hi, i attended the budget & finance meeting and board meeting this weekend. i took notes and thought i would share what i learned. it takes a long time to sift through all the stuff to come up with a budget (2 days). everyone whipped out their calculators, worked furiously and that was accomplished. the board meeting began bright and early (8:00) Saturday morning. margy golant wasn't there so kathleen strong took minutes. nandine grady was approved as treasurer. she comes with a lot of accounting experience in the business world and as treasurer for the aussie parent club. we are lucky to have her! the executive committee was elected with gail hardcastle as head and nancy harper, tish walker, dania karloff and carolyn martello as members. prior to the meeting gail had compiled a list of people interested in various committee positions and had a ballot ready for the meeting. if there was more than one person's name for a committee, the board voted & that person was listed as chair. then the board voted & approved the committee chairs. some committees were dissolved. 5 award committees were pulled together under one chair. everything was streamlined. the nominating committee was selected -- bob kish (NE), rita sandell (HLD), dorothy linn (west), kathy potter (MA) with joan fox as head. carmen battaglia shared with us some of the things other parent clubs are doing. helen gleason talked about two educational programs she plans to have at the 2008 national in beaumont. nanci nellis spoke about the 2007 national & how much everyone liked the site. it was suggested that if we come up with three rotating sites that littleton, colorado be one of those sites. the board discussed the 2013 WUSV world event that we will host to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the creation of our parent club. i believe someone said that competitors came from 46 countries around the world to last year's event in slovakia. wow! on sunday the meeting continued. the board wrapped up the business and then brain-stormed ways to get information to members quicker, ways to keep members renewing (i had no idea how hard dania worked until i heard all the things she & her committee are already doing for members), discussed pros and cons of various national locations. the new board members talked about ways they wanted to work for the club and other board members also shared their plans for the year. then gail wrapped up the meeting by asking the board to name things that were accomplished at this meeting (quite a list) and topics they would work on for the April meeting (an even bigger list). all i can say is i wish i could be at the April meeting to hear what they accomplish there. i also wish to congratulate gail for a meeting well led. everyone had a chance to make their proposals and voice their opinions AND she managed to keep things on track and moving efficiently. i for one look forward to the next two years under her leadership. lea ruggieri **************Start the year off right. Easy ways to stay in shape. http://body.aol.com/fitness/winter-exercise?NCID=aolcmp00300000002489 ============================================================================ POST is Copyrighted 2007. All material remains the property of the original author and of GSD Communication, Inc. NO REPRODUCTIONS or FORWARDS of any kind are permitted without prior permission of the original author AND of the Showgsd-l Management. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. ALL PERSONS ARE ON NOTICE THAT THE FORWARDING, REPRODUCTION OR USE IN ANY MANNER OF ANY MATERIAL WHICH APPEARS ON SHOWGSD-L WITHOUT THE EXPRESS PERMISSION OF ALL PARTIES TO THE POST AND THE LIST MANAGEMENT IS EXPRESSLY FORBIDDEN, AND IS A VIOLATION OF LAW. VIOLATORS OF THIS PROHIBITION WILL BE PROSECUTED. For assistance, please contact the List Management at admin@xxxxxxxxxxxx VISIT OUR WEBSITE - www.showgsd.org ============================================================================