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Saturday, March 28, 2009
MEIEA General Meeting
Berklee College of Music, Boston, MA

Present:  Kemmerer, Schreiber, Wangler, Garfrerick, Bulla, Sanchez, Wujcik, Johnson, Hicks, Lawrence, Kellogg, Ronkin, Baskerville, Leonard, Gloor, Knisely, Progis, Haines, Zaremski, Armstong, Knisely, Elton, Bingham, Leonard, Murciano, Pierson, Wynne, Ashbourne, Gaber, Palmer, Terrill, Walker, Rothschild, Stein, Zeigler, Guthrie, Rains, Roberts, Perry, Strasser, Krant, Gorder, Hays, Salzenstein, Lewis, Nelson, Moore, Williams, Hatschek, Piechocinski, Waller, Viscardi, Burch, Schenbeck, Elton, Alhadeff, Brabec, Eichelberger, Gatling, Mager, Taylor, Vassall-Gore, Neill, McLaughlin, Zager

The meeting was called to order by Sanchez at 8:38 am.

President’s Report (Sanchez)
 
Welcome and announcements.  Sanchez extended a thank you to the Berklee conference committee for a wonderful event.  Sanchez made the announcement of the 2010 conference in Miami and call for ideas on panels was solicited. 

Summary of the past three years included doubled membership, an increase in conference attendance and an overall surge and momentum. He is pleased with the continued progress and is looking forward to focused growth and a more formalized structure.  This was the first year an online conference registration was done on-site.  Membership system is gathering data and goal is to have automated membership system with individual profiles in the coming years. 

Sanchez announced a sponsorship package that was formalized this year.  Discussion about content followed.

Sanchez thanked the membership for allowing him to serve the past 2 years.

Approval of the Minutes

    Motion to approve minutes as presented:  Hatschek
    Second:  Schenbeck
    Passed:   Unanimous
    Opposed:  None

Vice-President’s/Election Report (Wangler)
•    18 people ran for Board positions
•    62 people voted in elections, an increase in number, but decrease in percentage of membership.
•    A tie occurred in this year’s election between two general board positions
   
This year's positions up for election:

•    Director of Student Relations
•    Secretary
•    Treasurer   
•    4 general board positions

Call went out for suggestions on improvement in the process.  A few members mentioned they had difficulty in receiving correspondence about the election and emails being sent thereto.  Bulla stated that the Secretary sends out messages every 3-4 weeks and for members to be diligent about checking spam filters.  Records show that people are receiving them, but are not opening them. Schreiber will follow-up with a post conference announcement within 1 week for confirmation of receipt.  Wangler encouraged institutional reps to approach colleagues to check emails as well. 

Mager asked about any difficulties regarding browsers and voting format.  Bulla mentioned that voting is done in HTML to make the process more accessible. Knisley made the suggestion of posting pictures when elections are being made.  It could help in connecting the name with the individual.  Bulla mentioned that it might add complexity and more difficulty to the process. Knisley also expressed a concern about the timing of the elections and the possible consideration of changing them.  Wangler explained the rational behind the current system. A suggestion was made by Knisely to have the nomination process start in October and voting begin in November.

    Motion to move the election process to begin in October, elections in November:  Guillermo
    Second:  Haynes
    Passed:   Unanimous
    Opposed:  None

Sanchez acknowledged outgoing board and welcomed in new board.  Sanchez explained to the membership the voting procedures as to the tie that occurred and the 1-year appointments filling the vacant positions. 
   
    Outgoing Board

        Tonya Butler-University of Memphis
        Andrea Johnson-Berklee College
        Kim Wangler-Appalachian State University
        Becky Chappell-Anderson University

    2009-10 elected board members

        President-Kellogg
        Vice President-Hicks
        Director of Membership-Elton

        General Board

1.    Haines
2.    Wujcik
3.    Kemmerer
4.    Burch

        1-year appointments-due to vacant seats

1.    Gaber
2.    Armstrong

Immediate Past President- Rey Sanchez

Treasurer’s Report (Bulla)

Bulla discussed the financial position of the organization. (See Appendix A & Appendix B)

Bulla briefly discussed conference attendance and record attendance, cost is up, but so is expected net profit. Final report will follow post conference.
   
        Students expected:  225
        Actual: 290

        Faculty Expected: 60
        Actual: 100

Discussed three-year strategic plan and the reasoning behind the negative net 2008 revenue.  Numbers were in-line with expectations taking into consideration of the strategic plan.  Brief discussion about sponsorships followed.  Concerns about tracking advertising and its effectiveness were brought up.  Bulla discussed “clicks” on website and increase from 500,000 clicks a year since inception to over 3,000,000 a year currently.  A question was brought to the membership on the Billboard ads and the profile portrayed.  Membership seemed positive to the branding being done in Billboard thus far. 

