In attendance were: Cheryl Landes, Mary Harper, Scott Smiley, Jane Henderson, Carolyn Weaver, Sherry Smith, Cher Paul, Gayle Davies, Cathy Martz, Maria Sosnowski, Joyce Helena Brusin

The meeting was called to order at 9:15 a.m.

Minutes
Scott moved that the Minutes of the April 2007 Meeting be approved with a suggested change to the heading of Executive Summary at the end, to read Action items, Cheryl seconded. All approved.

There was discussion about the need for an index to all past Minutes. Cathy mentioned that she and Martha are still working on that.

Scott suggested that all Board decisions about policy should also be posted on the website. Mary will gather a listing together for the 2006-2008 term for posting.

1. Reports
Treasurer – Scott Smiley provided the treasury report that was included in meeting attendee’s packets. Cheryl moved that the Treasurer’s report be approved. Mary seconded it. All approved.

Scott mentioned that the new Chapter brochure printing will be the first expenditure for the Community Relations/Marketing Committee.

Community Relations/Marketing Committee – Jane asked how often a Raffle should be conducted. After some discussion, Cheryl moved that the Raffle activity be conducted once a year at the Fall meetings, Scott seconded. All approved. Jane asked for suggestions as to who might be willing to be responsible for Raffles. Carolyn suggested we research the tax liability for raffles by a non-profit organization.

Jane shared a summary report from the feedback forms she received at yesterday’s meeting. Mary moved that Jane work with a couple other people who have some marketing or graphic design background to make the final design decisions and that Jane report back to the Board with the financial proposal when she’s ready to print the brochures, Cheryl seconded. All approved. The goal is to have some brochures by the Wordstock event in early November. Cheryl and Cher volunteered to assist Jane. Sherry has minor wording suggestions.

The Wordstock event will be held in downtown Portland, Oregon, on Nov. 10-11, 2007.

Pro Bono Committee – Sherry reported that it is not feasible for the Committee to accept large indexing projects unless there is an individual who volunteers to spearhead it or there is funding for it. Sherry will ask Martha to clarify the relevant text on the website.

Archives Committee – Cheryl will create an outline for each Officer to use to create a procedures document for their position. Mary and Cheryl will each be passing the officer torch to Maria and Ed in December, so they will need to complete their procedures document by then. Mary reminded everyone that ASI has produced a new Chapter Manual that we should use in this process. It’s available for download on the ASI website.

2. Meetings
Fall 2007 – Cheryl summarized the comments from the evaluation forms. There was discussion about rented AV equipment and the need to find out the equipment specifications and compatibility in advance for the presenters.

There was discussion about scheduling ergonomics stretches during scheduled breaks to avoid interruptions of a presenter. There was consensus that a disclaimer should always be stated prior to exercises, admonishing the individual to follow any instructions they have from a medical professional etc, before attempting any of the exercises. There was also consensus that we should only use exercises that are generally medically approved, rather than ask for volunteers to demonstrate them.

There was consensus that there is no need in the future to have a full breakfast spread for a meeting that starts at 9:00 a.m.

Maria, who coordinated Indexer Inns, reported that even after 2-3 listserv postings, there was only one request for the service.

The attendance was lower than expected. Sherry volunteered to post a question to solicit feedback from those who did not attend and to get suggestions for future meetings.

There was some discussion about the discounted registration fee for first-time visitors to the Chapter meetings. There was consensus to continue to offer this to anyone who is interested in learning about the profession and the practice of indexing without organizational membership requirements.

There was discussion about the value of advance planning of 1-2 years for meetings. The Board wants to review its past practices and policies relative to speakers. Mary will review past Minutes from Cathy Martz’s term and report back. The consensus was that the cost of speakers has been reasonable and Chapter members, who have participated on brief panels, have donated their time and expertise.

As an elaboration of officer duties, Scott moved that the Vice-President be responsible for meeting planning during their one year term and will initiate planning for the following year and will work collaboratively on all meeting planning with the presiding President, Mary seconded. All approved.

Spring 2008 – Cheryl reported that this meeting will be held in Eugene, Oregon, date to be determined well in advance of the ASI National Conference which will be held in Denver, Colorado on May 1-3.

Carolyn raised a scheduling suggestion for Chapter meetings that involves only one night lodging. The event would start around 1 p.m. on a Friday, continue Saturday morning and adjourn early afternoon on Saturday. Those who stay for the Board meeting would still likely be able to return home on the second day. There was consensus to use this scheduling format at the next Eugene meeting if at all possible. This arrangement makes catered lunches optional as well.

