Storymakers Board of Directors Meeting Minutes, 5 April 2022
Present:
Shelly Brown — Chair
Crystal Liechty — Chair-Elect
Loralee Evans – Secretary
Lori Parker – Finance Chair
Cindy Bennett–Finance Co-Chair
Emily Huey — Whitney Awards President
Rebecca Carlson — Membership Chair
Cassie Cook — Conference Chair
Cindy Whitney — Communications Chair
Absent:
Jerry Borrowman–At Large Representative
Wendy Jessen — Conference Co-Chair
Traci Abramson — SMIAH Conference Chair
1—OPENING
Crystal votes to approve the minutes Cassie seconds Lucinda W seconds as well.
2—CHAIRMAN& CHAIRMAN ELECT, Shelly Brown & Crystal Liechty
We are working on the paperwork so we can dissolve old Storymakers (just a technical
thing, Storymakers isn’t going anywhere) and set up a Town Hall meeting to let the
membership know. There is discussion about who would run the Town Hall now. We
have one At-Large but do we need to hold a vote before they can run the meeting? Will
that upset people if we have a one person election? We decide to wait.
3—SECRETARY, Loralee Evans
Nothing at this time.
4—FINANCE CHAIR, Cindy Bennett and Lori Parker
The finance committee is asking for a special budget meeting as soon as possible. They
would need Conference chair, co-chair, future co-chair, future conference finance,
Whitney president, guild chair and co-chair and anyone else that will be working with
finance going forward so that we can figure out how to stay in our budget. There is a
request to show us the numbers before the meeting and the finance committee agrees
to have those available.
Lori motions for a special budget meeting. Rebecca and Lucinda W. second it.
Because of the struggle with the money that we cannot access we will probably not be
using Eventbrite in the future.
5—WHITNEY CHAIR, Emily Huey
We’re opening, so you can vote. Check your spam if you haven’t gotten it. We’re doing
ads, etc. now. There was some confusion about the Whitney finances but the concerns
are cleared up as there was more than one place to look at the numbers.
6—MEMBERSHIP CHAIR, Rebecca Carlson
Storymentors was a great success and we’d like to continue. Can Storymentors have a
spot in the opening social? Even a table in the hall might be able to work. Cassie says
that she can help find a space for Storymentors.
7—CONFERENCE CHAIR & CO-CHAIR, Cassie Cook & Wendy Jessen
Newsletter went out today. We are in desperate need of volunteers and room hosts. The
link is on the Facebook page. Let’s put it on the guild page to encourage people to
volunteer. Discussed moving over the emails to the new website.
The cut-off date for block rooms is April 21. The keynote will be available virtually as
well. if we can have extra money from the virtuals, that would be great. Please spread
the word!
Some big purchases are going through this week. Printing costs and swag items. The
last swag items were purchased yesterday. All payments to instructors will happen after
the conference.
8—COMMUNICATIONS CHAIR, Cindy Whitney
Do you need emails for certain things? It was suggested that the secretary send emails
to people who have not paid dues yet. We will put on the Facebook group a reminder to
pay their dues.
When are we having the vote on the bylaws? We have to be able to complete our taxes,
and we need to dissolve old Storymakers in order to finish taxes.
We need to have the town hall meeting before the vote on the bylaws. We need to set
that up.
Other taxes are due May 15. If we can get this done by April 20 that would be great.
When should we have the town hall? We’ll have a zoom call and everyone in the guild is
invited. After the town hall, then we vote on the bylaws. We need to send out an email.
If people want to be in the town hall, they’ll need to have paid their dues.
Could next Friday be a good night? Thursday could also be good. Thursday would be
better. The 14th at 7:00 pm. Plan on 2 hours. Let’s announce it ASAP.
9—SMIAH CONFERENCE CHAIR, Traci Abramson
Not present
10—AT LARGE CHAIR, Jerry Borrowman
Not present. We should have the membership vote for the at large. Discussion on
whether we just have them vote in Jerry.
11—MOTION TO ADJOURN
Crystal moves to adjourn. Lori seconds to adjourn.