AAJA Minnesota--It's Hotter Than You Think!


	March 2006 AAJA meeting minutes March 19, 2006 In attendance: Annie Hua, Thomas Lee, Lewis Leung, Shruti Mathur, Nancy Ngo, Nancy Yang Absent: Mary Tan NEXT MEETING: 6:30 p.m. April 18 at Buffalo Wild Wings, Har Mar Mall, Roseville. Financial presentation: § Tom and Lewis: One is a Vanguard Mutual Fund, an index fund. The other is a Mairs Powers fund. More information will be sent via e-mail. § Have $40K to play with (from the convention) § $20K in savings for now; fluid money; in case market goes down. § $10K in mutual funds; divide between index fund and large cap blend. If 13 percent return, will make about $1200 per year. § $10K in CDs § Maturity* rates are three months, six months and nine months. Pick two three month CDs and one nine-month CD to get most out of rates. Maturity: When CD matures, you have access to the money. If you don’t touch the account, they are renewed automatically. Rotation of CDs that will mature at different times. § By the next meeting all money should be invested. Taste of AAJA:* Broke out the tasks: § Laura do silent auction. (Shruti brought items back that could be used for silent auction) § Tom is in charge of booking the venue, tickets and volunteers, getting an emcee § Will is in charge of entertainment § Allie is in charge of food and drinks. § (Based on 2003) – what do we need now? Last emcee was Mai Neng Moua, do we want someone from community or broadcast journalism? § Entertainment: Had martial arts performance, we should keep it. Pursue taiko drummers if we can. Also try to get South Asian dance groups. Spoken word artists or artists in general should also be pursued – Voices Merging from the University of Minnesota. Get a book signing, or have a donation of autographed books for silent auction (Tom has a connection – Amy Phan, who just released “Operation Babylift”). More emphasis on highlighting local Asian artists (calligraphy, etc.) § Set up a stage in the side room and have entertainment concurrently. § Restaurant: Had five restaurants (Jasmine’s Coffee and Tea House, Sawatdee, Gypsy Curry House, U Garden, Shuang Cheng, King’s Palace). New possibilities: Camdi’s (Vietnamese), hit some new Asian restaurants such as new Malaysian restaurant called Paradise or Peninsula on Nicollet Avenue, places under new management such as Udupi, § Alcohol: Kieran (through Neal) donated it in the past, open bar but have given two drink tickets with a suggested donation. Maybe this year just give one drink ticket or just do suggested donation. Maybe free pop and water, and suggested donation for wine and mixed drinks. (Nancy N. still has roll of drink tickets) § Budget: In theory, everything will be donated. Space, partnered with the University’s j-school (through PRISM), might be come at a discounted rate (at about $600) and would come with tables, chairs and a dance floor. Other money used for invitations, paper plates, forks, napkins, tickets, signage, programs, linens, ice. About $1,500 budgeted. § Time/Date: On a Wednesday or Thursday (restaurants are usually busier Thursday through Sundays). Dec. 5 or Dec. 6 are tentative dates. § Passports, posters: Need to create passports again. Nancy’s friend can design posters. Keep the same chopsticks and bowl logo. Lewis will design the program (offer j-school the back page of the program if they agree to help sponsor). Grant application: § Finalized, will e-mail them to the appropriate people at each paper and station, and will send them to Nancy Y. so it can be put on the Web site. Now just need to advertise and encourage students and convention-goers to apply for grant. Deadline is May 1. National board meeting update: § Nancy N.: We are in charge of the national scholarships for the 2007 convention. We would be in charge of reading the applications and getting the judges. § New policy: National isn’t making as much money to sustain itself so they are changing the convention proceeds: 90 percent goes to national and 10 percent goes to the chapter. This is a change from 75 percent to national and 25 to the chapter. This is a major concern (among our chapter board members), as there will be no incentive or benefit to sponsor a convention in the future. Can we send national a letter in collaboration with other chapters about how dissatisfied about this new policy? We’ll work on contacting several chapters — Tom: Seattle, Portland, Arizona, Florida and San Francisco; Shruti: New York, Philly; Nancy Y.: Los Angeles. Report back by the next meeting. § How long has national been thinking about this? Feels like this was just thrown at us. § Endowment: Deadline is May 31. In the past host chapter has given a nice chunk back to national. Budget about $2K for endowment. Social committee: § Nancy Y. and Shruti will take over for Nancy N. on the committee. Need to start planning karaoke/poker night. § Nancy N. has a friend who has a karaoke machine. About 400 songs on the machine. Will bring us the songbook. Would need a television and stereo. § Lewis has a friend who has a lot of karaoke equipment. § Would be good to have this on a weekend to get some members not directly from the Twin Cities, and would be more of a social event. Thoughts of looking into a place that already has karaoke. § Need to get prize donations. Find someone to get a poker set donation? § Maybe look into Mystic Lake (Shakopee), Treasure Island (Hastings) maybe get a hotel discount. Nancy look into Treasure Island and Shruti will look into Mystic Lake. Convention: § Going: Tom Lee, Nancy Ngo, Rich Tsong-Tataari § Maybe: Shruti Mathur, Nancy Yang § Tom will step in at the president meeting. § Need five silent auction materials for Hawaii: two from Tom LaVenture (poster and small hockey stick autographed by U.S. Olympic hockey team member), two from Shruti (wall hanging and table runner), two maybes — gift certificate from Target and gift certificate from Buca. Photos always work well — Kirby Puckett memorial? Other ideas welcome. Chapter e-mail: § Nancy Y. will be in charge of this, as it goes with secretarial duties. aajamnc@yahoo.com NEXT MEETING AGENDA: § Financial investments update from Tom and Lewis: confirm investments § Report on Taste of AAJA: confirm space and date, updates through committee meeting § New national convention proceeds policy: report back on how other chapters are responding to the policy § Thom Fladung, PiPress editor, wants to meet with AAJA and also talk about the Urban Journalism Workshop. § 6:30 p.m. April 18, Buffalo Wild Wings at Har Mar Mall