Minutes of cre8iowa / Students for a Creative Iowa (SCI) Board of Directors meeting –
November 9, 2013
Board Members Present (including ex officio): James Honzatko, Bruce Antion, Sam Hapke,
Mark Wilkins, Kristie Rysdam, Judy Nolan, John Nolan, Keith Kutz, Alisha Day, Brenda Kutz,
Sharon Wallace (via phone)
Guests Present: Joe Bantz
Alisha called the meeting to order
A warm-up creativity activity was held (brief description needed)
Minutes – Alisha asked for review of the minutes from the October 5, 2013 Board meeting. One
correction was requested: For the instant challenge writing committee, rough drafts are due
11/15/2013 with feedback due at the end of November. Judy moved to accept the minutes as
corrected. John seconded. Motion was approved unanimously.
Financial report – Alisha asked Sharon to provide a financial report. Sharon reviewed the
organizational finances via conference phone. The financial report was provided by Alisha to
board members present. Board discussion of the report was generally limited to:
reimbursement to Judy for ????; spending on conferences is a bit higher than planned but SCI
is being reimbursed so this is not of significant concern. Keith moved to accept the financial
report as presented. Bruce seconded. Motion was approved unanimously.
Board Business – Alisha passed around a WordArt sample showing secondary board member
duties. The intent is a reminder that Board members have many responsibilities beyond the
performance of their primary board duties.
The 25th Anniversary celebration was discussed. Our organization was incorporated as OM
Iowa in 1989 and in 199? was changed to Students for a Creative Iowa to align with Destination
Imagination. Actions for the anniversary discussed were: a banner (board agreed to create a
banner to be displayed at tournaments or elsewhere); a scavenger hunt (board agreed to
develop a scavenger hunt for participants at the tournaments). Other ideas proposed by board
members included: a special pin; t-shirt with all past logos; adding ’25 years’ to the sleeve of
the state shirt; making themed cupcakes or cookies; press releases; 5 x 5 wall.
Judy donated a HP laptop computer to the board for executive committee use.
For the Recruitment Challenge, please let John know if you wish to invite people.
A vote to change (charge?) was unanimous – anyone remember what this was?
DII Business – Alisha reported that Chris Biesel stepped down as the Colorado Affiliate Director
and is no longer the DIAD president. Carmine Liuzzi from New Jersey (the VP for DIAD) is
stepping up as president.
Global Finals: We are allowed to send 18 teams to Globals not counting ties. This represents
each challenge and level. We will no longer have a wild card option. There is a hope that DII
will work with us if we have a special need for teams going to Global Finals. Joe Bantz asked if
we ever had a case whereby a team qualifies but is not ‘globals ready.’ Alisha responded that
this does occur and she briefly described the guidelines for certification of globals teams by the
Affiliate Director. This information is also on the cre8iowa web site.
The ‘Sports Mentality’: The aggressive ‘winning is everything’ mentality is creeping into
academic competitions such as DI. DII is seeing this reported at many affiliates and we are
seeing signs of this in Iowa as well. A discussion ensued on how to counteract this aggression
and retain focus on the core principles of DI. One idea is to have Team Managers also sign the
Volunteer Code of Conduct and bring them to tournament registration. As a board we should
reinforce, through as many means as possible, that the focus of DI is the learning process. We
should not lose sight of the competitive nature of tournaments; however. There was a
suggestion of a “Most Improved” award reflecting change from sub-state to the state
tournament. The board did not act on that suggestion other than to think about it.
Taskforce Reports – Alisha asked for reports from the two taskforce groups.
Appraiser Materials: Sam and Sharon will be at the December 7 challenge master meeting to
ask questions of the Challenge Masters. Sam requested 15-20 minutes of time at the meeting
to go over the questionnaire and obtain responses.
Skills Inventory: The taskforce members had met twice and prepared a preliminary survey of
skills. No action had been taken on preparing the survey for distribution to board members.
The task force members hope to have this ready for the next board meeting.
Committee Reports – Alisha asked for reports from standing committees.
Marketing: John reported that there was good traffic at the ITAG boot and about 30 people
attended the presentation. The committee has some follow-up to do to see if we can get some
traction with the 18 people that requested more information. We need more brochures as the
committee ran out stuffing packets for distribution to registrants.
John reported that the ISCA conference was much different from ITAG. We had our pieces in
the participant brochure. The organizers drove people to the booths but booth traffic overall
was poor. We didn’t have enough brochures to fill all 620 packets. John felt that the
conference provided insufficient time for attendees to visit booths. A decision needs to be made
at the board level as to the value of continuing to attend this conference
An event was held at Kuemper Catholic Schools on October 24. The event was organized by
Mary to drive interest in DI. It was a fun event. John and Judy helped out. Instant Challenges
and more were offered to attendees. Mary thinks the event will result in additional Kuemper
Schools teams.
