NACDEP Transition Team Conference Call
October 8, 2004, 10:00 a.m. Central

Present:
John Amrhein
Barb Andreozzi
Bo Beaulieu
Pam Hearn
Rod Howe
Jeri Marxman
Charles Sheppherd
Julie Stewart
Greg Taylor
Kathy Tweeten
Walt Whitmer
Mike Woods

Minutes:
Minutes were approved as posted. (by consensus)

2005 Conference Committee
Jeri Marxman gave the committee report and the track chairs have made recommendations. ½ of the presenters will be notified by our October 15 agreed upon date. They will be letting folks know by the end of the month. Track committees will also be putting people into appropriate sessions. Confirmed all of the general session speakers: John Allen, WRDC, and Scott Peters from Cornell, Suzanne Morse will be capstone speaker. The new president of NACDEP will be making a presentation at the end of the meeting. The conference website will be posted and sent out to the Transition Team shortly. The group did add 30 minutes to the general business session on Thursday. There will be a general business meeting that will involve NACDEP transition team. Walt will take the lead role in determining the business session agenda during the Annual Conference.

Database Committee
Julie Stewart reported that she would be sending out names out to each region. Members listserv has been set up. Mike Woods reported that there are 222 paid members. With the deadline being next Friday, October 15, the listserv should be finalized with the SRDC to be sure that all are getting notices.

Marketing and Outreaching Committee
Rod mentioned the possibility of having the display available at the NACDEP conference. He will prepare a procedure for getting the display for annual conference. Rod requested funds to support a display. With that, Mike Woods gave a budget report.

Budget Report Mike Woods gave an update on budget before making decision
We had estimated 350 members and built a budget on those numbers. Following are the categories identified during the May conference call.

Board Expenses--$2,250
Postage--$300
Conferences/Planning--$500
Professional Management--$1800
Reserve--$900
Awards--$500
Marketing/Brochures--$1,000
Bank and other Legal Fees--$300

Rod is estimating $1,200 for display. A motion approving Rod's request (Barb Andreozzi / John Amrhein) was approved. Rod will request possible pictures for use on the display.

Membership Committee
No Report. A question regarding the need for membership cards was raised? Mike indicated that the Ag Economics Association has a logo, name, ID number, etc., on the front. Then on the back of the card is the website address. Maybe we could develop a template that could be sent out electronically to save postage, etc. Julie was asked to check if this electronic membership card could be developed through the database committee. Mike reported membership is available on-line and conference registration will be shortly.

Nominating Committee
Greg Taylor reported that the nomination committee has been busy. They have received nominations for some highly qualified people. The group discussed the possible need to open up the nominations process again because many joined after the deadline date. It was determined that the listserv being housed with the North Central Regional Center for Rural Development needs to be updated based on new memberships. Julie requested a listing of the 222 members from the SRDC. Greg indicated that he would send out a notice on Monday to all 222 members requesting that nominations will be accepted through Friday, October 15.

Greg mentioned the function of the election-it is the function of the secretary. However, since we do not have a secretary, it will be available for an on-line election. Greg agreed to manage the election through Texas A&M University and the software available from their Information Technology department. Bonnie Teater, Greg Taylor and Charles Sheppherd agreed to serve in a Certification role for the elections.

New Business
Walt indicated that he will be making a presentation to the Michigan Extension conference and shared the PowerPoint with the transition team. He thanked members of the team for their input. The PowerPoint will be posted to the NACDEP website.

Dates for future conferences will be the responsibility for the new NACDEP officers and future conferences will be discussed during the meeting in February. It was suggested that the conference evaluation should include information regarding possible dates, frequency, etc.

Next Conference Call
November 12, 2004, 10:00 a.m. Central