Notes from the discussion forum held in place of the 1998 Annual Meeting
| The Annual Meeting of MACA was called to order at 2:43
PM by Steve Frymer, Treasurer, at the site of the 67th Massachusetts Open at the Radisson
Inn, Marlborough. As the quorum requirement of 30 MACA members was not met, the meeting was held for informational purposes only.
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| The following People were in attendance: | ||||||
| Carol Curdo | Stephen Dann | Tom Filipek | Steve Frymer | Gus Gosselin | ||
| Mark Kaprielian | Bill Mac Lellan | Jim Mac Lellan | Bob Messenger | George Mirijanian | ||
| Steve Frymer gave a financial report. Mark Kaprielian, member of the Election Committee presented the results of the election A general discussion period was then held. The topic that dominated the discussion was Chess Horizons, the MACA publication. This discussion was very illuminating with participation form most of those present. Below is a summary of the ideas of the major ideas put forth. |
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| 4 Issues per year - | This would relieve pressure on producing and reduce cost | |||||
| Fulfillment - | Outsourcing all production activities to eliminate the burden from Officers and volunteers | |||||
| Remove Time Sensitivity | Do separate mailings for event information to remove all time elements. This will eliminate stale information from the magazine which only draws attention to slippage in mailing. Also allows more current information to reach the constituency on as frequent a basis a s necessary. Fulfillment services for production of this material is also suggested. | |||||
| Tournament / Full Membership categories | Create two classes of membership, Tournament only and Full Membership. Tournament only would be at perhaps $10 and would purchase entry into MACA events but will have receive no magazine. Full membership would be set at perhaps $20 and would include both tournament play and the magazine. One of the advantages of this scheme is that it would be clear what portion of our constituency truly desires the magazine. Another advantage is the contribution per person receiving the magazine is greater than the current arrangement and hence defraying the cost impact of the magazine without burdening those who do not wish to receive it. | |||||
| It was generally agreed that all the suggestions listed
above had merit but that a detailed analysis of the costs would be needed in order to
reach the optimal solution. An informal survey was done at the start the 4th round. The question was, approximately, how many people would prefer to see membership raised to about $15 versus cutting the number of issues of Chess Horizons down to four issues a year. Of approximately 100 people in the room, 30 or so raised their hands for the dues increase, three people raised their hand for reducing the number of issues. Some speculation of what the other 70 people might have had in mind was discussed. The Meeting dissolved at about 4:00 PM.
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| Respectfully submitted Mark Kaprielian |
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