Present: Sandra Bengtsson, Stephen Billias, Connie
Borden, David Franklin, Rob Kedoin, Lee Seaman, Eva
Thaddeus, and Michael Thompson
Absent: HF Ito (by
request of the Board due to item III)
Others
Present:
Shin
Aoki (as incoming NTC-chair, present for DVD discussion)
Facilitator:
Connie, Time Keeper: Stephen, Note Taker: Rob
Meeting called
to order:
Appoximately 4:00pm EDT
We
currently have $19,000 in the bank. Over the last two years we've been running
at about a $2000 per year loss. However,
now that the website and bookstore expenses are up and dues are diminished,
we're expecting a $3-4,000 loss for this year. We had some extra expenses this
year: $1000 for Ito's hospital stay at Kaiser, as well as paying for the
database work. Over the last two years, we've also added insurance: it was
about $1350 the first year. But because
we over-estimated the number of students we have nationally, when we got an
accurate number, the cost of insurance dropped to $871 per year.
Stephen
asked if we should do a membership letter to get more people to pay dues.
Sandra suggested that we could combine a membership letter with a request for
donations.
Action Items
1. Connie will
prepare a letter and send it to the membership.
2. Lee will help
Connie to write the letter to send to the membership.
3. Sandra will
send Lee a copy of an old letter
After
much discussion, it remains unclear what type of DVD’s we should create with
suggestions including instructional, promotional, and artistic DVD’s.
Similarly, the content and target audience remain undecided.
The
discussion about the DVD project breaks down into: Type, Content, Audience, and
Roles.
Type
Three
types of DVD have been proposed. Instructional videos which demonstrate
techniques in the curriculum. Promotional videos which are to visually describe
Shintaido to people who haven’t tried it. An Artistic
video was suggested by David Franklin as:
Shintaido, the
impressionistic art-rock music video:
Something similar, in an updated kind
of way, to the Shintaido film produced by John Kent
in the early 80's. Personally, I think that if we're serious about one of our
particular marketing goals -- attracting more young people -- this should be
our #1 priority. Good examples are skateboarding and snowboarding videos --
dynamic visuals, exciting editing cut to music that appeals to the target
audience, interspersed with quick mini-interviews with practitioners/teachers.
Content
For
instructional videos, how much of the curriculum should we cover? Stephen would
like the whole curriculum covered (karate, boh, open
hand and kenjutsu). Shin pointed out that Ito and
Henry Kaiser have been working for a long time to produce one DVD which covers
only Kenjutsu. If we use that to gauge the time
needed to do the whole curriculum, it would take a very long time.
Shin
also made the suggestion that it may be more efficient to create instructional
videos by combining a bunch of archival footage.
Audience
Lee
feels the audience should be instructors while Stephen feels that the videos
should be sold in the bookstore and usable by people to study Shintaido without an instructor.
Roles
According
to Lee, the NTC are uncertain of what sort of participation they are being
asked for. The NTC members are willing to work as talent for the video.
According
to Shin, the NTC believes that the SOA Board should act as Executive Producer. The
NTC could act in the role as Writer and Director.
If
the Board were Executive Producer, the Board first needs to find a Producer.
The Producer would make the budget proposal and find people to fill all the
other roles. The Board only needs to approve the budget and set the direction.
The Board should review the detailed budget and verify that the script is
manageable before the shooting starts.
David
suggested that perhaps Henry Kaiser would be a good candidate for the job of
Producer, but Connie mentioned that Henry is not interested in working on
future DVD projects.
David
also suggested that perhaps Bill Burtis or Stephen Billias would want to be the writer since they have
experience writing scripts.
According
to Connie, Ito is interested in being a Technical Consultant.
Proposal 1
The
Marketing subcommittee along with Ito Sensei, and Shin (as incoming NTC chair)
should identify a Producer and create a budget with the Producer for proposals
for artistic, instructional and promotional videos by 1/2007. Proposed by Connie. Passed without any
"No" votes or "Abstentions"
The
Board members discussed what Shintaido of America can
or should do to help Ito (after his June stroke). Topics discussed included having Ito travel
less by staying longer in the
Proposal 2
a) We agree that
we do not have a dramatic need to have Ito change his lifestyle. Proposed by
Connie & Rob. Passed without any "No" votes or "Abstentions"
b) We agree to
help PacShin with their fundraising for Ito's
Insurance fund by accepting online donations and providing online
publicity. Proposed by Connie & Rob.
Passed without any "No" votes or "Abstentions"
c) We will
evaluate increasing Ito's stipend when we create the 2007 budget. Proposed by
Connie & Rob. Passed without any "No" votes or
"Abstentions"
d) We will make
strategic planning and big vision a goal for 2007. Proposed by Connie & Rob. Passed without
any "No" votes or "Abstentions"
Action Items
4. Stephen with
help from Rob will setup online donations and publicity on the web site.
Meeting
Adjourned:
Approximately 5:10pm EDT