Current Board Meeting Minutes

DULLES SHRM BOARD MEETING
FGM, INC
MARCH 3 , 2008

BOARD MEMBERS PRESENT:Judy Carter, Sarah Cower, Denise Henderson, Les Eszenyi, Janet Geib, Joseph Gregory, Nidhi Kanungo, Evelyn Kaiser, Jamey McNamara, Mary Saily, Teri Sellars, Tina Strasheim, Keli Winter, Marlene Mouanga, Linda Caporaletti-Hoyt, and Cindy Loison.  Teresa Buchholz attended via telephone.

BOARD MEMBERS ABSENT:
Chas Sumser, Mary-Roome Godbolt, Craig Petry, Mary Saily

AGENDA:
Sarah called the meeting to order at 6:05 p.m.  Sarah and Teri will go through the February minutes to make a few corrections to the Department of One/Vendor fair information.  We will vote via email to approve the minutes

Treasurer’s Report:
Tina stated that we only have one outstanding deposit.  Balance is $6,094.75. Ameriprise went up $36 this month. 

Membership Update:

Joseph stated that we have 92 paid members and 114 registered.  Judy asked if we are going to announce the cutoff date, which has previously been the end of March.  Joseph suggested that we might push that out until mid-April, so more people can be included in the directory.  Discussion was held about whether members can register for dinner at discounted rate if they haven’t renewed membership, or if there is a reminder when they register for dinner about renewing membership.  Nidhi was going to check to see if a reminder had been sent out as Joseph said one had been sent out.  Sarah asked that everyone be sure to get their dues paid by end of March.

GOAL PRESENTATIONS

Teresa presented the Sponsorship Goals:

• Provide highest level customer service to our confirmed sponsors for 2008
• Budgeted 2008 Sponsorship Commitments:

• Annual Sponsor             $1200
• Gold (5)             $2500
• Silver (3)                        $1050
• Bronze (3)                     $  750
• Target Dulles SHRM Membership enrollment for all active sponsors
• Continue to market Dulles SHRM web advertising opportunities
• Market for Sponsorship donation commitments for 2008 Holiday Party
• Gain commitments for 2009 Annual Sponsor, January and February 2009 Chapter Meeting Sponsors

Teresa stated that our Board and membership is very positive and that this can be unusual with volunteer groups.

Janet presented SIG Discussion Group Goals:

• Increase committee size
• Announce at each chapter meeting
• Announce at each discussion group
• Organize at least 11 discussion groups for the year
• Remain timely with discussion topics and adapt when necessary
• Increase attendance at chapter meetings
• Promote monthly chapter topics
• Develop rapport among discussion group participants to help increase comfort level
• Continue to look for chapter members to host a discussion group

 Judy asked if we are asking attendees why they aren’t attending chapter meetings.  Do they have to be members?  Janet will find out how many attendees are members and see if we can encourage more attendees to become members.

Marlene presented Student Chapter Liaison & Scholarship Goals:

1. Increase student attendance at Chapter meetings by doing the following:
1. Maintain a presence at Student Chapter meetings and facilitate activities.
2. Partnering with Career Services to spread the word about internships, job shadowing, and full-time opportunities.

2. Continue the Guest Lecture Series in classrooms and/or at the Student Chapters.  Plan to schedule a minimum of 4 Guest Lectures.

3. Continue to work with the student chapters at George Mason University and George Washington University.  Reach out to Marymount University (Arlington and Reston campuses). 

4. Spread the word about Dulles SHRM’s scholarships at Chapter meetings, chapter newsletter and the Student Chapters.

5. Award (2) $1000 scholarships towards the end of the year. 

6. Participate in the student HR games and other promotional events.  Continue to promote these events at Student Chapters and encourage participation from students.

7. Convert Student members into Professional Chapter members after they have graduated. Work with Membership on this by inviting Students to the Chapter Orientation meeting and providing information about the same at the Student Chapter meetings.

Craig went to Marymount to talk to class about Total Compensation
Marlene asked for some clarification on HR games - HR Games will be held on March 29 at 8:30 PM at James Madison University. 

Marlene stated that when she met with students none were HR majors, they were business and accounting majors.  She asked why and was told it’s a good networking opportunity.  Someone asked if we could invite some of them to go on Capitol Hill trip.  Would schools give them educational credit for coming to chapter meeting and listening to speaker – Nidhi said some do but others don’t.    Jamey suggested that maybe we should focus on developing our relationship with Marymount exclusively right now, since they seem more interested in talking with us than the other schools and we are thin on resources.  Marlene agreed that just focusing on Marymount would be a good idea.

