WC CONNECTION CHORUS
July 14, 2014 Board Meeting
Members present: Bob Starz, Bill Lorenz, Keith Petersen, Adam Helgeson, Jon Schmidt,
Neal Jones, Jon Zaske, Kyle Dimler, Dave Johnson
1. Bob called the meeting to order at 5:53.
2. The secretary’s report was approved as presented.
3. The treasurer reported a June 1 balance of $14,216.92 with receipts of $90 and
expenses of $962.50 for a June 30 balance of $13,344.42. Motion to receive the report
carried.
4. Membership VP report: Adam is going to Harmony University and plans to attend the
Supercharging Chapters class on building membership. Jeff Danielson, Jeff Broderius
and Eric Arnold have completed applications which have been sent in.
Would committee approach work with a good prospect? Identify a good singer,
aggressively court him, take him to lunch . . . see how this works. Eric Dirgen’s name
was brought up; someone had mentioned to keep his name in mind after the spring show.
No one present seemed to recognize the name.
5. Music VP report: Working on new songs. Need to select contest songs.
6. Public Relations VP report: Keith reported speaking to a guy who was at Rice Park for
the June 18 sing out and thought the chorus really sounded good and might be interested
in singing with us. It would be good to have individual business cards with phone and email contact information to hand out at events like this. These can be obtained for $10
for 250 cards.
A suggestion was made that we stay at the concert after we perform; Prairie Winds
Band organizes these evenings in the park and was the featured group June 18.
7. Program VP report: Kyle spoke with Rick Hurd of Great Northern Union who
responded they would be glad to have WCC members visit them for a Thursday evening
meeting at 7 p.m. Thursday, August 21 was targeted.
8. Youth Committee- Adam sent out e-mails to schools that are usually well-represented
at the winter Youth In Harmony Festival in an attempt to avoid a 2015 dates with
conflicts. Adam will also talk to Peter Benson to see if he would be our clinician again in
2015. The promotional video produced by Casey Petersen from the 2014 festival could
be attached to electronic communications with educators.
9. Sing Out ideas- Possibly perform for Sundays in Spicer, summer 2015. Make an
appearance at Jazz ‘n Java on a Thursday evening. Be available for a booking at The
Oaks for a group that has reserved a room for a special occasion (birthday, anniversary)
or a business group. Contact the Willmar Convention and Visitor’s Center to put us on a
list to be available for entertainment for groups.
10. District Contest- Practice attendance policy:
The genesis of this discussion, motion, discussion and vote is rooted in the idea that
both board members and members in general do not think it is right for someone to come
to the last 3 or 4 practices (more or less) and compete in the contest while most members
attend consistently and practice to improve.
A motion was presented and seconded to: Require that members must attend 2/3 of
the meetings to practice the final 3 months before a contest. . . Discussion ensued. Two
points came out that the board felt should be added to the original motion by way of
amendment: . . .A member shall miss no more than 1 out of the last 4 rehearsals. A
member who cannot meet the attendance policy standards may request an exception and
demonstrate to the music committee that he is ready for contest in all three judging
categories. The motion carried as amended.
Pete Benson is willing to coach the chorus. If it is going to be a Monday evening, it
needs to be soon before Peter is back to his teaching schedule. How would the chorus
feel about an all day Saturday session? It was decided to poll the membership to see if a
Saturday coaching session could work.
11. Spring Show- The show will be Saturday, April 18 with A Mighty Wind as the guest
quartet. They placed 4th at International Contest this past summer. They get an $1,800
performance fee, and the flight tickets from Atlanta will be the major costs bringing them
here. Kordal Kombat is also planning to perform.
12. A motion was M/S/C to list all active members as bondable.
13. Chorus Website- Adam is nearly done with a draft to look at.
14. Inventory/ Sound system- We need 1or 2 boom type microphone stands and 2
pedestals. The speakers need to be hooked up and tested to see if there are any bad cords
mic to amplifier or amp to speakers.
15.Twins sing out- Jon Z. is coordinating a trip to Target field for members who would
like to sing the National Anthem in a mass barbershop chorus Sunday, August 17.
16. Bob announced that he has been asked to be a 10,000 Lakes Division VP beginning in
January 2015. WCC needs to think about someone to take over as chapter president.
The meeting adjourned at 7:07.
Respectfully submitted,
David Johnson, secretary
Treasurer’s Report
July 1, 2014 balance: $13,344.42
July Disbursements: $1,675.17
July 31 balance: $11,669.25