March Board Meeting

25/04/11 11:26

A long discussion ensued over ways to attract more members and boost participation in the club events. Ideas ranged from phone calls from Board members to new members to ease them into the scene to tweaking the process of awarding a free 1 year membership with each Porsche purchase at Byers Imports to printing business cards with the schedule of events printed on the back, to printing flyers that describe our club in detail that members can pass out to Porsche owners they meet. Another idea was to totally subsidize the social events. John decided that a dedicated meeting for membership ideas will be held and the findings will be reported back to the board.
Frank circulated a summary of the state of Driving Events for the club. The next Club Race meeting will be held next Saturday at MAG. Frank proposed the idea of a professional coach being available to the participants at the Driver’s Education event in May. The concept was voted on with a motion from Frank and a second from Dave. The motion passed. Frank will follow up with the details. The allocation of the sponsorship money was discussed next. Brian listed what each sponsor is covering and what they will receive in return. The DE event budget will have to be revisited in light of the sponsorship support. A motion was by Mike and seconded by Frank for Kevin to revisit the budgets to factor in the sponsorship money and allocation to the social budget. The motion passed. Club owned helmets will age out in June. A motion to purchase 6 to 8 new helmets for about $1000 to $1500 was made by Frank and seconded by Mike. The motion passed. Two Autocross events are scheduled at OSU in May. Frank would like everyone to consider the possibility of holding a DE event at track near Savannah South Carolina. He estimates that it is 10 hour drive from Columbus and it would be something different. The track was built for an Indy Light event and has had limited use since. It is owned by Hilton Hotels and the price would be very reasonable.
Ron Thomas brought the board up to date with details of Porsches to Oxford. He plans to increase the payment to Chris Reiman due to all the changes required by National to compile with the name issue. In addition he has to maintain the website, compose the press releases, handle the bulk mailings and work on the artwork design. The OVR region has committed to organizing and running the Sunday Driving Tour at P2O this year. There will be an organizational meeting at Byers for the Car Show benefiting the Flying Horse Ranch. The show is scheduled for June 11th.
John asked if anyone really knew if the club was classified as a 501 (c) 4 or 501 (c) 7 for tax purposes. Do we need an attorney to decide? Mike will check the filings from last year. The distinction between the two has to do with how we can spend the club money. The issue will be discussed at the next meeting.
The newsletter appears to have some delivery timing problems despite Bill’s best efforts. Everyone agreed that the new format is fabulous and the pictures are large enough to see! He plans to remove Milton’s name from the Concours box. Maybe it should be renamed Car Show and put Ron Thomas in it. The special meeting notice needs a 30 day advance notice so the vote will be held at the April meeting. Bill announced that the new Membership Directory is in progress.
Gerhard would like his position to be called Activities because social sounds so sorority. The first Third Thursday Event of 2011 will be held at City Barbeque in Westerville on April 14th. The events will be heavily subsidized to boost attendance. Gerhard may use the e-mail blast to remind everyone of these monthly events.
Brian continues to encourage submittals to the website especially photos. He is presently gathering quotes for the business cards and posters advertizing the Driving Events Series with all the sponsors.
Round Table Discussion
Mike -- The internship idea is getting some traction. He has several resumes to look over.
Gerhard – Will welcome any and all ideas for club activities. John would like another trap shooting event! John also reminded Gerhard that Stan Crawford wants to do a causal member car show at his house this summer, maybe we could turn it into a 45th anniversary party.
Ron – The Porsche at the Village indoor car show HAS to get on our calendar for next year. It was amazing and we have to attend it!
The meeting adjourned at 9:36pm. The next meeting will be held at the King Avenue Five Sports Lounge on Wednesday, April 14, 2011 at 7pm. Plan to arrive early, around 6pm for cocktails and stories.