The meeting was called to order at 7:07pm by the DACS President, Dave Green.
In attendance were Board members Richard Corzo, Dick Gingras, Bert Goff (Secretary & Treasurer), Dave Green (President), and Andy Woodruff. The minutes were taken by Richard Teasdale. Two members of DACS were present as guests: Charles Bovaird, Mike Ross.
(Names in italics denote responsibilities for actions.)
- The Minutes of the 3/8/2017 Board Meeting were not accepted, due to an issue. Richard Teasdale will investigate and make corrections, as needed.
Reports
- The Treasurer’s report for March was discussed. Bert reported that dues receipts were down by nearly $200 for the 1st quarter, compared to 2016. Liquid assets currently exceed prepaid dues by about $1,300. Fundraising for the Resource Center Capital Campaign currently stands at $655.
- Press Coverage:
- Dave reported that press releases for the April General Meeting were sent out towards the end of March.
- Andy pointed out that General Meeting announcements that are placed on news websites should be published as early as possible.
- Website:
- Richard reported that a scan was performed on the old website, in an effort to determine the cause of the compromised files that continue to be detected sporadically by Wordfence. Many suspicious PHP files were found, which have been deleted. No further compromises have occurred.
- The Membership report was received from Jim Scheef by e-mail:
- 87 paid-up members (including 4 new), and 13 in-grace, for a total of 100.
- 32 people attended the April 4 General Meeting, 8 of whom were first-time visitors.
- A consensus of the Board felt that the General Meeting numbers showed that DACS should not avoid technical meeting topics.
- The Board discussed the need for rules that apply when an ordinary member of DACS wishes to make an announcement to a General Meeting. Also discussed were the ground rules relevant to meetings which take place in the Hospital Auditorium before the General Meeting. Dave will speak to a specific member of DACS whom the Board felt would benefit from counseling about the rules.
- The long-term decline in DACS membership and some potential ways to address it were discussed.
Old Business
- Programs:
- May: John Gallagher, the manager of a New Milford retailer of hobby-related merchandise, will present a talk on the subject of remote-controlled devices, including drones. Bert will write the Preview and Andy will write the Review.
- Bert is in conversation with a New Milford consultant who has Google Analytics expertise, and who may be available to present on the topic of Google products.
- Richard will approach John Adams to determine if he would be willing to speak on the subject of Privacy & VPNs.
- Andy will contact the manager of the Samsung staff at Best Buy about a possible new presentation by them.
- Members Directory:
- Will be discussed at the April 13 meeting of the Membership committee.
- Renovation of the Resource Center (RC):
- No donation of used carpet has yet been received from Meadow Ridge Senior Living Community in Redding. Andy will speak to Carpet City about potentially getting a donation from some other business.
- Andy recommended that painting be started if no carpet donation is received over the next month.
- Andy reported that he had spoken with Mike Kaltschnee and that the Hackerspace is still looking for new space. There is a possibility that DACS might be able to move into a portion of the new Hackerspace location, replacing the current RC.
New Business
- Snacks for General Meetings:
- Bert (snacks) and Richard Teasdale (drinks) will make the arrangements in May.
- Mike Ross, a management consultant member of DACS, provided some advice and observations to the Board. His recommendations included:
- re Programs: find out what the membership of DACS wants. Do marketing research.
- Promote General Meetings to groups that DACS doesn’t normally contact.
- Run a joint General Meeting with the Danbury AI group.
- Consider a joint General Meeting with Westconn about technical business startups.
- Get advice from current speakers about potential future speakers.
- Develop a mission statement for DACS.
- Publicize General Meetings earlier.
The meeting was adjourned at 9:25 pm.