Fall 2008 – Cheryl reported that we have reserved space at Bastyr College in Seattle for the weekend of August 23, 2008 and that we will have access to low cost dorm rooms. Cheryl moved that we engage Jan Wright, who will do a presentation on Trends in Indexing and Enid Zafran who has offered to do a Legal Indexing seminar for this meeting. They will both participate in a presentation on the use of PDF software, Scott seconded. All approved.

Canada- June 2008 meeting – Cheryl mentioned that she will be posting information on listservs once the Canadian indexing group decides on a date for their upcoming national meeting in British Columbia, Canada. The Chapter will have no joint responsibilities for this meeting, but will share information as some of our members may want to attend.

Spring 2009 – Carolyn reported that the Board is planning to hold their 2009 meeting in Portland, Oregon at the DoubleTree Lloyd Center location the weekend of April 23-25. There was consensus that the Chapter would hold only one meeting in the Fall of 2009 which will satisfy the Chapter meeting requirement. Carolyn mentioned that local indexers will have many volunteer opportunities associated with this meeting.

Cher mentioned that we might want to research hourly rental of facilities, called cube space etc., which is becoming more prevalent in metro areas.

3. Scholarships
The summary statement that Colleen provided for the meeting was reviewed. There was consensus to delay posting anything to the website until after the Board had agreed on the objectives, written eligibility criteria and a procedure by which scholarships would be awarded. There was discussion on the difficulty of establishing the objective criteria.

Cheryl mentioned that her business, Tabby Cat Communications, sponsored the discounts on the next meeting’s registration fees and awarded them by a random drawing of the meeting’s attendees as an example of corporate sponsorship.

5. Officers/Elections
Cheryl mentioned that she has been in touch with Ed Rush about the transition to Vice-President. Mary has already been sharing information with Maria in anticipation of the no-contest election results.

6. PNW Excellence in Indexing Award
Cheryl suggested we review the criteria that Pilar Wyman has developed for STC index reviews. Cheryl suggested we may be able to use this for PNW awards as well as Peer Reviews. Gayle mentioned that there will be an article in the upcoming Newsletter about it. Colleen and Cheryl will continue to develop this.

7. Anniversary books sale at ASI Meeting
Cheryl offered to arrange to take a book with order forms to display at the upcoming Denver meeting. Mary suggested the price include the cost of shipping. Cher mentioned that there are 25-30 left.

8. Grant proposals for indexing projects
No new information; efforts ongoing.

9. ASI National issues
Carolyn mentioned that Kate Mertes is working on developing an ASI member recognition program. ASI appreciates that the recognition efforts of this Chapter spearheaded by Sherry are exemplary and would like to learn from them.

Since a proposed bylaws amendment to change the name of ASI from 'American Society of Indexer' to 'American Society for Indexing' will appear on the 2008 ASI ballot for approval by the membership, we may want to take that into account the volume of printing we do before then.

A "moratorium" on the approval of new SIGs has been instituted by the ASI Board, pending a review of SIG operating guidelines and the use of ASI's tax ID by both chapters and SIGs. Tighter banking regulations will affect chapters as well. Additional information will be shared with chapters and SIGs as soon as it becomes available.


Action items
Martha will post the April 2007 Minutes to the Chapter website
Cathy and Martha will index all past Chapter Meeting Minutes
Mary will gather a listing of Board policy decisions together for the 2006-2008 term for posting to website
Sherry will post a query to the IndexingNW listserv for feedback from non-attendees
Jane will request on the listserv donations of books for Wordstock prizes
Scott will submit a financial report for the meeting income and expenditures
Scott will give Cathy leftover meal supplies for the Spring meeting
Jane will contact Sheila Ryan to see if she’d like to be responsible for the annual Raffle
Scott and Carolyn will verify IRS regulation regarding raffles by non-profits
Jane will contact Board when brochure design is finalized with a printing cost proposal
Cheryl will create and distribute an outline of what information officers and committee chairpersons should include in the archival records.
Mary and Cheryl will use the outline and produce procedure manuals for the new officers by December
Sherry will ask Martha to change the Pro Bono project text on the website to say “small” projects
Cheryl will finalize arrangements with Jan Wright and Enid Zafran for upcoming Seattle meeting
Colleen and Cheryl will continue to develop the Excellence Award concept
Colleen and Cheryl will continue to develop a proposal for how scholarships for meeting attendance costs might be offered
Cheryl will coordinate with Cher and take an Anniversary book to Denver to set up sales display with order forms
Nancy, Sherry and Annanaomi will continue to research the grant proposal concept for historical indexing projects.


The meeting was adjourned at 11:45 a.m.

Respectfully submitted,
Mary Harper, Secretary