Members:
Crystal Liechty — Chair
Jaime Theler –Chair-Elect, Guild Committee President
Lindzee Armstrong–Co-Chair Chair to the Guild
Loralee Evans – Secretary
Lori Parker – Finance Chair
Cindy Bennett–Finance Co-Chair
Rebecca Carlson — Membership Chair
Wendy Jessen — Conference Chair
Jessica Kendall — Conference Co-Chair
*T.J. Bronley–Conference Finance*
Annette Lyon — Communications Chair
*Jessica Thompson–Assistant to the Communications Chair*
Traci Abramson — SMIAH Conference Chair
Jerry Borrowman–At Large Representative
Jennie Bennett–At Large Representative
Taryn Skipper — Whitney Awards President
*Non-voting members
Absent:
Jerry Borrowman
Jennie Bennett
Traci Abramson
T.J. Bronley
Wendy Jessen
Rebecca Carlson
1—OPENING
Motion to approve is offered. The motion is seconded.
2—CHAIRMAN & CHAIRMAN ELECT, Crystal Liechty & Jamie Theler
Storymakers Inc was originally Storymakers Tribe. We originally decided they were not part of us. The Inc isn’t officially part of the Conference, but helps out. The Inc is separate, but related to Storymakers. The relationship between Storymakers Inc. and Storymakers has become more close and friendly. Not that we’ve been approved by the IRS, we could incorporate Storymakers Inc. If we keep Storymakers Inc. connected to us, that gives us something social to go to.
Anything that the Board could do, to help with the Guild.
Is the current head of Storymakers Inc. wanting to move on or stay where he is? Right now, he’s just wanting to know what he’s supposed to do.
So far, Storymakers Inc has been been the social arm of Storymakers.
3—SECRETARY, Loralee Evans
Nothing new to add.
4—FINANCE CHAIR, Cindy Bennett and Lori Parker
It would be great if we could put out feelers for people to apply for an assistant finance chair. We could use help with taxes and Conference.
We’ve got the letter from the IRS that says we are now a non-profit. SMIAH is finishing up some financial business.
Some things have been changed with Storymakers so we could work with the bank. We’re not sure what the attorney was doing. Now that the IRS is approved, what is the lawyer is doing? The Chair reached out to the lawyer, but the lawyer hasn’t responded back.
5—WHITNEY CHAIR, Taryn Skipper
Whitney Chair is done with nominations. We still have bunch of books they’d like authors and publishers to get to us.
Whitney Chair would like to have the board approve the new Whitney Awards rule so it’s on the record.
Rule 6.3 (for reference) If a book is initially released as an audiobook only, the book will then become eligible in the award year that an ebook or print version is first made available.
Proposed Rule 6.4: If an episodic story is initially released as a serial only and then compiled, the book will become eligible in the award year that an ebook or print version is first made available.
Motion is made to vote on the new rule. The motion is seconded. The new rule is approved.
6—MEMBERSHIP CHAIR, Rebecca Carlson
Rebecca is absent.
7—CONFERENCE CHAIR & CO-CHAIR, Wendy Jessen, Jessica Kendall
Instruction set up for Conference is almost done. We’ll have some virtual options as a bonus. So there are a handful of bonus classes. We’re struggling to find agents.
We’re using CVent now. We had a call this morning with them getting registrations set up. It should be ready one to two weeks before we do open registration for everybody.
8—COMMUNICATIONS CHAIR, Annette Lyon, Jessica Thompson
We need to renew the Mailerlite subscription, which ends Nov. 11.
How do we address members who have left the Church? Someone emailed with a concern on that regarding one current guild member.
We’re self reporting, so we will not remove members who are no longer members of the church if they don’t say they want to be removed. When people fill out the Whitney Award form, they’re asked if they’re members of the church. If they don’t say they aren’t, they are allowed to stay as members.
9—SMIAH CONFERENCE CHAIR, Traci Abramson
Traci is absent.
10—AT LARGE CHAIR, Jerry Borrowman, Jennie Bennett
Jerry and Jennie are absent.
11—MOTION TO ADJOURN
It is motioned to adjourn the meeting, and seconded.
Meeting adjourned.