Date: April 18th, 2013
Officers attending: Ann Murphy, Ian Hewitt, Mike Keefe, Chuck Jaynes
- Elections – All
The elections need to be announced for the next meeting. The election must take place in April, May or June. The nominations will be opened for the April meeting. Nominations needed by May. The nominations can take place at the meeting or on-line. The members can vote in person, on-line voting, or absentee ballots. The election will take place during the June meeting. Even if the position is uncontested, need to have it on-line. What are needed are the descriptions for each officer position. These descriptions of each officer position should be stored in Google docs.
Action Item: Ann Murphy will look up the description for secretary. Other officers will look up the descriptions for their post. - Speakers/Meetings – All
The documents in Google docs need to be cleaned up. Only the current versions need to be saved. The speaker lists has been updated. The 2015 schedule needs to be reviewed. Memorial Day – Do we have a topic? There will probably be an informal topic.
Action Item: Mike Keefe will find out the amount of interest. - Budget Review –Chuck Jaynes
The budget is in line with what we typically budgeted. The various expenses included building expenses, brochures and business cards and Speaker expenses. The speaker expenses were $497. - Phone Line Replacement – Mike Keefe
Mike Keefe is working on replacing the phone line. He is getting ready to meet with Jerry. Mike Keefe will have the paperwork ready by the April meeting. - Loaner Scope Program
John Irwin leads up the loaner scope program. One of his tasks is to make sure that the individual is a member of the club. The easiest way to do this would for John Irwin to have access to the membership list. There were no concerns with John Irwin having access for this work. - Apparel
This concerns using a new vendor to do artwork for RAC apparel. The artwork is already done and can be given to a new vendor. A requirement includes having it stitched instead of pressed on. Another requirement is an online ordering system. The new member document needs to be updated with new vendor information. Phyllis Lang is setting up with a new vendor. Mike Keefe will verify where she is in the process.
Action Item: Mike Keefe will get with Phyllis Lang and see where she is on getting this done - Public Observing Schedule – All
The public observing schedule was discussed. The various locations are as follows:- Prairie Ridge
- Blue Jay Point
- Annie Wilkerson Nature Preserve
- North Cary Park
- Howell Woods Fest
Some tentative dates are as follows:
- 9/14 or 9/15
- 10/25 or 10/26
Mike Keefe will contact the locations and arrange for two public observing sessions. He will send this information out.
Action Item: Mike Keefe will arrange two public observing sessions in the fall. - Museum Update – Ian Hewitt
- Assistant Directory – There is a wireless router in the room downstairs. The club would need to notify the museum in advance.
- 10/12 – International Moon Night. This is a multi-faceted event downtown. This will take place at the museum.
- November – ISON comet is most visible in November. The museum would like the club to host something. This would be a good event for astrophotography
- Education Program – All
There was discussion about education and outreach and in particular, the telescope tune-up program. The current program works really well with someone that has some experience. But there needs to be a program for the person that is brand new.
For the brand new audience, it was discussed that it could be done on Thursday nights. The question would be where to facilitate. The participants will still need to register for the program. Standardize materials would need to be created. A place is needed to put the documentation. Mike Keefe suggested that the materials could be stored off line. Mike Keefe will make an announcement in May for this new program.
Action Item – Announce this new program in May for absolute beginners. Mike Keefe will announce. - Children/Young Adult Program – All
There was discussion about starting a new program for children or young adults. The museum has junior curators and would like to have a representative from the RAC. But after some discussion, the officers thought it would be better for us to have our own program. We could leverage the junior curators’ experience. The group would have adult guidance. This group could work on a display for astronomy days or on an observing program. There would be a kickoff in August. - Astronomy Days – All
The officers went over the survey about Astronomy Days. Theleads for the displays need to take a more active role in getting the displays ready for the Astronomy Days. The sign up for this event should be in September. The leads should attend a kick off meeting earlier. This should take place in July. Hopefully this should help the event have enough volunteers and to run smoother.Action Item: Ann Murphy will head this up. - Web Site – All
The web site must be upgraded. Ian Hewett will open up requirements. This web site needs to be more comprehensive so that people can access. Also, it should be easier to update. But we do not to have it written from scratch. It was discussed that this would be updated in Dream Host or Dream Weaver 5.
Action Item: Ian Hewitt will lead this task.
Club social – The social last year was well attended. September is a good time weather wise. 9/13 is the indoor meeting. 9/21 is a 94% moon. So it was decided that 9/21 would be the date. This is a Saturday. 9/22, which is the Sunday after, is the backup.
Web speaker – This was decided to try for the August meeting. This would be a speaker speaking remotely and delivered via the web. There was some discussion on the technology. The downstairs meeting room is wireless. So the hardware is all set. Some software was discussed. These included Google Plus hangout, SkyTel and Webex. Webex is expensive.
Meet in the Daily Planet Café – There was meeting last summer at the Daily Planet Café in the museum. Katey Ahmann from the museum would like us to have a special meeting on Thursdays. She would like us to think about it.
Action Item: Mike Keefe will contact the museum, if the club is able to do this.
