START
Quarterly Meeting
DATE: FEBRUARY 27, 2014
LOCATION: SACRAMENTO HALL 161
TIME START: 2:00 PM TIME END: 3:00 PM
ATTENDANCE LOG
MEMBERS PRESENT
SUZANNE BRACAMONTE
DEAUNDRIA BROOKS
ELENA COMPO
NORMAN KWONG
EDELSA REYES
ANDREW STIFFLER
SARAH WHYTE
AGENDA
FALL 2013 NEWSLETTER DEBRIEF
MEMBERS ABSENT
JOEY MARTINEZ
OTHERS PRESENT
ACTIONS
The START committee discussed and shared feedback from the Fall 2013 ABA
newsletter. The newsletter was well received. Several suggestions were made,
including a request to see if captions for photos could be added.
One major article featured was the completion of the Behind the Scenes – ABA
After Dark, an idea originally submitted by the START committee. Members
liked reading about their colleagues, particularly the ones who work outside of
typical 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. hours.
A request was made to include more photos on the book review article, which
was a new addition to the newsletter.
WINTER LUNCHEON FEEDBACK
STAFF PEER AWARDS
CATEGORIES/CRITERA
Several START members mentioned that the Tech Tips article was helpful and
interesting.
This past winter holiday, ABA again used the Alumni Center to host their annual
Winter Luncheon event. This year, the food was provided by an external
catering company.
Many people complimented both the quality, and quantity of food, as last year
several dishes ran out.
Sarah and Andrew solicited ideas and suggestions from the group about how
effective the current Staff Peer Awards categories and criteria are written.
One of the suggestions included italicizing key words that embody the meaning
of the criteria. Another suggestion recommended easier to understand
language. The goal is to ensure the categories and criteria are clear, distinctive,
and keep in mind the Redefine the Possible initiative.
SPRING 2014 NEWSLETTER
The START team was solicited for suggestions and feedback regarding a
proposed Spring 2014 newsletter outline.
Suggestions for articles/additions included:



ABA WEBSITE MIGRATION AND
CLEAN-UP
2013-14 ABA REPORT OF
ACCOMPLISHMENTS
Include the new mission/vision slides recently shared online
Include captions on photos
Provide a bulleted list/summary of the most recent BPRT meeting.
Include major topics, and links to the most important changes to travel,
policies, forms, etc.
 Consider a “swag” giveaway program for ABA Thank You writers and/or
recipients
 Possible book review – Blink, by Malcolm Gladwell. Related, - Would
there be interest in an ABA book club?
Andrew shared with the group that the ABA Website migration project has now
been completed. The last remaining websites were those from Risk
Management Services. Their entire group: RMS, Risk Management, EH&S,
Workers’ Compensation and Business Continuity, have all been completed.
SPQI has begun a new project, which requires ABA web editors to go through
their website’s documents and image folders to remove outdated assets.
Milestones were established to help guide users and well as check progress.
Andrew will be assisting web editors to help identify outdated documents, as
well as fix any broken links. He is also working with IRT to move archived and
obsolete content files off of the server.
Sarah provided information to the START committee regarding the upcoming
2012-13 Annual Report. Set for completion in Spring, the report will focus on
staff, and how they are redefining the possible.
Sustainable efforts, and our distinction as a Tree Campus USA, will also be a
central focus, with photos of trees and plant-life will fill the pages.
RECORDED BY: ANDREW STIFFLER 2/27/2014