Burlington Writers Workshop 01/08/23 Leadership Team Meeting Minutes, approved 02-12-23

To-do commitments are bolded and underlined.

Attendance: Janet Mckeehan-Medina (Co-Chair), Dick Matheson (Treasurer), Millie Eidson (Secretary), Sam Fenner (Managing Director), Jon Fenner (Comms Team), Skip Keith (member), Rebecca O’Bern (MSR), Jane Nevins (Fundraising), Julie Hay; Amy Place (Programs)

Meeting convened at 6:02 p.m.

General (Katie & Sam)

• Review and approve minutes from the previous meeting. Approved.
• Future meetings have time changed to 6:30-8:00 pm.
• Agenda will be made available through a link on the EventBrite page.
• Use Clickup to let Katie know ahead of time if leaving LT meeting early so the issue can be on the early part of agenda’s schedule.

MSR Update (Rebecca)

• Screen-shared art work for Dec. 20 issue; 5 poems; letters from editors; fiction & nonfiction
• Open up manuscript reviews in Feb. for income; will leave open during year and close category as needed; advertise on social media, newsletter
• Advertise opening period for submissions as well; open during even months, closed during  odd months

CLA book (Sam)

• Promotion of CLA book: advertised book launch but some don’t know where to go to get them later
• CLA books are available online and the logo for it is on the website
• Not on shelves at bookstores including Phoenix Books but is in bookstore catalogues for orders
• Copies are also available from Elaine Pentaleri
• Part of a larger issue of how to let know members about BWW information
• Add a Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) section on website to include this information
• Website design review is in progress; too much on each page so people get confused

Zoom licenses (Sam)

• Annual licenses up for renewal in Feb.
  • 2 workshops using own accounts
  • 3 happy with google meets
  • 5 would like Zoom licenses: some sharing has taken place
  • Can order certain number at discount at annual renewal; if added later, cost more
• Possible new workshops: Romance; Creative non-fiction and poetry prompts; Poetry discussion; Craft or critique; Rewilding (write prompts after going into nature); Breathing/exercise (write prompts)

EventBrite (Sam and Jon)

• New Eventbrite Fees, going up for each member registering for a paid event

Website (Jon)

• CLA prominent so those not knowing how to purchase it must not be going to website
• Menus streamlined
• Trying to simplify homepage
• Create Table of Contents Site Map/Index
• Consider focus group with some members to evaluate it
• Errors on first log-in, not when refreshing: Hosting company, trying to resolve
• Eventbrite tool isn’t pulling from there to website so requiring more manual steps currently

BWW: where are we headed and how do we want to get there? (Sam & Dick)

• Many members and hosts are asking for growth
• Requesting more diversity
• Need clearer vision statement including some feedback from hosts and members
• Control growth at speed we can handle
• What is membership size compared to three years ago? 600 members in database now
• What are contribution amounts
  • 22 sustaining,  11 non-monthly donors of $100 or more: 2021
  • 19 sustaining, 14 non-monthly donors of $72 or more: 2022
• Strong financial situation despite no membership drives or fundraising in last several years because expenses associated with studio have been saved
• Lost four workshops in the time period since creating EventBrite and other requirements
• Several areas to focus on:
  • Are actively soliciting new members?
  • Are we soliciting workshop needs?
  • Adding volume of events
  • Building stronger resources and redundancy for leadership, especially for finance, admin, and website; Sam is actively working at finding others to take over some of her various tasks
  • Look at what BWW uniquely offers that’s hard to find elsewhere; some things can be found elsewhere and perhaps we direct members there rather than offer them
  • Amy Place transitioning to take over as Program Team lead
  • Strategic Plan supports this type of annual assessment, in place since 2020: documents roles, plans
  • Reconcile different versions of mission statement in bylaws and website
  • Work on more detailed vision statement (providing connected community for writers)
  • People love the free workshops but many members don’t have a lot of loyalty or commitment to BWW as an organization
  • If BWW could provide ladder of growth for writers, the direction and building could help members feel they are advancing within BWW; stairway of workshops; but it’s challenging to find out how to provide advanced classes—where to find hosts
  • What other organizations have similar offerings? National groups like IWWG, ALLi, Authors Guild, and genre-specific: RWA, SinC and their local chapters offer master classes/discussions, some free and some fees, but they often don’t offer critique workshops
  • Think again about what is unique or our core: is it still geography-based?
  • Some groups are smaller than they would like to be and we do have some free Google ads; Writing from the Place of Your Dreams & Haiku host wants to advertise on Meetup; he can do that at no cost to BWW and not mentioning BWW—people can contact him
• How to continue this discussion going forward, particularly with upcoming annual meeting
  • Annual meeting: each team should start to plan their part to lead summary and discussion (perhaps too much reading of details last year)
  • Members vote on any board members filling vacancies or new ones
  • Nominations posted 8 weeks before the meeting
  • Agenda posted a month before
  • Finance report made for members and voted on
  • Strategic plan presented by LT, discuss, voted on
  • Offer opportunity for new business
  • Well-organized, tightly managed, and appealing to members
  • How to increase participation if want to use it to discuss BWW going forward?
  • In-person meetings with some food may have been more appealing
  • Refresh and renew strategic plan; invite members to provide suggestions, vote on at LT, then move forward
  • Push back from March to May
  • When will we have more data to help?
  • Collect from other writing groups any geographic parameters and also how they organize their workshops and guide participation
  • Requests have been made for local events, not necessarily workshops
  • Re-establish online meetings for workshop hosts to talk, including annual meeting; last done in 2021; perhaps website section just for hosts; improvements to host pipeline including recorded instructions, technical help

Adjourned 7:50 pm

Date for next LT meeting: Feb 12, 6:30 PM