AAJA-DC Board Meeting Minutes
Saturday 1/20/07

Officers Attending: President Tan Ly, Vice-President (Broadcast) Sherri Ly, Membership Chair Wanita Niehaus, National Representative Doris Truong, Community Liaison Lister Lim, Secretary Susan Yoo, Webmaster Peggy Hu

1. Treasurer's Report: Treasurer Cecilia Kang wasn't at the meeting, but Tan gave us a brief report. We broke even in 2006. Tan also pointed out that we need to apply for D.C. tax-exemption status. Doris pointed out that we may be covered through AAJA National, but Tan's going to look into this, since we're not sure.

2. J-Camp student sponsorship: After some discussion, Sherri moved that we provide a $1,000 sponsorship for a student to attend J-Camp. We would sponsor the student in Joie Chen's name, as a special thank-you for being such a great host at our November Trivia Bowl fundraiser. Wanita seconded the motion. All said "aye."

3. "Middle East Crisis Through American Lenses" - 11/15/2006: This event generated lively discussion. ABC News Correspondent John Yang moderated. The space at Bloomberg was good, and Bloomberg provided drinks. Mei-Wah provided food. Though the food was great, Peggy pointed out that we need to be careful to mark food in case people have dietary restrictions. For instance, at this event, we expected a good amount of Muslim turnout, but we didn't know if the dumplings were made with pork. Bloomberg asked if we needed space for future events. We gave $10 Starbucks cards as a token of our thanks to our panelists.

4. Mid-career seminar - Sharpening Your Investigative Skills - How to Dig Deeper Faster" (1/25/07): This event is set to go at the Press Club. We have 15 RSVP's so far. Panelists include LA Times Washington Bureau Editor Marilyn Thompson and Washington Post Reporter Spencer Hsu. James Grimaldi, Washington Post reporter and IRE president, will moderate.

5. East Coast Mini-Conference - 3/31/07: Tan noted that SAJA also has a daylong conference coming up, with Washington Post Executive Editor Len Downie as Keynote Speaker. He'll talk about tightening of newsrooms across the country. Tan's report: The Press Club is reserved for our conference. We'll have 2 tracks -- Print and Other Media -- with 2 sessions each. The registration fee will be $35 for AAJA members, $45 for non-members, with a reduced rate for volunteers. Sessions will last 45 mins. to 1 hour. One session will address web integration -- Sherri said, for instance, that all Fox News reporters at her station are required to blog. The Keynote will be at 11, followed by 2 sessions with a break for lunch. We have point people from NY, NJ, Philly, and NC chapters. We need to think of an evening entertainment event. Susan will send a save the date notice out to our listserv. Also, on Sunday we'd like to offer a data-mining class. IRE can run the class.

6. Sponsorship letter: Sherri will chair this effort to create a fundraising letter for potential sponsors. Susan will send Sherri past letters (from Jody Mitori, former secretary, D.C. chapter) and information on former sponsors or people who were asked to sponsor us. Over the calendar year, we are planning 2 fundraisers, a mini-conference, 2 or 3 continuing mid-career seminars, a media workshop for community-service groups, and a continuation of our speaker series, started in 2006. Liz Kay (reporter, Baltimore Sun) has already had people ask about our Scrabble Tournament fundraiser. We plan to hold it one Sunday in May. The Trivia Bowl will be a Friday night in early October. We'll aim to have 15 tables.

7. ELP stipend: We plan to offer a stipend this year. The amount will depend on the level of need. We have an application form. Susan will send a note to our listserv that anyone interested should contact Doris.

8. Student Scholarship: Sherri will head up our search for candidates. She will contact student activity groups. Last year's winner Ambreen Ali participated in the Washington Post Writers workshop -- that's how we found her. Tan will double-check with Wai-Ping to see if he sent a check to Northwestern for Ambreen.

9. National Conference: Doris will coordinate programming. The hotel has been set and rooms are available. Doubles are $115 per night, and junior suites are $155 per night. Susan will send a note to our listserv reminding them to make their reservations early.

10. Community Outreach: It was mentioned that the Washington, D.C. Council has an Asian-American liaison group. We may want to introduce ourselves to them. Lister and Wanita will get together, so Lister can start planning the media training workshop for community groups.

11. Mixers: We decided that instead of having monthly mixers -- which will get expensive if we cover food at all of them -- we'll try to have 4 good social events for the year, so members have a chance to meet each other or catch up. Tan pointed out that we've had good experiences with potlucks, like the ones Peggy has traditionally hosted at her house. Lister volunteered his building rooftop for a summer BBQ.

12. Day-long training with USAToday/Gannett in March or April: Ed Foster-Simeon, Recruiting Editor at Gannett, wants to hold an event for minority journalists. It will be a mini-conference format.

13. Next meeting - Sat., Feb. 24, 2007, noon. Tan will host at his house.