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Communications Section

Meeting Minutes

Executive Council Minutes
August 5, 2003
Marriott Hotel, San Francisco, California

Present: Chris Blake, Susan Andres, Colleen Buggy, Christine Cendagorta, Dan Cirucci, Joe Conte, Elizabeth Derrico, Cynthia Kuhn, Carol Manning, Yvonne McGhee and Duane Stanley.

Chair Chris Blake called the meeting to order.

New Officers - He reported new section officers will be:
Chair - Cynthia Kuhn, District of Columbia Bar
Chair-Elect - Susan Andres, Alabama State Bar
Treasurer - Duane Stanley, Hennepin County Bar Association
Secretary - Carol Manning, Oklahoma Bar Association
Council Members - Colleen Buggy, Ohio State Bar; Mark Matheson, Illinois State Bar Association; and Joe Conte, New Mexico Bar

Minutes - Susan Andres moved, Colleen Buggy seconded to approve the minutes from the February 4, 2003 meeting in Seattle, Washington. Motion passed.

Treasurer's Report - Treasurer Susan Andres reviewed the financial report that showed the section has a total of $16,861 in net income and reserve funds as of July 10, 2003. She said the section is in good shape to begin a new year with more funds than the Administration or Government Section. Cynthia Kuhn moved, Christine Cendagorta seconded to accept the report. Motion passed.

San Francisco Program Committee - Susan Andres reported everything is set. She said Chris Blake has been working on the program jointly produced with the Government Relations Section. The speaker will be able to stay after his initial presentation to also do a breakout session.

Luminary Awards - Chris Blake said Luminary Chair Mark Mathewson reports the number of entries is low again this year. Results of the member survey were discussed. Mark will be at the section's business meeting tomorrow morning and will give more details.

Electronic Services - Joe Conte was applauded for his work on the new design for the Web site. It was announced Joe is back as the section's Web Site Committee chair and has been asked by NABE President-Elect Ann Fritz to serve as NABE Web Site chair. Christine Cendagorta reported the section member database with information on the expertise of about 70 people will be posted to the Web soon and will be a valuable resource tool.

Membership - It was announced Yvonne McGhee has agreed to chair the Membership Committee for the coming year.

2003 Workshop - Chris Blake said the schedule for the workshop in St. Louis is included in the recently published section newsletter. Cynthia Kuhn reviewed the schedule. Yvonne McGhee is working on the social aspects. Six people have already registered. Francine Walker was complimented on the excellent job she has done in organizing programs.


Leadership Committee - Christine Cendagorta reported the new database essentially creates a leadership resource network by providing a way to seek out people based on their expertise.

Volunteer Recognition - Chris Blake asked board members to share names of section members who deserve recognition for their volunteer efforts on behalf of the section.

2003 Member Needs Assessment Survey - Chris Blake reviewed the summary of responses from the survey that covered services and information, meetings and programs, workshops, new programs, communications with section members and Web site and listserve. The survey was sent to 150 section members had a 20 percent response rate. Chris said the section has been asked to consider moving its annual workshop to before the NABE annual meeting or midyear meeting. Survey results indicated members do not want to hold its workshop with other sections. Discussion followed. It was decided to continue holding the workshop in the fall. Chris said section members like e-mail communication. He will make sure the survey executive summary is posted to the Web site, and perhaps the entire survey results can be made available.

Web Site Task Force - Joe Conte was thanked again for his efforts, and the work of Brian Myers with the Division of Bar Services was acknowledged with appreciation.

2004 Workshop - Duane Stanley reported he has a committee of five people. He said workshop site locations had been narrowed down to three hotels in downtown Minneapolis with the Crowne Plaza Northstar Hotel appearing to be the best fit. Elizabeth Derrico suggested that Duane ask ABA meeting planner Letisha Spencer to review the contract that will need to be signed by the NABE treasurer. Workshop date will be October 6-10, 2004.

Cynthia Kuhn reported she had talked to Gretchen DeSutter about workshop sponsor recruitment. Gretchen said West would be interested in a significant sponsorship of the workshop if the company could have the opportunity to offer bar associations articles commissioned by West. Bar associations would make the decision of whether to publish the articles in their publications. West has also asked to send section members a three-question questionnaire and wants to update their section member information. West also asked about the possibility of Web links to sources, such as legal experts, in the articles. Discussion followed, but no decision was reached.

Division of Bar Services Report - Elizabeth Derrico reported a reorganization within the division has taken place, and her responsibilities have changed. NABE Staff director Jill Werner is the section's contact person for needs and questions. She said the issues update publication that was included in National Conference of Bar Presidents materials will be added to the NABE Web site. She said information about proposed FCC regulations that would require bar associations to obtain permission from members before sending them blast faxes was sent to Communications Section members and executive directors with links to more details. Registration fees for NABE meetings were discussed. She reported the section newsletter has information about two new services from the Division of Bar Services - Bar Cat and Bar Crawler. Bar Cat provides keyword searchable access to more than 15,000 holdings of the DBS Information Clearinghouse, searchable access to full text Bar Leader articles from 2000 to present and more. Bar Crawler is a search engine, information resource and issues awareness tool. She also said ABA Information Coordinator Brian Myers has suggestions for bar associations on Web tags so their sites come up more frequently in searches. An article on the subject is included in the section newsletter.


Visit from NABE Leadership - NABE President Tom Tinder dropped in during the council's meeting to thank the section for its work. He said Section Chair Chris Blake attended the NABE Executive Committee meeting earlier in the day. President Tinder said he was glad he was able to attend the section's workshop in Alexandria and hopes the section will continue to assist with NABE programming.

Meeting was adjourned.

Respectfully submitted,
Carol Manning, Secretary

 


 

 




 


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