I.B.M. Ring 362 The Maine Mystics Bangor, Maine
Home Archive Constitution Bylaws Policy and Program Manual Index to Minutes Index to Executive Minutes Index to Ring Reports Hall of Fame		Minutes of Executive Meeting August 12, 2007 A meeting of the Board was held on Sunday, August 12, 2007, at 2:15 pm at the Friars' Bakehouse in Bangor, just prior to the Ring meeting. Many items of business had been settled in advance via email, as noted. Officers: President: Danny Baker Vice President: Carroll Chapman (not in attendance) Secretary: Paul Szauter Treasurer: Randy Von Smith Sergeant-At-Arms: Geoffrey Miller Also present as observers: Brother Don Paul Aubrey Smith Approval of these Minutes via email: Paul Szauter (yes, 8/23/2007), Geoffrey Miller (yes, 8/24/2007), Danny Baker (yes, 8/24/2007), Randy Von Smith (yes, 8/24/2007)

Agenda

Call to Order, Rules of Order, Approval of Minutes.

President Danny Baker called the meeting to order under the revised Rules of Order. The Board adopted the agenda, which had been developed in advance via email.

Minutes. The minutes of the April Executive Meeting were approved without amendment in an email vote [Paul Szauter: yes (7/6), Danny Baker: yes (7/6), Randy Von Smith: yes (7/6), Geoffrey Miller: yes (7/20), Carroll Chapman: yes (7/21)].

Treasurer's Report. The Ring bank account has a total of $1319.22, with $318.00 in petty cash for a total of $1637.22. The Ring funds include a total of $370.00 in endowments: Elliott Endowment ($110), Ring Name Plaque Endowment ($140), Chung Ling Soo Endowment ($60), and Max Malini Endowment ($60). The recent change in the endowments is a consequence of a donation by Randy Von Smith of $220 to the Ring, after being reimbursed for $220 for parts used to build the banner stands for the All-Star Magical Revue. The check from the Criterion Theatre and Arts Center for the All-Star Magical Revue was for $868.50.

A. Current Finances. Here is the budget from the April Executive meeting with year-to-date (YTD) as of August 1, 2007, numbers listed:

The Board voted to accept the Treasurer's report.

B. Financial Review. The Financial Review Committee (Carroll Chapman, Wes Booth, Chris Florey) has not contacted Randy, and apparently has taken no action.

Old Business

A. Calendar

1. Chung Ling Soo Stage Magic Competition. The Chung Ling Soo Stage Magic Competition is scheduled for Saturday, September 8, at 7:00 pm at the All Souls Congregational Church. In an email discussion prior to the July 15 Ring meeting, the earliest date (September 8) was favored. Although we did not have the final word from Brother Don at the July Ring meeting, he was optimistic that we could have that date. Brother Don confirmed the date on July 23.

2. Teaching Tables. In response to a call for more Teaching Tables at the July 15 Ring meeting, two more have been scheduled. Dr. Wilson will present a Teaching Table on Publicity at the September 2007 Ring meeting. Geoffrey Miller will present a Teaching Table on Coin Box Magic at the February 2008 Ring meeting. There will be a call for more Teaching Tables at the August Ring meeting.

3. Lectures. In an email discussion the week of July 23, in response to an offer by an outside lecturer, there was no support for having a paid outside lecturer in 2007. There is strong interest in a lecture by Hal Meyers. The lecture will be scheduled as a separate event not associated with a regular Ring meeting. There ia a proposal in New Business for a Lecture Endowment.

B. Appointments

1. Public Show Committee for Chung Ling Soo Stage Magic Competition. Danny Baker appointed Paul Szauter as the Contest Official for the Chung Ling Soo Stage Magic Competition at the February Board Meeting. On March 26, 2007, Danny named a show committee:

• Talent Coordination & General Show Chair: Paul Szauter (Contest Official)
• Stage and Theater Management: Randy Von Smith
• Publicity and Ticket Sales: Wes Booth

On July 30, Wes resigned as Chair of Publicity and Ticket Sales. Danny put out a call for volunteers, then appointed Geoffrey Miller on July 31. The show committee is therefore:

• Talent Coordination & General Show Chair: Paul Szauter (Contest Official)
• Stage and Theater Management: Randy Von Smith
• Publicity and Ticket Sales: Geoffrey Miller

2. Nominating Committee. The Nominating Committee must be appointed four months before the annual election in January, that is, by August. Danny Baker appointed Carroll Chapman, Brother Don Paul, and Bryan-Keith Taylor. All three had accepted the appointments by the July 15 Ring meeting.

3. Public Show Committee for October Show. The show committee chairs for the October 27 show were appointed by Danny Baker on March 26, 2007. The committee is:

• Talent Coordination & General Show Chair: Carroll Chapman
• Stage and Theater Management: Randy Von Smith
• Publicity and Ticket Sales: Paul Szauter

On August 9, Randy Von Smith discovered that he will be out of the country on October 27. He is unable to serve as Chair of Stage and Theater Management.

Danny Baker appointed Geoffrey Miller as chair of Stage and Theater Management on August 12.

C. Chung Ling Soo Stage Magic Competition

1. Date. The Chung Ling Soo Stage Magic Competition will be held on Saturday, September 8, at 7:00 pm at All Souls Congregational Church in Bangor.

