NDCA Board Meeting – November 19, 2017.
Meeting called to order by Shunta Jordan at 11:30am.
Members Present
Shunta Jordan
Sheryl Kaczmarek
Shane Stafford
Christina Tallungan
Chris Theis
Aaron Timmons
Adam Torson
Dave Weston
Ed Williams
Business
I. NDCA Conference Conference
a. Christina is checking group rates at various hotels in the Chicago area. In particular she is examining whether airport hotels will be the cheapest option or whether we should locate elsewhere in the Chicago metro.
b. Panels –
i. There are only four panels submitted so far, so we are hoping for a few more
ii. We would like to have panels set in mid-January if possible so that they can be advertised before the conference. We decided to set a deadline of January 15th to submit panels and then extend the deadline if folks needed more time.
c. Christina reports that we are planning for same number of attendees as last year, but we have started reaching out to more people and hope for a larger turnout.
d. The Board affirmed that we should seek out sponsorships again, and there is an indication that some alums are willing to donate to the conference.
e. Christina confirmed that we will once again partner with the NSDA to count conference hours toward their professional development program.
II. Tournament Report (Dave)
a. Marist plans to use their catering in-house catering service, which will cost $31 per person for two breakfasts and two lunches. Marist will donate $1000 toward the meals to help with price, and Summit Debate may sponsor a meal. Other entities listed in the bid are unlikely to sponsor a meal. It is the sense of the board that given this uncertainty we should price the tournament on the assumption that there will be no additional donations.
i. Last year the entry fees were $100 per LD entry and $150 per team entry. The year before that the entry fees were $100 per LD entry and $100 per team entry, but with a $40 meal charge per person.
b. At Marist we will have eighty six rooms available. Tim reports that this should be enough given that we are unlikely to have radically more entries than in past years.
c. It looks as though the tournament will be able to secure a Promo code for discounted Delta airline tickets and a discounted tickets for a Braves game.
d. Marist plans to sell T-Shirts for tournament, selling them at cost in the range of $7-10.
e. Adam recapped the discussion from Greenhill about the tournament.
f. The Board reaffirmed the importance of focusing on hiring local judges in Atlanta, and promoting diversity in the judging pool.
g. Food Fee
i. Is it necessary to raise the food fee? Our cost looks to be $31 person compared to the $40 food fee.
ii. The Board considered the options of offering four meals (two breakfasts and two lunches), or offering only lunches and starting the tournament an hour later to accommodate people getting breakfast on their own. Dave is going to email Tim to see if a later start time is feasible.
iii. Ed moves that we remove breakfast from meal request and keep the $20 meal fee we already voted for. This should generate $10,000 in revenue. This motion was adopted by acclamation.
iv. It is the sense of the Board that the meal fee calculation needs to be clear. There is a sense that it may be a mistake to include a food fee as a separate line item on teams’ invoices as some districts have a policy that they will not pay a food fee.
h. It is the sense of the Board that we need to be more explicit in our invitation to ensure that teams are complying with the Entourage Rule.
i. Dave is going to send an email at the end of January or February notifying schools and their principals that they have students qualified to the tournament.
j. The Board briefly discussed the possibility of adding Congressional debate for future years, in the hopes of offering more competitive opportunities and creating another revenue source. The sense of the Board is that for the moment we should focus on growing our current slate of events.
III. Debate Camp Survey
a. Some questions were created relating to the debate camp survey discussed on the September Board meeting. Shunta and Aaron are going to discuss the issue further, including how to share the information collected, and report back to the Board.
IV. Board roles
a. Adam and Chris will switch roles for the coming year. Adam will be the Curriculum Coordinator and Chris will be the Internal Communications Officer.
V. Rostrum
a. Steve Schappaugh has told Shane that the next Rostrum will be focused on education, accessibility, inclusion. There is a December 15th deadline for us to submit an article for the February Rostrum.
VI. Curriculum Packet –
a. Shunta and Adam will collaborate to coordinate the packet after the 2018-2019 policy topic is announced. The Board expressed the desire to have better communication with people working on the novice packet moving forward.
Meeting adjourned at 12:41pm