AMC DC Chapter Executive Committee Meeting January 11, 2015 Members Present: Members Absent: Call to Order Treasurer s Report: Membership Report:

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AMC DC Chapter Executive Committee Meeting January 11, 2015 Members Present: Chapter Chair Mike Darzi, Vice Chair Ken Shuck, Southern Regional Director Jody Inglis, Immediate Past Chair and

1 AMC DC Chapter Executive Committee Meeting January 11, 2015 Members Present: Chapter Chair Mike Darzi, Vice Chair Ken Shuck, Southern Regional Director Jody Inglis, Immediate Past Chair and Conservation Chair Bruce Milhans, Leadership Chair Mike Settles, Backpacking Chair Paul Fofonoff, Social Chair Lindsay Middleton, Member-at-Large Ryan Lore, Member-at-Large Judy Kandel, Event Leader Lily Lin Members Absent: Chapter Secretary and Membership Chair Kristan Weber, Chapter Treasurer William Weber, Young Members Chair Regina Leonard, Trails Chair Paul Elliot, Paddling Chair Carl Lohmann Call to Order by Chapter Chair Mike Darzi Agenda for the meeting was reviewed and approved. Minutes for the meeting on September 14, 2014 were submitted and were reviewed and approved. Treasurer s Report: William Weber s financial report was submitted for the period 1/1/ /31/2014 and was reviewed and approved. Total Beginning Cash Balance 1/1/2014 $20, Total Revenues/Transfers In $10, Total Expenses/Transfers Out $ 9, Ending Cash Balance 12/31/2014 $21, Membership Report: Kristan Weber s membership report was submitted for the period 1/1/2014-1/1/2015 and was reviewed, discussed, and approved. The increase in members (from 2,628 to 2,745) was discussed with the improvement in the economy mentioned as one of the possible reasons for the increase. The Chapter s response letter for members renewing their membership was also provided but not discussed. As of 1/2015 there are 2,628 current members and 2,745 memberships Percent change for members was +4.4% and for memberships was +5.3% from 1/2014 1/2015 Chair s Reports: Conservation: No conservation activities have been conducted since the last EXCOMM meeting Bruce Milhans will be attending an upcoming AMC conservation meeting Bruce requested all members to provide recommendations for possible partners for conservation activities 1

2 Mike Darzi asked if trail maintenance was considered part of the Chapter s conservation activities. The Trails Chair has that responsibility, but the Chapter does very little trail maintenance activities on a routine basis. This is a major function of the Potomac Appalachian Trail Club (PATC). Action Item: Bruce Milhans to attend an AMC conservation meeting and to explore opportunities to participate in joint activities with other organizations. Young Members: Mike Darzi informed the EXCOMM that Regina Leonard has resigned as the Chapter s Young Members Chair. Her reasons for resigning were discussed. Lily Lin mentioned her interest in getting younger members and families involved in the Chapter. Lily agreed to be the Young Members Chair temporarily and agreed to discuss possible activities for young members with Regina. Lindsay Middleton also agreed to discuss the Outdoors Rx program with Regina. Lily Lin mentioned that she knows a group that is focused on doing family events and that she would contact them to get ideas on how the Chapter might be able to hold family-oriented events. Social: Lindsay Middleton recommended that the Chapter hold a social event which was further discussed o Having an event that included a presentation by a Chapter member on a recent out-of-town hiking trip was mentioned. It was mentioned that people get turned off if the presentation turns into a more personal trip lecture. It was recommended that an event about an AMCsponsored hiking trip might be done. o Lily Lin mentioned that events where lectures/videos are shown about acquiring hikingrelated skills might be done. o Mike Darzi mentioned that he is in the process of contacting a person who is a National Geographic photographer who has ties to AMC. He may be willing to present at a Chapter event. o Several potential locations for these type of events were mention, to include REI facilities or a library in Bethesda that Mike Darzi has used. Lily Lin mentioned that she has attended lectures at REI facilities and that she noticed they have a space where organizations could advertise their upcoming events. Lindsay also asked if we should hold a Chapter picnic in the Spring. It was agreed that this would be a good activity for the Chapter. The Blue Ridge Center for Environmental Stewardship near Harpers Ferry was mentioned as a possible location for the picnic. Action Items: Lindsay Middleton to explore future social events and a Chapter picnic. Mike Darzi to contact a National Geographic photographer about doing a presentation at a DC Chapter social event. 2

