Marketing & Public Relations – Clark Abrahamson

Member Services – Peter Feeney

Music & Performance – Jim Crowley

Young Men in Harmony - Ed Bejarana

Absent: (due to other commitments) VP for Contest & Judging – Tom Raffety

The Board also met on Friday evening for a Strategic Planning session, which will be reviewed and continued during the Fall Convention in October.

Highlights of the meeting:

· The Annual Summer meeting’s primary purpose, establishing the budget for the coming year of 2003, was accomplished considering all aspects of income and the proper allocation of resources. The budget will be presented to the next HOD meeting in the Fall.

(We heard ya! THE LAMENTED “R” IS BACK IN THE NORTH!) As before, and henceforth the northern districts will be known once again as “NorCal East and West.

Nominating Committee Chairman Carl Truman presented the following slate of Officers for service on the FWD Board of Directors for 2003:

President – John Krizek

Immediate Past President – Deane Scoville

Secretary – John Ford

Treasurer – Jim Sherman

District Vice Presidents:

Chapter Supt & Ldrship Trng – Bernard Priceman

Chorus Director Development – Jim Turnmire

Contest & Judging – Dick Girvin

Events – Chris Wilson

Mkting & Public Relations – Clark Abrahamson

Member Services – Peter Feeney

Music & Performance – Jim Crowley

Young Men in Harmony - Ed Bejarana

· The slate will be published in the Sept/October issue of WESTUNES and in the Official House of Delegates Brochure for the Fall HOD meeting. Nominations may be made from the floor as provided in Section 5.05C of the Standard District Bylaws.

· Secretary (John Ford):

· Look for the District Directory to be streamlined, with many of the current pages being duplicated on moved to the FWD Website.

· Treasurer (Jim Sherman) :

· The Far Western District remains solvent. Increasing demands on available funds are cause for caution in spending in 2003.

· Membership Services (Peter Feeney):

· There are 83 Chartered Chapters in the FWD. Newly chartered are Riverside and Sutter Creek. There are 4 licensed chapters – Phoenix Metro, Tucson Metro, Sedona, and Dana Point Harbor. Charters surrendered are Banning/Beaumont and Lassen County. There is one new extension site in San Diego, CA.

· The average chapter size is 45 members. Median size is 36 members.

· The FWD net gain since May 2001 is 8 members.

· Super recruiter Jerry Orloff took 3^rd place in the 2001 SPEBSQSA man of note contest.

· 2002 Challenge update:

· 75 men have accepted the challenge to bring in a total of 103 new men.

· 7 Chapters have accepted the challenge to bring in a total of 66 new men

· Look for:

· Website and Convention recognition for success stories

· Replacement program for 2002 Challenge

· Extension Site tracking

· Increased Chapter visits by Peter Feeney

· A FWD membership booth in Portland, featuring Website demos and more.

· Increased emphasis on the pay-as-you-go program.

· Music & Performance (Jim Crowley):

· The Chorus Coaching program has gotten off to a successful start, with a visit by Ray Rhymer to the Eureka chapter.

· Look for a CAP (Champs Assistance Program) in your area soon. Slated are sessions in: San Jose, San Fernando, and Whittier, with two additional sessions in the planning stages.

· Harmony College West has 19 quartets and 29 individuals signed up thus far.

· Chorus Director Development (Jim Turnmire):

· Two CDWI (Chorus Director’s Workshop Intensive) sessions have been held, with 10 directors taking part.

· Three directors have been certified to date:

· Jim Turnmire

· Steve Sammonds

· Rich Hasty

· Three CDWI trainers have been certified:

· Jim Turnmire

· Royce Ferguson

· Rich Hasty

· Six directors have been awarded Directors’ College Scholarships

· A Music Team Seminar is slated for August 16-18 at Cal State Hayward. Thus far, guests will include Freestyle and Freddie King.

· Events (Chris Wilson):

· Look for a possible date change – March 3-6 instead of March 10-13 for the 2005 Spring Convention in Reno, due to hotel scheduling conflicts.

· New dates for NorCal East in Vacaville – April 25-27.

· New Events Webmaster – Tom Ennis.

· Alternative sites for Fall 2005 and Spring 2007-2009 Conventions are being considered. Possibilities thus far include Pasadena, Burbank, San Diego, and Phoenix.

· Look for additional hospitality rooms this fall in Bakersfield.

· The Board will recommend to the House of Delegates that SoCal East/West Division conventions be combined, due to the high cost/limited attendance of separate events.

· Contest & Judging (Tom Raffety);

· The BOD recommendation is for a maximum double panel of Judges for Spring Prelims, beginning in 2003.

· Thus far, 22 Choruses and 28 Quartets will compete in Bakersfield this fall. As is customary, the singing order will be announced immediately after International.

· Young Men In Harmony (Ed Bajarana):

· Due to less than the minimum required registrations, it was necessary to cancel the SoCal camp. As an alternative, five day-long Youth Harmony Days are being considered, to be held at various sites in SoCal, and to be sponsored by individual chapters.

· The NorCal camp will be held June 20-22 as planned, with 70-75 participants expected.

· The Marin Chapter, due to a Harmony Foundation Grant held a “Road Show”, involving boy, girl, and adult quartets. The successful endeavor involved 6 schools, and approximately 700 students.

· The High School Quartet Contest is experiencing a slight decline in numbers of quartets competing. Plans call for more focus on getting more quartets, and revamping the Judging system to more closely parallel the Society system.

· Look for increased focus on the College Quartet program. Plans include encouragement and compensation to College-level quartet(s) to visit High Schools and Middle Schools.

· Three College Quartets from FWD will compete in the International College Quartet Contest.

· Look for a developing program under which Championship Quartets will “mentor” High School and College quartets – i.e. make available learning CD’s/Tapes utilizing simpler arrangements of their particular songs/styles.

· Look also for the emergence of a “Junior Harmony College”, which could accommodate up to 700 students of High School/Middle School age.

· Marketing & Public Relations (Clark Abrahamson):

· WESTUNES continues to thrive and grow, under the very capable editorship of Ray Rhymer. Plans continue to enhance the look and feel of the publication, with consideration being given to full color, higher-grade paper, improved journalistic value, paid commercial advertising, etc.

· Likewise, the FWD Website, under the incredibly prolific Keith Eckhardt, continues to break new ground. Plans include the inclusion of electronic commerce, interactive features (surveys, etc.), electronic registration, chapter website subscriptions - maybe even audio/video!

· Look for heightened emphasis on marketing – events, programs, shows, merchandise - whatever needs focus – both internally to our members, and externally to the general public.

· Chapter Support and Leadership Training (Bernard Priceman):

· The Chapter Coach program is being reviewed at the Society level. Look for improvements and changes in the structure and programs.

· Currently, there are 24 Chapter Coaches covering 71 Chapters, with two new coaches each in NorCal and SoCal.

· COTS sites will be at the same locations as last year. New sites are being considered for 2003.

The meeting was adjourned at 6.p.m.