2. Judges. Rob Jordan of the Criterion Theatre and Arts Center accepted an offer to be a judge on July 23. Nancy Andrews of College of the Atlantic accepted an offer to be a judge on August 2 (see a bio of Nancy Andrews here; her cv is also online). Her students will be filming the competition and will make copies available to us. Joel Richardson, an actor and a member of the Governing Board of Acadia Community Theater, accepted an offer to be a judge on August 8.

3. Specification of Technical Requirements. The Contest Official (Paul) has developed a technical requirements sheet allowing performers to specify the requirements for their act. This will also serve to communicate to contestants what sort of theatrical effects are possible. The first draft of the technical requirements sheet was circulated at the July Ring meeting (see Minutes). Suggested changes were incorporated into the current technical requirements sheet. Registration/technical requirements forms were distributed to three contestants: Danny Baker, Brother Don Paul, and Professor Miller.

D. October Show/ WEAR 2007 Show. October 27, 2007, is the date of the Worldwide Escape Artist Relay. The Board had previously discussed creating a Ring show around this event. Time is running out to plan this show, or to plan other Halloween activities. There was some discussion of the show concept and possible acts. Several Board members expressed concern that the planning for this show is not very far along, with two months left before the show.

The other Halloween activites at the Criterion include a live stage performance of War of the Worlds, which will be recorded for a Halloween broadcast on WERU, a ghost walk largely staffed by Acadia Community Theater, spooky readings for kids, and several classic horror films. Ring members are invited to participate in all of these activities.

E. eBay Auction of Donated Magic Item. One of the items donated to the Ring, Magical Rope Ties and Escapes by Houdini, is worth more than what we can raise from our members. This will be auctioned on eBay after a notice has appeared in The Rapping Hand.

F. Ring Quality Program. The International Brotherhood of Magicians has a Ring Quality Program to improve local Rings. Please see the guidelines for the Ring Quality Program at the I.B.M. website.

It is worth looking over these guidelines to begin to make further improvements in the Ring.

There are quite a few areas in which our Ring currently meets a high standard, and other areas worth looking into for further improvement. Here is an outline of the online document; those areas in which we are meeting the standard are marked as OK. I have also marked several areas as "Areas of Focus," meaning that if the Ring invests some time in development here, there will be a good payoff.

Goals and Areas for Improvement. The Board should identify key areas in which the Ring should improve, and set goals to achieve.

Working with the TVP. Since the start of 2007, TVP Bob Nixon has attended the Ring Banquet in March, the April 13 show in Rumford, and the April 29 Elliott Card Challenge in Rumford.

Youth Program. The Ring's participation in SFOA is its first effort at a Youth Program. The three-week magic class, taught by Kim Hawkins with guest appearances by Dr. Wilson, had an enrollment of 24 students. Danny Baker, Kim Hawkins, Bryan-Keith Taylor and Paul Szauter donated supplies. Students were given forms to submit their names, addresses and birthdays to the Ring. Please see the Ring Event Report for SFOA magic classes.

Charity Performances. The Ring has been quite active in charity fundraising and charity shows. A new web page documents 2007 Charity Activity by the Ring. So far in 2007, the Ring has raised $2,286.00 for charity and given one charity performance. There is an additional charity performance scheduled for October 31, and the Chung Ling Soo Stage Magic Competition will also be a charity fundraiser.

Library. Members of the Board have discussed the pros and cons of a library owned by the Ring with a signout sheet (which requires some kind of permanent location), a virtual library in which members post their holdings (which probably won't count for the RQP), or a electronic library of PDFs, if the publishers will allow sale to a Ring and sharing among members. There was no clear consensus. Randy Von Smith received a response from lybrary.com in response to his request about sharing electronic copies. They do not currently have the technology to allow limited electronic copies to circulate. They proposed some kind of minimal annual fee to allow sharing.

Outside lecturers. Members of the Board discussed resources available online and in print to find outside lecturers once funds are sufficient. No action will be taken in 2007. It is expected that lead time to schedule a lecture is about three months.

New Business

A. Lecture Endowment. Randy Von Smith has proposed a Lecture Endowment. When contributions to the endowment reach $250 - $300 (enough to cover a lecturer's fee), an outside lecturer will be scheduled. While there is no objection to raising funds for a lecturer through an endowment, Paul expressed concern that at the time of the meeting, the endowments made up 23% of the Ring's funds. He argued against moving in the direction of having a treasury in which, for example, 75% or more of the Ring funds were in endowments, as this might prove to be too tempting a target for future Officers, who might vote to drain the endowments into the General Fund.

Randy reminded the Board that endowments are donations for a specific purpose, and should not be easily transferrable to other purposes or the General Fund. Paul pointed out that this is currently the case, but that a future Board that did not feel constrained by written Bylaws would be free to expend all Ring funds as they wished, whether the funds were in endowments or not.

Randy contributed $10 to start the Lecture Endowment.

B. World Record Fundraiser. There was recently a news story on a failed attempt to break the world record for the largest kazoo ensemble (currently 2600). Danny really likes an attempt at world record for the size of a kazoo ensemble as a publicity stunt and charity fundraiser.

Danny proposed getting 5,000 kid-safe kazoos (at a cost, from a sponsor, of approximately $2,000). The kazoos would be pitched with a pitchcard with sponsor ads. Sales and donations would benefit a charity. On the day of the record attempt, the remaining kazoos could be distributed at no charge. Danny will speak to the owner of the kazoo company ( Kazoobie Kazoos) at KIDabra 2007 about details of record attempts.

Brother Don proposed staging the record attempt at the Bangor Folk Festival in August 2008, with the Bangor Symphony Orchestra as a principal sponsor. There was very strong support for this idea.