Present: Mike Karnes, Phil Vance, Samantha McKinney, Doug Pilcher, Steve Sides, Alex Dreiling, Jeff Marsuchek, Adi Kochav, Brad Davy, and Clark Hymas
Absent: Gil Major
Meeting began at 9:01 p.m. EST.
World Sponsorship – Doug Pilcher
Doug has emailed out the sponsor list to the BOD. The sponsors marked in green are the ones that have been contacted. Doug would like the BOD to make contact with vendors who they have personal contacts with. Mike is going to ask Tom Wheeler to walk around with him at Toledo to speak with vendors. For sponsorship, the vendors will be on the World’s website and the IMAC website. Some sponsors had commented that they felt like they weren’t appreciated very much at the 2014 Worlds.
The sponsors that have already committed need to be contacted to see if they can send us a sponsor banner. These banners can be directly shipped to AMA. AMA has the maintenance crew put them along the road.
When contacting sponsors, we need to know what they will be donating, such as monetary donation, or product. We then will need to start deciding what we will use as auction items, and for pilot prizes, etc. We will need to know how many tables to setup and if we auction items, we need to begin selling tickets.
Advertising on the World Website – Mike Karnes
We have begun to sell some banners at the top of the page. The personal banners we are selling for $25. These banners can be for a specific pilot or for the whole team. Mike can put these banners together pretty quickly and add these to the Worlds website. We all need to start promoting these personal banners in our regions. They can buy an ad, instead of just a donation. This is a very good way to help out the Worlds. The banners repeat themselves in the same order, but Mike can add multiple banners. He can also put different banners on different web pages. Most of the web pages now have our current committed sponsors.
The cost for a banner for companies would be $100. If individuals click on this ad, it will open a separate webpage to the sponsoring companies’ website.
We currently have received $95 in just strictly donations and have $5,500 in sponsorships.
Steve believes that we will have around 100 pilots for this year’s worlds.
World Practice Sites – Mike Karnes
We currently have the same fields for practice as 2014, the Morristown field and the Converse Field. This club doesn’t start having meetings until May, so Mike will confirm in May. This field is where the pattern guys practice. Yolanda says that AMA has events the weekend before the Worlds, so she cannot guarantee sites available for practice. There are some participants who are wanting to come early to practice. When Mike gets all the information, he will get these advertised.
Yolanda has blocked off the camping sites for the weekend prior to the Worlds for the event staff to ensure the staff have their spots.
Doug mentioned that we haven’t gotten a submission form for the 2022 Worlds yet. The deadline for the submission is the end of June.
World Hats and Shirts are for Sale - Mike Karnes
We are currently selling hats and shirts now on the Worlds website. We are almost out of hats, so Mike is getting ready to place another order. These items can be ordered online and a minimal shipping charge.
RCP’s Update – Mike Karnes
All the RCPs were submitted to AMA. They are all posted to be reviewed. Mike advised the BOD that once they are voted on, we need to review for cross proposals to make sure that we have enough time. There were some RCPs that were not BOD approved, so we need to watch them.
International Teams and other issues – Adi Kochav
Adi has contact Aerographics and has sent them a brochure. He would love to see them be a sponsor of the IMAC Worlds. He will get back with Adi in due time.
Currently, Austria, Italy, Belgium, and France has registered IMAC members. We currently have an Italian judge for the Worlds. The only teams that haven’t registered is Norway and Sweden. Japan will also be in attendance, along with Mexico. Other countries that are coming are Australia, Columbia, India, Italy, Norway, Netherlands, Paraguay, Sweden, United Kingdom, and Uruguay.
Treasurer Report – Phil Vance
Samantha has sent the incorporation papers to Phil and he has sent off the paperwork along with the filing fee.
The current balance in the IMAC account is as follows:
Checking - $22,304.30
PayPal - $27,893.49
Total - $50,197.79
The current balance in the IWC account is $9,439.25.
The Challenge coins will be discussed at the next World’s meeting. Phil has the menu for the Horizon Center for the banquet. He will get at least Rhonda and Rosie to review it. The Horizon Center can prepare a special plate for food allergies, ethnicity, etc. We can have a prepared meal served to us or we can order buffet-style. The meat offered is beef, pork, and chicken.
The NATS may be changing their vendor for the banquet. Doug’s wife, Rosie, will be making some calls to see if we can get a different meal option. The vendor needs to be able to furnish everything, including plates, silverware, etc. and clean up of their workspace.
Regional Reports – All RDs
The NE region has their online judging school scheduled for the first Wednesday in April. This online class is limited to 20 participants. There is still plenty of room left to sign up. The time will not be moved to accommodate the western regions.
The SE region had 37 pilots at their Ocala contest. The judging school is this coming weekend. This will be the last judging school for the region.
The SC region had 20 participants at their judging school. They had a great day for practicals. The season opens on April 7th in Wrightsville. Currently, they have 24 pilots registered for this contest.
The NC region has a nice schedule for 2018. The Muncie Judging School is in about a month and the first contest is May 19th. Mike will be attending the Toledo Weak Signals R/C Trade Show, April 6-8.
The NW region had their judging school a few weeks ago, with 31 participants in attendance. Their season starts in 2 more weeks.
The SW region is doing well. There is 43 pilots coming for this weekend’s contest. The SW is starting a fundraiser to help their pilots attend the Worlds.
The International Region has most of their contests in Australia. They have 4 contests this coming weekend. Primo Rivera from the SE region is currently in India and is going to host a judging school there. Italy is having an IMAC open, which is a contest before the Worlds. Manrico is going to fly to Turkey and put on a judging school. Luiz went to Mexico and Argentina to host judging schools.
Meeting adjourned 10:29 p.m. EST