Board of Directors Minutes
April 14, 2009

A regular meeting of your Board of Directors was held at the Resource Center on Tuesday, April 14, 2009 at 7:00 p.m.  Present were Howard Berger, Richard Corzo, Sean Henderson, Patrick Libert, Rob Limbaugh, Jeff Setaro, and Joseph Tobin.  President Rob Limbaugh presided via phone conference and Secretary Mary Tobin kept the record.  Minutes of the last meeting held March 9, 2009, were presented and approved.

Treasurer’s Report
There was no Treasurer report due to Charlie being on vacation.

New Business
General meeting review for April will be sent by Joseph to Patrick by Sunday, May review to be done by Richard.
General meeting preview for May has already been sent by Richard to Patrick.

2009 General Meeting Topics
Richard proposed a new topic for a General Meeting to be backups, offsite backup, and backup to hard drive.  This could replace the home server general meeting for October or November.  Also discussed was John Patrick’s December presentation to be something other then the ‘State of the Internet’.  Sean will check to see if he has another topic to discuss.

Public Event Venues
Volunteer Center will be Sunday, April 19, Danbury Fair Mall, lower level by the fountain from 1-2 p.m.  http://www.volunteerdanbury.org, Betty Batista - This is to be billed as event to get support/board members.  Participants so far: Charlie Bovaird and Sean Henderson.

CT Film Interactive Festival Whole Festival is June 2-7, Interactive held at arena, June 4-6 (Thursday-Saturday from 11 a.m. to 8 p.m.), http://www.ctfilmfest.com – The question of the location of the Film Festival was discussed.  Ken Graff will be leading a workshop about using open source image tools.  Lesa Snider King will host a workshop on using Adobe Photoshop.

This was seen as a major opportunity for exposure of DACS.  Our purpose for being there is to promote DACS. They are keeping the Film Festival centrally located in the Danbury Area this could lead to potentially huge visibility, a thought was to hand something out that has information about us, an item to take away such as a pencil or something that will be seen down the road to remember DACS.

Our area will be 10’x10’.  We need to man the table from 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. for 3 days.  Participants so far:  at the table Richard Corzo, Rob Limbaugh, Charles Bovaird, Sean Henderson, Joseph Tobin, and Jim Scheef.  Workshop leaders: Lesa Snider King and Ken Graff.  Table volunteers will receive access passes to 130 films, 100 workshops, 50 bands and Industry events, networking parties and after parties all week long.

Charlie has banners, name tags and plaques for display.  There were many discussions about DACS’s appearance at the Film Festival.  Including DACS Polo shirts to be worn at the booth, there could be money in the budget but we’ll need to check with Charlie.   Jeff uses a company which charges$29.99 plus $8.00 charge for set up of logo; it was felt that members could assist financially for some of the cost.  Richard thought the purpose of DACS being there is to see film creativity, music, art and entertainment done with technology.  The thought was that we needed to communicate that DACS is a variety of different things; we are not about one technology.  We are about cutting edge technology. The general feeling was that there should be an interactive component to our booth.

There was a great deal of discussion about the need for something audio / video or multimedia copies of meetings / demo / slideshow / varying technology (PD device) a form of infomercial preferably on a projector. Rob to send an email to membership to see if someone will volunteer to create.   Sean can produce a music piece.  It should clearly state all tools that are used to create the presentation and that this piece was created by DACS members.  DACS can be a resource to learn how to use the tools to make their productions.   We can make a collection of items that we feel is interesting in Pandora to demonstrate that it can be customized to your own taste.  Some thoughts: Collection of URL, face book, twitter, Pinnacle Software, AVID systems (ADOBE), Sony “Vegas”, NEWTEK Light Ware, YouTubers (Rob, Joe – DACS already has a YouTube account), audio editing video (Sean/Audacity), maybe even some vintage technology, and consumer software Adobe Premier Elements.  A thought was made that PhotoStory 3 (free from Microsoft) could be used. It takes a collection of images then makes a movie, similar to iMovie.  Sean will contact Mark Weiss for constructive ideas. 

Howard created ‘Join DACS Magic and catch the Magic’ where M= meeting, A= articles, G=groups, I= interactive, C= computer."

Another option is video testimonials from members.  Sean felt that this would have a huge impact if done correctly.  

Brochure: start to think what we want it to look like.  Rob will check with Allan or Annette for graphic design ideas.  Allan may have some photos for a poster size montage of past DACS meetings. Movie size poster set up with DACS covers from newsletters and some website images (JPEG) Rob will email Lesa for possibility. 

General Meeting Topics
Issue was raised about General Meetings occurring on the first Monday of the month and what the DACS site needs to reflect.  Concern rose about the bylaws, bylaws to be changed to reflect day of the week change.  The 2009, General Meetings are 'first Monday’s’: 1/5, 2/2, 3/2, 4/6, 5/4, 6/1, 7/6, 8/3, 9/7, 10/5, 11/2, 12/7.

Rob discussed possible vendor sponsorship.  They would provide refreshments and want to be mentioned on the website.  It would need to be clearly stated that they are a vendor sponsor of the group.   Jeff found corporate sponsorship is stated on the website, “Any advertiser who commits to 2/9 of a page or larger ad in our newsletter, dacs.doc, for a period of no less than six consecutive months qualifies."  Sean indicated that the bylaws state there is only one type of membership, bylaws should be changed.

The board meeting will reconvene on Wednesday 22 (Thursday 23 tentative) for follow up of this meeting.  To be discussed at next meeting: scheduling, handouts glossy printed item look at 8-1/2” trifold (need to check pricing).

The meeting was adjourned – Rob motioned, Patrick seconded, all unanimous.

- Mary Tobin