Present: Mike Karnes, Gil Major, Phil Vance, Samantha McKinney, Steve Sides, Jeff Maruschek, Doug Pilcher, Clark Hymas, Charles Lewis, and Adi Kochav.
Absent: Brad Davy
Meeting began at 9:04 p.m. EST.
Committees – Gil Major
The Membership and Marketing Committee is up and running. This committee currently has 9 members, one from each region and 1 international. They have had their first meeting within the last few weeks. On the Sequence Committee, Curtis Cozier is chairman and Ty Lyman is co-chairman. Ty Lyman also has the Education Committee. Gil is now working on the Rules Committee.
Membership and Marketing Committee – Clark Hymas
The Membership and Marketing Committee met last Thursday. The committee members were pretty energetic with a lot of passion. The first meeting was to get to know each other and do some brainstorming. They did discuss what has been mentioned in the forums.
Clark has sent a rough survey out to 135 past members in the Northwest Region. This survey was based on the Flying Giants survey, with a total of 28 questions. These questions were either “yes or no” or multiple choice answers. Clark presented some of the results to the BOD:
1. Is IMAC promoted? – 56% somewhat promoted
2. How did they first hear of IMAC? – 50% at contests held at clubs; 7.6% Flying Giants
3. Is there arrogance among pilots? – 46% no; 42% somewhat
4. Single most prohibitive participation? – 46% time for participation; 28% cost of equipment
5. Bigger plane to be competitive? – +50% says yes to be competitive
Clark left a section on the survey for open comments. One of the questions is what the member thought the purpose of the IMAC membership was. Some responses were to promote at the regional level; promote judging schools. Clark believes that if we take care of things at the regional level, the others will take care of themselves. Another question was promoting IMAC at a local level. Some comments were there is no nationwide Facebook page for IMAC itself; possible promotional videos; and using the AMA to send IMAC information to all AMA members. Judging was the most responded to issue.
Mike mentioned as an idea to give first-time members a $20 discount on their first year membership at shows, such as Toledo or Joe Nall. BOD believes this would be a great way to get first time members. We would need to have paper forms for membership. Another idea mentioned was if a current member refers 3 members, that current member’s following years membership would be waived if approved. Clark mentioned that he will be going to local clubs to promote IMAC.
Currently, there has only been a 33% response to the survey. Clark used Survey Monkey. Survey Monkey can mail this survey out for IMAC. The cost is $25 per month and $300 per year. They do not do snail mail.
Adi wanted to know what the BOD thought of the banner that he created. This design could be used for sticker decals for our members when renewing or we could use this as a banner on the Flying Giants website. The BOD wanted the committee to come up with ideas on what we could give our members for renewing or first time membership.
Clark and Gil would like to do a nationwide survey if the committee agrees. They will be having a meeting within another week. The committee is pretty well diversified. Reports will be made and sent out to the BOD.
Flying Giants Advertising – Jeff Maruschek
Jeff has been talking with Jim Graham with Flying Giants. Currently, the cost to run an ad is $250 per month, $1,500 for 6 months. Jeff has posted the quote for advertising in the BOD forum. He believes that this would be a really good idea to promote IMAC. He believes we should do this for 6 months to promote the Worlds. Clark will present this to the Membership and Marketing Committee at the next meeting. This would be front page headlines for IMAC events. Jeff would also like to have some well known members, such as Matt Komar, A.J. Jaffe, Jase Dussia, David Moser, etc., to write an article on how they came to IMAC.
2018 Worlds – Steve Sides
The rules have been posted. Half of the invitations have been sent. Steve has heard back from Israel and Canada. The next step is to start populating the website with photos of the judges and the staff members that have responded. When we receive responses back from the countries, we can start posting the countries’ flags, etc. This will help when approaching sponsors saying what all is in place and show them commitments.
Steve sent invitations based on the lists Adi and Wayne Matthews, along with the 2014 team captains. There were 30 countries on the lists. Steve would like to have a link on the current IMAC site to the Worlds website, along with having a link from Flying Giants to the Worlds website. The webmaster is ready to go with a link. There still needs to be some cleanup on the Worlds website before we go live with it.
Steve mentioned that we might want to send 2018 World Championship decals. Adi will work on them. He is also working on some flyers and will present to the BOD for approval.
Adi has got some input from the Swedish team. He has sent every pilot that has participated in the 2014 Worlds on what we need to do better for the next Worlds. Sweden would like to see that decals or participation award for each contestant in the 2018 Worlds. Decals and participation medals were mentioned to be given to contestants. Steve mentioned that Phyllis still has the template for all the pins.
Adi mentioned that he has several judges lined up. Steve said that these judges need to get bios sent in to him and then he will get approval from the BOD. Steve is waiting on responses from the International teams to see if they are coming and if so, would they be able to supply a judge.
The entry fee has been increased to $340, due to the increase of IMAC membership dues. Contestants will receive a one-year membership with IMAC. The Horizon Center has been reserved for the banquet.
2017 National Judging School - Doug Pilcher
The National Judging School went very well. Ty did an awesome job, along with his education team. The BOD thanked Doug, Rosie, and his team for hosting the judging school.
Treasurer Report – Phil Vance
All RDs will receive your regional fund report as of today. As of today, the total expenses for February are $6,553.76, with a total income of $2,038.69. Our cash balance on hand is:
Checking account: $33,164.09
PayPal account: $4,303.48
Total $37,467.57
This includes the money that is allocated for each region. Phil is going to open another account for the 2018 Worlds when money starts coming in. To open this account, the banking institution will require a $50 deposit.
Phil will send out a report on the costs for the National Judging School. The venue was donated by Tarrant County College Fort Worth.
Phil would like for the RDs to start copying the Executive BOD when requesting funds for their region.
Regional Issues – All RDs
The Southwest Region has started. Several members are helping out within the region. The Northwest Region will be hosting their judging school in a few weeks. Currently, there is a big attendance. The North Central Region just held a meeting. They are getting ready for the Toledo show. The South Central Region has 2 judging schools on the schedule in March. They have also created a video, showcasing IMAC in 2016. Doug would like to do a 7-region video as a promotional video for IMAC. The Southeast Region just held a judging school in Miami. There was very low attendance for this school.
Mike has been getting requests for the binders and inserts last minute, so he has to send them overnight. The RDs are to make sure that all the judging schools have everything needed before the week they are needed. He also wanted to let the RDs know that any money left from the judging schools can be sent to Phil and put in their regional funds.
Mike informed the BOD that the registration form has been approved for the 2017 NATS. He has already reserved camping spots for Phil, Samantha, and himself. The meeting room and banquet hall has also been reserved.
The 3rd Monday of each month has worked well for BOD meetings. Phil mentioned that he is very impressed with how our current BOD is doing and how well they are working together. It was also mentioned that we need to have more control over all the meetings being held with our Go-To-Meeting software and that they are not overlapping.
Meeting adjourned at 10:51 p.m. EST.