Cedar Rapids has two planned teams this year. Alisha met with the coordinator to help the
membership continue to grow. The teams already are lining up appraisers.
John wants to have more and better information available to participants and others attending
the tournaments. This might include info on scholarships, challenges, volunteer opportunities,
forms, paperwork. John will set up a table and be there to answer questions.
Sales: The 2014 shirt and pin design was passed around to board members for comment.
Generally, the board members liked the idea of an orange shirt. “Out of this World Creativity”
will be the tag line. Mark asked that the 2014-15 design competition be extended. Open it in
January with substate as the deadline. Voting would be held at the State tournament with ballot
boxes available at the tournament.
Alumni: no report
IC Writing: drafts of instant challenges are due on November 15. Final, revised ICs will be
uploaded by end of November. Sharon and Bruce will provide feedback since they are not
writing.
Scholarships: The Board discussed combining the two scholarships into a single, larger
scholarship offering of $1000. The actual dollar amount would be reviewed each year based on
financial situation. Alisha has worked on a new application form. Joe asked what is the typical
profile of a scholarship winner? Typically involved in DI, involved in community, wants to
continue learning. Additional discussion was held on whether the scholarship should require
certain attributes. The board did not want to unfairly exclude or diminish individuals’ qualities or
opportunities in consideration for scholarships but agreed to review and help revise application
questions. The scholarship will be marketed as the “Students for a Creative Iowa Memorial
Scholarship” but will be in honor of various individuals.
Muddi Waters: Alisha has finished the designs but is waiting for some states to approve them.
Food: John clarified with Bruce that the tournament dates are set. Bruce has not heard any
issues coming from School Dude. Food for the Instant Challenger, AMS training, Substate, and
State will be reserved.
Web Site: the Board site is now on the web and the login credentials were listed in the October
meeting minutes. There is an e-mail archive for blasts on the team support section.
Membership Status – Alisha asked Judy to update the status of memberships for the current
year. 41 team packs have been purchased so far (compared with 46 at this time last year).
Difference is that we have some different teams this year and we know some schools are still
working on orders.
Judy is continuing to follow up with past memberships to try and encourage retention and
renewal of participation.
For comparison in a broad sense, team counts at the national level were provided to Alisha via
DIAD.
A question that Alisha wishes the board to consider is how Iowa can provide value to DII as a
whole if Iowa continues to have low numbers of memberships. One thought is the contributions
of our IC library. Ideas for other support are welcome.
Team Manager and Instant Challenger Training – Judy provided a brief update on the TM
training format set for 12/7/2013. This will be concurrent with the Challenge Master meeting.
Both are at the Iowa Energy Center office in Ames. Judy also briefly updated the board on the
Instant Challenger set for January 11, 2014 at Ames Middle School. All hands are needed to
the extent that board members can participate in the Instant Challenger.
Challenge Master and Appraiser Training – Keith updated the group on the status of challenge
masters. All challenges are covered except for Challenge E. Ken Van Zee has decided to
vacate his role as CM for personal reasons unrelated to DI. Tentative suggestions for filling the
vacancy are James Honzatko or potentially Zach Harralson or Aaron Hirshberg. Sharon
indicated that she will help support whoever becomes the CM. Keith will discuss the need with
these individuals. Score room staffing was also discussed and Kristie stated that Scott
MacDonald expressed strong interest in continuing in the score room and may be able to grow
into the Score Room Master should Tim Watson ‘retire’. The first Challenge Master meeting is
December 7 in Ames from 10:00 – 2:00 with CMs planning to do a Q&A with TM training
participants. The next CM meeting date will be determined by CMs at this meeting but it will be
held in Iowa City at Alisha’s new office.
Keith briefly reviewed the discussion he had with Judy and Alisha regarding appraiser training
and the need for consistency. CMs will have a stronger role in the fundamentals training and
the Board needs to provide whatever support is necessary to the CMs and appraisers to ensure
that training is effective and meets the needs of the DI program. 2014 appraiser trainings are
scheduled for January 25 (Kirkwood CC in Iowa City); February 1 in Carroll; and February 8 in
Ames with Feb 15 as the snow date.
Tournament Matters – Alisha discussed the need for a scheduler and introduced Joe Bantz as
the new schedule master. Alisha will work with Joe to support him.
Boxes and Materials: Keith has this covered so nothing needed from the Board.
Score Room: Keith indicated that the score room is in need of upgraded computers and
printers. Apparently Tim has done some upgrading and Keith will work with him to secure
whatever else is needed. Keith will seek sources of donations of new components.
Tournament Dates: The tournament dates are now fixed. The Sub-state tournament is on
March 8, 2014 and the State Tournament is on March 29, 2014. Bruce did not know of any
current conflicts with rooms that would impact setup, takedown, or performances. He’ll keep us
informed.
Having no other business to discuss, the meeting was adjourned at approximately 3:00 pm.
Respectfully submitted by Keith Kutz