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Wednesday, January 06, 2010
GLAA Board of Director Meeting – January 6, 2010
Present: Tom, Wade, Dan, Chris, Helen, Rob

Rob, Peggy, and Helen will review the Website content for errors and outdated items (other than member farm info), and let Peggy know if something needs to be changed. Thank so much to Peggy. Members are to update their own farm info. Members are already using the PayPal. It is working well. Is it ready for the new members – yes! It is OK for Peggy to post that new members can use PayPal.

Rob and Helen will begin looking through the site for outdated and inaccurate materials. Purposes are for marketing, education, and farm information. Again, send any comments to Peggy. Would like more pictures for the site. Peggy said she could add a classified ad section fairly easily. Rob and Helen will pursue this with Peggy. Will be a great addition to the site.

The “Requested Information” section for members should be publicized to members so they can go and check for leads. Could Peggy delete the requests for log in assistance once they have been taken care of?

We discussed the GODaddy email program provided by Peggy and Constant Contacts sample Rob sent for newsletters and announcements. Need to explore further. Email blasts for the seminar are going out. Rob has a big (700) list and will forward it to those. Thanks Rob! Dan will finalize the contract with the hotel. Helen will call the hotel with final numbers the week before the seminar. Grant request policy: When checks come from AOBA for grants, we need to call AOBA office to see who they are for, as there are usually several requests outstanding, and the checks don’t specify which grants were funded. We also discussed the grant funding philosophy and process. This item was tabled for further discussion; no action taken at this time. Membership renewal notices need to go out. Wade will send email blast.

Student Design Sponsorship Contest - Four UW Stout students entered the AOBA design contest, and six students from Illinois entered. We discussed sponsoring them, and will vote by email. We will also send an email to the members for donations of yarn, cloth, roving, etc. for the students to use in the contest. This will support the fiber industry.

Next meeting: Feb 3, 8:30 PM

Wednesday, December 02, 2009
GLAA Board of Director Meeting
Present: Tom, Wade, Dan, Chris, Helen, Keith, Rob
Assign a Board member to work with Committee Chairs: Any volunteers?

Keith and Marketing – Outreach, special projects . Tom volunteered – thanks!

Rob and Website – to help go over website and make suggestions re additions, deletions, corrections, etc. Work closely with Peggy as well. Helen volunteered – thanks!

It might be time for a periodic audit of GLAA, as normal for organizations. We could approach Les Green to see if he would do this, cost of audit. Dan has excel sheet of all transactions, and has written 60 checks, so it shouldn’t be too costly. He will send the spreadsheet to us to review. Discussion ensued re the detail of deposit slips. Dan will contact the accountant and find out what the accountant suggests.

A bill from GoDaddy for search engine visibility was approved, Tom will send email authorizing payment. Welcome Keith and Rob, and we all appreciate your willingness to help us.
Discussion ensued re how to get more visibility and communication of activities to the membership, make the website more useful to members. Goal 1 – get each page cleaned up. Goal 2 – get PayPal working. Goal 3 – Create a seller’s page where members can sell alpacas and alpaca items. Also need innovation. Rob described Constant Contact to generate leads – good idea. He will describe further at the next meeting, and email us info.

Keith wants to get more info out to people about what GLAA is doing and generate interest in membership. Great idea!

Fiber collection – two pallets approx 600 pounds were sent out, approx $150 shipping. About 12 to 15 farms participated.

Student Fiber Design Contest – Chris will email the Board members with the proposal to sponsor one or more students. Marketing Seminar – need to get advertising out.

Preparations are all set. Helen will call AOBA re the fee, and Tom, Keith and Wade will get the blurb ready. Possible to also use Constant Contact?

Website update – Wade and Peggy are trying to get the Paypal working in time for 2010 renewal. It is two steps forward and one step back, but they hope to have it ready in one month.

Advertising – Dan got a response from Hobby Farm. Will forward to us. Discussion ensued re how to advertise, where to concentrate $$. Dan explained that with national magazines we can pick regions of the country to target. Goal is to get people to come to GLAA website for alpaca s Treasurers report was reviewed.

Time for membership renewal – dues $50. Send out the word.

Next meeting: Jan 6, 8:30 PM

Saturday, October 24, 2009
GLAA Meeting Minutes Grays Lake, IL

Board members present: Tom Olson, Dan Emmerich, Christine Rogers, Helen Thomas

A brief member meeting was held following the halter show at NIAE on October 24, 2009. It was announced that Wade Gease and Christine Rogers were re-elected to the GLAA Board of Directors. In 2010 another election will be held as the three-year term of the other board members cease. Tom thanked our members Keith Gajeski and Rob Stephens for their participation in the election, as well as, the nominating committee, Lynne Johnson, Mac Johnston, Gary Preston.

Dan Emmerich supplied GLAA’s financial status. The year 2009 finds GLAA down in revenues from membership renewals and educational seminar participation, but solid in financial standing with bank certificates of deposit.

Chris Rogers discussed GLAA’s fiber collection efforts. Currently, 200+ pounds of fiber have been collected for shipment to the AFCNA. Another collection will be conducted at the WI / IL / MI meeting on November 7, 2009 at the farm of Pacesetter’s Alpacas in Beloit, Wisconsin. GLAA will be handling the shipping for members. Chris also requested donations on behalf of the AOBA Student Design Competition. Roving, fabric and yarn would be appreciated. Materials donation form may be found on the web site www.alpacafashion.com.

Ginny Olson was invited to speak about AFCNA activities and plans upcoming fiber utilization.

A big THANK YOU to Peggy Emmerich who has invested a tremendous amount of time and talent to updating the GLAA web site and bringing it to .com status.

Peggy addressed some of the upgrades including membership maintenance, farm location information, the extensive resource update and future modes of advertising on the web site and for the web site. It was suggested that perhaps a resource page of shearers be included on the web-site for members. Members are strongly encouraged to update their e-mail addresses.

GLAA will be sponsoring a mid winter educational seminar at the Chula Vista Resort in Wisconsin, Dells on February 6, 2010. Marketing will be the focus of the seminar. E-mail blasts to GLAA members will provide detailed information on the seminar.

The meeting closed with a thank you to all who attended and encouragement to support the affiliate as we move forward with the alpaca industry.

Respectfully Submitted
Helen Thomas-Bronk
GLAA Secretary

Tuesday, May 26, 2009

GLAA May 2009 Board Meeting Minutes
In attendance: Tom, Dan, Chris, Helen

Status of the Spring Bling AOBA grant was discussed briefly.
A review of the upcoming elections was discussed. The nominating committee will be contacted by the GLAA secretary, who will provide guidance and an outline of the time table for the election committee. Currently there are three candidates for the two open positions. Additional members are welcomed and encouraged to run for the open GLAA board positions.

The topic for our next educational seminar was discussed. Potential guest speakers are being contacted by Tom and Dan. And, a central Wisconsin venue such as Stevens Point will be explored for a possible meeting site. Details of the seminar will be announced soon.

A fleece collection for 2009 was also discussed. Details to follow.

Next board meeting will be June 10, 2009

Respectfully submitted,

Helen Thomas-Bronk, GLAA Secretary