Minutes of August 2008 Meeting
August 24, 2008

The August Meeting of I.B.M. Ring 362 was held at the St. John's Episcopal Church in Bangor, Maine, on August 24, 2008, at 3:00 pm. The theme of the meeting was School Shows, featuring a lecture by Stan Davis. A raffle of a card magic set donated by Wes Booth raised $13 for the Ring's Lecture Endowment. Please see the Ring Report for details of the lecture.

Danny Baker called the meeting to order. He cited a set of simplified Rules of Order that have been made available as a PDF on the Ring's web site, which were adopted as the Rules of Order for the meeting.

The agenda for the meeting had been made available in advance, and Danny Baker called for the adoption of the agenda, which was approved without amendment.

The minutes for the July meeting were approved without amendment.

The Secretary presented the Treasurer's Report on behalf of the Treasurer. The bank balance was $1,530.92 and there was $460.00 in petty cash for $1,990.92 in total funds. Of these funds, $1,615.81 (81.2%) was unrestricted and $375.11 (18.8%) was in endowments as follows: Ring Name Plaque Endowment ($140.00), Elliott Endowment ($130.35), Chung Ling Soo Endowment ($9.76), Max Malini Endowment ($111.00) and Lecture Endowment (-$16.00). These figures did not include raffle proceeds from the August meeting.

In Old Business, Paul Szauter, Contest Official for the 2008 Chung Ling Soo Stage Magic Competition, reported that the contest is scheduled for Saturday, September 6, at 7:00 pm at All Souls Congregational Church. Paul reviewed the rules and reminded contestants that the registration deadline is midnight on Friday, August 29. So far, Ruth Eveland of Acadia Community Theater and Weslea Sidon of SFOA have accepted the invitation to serve as judges. The Show Committee is: Paul Szauter (Publicity, General Show Chair), Geoffrey Miller (Talent Coordination), and Danny Baker (Stage and Theater Management). The show will be rounded out with bellydancers and possibly other performers. Registration and technical requirement forms are available on the Ring's website. The Show Committee agreed to work out technical details in advance.

In Old Business, Danny Baker reported on behalf of the Nominating Committee (Randy Von Smith, Dayton Salisbury, and Gary Jewell) on a slate of nominees for 2009. The nominees are: Geoffrey Miller (President), Matt Bennage (Vice President), Paul Szauter (Secretary), Randy Von Smith (Treasurer) and Gary Jewell (Sergeant At Arms). The closing date for nominations is October 1; any other Ring member interested in running for office should either contact the Nominating Committee or submit a petition for nomination by October 1. The nomination process is described in Article V of the Bylaws.

In Old Business, Danny Baker reported on a proposal for a public show during the holiday season (December 6) at the Alamo Theater in Bucksport. The show would be a Saturday matinee. There was a consensus that it was time to get moving on this, with arrangements being left to the Board.

In Old Business, the Secretary reported that the Worldwide Escape Artist Relay 2009 is scheduled for October 24, 2009. Nine performers have already registered. Danny Baker reported that he would be participating.

With no further business, a motion was made to adjourn the meeting. The motion passed unanimously.