Called to Order: 7:30 PM
Attending: Dick Gingras, Andy Woodruff, Jim Scheef, Annette van Ommeren, Bruce Preston, Lisa Leifels, Richard Corzo, Bert Goff
Guest: Charlie Bovaird
Minutes of Last Meeting Accepted
Treasurer report
Secretary’s Note: Only current entries are reported here, Bert provided the directors with current and year-to-date information.
Bank Balance | $3,462.35 |
Balance on hand 5/1/14 |
3,659.50
|
INCOME | |
Dues | $312.66 |
Total Income | $312.66 |
EXPENSES | |
Banking | $27.95 |
Plaque | $69.13 |
Supplies | $15.81 |
Newsletter Postage | $57.57 |
Newsletter Printing | $78.00 |
Renewal Postcard | $26.25 |
Resource Center Phone/ Internet | $71.63 |
Resource Center Security | $79.60 |
Total Expenses | $269.63 |
PayPal Balance | $83.87 |
Balance on hand 5/31/14 | $3,546.22 |
Membership report
Secretary’s Note: Because of scheduling conflicts the Board of Directors Meeting must be held the day after the General Meeting, thus the Membership Report will no longer be presented to the Board. Instead it will appear within DACS.DOC as a separate entry.
Old Business
Special Events
June 7: Mad Hackers Fair status – Andy, Bruce, Charlie, Lisa, Sean;
Andy: e-mail for last year’s attendees. Photos/Article for DACS.DOC: TBD Collect e-mails for this year’s attendees and send “Thank You”: Bruce will provide a netbook dedicated to collecting names and e-mail addresses. He will send the CSV to Jim and Richard. Andy will provide internet tethering capability while he is present.
June 14: XP to Ubuntu Linux Workshop – 1:30 PM to about 3 PM – Bruce Preston, David Mawdsley, Jim Ritterbusch, Sean Henderson. Bruce: Photos/Article for DACS.DOC:
General Meetings Schedule
- July 1 Levin Rabito – Camera Presentation – Preview: Jim Scheef, Review: Andy Woodruff
- August 5: Mike K on HackerSpace? Preview: ________, Review: ________ Need to discuss with him at the Mad Hacker Fair.
- September 2: T.B.D. Preview: ________, Review: ________
- October 7: Orienteering Preview: ________, Review: ________
Other Old Business
- CiviCRM – May data has been entered. Jim and Richard alternate data entry. Cron jobs doesn’t work, so “Immediate” items have to be released manually.
- Office 365 renewed.
- Press release mailing status – Did newspapers print our new officer press releases. News-Times – nothing. Ridgefield Press – nothing. Newtown Bee – yes.
New Business topics
- Dick described several potential ways to increase DACS visibility in the community, such as participating in a program with the local Apple store. To do this we will need to gather some demographics on our membership, which may require a survey. He brought up several ideas for revenue generation, with additional revenue one benefit may be to resume hard-copy distribution of DACS.DOC. Various levels of corporate sponsorship were discussed, as was printed advertizing in DACS.DOC, or placement of ads on the website. The issue of possible restrictions may be in place due to our being an IRS 501c3 organization.
- Benefits of membership include SIGS and our award winning newsletter. Dick mentioned having heard several people comment “why join when I can get the newsletter free online”. Since dacs.org website is undergoing an overhaul, it is planned to have a MEMBERS ONLY section that that provides added value such as current DACS.doc newsletters, a membership directory that can be edited by each member, upload photos, surveys, SIG notes/code/scripts, links to special offers (such as APCUG discounts), etc. When can our new website be integrated with CiviCRM so we can begin to accomplish this?
- Richard and Annette demonstrated the new DACS.ORG website which has been implemented using WordPress. There followed discussions as to access control (required registration) for access to certain pages, and ability to enter comments/feedback etc. This will be deferred until release 2. Annette, Richard, and Dick will meet on Thursday to make final release decisions as to going live.
General Meeting potential topics
- Microsoft Store – Windows Phone
- Wearable technology – Apple may be getting into it. “LifeStream” monitoring. Mike Kaltschnee mentioned FitBit (currently available at BestBuy) or other ‘wearable electronics.’
- Home theater systems. Jim is in the process of assembling one, might put together a program based upon his experiences. Andy will look for an independent home theater installation company. Comparison of services such as Xfinity, CableVision, DirecTV etc. Richard wrote a newsletter article on watching YouTube on TV.
- Andy is still working on “Digital cameras – higher end digital cameras.”
- 3D Printing – have not heard from Bill Saturno. We will ‘corner him” at the Mad Hacker Fair.
- Suggestions for 25th year celebratory events and preparation – tabled as it is a year away.
- We need to list all of DACS assets and replacement costs. Who is available to do this? When?
- Program committee – No report. Dick will follow through with members. Discussion of future meeting topics.
- We had extensive drop-outs of voice in the conference call for the Skype conference call used for Board of Directors meetings. Jim will bring a omni-directional microphone and speakers to the next board meeting to test. If good DACS will purchase equivalent configuration.
General Meeting potential topics left open without further discussion
These topics have been described in previous Board of Directors meeting minutes, so they are only referenced here.
- Creating web sites/blogs etc
- Lisa suggested a “decision tree” presentation – “What should I get?”
- Video production – putting something up on YouTube, or short personal videos on Vine, Instagram, etc.
- “Meet the SIG” segment between the Ask DACS session and the featured presentation.
- Jim would like to see things like the Raspberry Pi, Arduino etc
- Andy suggested an overview of the “app development” process
Adjourned: 9:45