August 2007

AAJA meeting minutes Aug. 19, 2007

In attendance: Emma Carew, Tom Lee, Nancy Ngo, Mary Tan and Nancy Yang

Absent: Lewis Leung

NEXT MEETING:

AAJA convention updates:

§ Nancy Ngo gave updates from the national board rep meeting.

1. We have signed up to work on national scholarships again for next year’s Unity convention. We would select finalists for the AAJA awards and a panel of judges would award the scholarships. We worked on scholarships for the Miami convention as well.
2. The governing board is discussing whether to raise membership fees by $5. The last increase was in 1999. There’s also the discussion of how often national should raise membership fees if it’s necessary— every two years? Four years? Emma said it might be problematic to raise student membership fees every two years — students might not stay involved if the student rate is $40 because that’s expensive. Nancy Ngo clarified that the board right now is just discussing and will later vote on whether to raise the fees. The issue of incremental raises will come up later.

§ Tom gave an update on the chapter presidents meeting:

1. The big issue is burnout, that the same people keep doing the same stuff and that there is no one in the pipeline to replace those who have served. The Portland chapter is considering whether they should be an inactive chapter because they can’t find people to fill leadership positions. One idea that was proposed was to have a sister chapter to pool ideas and resources. Tom proposed we become a sister chapter with Chicago and help them next year with Unity. Doris Truong, who was just elected national secretary, proposed regional conferences versus one big national conference. It would be more affordable and the training might be better.

National board rep and elections:

§ Nancy Ngo has decided to run for re-election. This is a two-year term that would begin in January.

§ Tom proposed that we bring back a second vice president position in an effort to get more people involved.

§ Elections will be held Oct. 15 for national board rep and vice president. If you are interested in either of those positions, let Nancy Yang know.

Ethnic media mixer:

§ Set for late September.

§ Nancy Ngo suggested we get a liaison from the ethnic media to help. She suggested Tom LaVenture and Nghi H. from the AAPress.

§ The reception would be open to staffers, their guests and AAJA members. It would be similar to the reception earlier this year for the visiting journalists from Asia.

Karaoke night:

§ Nancy Ngo and Mary are scoping out locations, specifically U Garden. They have a stage and have been very supportive of AAJA events in the past.

§ Set for early to mid-December.

Taste of AAJA:

§ We need to start planning for next year’s Taste.

§ We were late last year in contacting major organizations about grants so we need to get started on that ASAP.

§ We need two co-chairs and heads for other committees: silent auction, volunteers, artistic director. Let Nancy Yang know if you are interested in serving as a contact.

§ We are aiming to have committees and co-chairs in place by Nov. 15.

Camp AAJA:

§ Coming up this January. We have the option of sending two members to this leadership training seminar. Tom has volunteered to go. If we elect a second vice president, that person would be a good candidate to go as well.

NEXT MEETING AGENDA: Noon, Sept. 30, Tom Lee’s