Aug 7, 2023, Board Meeting (Retreat)

If you wish to attend, email your request to president@sfpeninsulawriters.com.

BOARD MEETING MINUTES

California Writers Club

San Francisco/Peninsula Branch

Aug 7th, 2023, at 4:00 p.m.

Vibha Akkaraju’s Home

BOARD MEETING MINUTES

California Writers Club

San Francisco/Peninsula Branch

Members present: Vibha Akkaraju (President), Eva Barrows (Vice-President) Geri Spieler, Alisha Willis, David Harris, Tim Flood, Margaret Nalbach, Carole Bumpus, Nirmy Kang, 

Welcome 

Welcomed our new VP Eva Barrows. Introductions were made and everyone gave a recap of what they are working on.

We reviewed last year’s accomplishments using a post-it wall:

• Increased community engagement: Nextdoor, Meetup, newspapers, Facebook

• Great workshops -  Stuart Horwitz, Eanlai Cronin etc

• Critique Group Matchmaking - great job Miera

• Incredible hospitality offered to our members - thank you to Sue & Steve

• Revitalized communications - Newsblasts, Website - thank you Tim

• Fault Zone taken to the next level

• New Members - improved and incredible new set-up - thank you Margaret

• The many awards received by our members (latest - Carole rec’d Ina Coolbith)

• We are an amazing team - not on post-its but I wanted to say it anyway :)

A huge congratulations to our award recipients:

• Tim for the Jack London Award 

• Carole for the Ina Coolbeith Award 

• Sue and Steve for Louise Boggess Award  

Membership, Website & Communications Update - Tim 

Tim presented a Membership & Website report - see 2023 Retreat Folder - highlights include:

1. Membership is growing albeit slowly

2. We are attracting younger members

3. We will be disseminating news via Squarespace and no longer use Constant Contact.This will result in a saving of $324 per year.

4. It was discussed how we could spotlight volunteer contributions.

5. Newsblasts are to be redesigned using template from Eva

6. There will be a page under the Fault Zone menu with membership login capability only in hopes to prevent this year's situation where 100+ people who were not members submitted.

7. It was proposed that we recruit a team to curate member submitted blogs

8. A new Editorial Director is needed. This will allow Tim to concentrate on his roles as Membership Chair and Website Manager. He has someone in mind. 

9. We need to figure out how to optimize SEO for our website - ask Megan.

Brainstorming ideas for increasing membership -ALL 

1. Remind people of benefits of membership through communication channels

2. Have an Authors Day (February meeting) - that lets members showcase their work

3. Hold a raffle which - all new members and those renewing - can enter and get a free membership.

Brainstorming ideas for increasing volunteer engagement -ALL 

1. Have a drop down menu on the website that shows all open positions.

2. Reframe the wording around volunteering - perhaps redefine it as a request for help with a specific project with a specific person.

3. More one-on-one approaches at meetings - has proven very effective in the past.

4. Increase advertising - Nextdoor (need a volunteer), MeetUp (Eva), Newspapers (Geri)

5. Hold an Open House/Get to Know Us in the February meeting. 

Upcoming Commitments/To-Do’s 

1. We have a lot of upcoming events: WHW starts up again in September in both Palo Alto and San Mate, Jordan Rosenfeld's Workshop on Oct 7th.

2. Eva will work on branding and coordinate CWC information pamphlet colors/design with website and newsletter. Margaret and Eva will look into ADA compliance for the website.

3. Jordan Rosenfeld's workshop is on Oct 7th from 10-1pm. After much discussion it was decided that we would charge $80 rather than $79. Eva will need help with audio-visuals, marketing, ticketing, presentation - Vibha and everyone else who has worked on previous workshops will help.

4. A new project chair will be needed for Fault Zone. The idea of the chair not editing was considered to be sensible. 

5. Carole will continue in her role of NorCal Rep for now and will kindly mentor a successor. 

6. The next NorCal Conference is on Sep 24th from 9:30 - 3. The cost is $55pp if we register before August 31st.

Nuts’n’Bolts:

1. Alisha presented the Treasurer's Reports for June and July (see 2023 Retreat Folder).  There was some concern regarding falling revenue compared to this time last year. It was decided that Alisha would create a budget for the fiscal year 10/1/23 - 09/30/24

2. Nirmy was concerned that the The Board Meeting RSVP Doc and Agenda Spreadsheet  are not populating as usual. She was referred to Audrey Kalman for help.

3. Members of the Board (Voting and non-voting) - Vibha is still deciding on voting member status. - TBD

Nirmy Kang, Secretary. Taken: 08/07/23