Executive Board Meeting Jan. 16, 2016

[Russell Albright]

1. The Executive Committee of NORPAC met at Elmer’s Restaurant on Hosmer in Tacoma at 9:00 AM. Those present included: Dennis Simpson, Trever Waltos, Ron Kearns, Gene Sanders, Jerry & Tracey Galland, and Dale Scott.

2. Proposed Budget. Dennis asked that we approve the 2016 proposed budget that Treasurer Dennis Gorley had prepared. Dale so moved; Jerry seconded. Dennis noted that we’ve already paid half of required money we’ll need to pay for tickets to the Tacoma Rainiers game on July 31st. Motion passed unanimously.
3. Mariners Game? We’ve been approached by NORPAC member Bob Partlow asking if we’d have interest in attending a Mariners game this coming summer, perhaps in support of announcer Rick Rizz’s Toys for Children drive. Dennis will ask Bob for further details such as date, price, etc.

4. Santas Pack. Dennis said it would be nice if a couple of us could attend an upcoming meeting of the Santa Pack (NORPAC’s equivalent serving the Vancouver/Portland area). He will check with them regarding their meeting dates.

5. Speakers for NORPAC Meetings. We spent some time discussing whether we want to try to identify speakers to talk with us at some of our regular NORPAC meetings. Trever expressed interest in having Hillard Viydo of Arthurs & Associates be a speaker. We’d invited Hillard to speak at the fall conference, but he’d indicated that he’s too busy at that time of year. Both Dale and Trever said they’d talk with Hillard to see if he’d come to one of our upcoming meetings.

6. Santa Bookings. We also discussed the experiences we’ve all had of being contacted on very short notice by people or organizations wanting to book a Santa for their event. The discussion centered on how unlikely such bookings are to occur without adequate advance contact. Dennis agreed to contact the “New Day” television program on King TV to see if they’d be willing to do a segment on their program this summer (perhaps in a “Christmas in July” context) where we could urge Christmas event planners or individuals to plan early and book early if they plan to hire a Santa in December. There was also some related discussion about newspaper articles (again in July or so) with the same message to “book early.” No conclusions or specific plan was decided upon with regard to newspaper coverage.

7. Discussion/Feedback re the November Conference at the Great Wolf Lodge.

• We all appreciated Dennis’s compiling of the feedback from attendees.
• Comedienne Brett Hollis was very well received. Dennis will contact Elvis impersonator Danny Vernon to see if he’d provide entertainment for this year’s conference.
• We expressed concern about disruptive or rude behavior by a couple of our conference attendees. In one instance this involved wearing “jingling” bells that made it hard for some to hear our speakers, and in another it involved arguing with one of our guest speakers. After considerable discussion, it was agreed that all of us, in our role as Executive Board members, need to be willing to speak up to cut off such actions at future NORPAC events. We’ll also speak to this during opening remarks (and perhaps in writing in the program bulletin).
• Dennis said that a written” Mrs. Claus Oath” will be added to our name tags and become an element at the conference similar to what we do with the “Santa Claus Oath.”
• Trever suggested we be consistent with what we call the conference in various e-mails, etc. It was agreed that we’d try to refer to this year’s conference as the “7th Annual Northwest Santa Workshop.”
• We discussed possible topics for Round Table discussions at the 2016 conference (Nov. 3-5, 2016) and agreed that a handout would be made available at our June meeting (or perhaps e-mailed prior to that meeting) seeking ideas from our members. Some possible topics mentioned already include hair/beard care, medical/health topics (Ron will see if his new doctor might be willing to address us), how we prepare/maintain our Santa event calendars in terms of booking gigs and overall scheduling, and Round Table discussion(s) for Mrs. Claus.
• The Great Wolf Lodge’s proposal for this year’s event is very similar in terms of the costs, number of rooms, etc. as in 2015. After discussion, Ron suggested that he and Dennis should meet with the GWL management to finalize the details.

8. Elections. The deadline (Jan. 15th) for nominating candidates for the Exec. Board has passed. All of the current officers, as well as the two at-large members, have expressed a willingness to be elected to another two-year term. The only additional individual who has asked to be on the ballot is Randy Cook who is interested in running for an at-large position. After discussion, Dale moved (Gene seconded) that we add a third at-large member to the Exec. Board. Motion passed unanimously. At the next meeting on Feb. 6th, we’ll be asked to vote on adding a 3rd at-large member to the Exec. Board. Assuming that motion passes, then the ballot for the Executive Board to be presented to the membership will include:
Dennis Simpson Co-chair
Trever Waltos Co-chair
Dennis Gorley Treasurer
Dale Scott Secretary
Randy Cook At-large
Jerry Galland At-large
Gene Sanders At-large
Ron Kearns Past President

9. Adjournment at 11:10 AM. The next general membership meeting is scheduled for noon on Saturday, Feb. 6th at the Ram Restaurant, 10019 59th Ave., Lakewood, WA 98496.

Respectfully submitted,
Dale Scott, Secretary

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