The Board of Great Lakes has met twice since the last issue of The Herald, in both cases the planning of Advance The Colors dominated the agenda, although some other topics have been discussed as well.
The first meeting was May 9th at Bob Evans, I-71 and US 35. Present were Matt Davidson, Ferkin Doyle, Scott Savory, and Darryl Smith. Also present at the Board's invitation was Brian O'Leary, acting in capacity of events coordinator for ATC. Missing was Ray Garbee, due to illness. This meeting was generally a hashing over of the status of certain areas of the convention planning. Doyle presented the information regarding dealer mailings and floor plan for the dealer room. There were some concerns expressed that the dealers had not been informed prior to the expected mailing, but Doyle assured the Board that each of the dealers were approached at Cold Wars and given a preliminary informational flyer. Doyle also presented information on another t-shirt vendor. It was decided to shelve any decision on t-shirts until Garbee was present, as he has been working on this issue since the first meeting.
Advertising rates for The Herald were agreed upon, and communicated to Mike Demana to start soliciting for ads. It was agreed that ad space SHOULD NOT take away from the content of The Herald. With the addition of bulk rate mailing, this will not be a problem.
Smith confirmed that he will be handling the preliminary events listing booklet that will be mailed to members and last year's convention attendees only. Other gamers in our region will receive a post card about ATC.
The second meeting was held again at Bob Evans on June 13th. Present were Davidson, Garbee, Savory, and Smith. Also present was Mike Demana. Missing was Doyle, whereabouts unknown. Savory suggested that we pay a one-time Inditia fee ($85.00) to the Postal Service which will allow us to get away from using precanceled bulk rate stamps for the newsletter. This will allow any mailing to have a printed box that will contain our permit number. It will cut down on time spent in getting the mailing for the newsletter together, and it can be used for other bulk rate mailings in the future. This Board agreed unanimously on the idea.
Garbee presented his ideas for the ATC t-shirt, and the Board decided to go ahead and pursue Garbee's plan. A white t-shirt, with the Great Lakes logo on the front and modern war artwork on the back, along with "Advance The Colors '98" was approved. Davidson discussed having a volunteer or two help with the raffle, and the topic of convention staff followed. Garbee confirmed that he has had many verbal commitments from members already about helping out with the registration desk.
Garbee also expressed his concern about the increased convention costs for this year's show (site and table rental), but Smith presented to the Board a draft budget for the year showing that the convention should not be any detriment to the treasury of Great Lakes, even if the status quo was maintained (i.e., same number of attendees and no new members).
The topic of a second Great Lakes convention was brought up again. Smith stated that he has had some interest expressed by one gaming organization in Toledo, and is pursuing other groups in Toledo, as well as the Detroit area to see what kind of support we can generate. A tentative date of Spring 1999 was set to hold this convention, pending support in the Toledo area (as well as the financial state of Great Lakes after ATC).
Garbee also expressed that Great Lakes needs to develop some sort of long range plan to outline its direction over the next few years. His question, "How do we expand and promote the hobby beyond what we are currently doing?" brought forth a variety of responses, most of which hinge upon the increased participation of the membership. We have a few dedicated members now who already are doing quite a lot for gaming. We need to see some additional faces step up and help support the hobby in Great Lakes in areas that are currently not being pursued. This includes both regionally and idea-wise.
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