3 Leadership: Mike Settles reported that the Chapter currently has 27 event leaders identified, but 3 of them have lapsed (Michael Dichio, Steven Glaros, and Mark Lidd). Mike was given approval to drop these three as event leaders due to their inactivity. With AMC corporate support, Mike is setting up Leadership training that is tentatively scheduled for February 27, Announcements of the training have been posted to the OLTL, Meetup site, and provided to the Chapter leadership. Ryan Lore stated that he would include an announcement on the training in the next AMC broadcast . Although Mike is still looking for a location, he is considering NCEEC in Nanjemoy if it is available. Other suggested locations will be considered. Richard Hillman has also offered to support. There are currently 6 people signed up for the training (5 via the Chapter s Meetup site and Lily Lin). AMC corporate recommend a limit of 10 people for the training. The Delaware Valley (DV) Chapter is holding a 3-day leadership training program on April 10-12, Mike Settles has linked Ken Shuck with Lennie Steinmetz so Ken can monitor the training for future leadership training by our Chapter. Some discussion was held on the difference between the DC and DV Chapter s leadership training. Mike Settles stated it was a matter of scope with the DV course providing more depth in the subjects taught. It was also mentioned that the DV Chapter links attendees with the DV Event Leaders who will be mentors on their qualifying hikes. Mike Darzi requested everyone seek out and recommend people to become new Event Leaders. Mike Settles mentioned that he had also sent a request to the DC Event Leaders asking if they would be willing to mentor potential event leaders on their qualifying hikes. Mike Darzi cited that we need to know how to submit our list of event participants to AMC corporate. It was mentioned that it can be done by . Action Items: Mike Settles to continue seeking participants and training location for the upcoming February 21 leadership training. Ken Shuck to attend the DV Chapter leadership training on April Mike Settles will investigate the address to which Event Leaders can send scanned waiver forms of outings and distribute that address. Backpacking, Hiking (needs new Chair), Trails, Canoeing/Paddling, Publicity, Newsletter (needs new Chair) no reports Old Business: None reported 3

4 New Business: AMC Summit: Mike Darzi, Ken Shuck, and Bruce Milhans will be attending the AMC 139th Annual Summit on January 24-25, 2015 in Norwood, MA. Discussed what sessions were being attended. Chapter Name Change: Mike Darzi will raise the issue of changing the Chapter s name (from Washington Area Chapter) to something more representative of the area we cover. A discussion with AMC corporate two years ago was not well received. Action Item: Mike Darzi to discuss the issue of changing the Chapter s name with AMC corporate leadership. Communications: The Chapter s web pages need updating. It was mentioned that the Chapter s web page can be changed. The Chapter pays Darwin Rosario by the hour for making changes to the Chapter s webpages. Action Item: Ken Shuck will see that updates to the webpages are provided to Darwin Rosario. Newsletter: Bruce Milhans mentioned that the Chapter s newsletter editor has resigned. The newsletter is normally published four times per year. An effort needs to be made to collect input and assemble the newsletter. Blast: Ryan Lore stated that the AMC blast may be sent up to two times a month and a maximum of 12 times a year. Mike Darzi mentioned that these blasts are not stored on our website. Jody Inglis informed the EXCOMM that they are stored on the AMC Sphere system. Action Item: Ryan will see that the Chapter s Chair vacancies and the upcoming Leadership training are mentioned in the next AMC blast. Annual Report: Mike Darzi recommended that preparation of the Chapter s Annual Report to AMC corporate begin in early December. It was mentioned that the Chapter could change its fiscal reporting period to something other than the calendar year. It was agreed that having the report available for the Annual Meeting would be useful, requiring a reporting period of Sep 30 to Oct 1. It would be helpful to develop a template and determine the types of information the Chapter would like to capture in these reports. Bruce Milhans recommended that everyone archive their reports and events so the information if available later for the annual report. Action Item: Mike Darzi will develop some guidelines for Annual Report submissions by Event Leaders. 4