Membership Report (Bulla, Elton) (See Appendix C)

     170 Active Members, increase from 140 last year
    668 Student Members
    65 Institutional Members

Bulla went through general membership report (See Appendix C)

Bulla mentioned 113 schools have activity of some kind, including faculty, MEISA chapters etc, but are not officially institutional members. 

Discussion ensued about the motion that was understood as tabled last year, but was eventually noticed as withdrawn by the membership.

    The Motion Withdrawn included:

“Should an Institutional Membership be a requirement for having a MEISA chapter”?

The discussion went as follows:

Ronkin expressed concern about budget cuts and pushing to hard on institutions to join at this time.  A question was posed by the membership as to the rational behind making it a requirement.  It allows for closer control, liability and concerns over the brand association.  Kemmerer mentioned that someone on campus may be have oversight over the group but may not be a member i.e. Dean of Students.

Sanchez made clear there are three options:

1.    Has to have a MEIEA member as an advisor (current procedures)
2.    Should it be an institutional membership?  (current motion on the floor)
3.    Should there be any? (Up for discussion if so chosen)

Concerns that center on the institutional membership requirement have more to do with oversight and to finalize liability, than any else.   What is the advantage to an institutional membership? Why wouldn’t the chapter be a member?  Sanchez mentioned that there currently isn’t a chapter membership.  An issue for further discussion should be done.  Students could be required to register their chapters as institutional members.  Guillermo suggested that we untable the motion and come back to it next year.   Progris mentioned that the original intention was to model after the MENC chapters and suggested that we take a look at those guidelines and policies to potentially model.  Gorder mentioned that once decided we would have to enforce it. A compliance timeline could be given to those chapters that could not immediately comply.  Kemmerer suggested that we firm up our current policy before moving ahead with becoming an institutional member.

No further discussion continued or action taken after awareness was made that the motion was withdrawn.

Bulla mentioned a job posting that was added from an outside source that generated revenue for the organization.  It revolved around the benefits to membership including access to the job board.

Journal Report & Research Stipends (Ronkin)

Ronkin discussed research grant proposals and the process of involvement.  Encouraged submissions and to check the website in a couple of weeks for details.

    Deadline: Priority Consideration - May 31, 2009

    2008 Grants Offered

1.    Senior Faculty Grant
2.    Collaborative Educator and Industry Practitioner Grant
3.    Junior Faculty Grant

Ronkin identified the current research grant recipient and stated that the demand for academic papers has been increasing.

Ronkin mentioned that the 2008 MEIEA Journal came out in fall and that he was seeking submissions for 2009.

    Current rejection rate: 40%, last year 50%

Circulation goes to all members and to EBSCO subscriptions

    Deadline:  End of May, posted on Website as well

Current Sections of the Journal:

•    Research Papers
•    Pedagogy Section
•    Student Papers
•    Book Reviews

Ronkin Solicited for interest in being Journal reviewers.

The next step is to raise availability and visibility.  Ronkin is seeking volunteers to assist in making that happen, including help to increase citations and other activities surrounding electronic searches. 

Call for MEIEA Conference Hosts

Sanchez put out the call for future conference hosts.

2010 Conference Update - (Elton, Sanchez)

2010 Conference: Miami, FL
Dates: March 26 & 27

Announcements

Wangler announced a project she is undertaking that involves more activity in CMS and notified the membership that they do not have a music business board position.  She has been appointed as a committee member to represent the interests of music business education for CMS and would like help providing that cause. 

Schenbeck proposed having MEISA chapters in high schools.  She briefly went through her ideas with the membership that included having each MEIEA or MEISA Chapter target individual schools – have an intern or liaison.  High Schools chosen should be considered carefully.  Rochester areas has already has small music business majors and thinks it would be a good idea.  Another idea could include having those clubs do small projects on “how to put on a concert” Start training them early and getting high school students involved in business activities.  “A first and unique.”

Haynes mentioned some ideas about Brand building.  Micro-lectures or podcasts could be posted as a way to build value.  Bulla mentioned Media site, that we are currently recording papers and panels to do just that.

Knisley mentioned her millennial student panel.
   
Motion to adjourn:  Kellogg
    Second:  Haynes
    Passed:   Unanimous
    Opposed:  None

The meeting was adjourned at 10:10 am.

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