Nidhi presented 2008 Communication Goals:

Objective: Provide timely and comprehensive information to chapter members about programs, workshops, and other matters of interest through Website, Newsletter and Mailer Mailer.

Newsletter & MailerMailer:

• Recruit assistance from the membership and the Board for articles, news, etc.
• Compile, edit, design, and lay out the final copy of the newsletter. 
• Mail or e-mail newsletter out to the members - ?
• Plan issues, and write the final copy (or edit copy supplied by others) for each issue. 
• Ensure that the newsletter goes out on time.
• Provide monthly updates at the Board of Directors meetings. 
• Continue to send mailers about Chapter Meetings, Discussion Groups and other news that relate to Human Resources.
• The deadline for the Chapter Newsletter is the Thursday before the Chapter meeting

 Key Goal: Start a new series on - Introduction to Board Members: Profile and objectives.

Website:

• Continue to update information on the website.
• Edit web pages, post files, create new links, post SHRM and chapter information as needed to keep web site current.
• Respond to member questions and problems regarding web site.
• Test and monitor web site to ensure stability and functionality.
• Communicate with chapter Board of Directors to make sure all information on the web site is current and accurate.
• Create a dedicated Archives section.

Key Goal: Ensure website’s Content is accurate, Navigation is simple and intuitive.

Nidhi needs assistance from all members in order to produce newsletter timely and with relevant content.  Nidhi asked if perhaps we should email the newsletter and let people unsubscribe if they don’t want it.  We used to do this and switched over from email to hard copy.  It is on the website so maybe we don’t need to email it as well. Discussion ensued about how to distribute newsletter.  Board agreed that for March, Nidhi will produce a one –page document that will highlight what’s on the website for March and we will see how this goes.    

Nidhi would like to add a column to introduce new members or Board members in the newsletter.  After discussion, we will include a column on a Board member in the March newsletter.  Nidhi will profile Denise and Tina for March.

Judy will send February’s speaker presentation to Nidhi.

Judy and Linda provided an update on registration:
60 people attended, 7 nonpaying, 53 paying, 32 paid online, 21 paid at door.  38 tried to pay online and 7 had problems.  There were 5 walk-ins and 4 no-shows.  Only 8 people are registered for next week’s meeting.  Sarah asked how many mailers will go out before meeting – one went out today, another will go out Thursday.    Registration might be light because everything is moved up in March.   There were no comments from February dinner meeting as no evaluation sent out.

Goals – continued:

Sarah stated that once we get member survey results at the end of March we can see what membership is interested in and figure out what to focus on this year.

Evelyn raised the subject of Landmark Academy and whether we were going to volunteer and help there.  After some discussion, Denise said she could attend quarterly and then Les said he would also attend quarterly.  Discussion was held about providing $10 gift cards to reward student attendance at our sessions.  Tina suggested we can make a donation to the school when we attend and let the school allocate it.  Denise said she would still like to see us look for schools out here.  The question was asked whether or not we need to vote on these items; Sarah said we need to decide what schools to focus on first.  Evelyn proposed donating $100 worth of gift cards quarterly; Joseph added that we should do it for the last three quarters of 2008 and then reevaluate for 2009.  We will donate $10 gift cards to McDonald’s. Denise initiated motion, Evelyn seconded, and the motion was passed.

Les provided Legislative Update:

Les has a contact trying to get us meeting with senator or congressman in person, sometime in May.  Les explained that we want to provide information about SHRM organization, leave materials.  If we get meeting in person, we should get someone to go with us.  We need to bring important piece for discussion – i.e., ADA being rewritten.   We want to get a full bus to go down there.   Judy stated that the Congressman we have targeted in the past, who has met with us in the past, is Frank Wolf.  We have not had a face to face meeting the last three years.  Les stated that he thinks it’s more important to address the issue rather than the person.  Denise stated that Mark Warner is the only one who responds every month to our letters.  The other offices have not responded.

Sarah provided update on membership survey – Mary sending to IT people, survey to go out March 13, deadline of March 26, will be announced at Chapter Meeting.

Other announcements – we need to think of a table topic related to benefits for next week.

Board get together is at Sarah’s house from 4-7.  Please bring appetizer or dish to share.  Bring your spouse or come by yourself. 

Denise sent email today regarding chapter achievement plan, and provided a handout to explain what kind of information we have to provide on an ongoing basis. 

How many people are going to Workforce Readiness Seminar – Denise, Evelyn, Mary Roome – chapter will cover those expenses.

The meeting was adjourned at 7:49 PM.    

Respectfully submitted,

Teri Sellars, SPHR
Secretary