5 Executive Updates: The AMC Executive Updates provide an opportunity for the Chapter to highlight a member or event that a member has done. I should be 1-2 lines that John Judge can use in one of his s. These s happen about once per month. Google Group: Mike Darzi recommended that potential Event Leaders be listed on the appropriate Google group list. He also requested that the draft EXCOMM meeting minutes be sent to the Leadership Google group list. Increasing Participation: o Mike Darzi informed the EXCOMM that there are many other hiking-related Meetup.com groups (with many more members) competing for the same type of members as our Chapter. o To increase member participation, the Chapter needs to have more event leaders and events. People in this area are not familiar with the selling points that AMC has in the Northeast (e.g., huts, trails, conservation activities, etc.). o Mike would like all Event Leaders to post their events on the AMC-DC Meetup.com site since that has the widest exposure to potential new members. Lily Lin requested to know what the process is for entering events on the AMC-DC Meetup site. All Event Leaders should be able to post events on the AMC-DC Meetup.com site; they can let Mike Darzi know if they are not able to do so. o It was mentioned that it would be good to have a template to use to post events so that detailed information is provided. Mike Settles mentioned that the AMC OLTL is getting a new look which event leaders will have to learn to use. o Mike Darzi recommended that all Event Leaders be requested to do 10 events per year and that it would be ideal if the Chapter had an event every Saturday and Sunday (the days that DC area working people are usually available). o The Chapter needs a core of more active Event Leaders and needs to increase the number of shorter/easier day hikes. Depending on previous experience, new Event Leaders may not need to meet all of the current requirements (e.g., first aid training) if they are only going to lead short day hikes in local parks. Consideration should be made to recruiting Event Leaders that have been active in other groups. o When leading combined hikes for two groups (e.g., AMC & SCPRO), Mike Darzi mentioned that he uses the liability waivers of both groups with one signing sheet to avoid hikers having to sign twice. 5

6 o Bruce Milhans informed the EXCOMM that the AMC cannot charge for its events as other hiking groups do. o Lily Lin asked if the Chapter has handouts advertising its events that can be posted in hiking related businesses like REI. Mike Darzi stated that we do not at this time, but also recommended we not do it until we have a larger number of events to advertise. o Lily Lin asked if the Chapter had a Facebook account. The Chapter does not. Action Item: Mike Darzi and Lily Lin to set up a Facebook account for the Chapter. o o o Bruce Milhans recommended that the Chapter might want to hold a retreat to one of the AMC lodges (e.g., Mohican Lodge). Judy Kandel asked if the AMC had a rating scale for hikes. Mike Settles mentioned that the DV Chapter does, but he did not think the AMC did. A discussion was held on handling situations where members sign up for hikes but are not physically or healthy enough to complete the hike. It was agreed to that individual Event Leaders decide what is needed for their hike and can exclude anyone considered not able to complete the hike at the pace planned DC Chapter Executive Committee Meetings: January 11 3:00-4:30 p.m. March 8 3:00-4:30 p.m. May 10 3:00-4:30 p.m. July 12 3:00-4:30 p.m. September 13 3:00-4:30 p.m. Annual meeting: November 8, 2015 time/location TBD All meetings will be held at 4000 Cathedral Avenue, NW, Washington, DC

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