The meeting was called to order at 7:05pm by the DACS President, Dave Green.
In attendance were board members Richard Corzo, Bert Goff (Secretary & Treasurer), Dave Green (President), Cathy Quaranta, Jim Scheef, and Andy Woodruff. Dick Gingras and Tom Zarecki were not present. The minutes were taken by Richard Teasdale.
(Names in italics denote responsibilities for actions.)
- The Minutes of the 9/7/2016 Board Meeting were accepted.
Reports
- The Treasurer’s report for September was discussed. Bert reported that dues receipts have again slipped in comparison to last year: year-to-date receipts are $608 behind where they were at the end of September 2015. Expenses continue to be less than last year. In response to a question, Bert estimated that there might be as much as a year left before available cash reaches the point that there is only enough left to reimburse members for the unused portions of their dues, and DACS will have to disband. Options for boosting membership were discussed. There was a consensus that social media could be better used to attract new members.
- Membership committee: Jim distributed a report showing 93 current members (including 5 new), and 15 in-grace, for a total of 108.
- Marketing committee: No report. Cathy explained that there is currently no Marketing committee.
- Press Coverage:
- Dave reported that a response to the press release for the October general meeting was received from the Daily Voice, indicating that the release had been published.
- The New Milford Spectrum published an article about the October meeting but did not send a reporter.
- Website:
- Richard reported that the premium edition of Wordfence has been purchased. No further website hacks have happened since it was installed. (Same report as last month.)
Old Business
- Programs:
- Jim is writing the review article for the October general meeting.
- Bert will follow up shortly with Al Fressola to confirm his talk about Intellectual Property at the November general meeting. He will write the Preview article. Steve Harkness has agreed to write the Review article. Richard suggested that the meeting be publicized to members of the Danbury Hackerspace specifically, since some of them are engaged in entrepreneurial pursuits and may have a particular interest. Andy volunteered to contact Mike Kaltschnee about this, and also to discuss with him possibilities for broader cross-communication about events. (The Danbury Library is another organization which may be willing to discuss cooperative publicizing efforts.)
- Bill Saturno has agreed to talk about “cord-cutting” in December. Richard will write the Preview. Jim will contact two particular DACS members who may be willing to write a Review article.
- Possibilities for other general meeting topics remain an astronomy presentation, in conjunction with the McCarthy observatory in New Milford, a session by Jay Ferron about Hololens, and a talk from Hi-Link, possibly about Hosting. Richard Teasdale will contact Allan Ostergren for an update on the observatory. Jim will contact Jay Ferron, with a suggested date of January.
- Renovation of the Resource Center (RC): Andy reported that he may have a source for replacement rug. If the source is confirmed, he will proceed with bringing it to the RC. Bert offered to help.
- Topics which might be of interest to the DACS membership: (1) a workshop devoted to Network-attached Storage (NAS) systems, and (2) Slack, a web-based communication system.
- Jim has set up a SurveyMonkey account for survey of the membership, to determine the level of interest in a NAS workshop. He will send the SurveyMonkey credentials to the board, for someone else to proceed with this.
- Richard has set up an experimental Slack group for the Board. Richard recapped the main features of Slack and urged those board members who have not yet begun using it to do so.
New Business
- Snacks for general meetings:
- Dave (drinks) and Bert (snacks) will make the arrangements in November.
- Richard Teasdale will be unavailable to take minutes at the November board meeting. Dave will ask Lisa Leifels if she is available for that task in November.
- Qualifications required for a new leader of the Web workshop were discussed. The board concluded that there is nobody qualified and available among those people who regularly attend workshop meetings. A new leader will need to be found outside the group.
- STEAM – arrangements for DACS participation at the STEAM fair on October 15, which Cathy is managing, were discussed. Although the organizers of the fair have recommended using activities to attract children, the value of doing so for DACS is unclear. The board agreed that free 3-month memberships will be given out. DACS.doc newsletters will be sold for $2 each.
- Options for a gesture of appreciation to Bucky Milam, per Allan Ostergren’s suggestion, were discussed. It was agreed that a dinner would be suitable, at which DACS would be willing to spend up to $50 for Bucky and his wife’s meals. Other attendees would pay their own way. Richard volunteered to contact Allan.
- Board elections. The 2-year terms of Richard Corzo, Dick Gingras, Cathy Quaranta, and Andy Woodruff will expire in December. So far, Andy has expressed an intention to run for re-election.
The meeting was adjourned at 9:10pm.