Board Minutes January 8th, 2017

OPA BOARD MEETING by conference call

January 8, 2017

Participating: Tiel, Dorothy, Dick, Joy, Susan, Lisa, Lynn and Shirley

 

FALL CONFERENCE: University Place Hotel is confirmed and so is Emmett Wheatfall as keynote speaker. Keynote to be delivered on Friday evening. Request for gluten free lunch option.

 

VERSEWEAVERS: Booklet collected from printer 12/16. Bulk mail will come out of Portland. Weather problems have added to delay mailing 2015 edition.

 

ADULT CONTEST: Eleanor is preparing the 2016 edition. The 2017 OPA spring contest info is now posted on the website. February 1 to March 1 entry period. Winners announced by April 2017. OPA no longer sends certificates, just a letter with checks for winners. Honorable mentions receive a letter as well.

 

STUDENT CONTEST: 277 poems submitted. 6th-8th grade division 168 poems. Judging to take place on January 10, 2017 at Lisa’s home in Grants Pass. OPA will target High School age group with teacher information for next contest. After judging is complete Tiel will start process to publish Cascadia. Lisa would like to learn this process.  One student didn’t provide identifying data. Effort will be made on Facebook to elicit this information.

 

As soon as the award ceremony location and date are confirmed invitations will go to student winners. We won’t hear about funding until February. Capitol building room deposit is $200. Cancellation penalty must be explored.

 

NFSPS makes awards to groups who assist youth poetry. OPA project details will be submitted.

 

OREGON CONVERSATION PROJECT: Jason Graham will work with us on a project combining his presentation with an open mic. OPA must determine venues and dates. Shirley, Tiel and Lisa will work as a committee to have a plan by the end of January. Opportunity in Bend depends upon finding an on-the-ground person.

 

LIFETIME MEMBERSHIP: OPA discussed other types of service awards. The board will discuss this topic at the retreat. Moving forward OPA will be conservative in application of this award.

 

CONFERENCE PROPOSALS: Conference proposals are reviewed and decided upon at the annual retreat. This year’s retreat will be on Saturday, June 17. May 1 to June 1 is the submission period for proposals. Three calls for proposals will go out starting March 15. Another about April 15. May 15 would be last call reminder. The OPA membership mailing list and website will be used for these calls. Shirley will receive workshop proposals and present them at our retreat.

 

MEMBERSHIP DRIVE: Membership chair will be sending out postcards in February to remind members to renew. Difficulty arises with mix of electronic renewals and paper renewals. OPA plans to delete non-renewing members after two years and change postcard reminders to be blank in date area for future use. Members paying dues by paper will be notified. Electronic renewal provides a receipt. Membership chair will attempt to update email addresses. Members may not be checking all email options for OPA mail and newsletters. A suggestion was made to replace our very busy newsletter editor since we are not receiving newsletters. Membership chair will also send a message via email or letter to welcome new members and give them a sense of connection.

 

NEXT MEETING DATE: Sunday, February 19, 2017.

 

NEW BOOK REVIEW EDITOR NEEDED: OPA needs an editor with reasonably high standards. Reviews must be specific. Books written or edited by members and anthologies with members included are eligible for review. Editor recruits members or non-members to submit reviews.

 

Meeting adjourned. Joy McDowell, secretary OPA

 

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