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TARC Committee Meeting, Sept. 17, 2003


NEXT MEETING: November 12, 10 a.m. to noon, Belmont University (directions and parking information to come)

Attending: Susan Barnes, Terry Hill, Robyn Kilpatrick, Kippy Todd, Matt Anderson, Jamie Hlubb, Jack Gregory, Elaine Kelsey, Iris Ramey.

The meeting was called to order by Susan Barnes, president, at 10 a.m. in the Provost’s Conference Room at Belmont University in Nashville. Minutes were unavailable from the July 24 business meeting following the summer conference but will be e-mailed by Ashley Brown. Susan gave a recap of what was discussed. A treasurer’s report from Jennifer Obrien will also be e-mailed, but Susan reported that the bank balance is at about $7,000 with all bills paid from the conference.

Old Business The committee voted to sign contracts with Gina Stanley of MTSU, who runs her own private secretarial service, to serve as TARC administrator. She will be paid $10 per hour with a guarantee of 5 hours per month and $10 per hour for any time over the five hours per month with approval of the president. We also voted to sign a contract with Mike Reed, an independent WEB designer in Smyrna (formerly of MTSU), to rebuild our WEB page. He will be paid $300 for the initial rebuilding of the page and $25 per hour to maintain the page. Susan will check with Mike to see if he can also host the page for that same fee.

The committee discussed again a possible merger with TCPRA (Tennessee College Public Relations Association). Jud Davis of Freed-Hardeman and Kim Chaudoin of Lipscomb had contacted Susan about the merger and were interested but have not responded to e-mails. Susan will contact them before the TCPRA fall meeting to see if they are still interested. The committee decided to keep the PR track for the summer conference for one more year to see if we can beef it up, with or without a merger.

Conference review—Keith is tallying the evaluations, which will be available at the next meeting. We had 120 who attended (including speakers and vendors) and 85 paid, which was excellent in the tough economy. The silent auction brought in about $1,000 and will be continued. The awards program will not be continued as is but there will be awards given to the best material supplied for the information exchange table. Independent judges will be appointed.

New Business: ’04 Conference Planning

Susan has a hold on Montgomery Bell State Park for the July 22-23 dates. Belmont University has also invited the conference to their campus. Cost at Belmont is $500 for the black and white dining room in Massey Hall and for four classrooms for breakouts. The committee voted to hold the conference at Belmont. Iris Ramey will serve as our liaison with the University.

For housing, Iris will contact several hotels in the area with whom Belmont does business regularly for rates. We will reserve several rooms at each hotel in a variety of price ranges. The committee discussed the hospitality suite and will pursue several options:

1) an evening dinner at Belmont, with Belmont music students providing entertainment
2) a hospitality suite in one of the area hotels where rooms are booked
3)an hors d’oeuvres and cash bar reception at one of the restaurants in the Hillsboro Village area (Sunset Grill, Belcourt Theater)

Several vendors have already expressed interest in attending—Ruffalo Cody, Collette Travel, and others. There is a good area between the dining room and the breakout rooms where vendors can set up.

Speaker suggestions included a welcome by Dr. Bob Fisher, president of Belmont, and Bo Thomas, vice president of advancement. Keynote ideas included Vanderbilt Chancellor Gordon Gee (Iris to contact). Dr. Steve Flatt, president of Lipscomb University, was suggested as luncheon speaker (Susan to contact). Closing speaker suggestions included Mike Curb, Vince Gill and/or Amy Grant, Cal Turner or Eddie Arnold. Belmont has close relationships with all of these, and Iris will make contacts. Elaine will contact Orrin Ingram, and Susan will contact Lee Beaman for possible participation.

Ideas for topics were Vanderbilt’s merger of its intramural and athletics departments (Robyn will make a contact), the UT Presidential scandal (Susan has secured Tom Ballard and John Clark to talk on crisis communications), newcomers session with Dave Roberts and Lofton Stuart (Susan), David Newberry on annual giving (Elaine has already secured him), the launch of MTSU’s new alumni publication (Susan has secured speakers), a panel on developing senior gift programs, legal issues (IRS audits of non-profits, do not call lists, privacy statements; Elaine will contact Eddie Thompson). Other ideas included data base marketing (Susan will contact Ashley Sawdon), how to buy printing (Iris will contact the Belmont publications office), the ETSU Pride campaign (Susan will contact Bob Plummer at ETSU), and e-philanthropy.

We reminded ourselves to be sure to cover all tracks—small shop, independent schools, community colleges, development, alumni and PR and to have diversity in our speakers.

Meeting adjourned at noon.