Special Business Meeting and Regular Weekly Meeting April 6, 2021

Present: Andy Bern, Brandon Kinsey, Jeanine Kinsey, Dick Linehan, Greg Fuchs, Peter Palmer, Aimee Roger, Matt Kinsey, Derek Rolle, Benjamin Yen,

Guests: Katie van der Huevel (Aimee’s guest), Induria Paul, Latoya Rankine, Ernesto Williams, (Derek invited 3 guests)

Business Meeting

Sonali has resigned from VPM and is leaving the club due to a move. If you are interested in being VPM for the remainder of the term, please reach out to Brandon or Aimee so that we can hold a special election 2 weeks from today (April 20).
If you are interested in serving in a role next year, please reach out to Aimee as we are starting to put together that slate as well.

2 Weeks ago, the club had a discussion about going hybrid with a vote to be held today.

The Executive Board met and came up with several proposals to present to the club today.

We have approximately $1700 in the bank.
There is a proposal to purchase a Zoom room for the club at $150 for the year.
If we approve going hybrid, we need to discuss purchasing equipment to run hybrid meetings.
Thank you to Dick for donating some equipment that we will go through.

There is a proposal to purchase microphone, camera and laptop to go hybrid. We would start by borrowing equipment until we know exactly what we need with the purchases being made in the next couple of months.
Ballpark prices for equipment are:
Laptops starting at $600
Camera designed for conference at $200
Wireless Microphones start at $150 and we may need more than 1.
Total estimate for equipment could be about $1000.
We will also need someone to set up the equipment each week, and it needs to be easy to set up.

There is also a motion to waive club dues for anyone that joins the club between now and Sept. 30. This does not include renewals.

Discussion:
Greg asked if we go hybrid, is it permanent? The club consensus was that we would make the commitment and if it does not work, it would be a new vote later.
If we are going back in person, we discussed the last week in April or the first week in May. Wings Plus is ready for us and has no minimum requirements.
Peter said that he feels that Hybrid is not going away, and it will be a learning experience for the club, but he feels it is a wise investment.
Aimee agreed that this is a good place to learn skills we need to use elsewhere.
Andy mentioned that in the April TM Magazine, there is an article about running Hybrid Meetings.
Derek is all in for hybrid so that he can stay active with our club.
Andy is also remote now in Tampa and hopes to stay active via hybrid.

Votes:
Are we committed to going hybrid? Unanimously passed
Our first hybrid meeting will be May 4th.
Matt made a motion to approve up to $1100 to purchase software and equipment for hybrid meetings to be purchased at the discretion of the President, VPE and Treasurer. Greg seconded. Unanimously passed.
Do we want to waive club dues for new members for the remainder of this dues cycle? The motion unanimously passed.

The business meeting closed at 12:28.

Derek gave a speech honoring Ernesto Williams

Andy was our Table Topics Master:
Peter – What has life taught you recently?
Ben – What is the one thing you would most like to change about the world?
Matt – Where do you find inspiration?

Greg evaluated Derek’s speech
Best Table Topic Speaker was Peter

By Jeanine Kinsey

Jeanine has been a member of Toastmasters since August 2006. She has served in several club officer roles and district roles since then including District Treasurer, Conference Chair, District Webmaster, Division Governor, Lieutenant Governor Marketing, Lieutenant Governor Education & Training and District Director. She is a Web Designer, Consultant and speaker and enjoys sharing her stories of living "Blindsighted" with her audiences. She is also very active in her church and in the Boy Scouts and enjoys hiking, camping and reading in her spare time. She has 2 children and 2 grandchildren.

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