Clackamas, Oregon
Attendees:
Executive Committee:
Keith Hagel. Larry Rand
Stephanie Steele (unable to attend)
Board of Player Representatives:
Ruth Hamilton, Bennett Jacobstein, Steve Pellinen, Susi Tiekert, Rick Wong
Treasurer:
Janice Kaye (unable to attend)
Member Liaison:
Melissa Brown
Guests:
Maliha Mahmood, Mike Johnson, Winter
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The Meeting was called to order by Keith at 7:35 a.m.
1. Word Judge 2: Maliha presented the board with a copy of her book Word Judge for Clubs and Tournaments. Hard copies are available from Amazon.com and ebooks are available from Author House. PDF copies are also available. Maliha pledged to donate royalties from book sales to WGPO.
2. New rating system update: Mike reported that the new ratings system is going well; ratings are now updated within days of the tournaments. There have been some issues with directors not using the new system on the website. A How-to user guide was sent to directors, and it can be found on the WGPO site under director FAQs. Mike is doing a demo of the new system tonight. Winter gave information about the database and code used to report and update ratings.
3. Collins committee report: Winter said that one of his long-term ideas is to introduce the Collins twos into our lexicon. In the immediacy, Winter suggests that directors continue to offer Collins tournaments. Lisa suggests a Collins forum to build interest among players. The Minneapolis club promotes Collins through use of cheat sheet.
4. Word Cup 2015: Ruth and Larry have done a great job.
5. Phoenix Word Cup 2016: Larry commented that there will not be an early bird, offering a full day trip for $150 to Navajo reservation / trading post, the Grand Canyon, Sedona. There will be a 4-game late bird. Sat, Sunday, Mon, Tues, Wed, 7-7-7-7-3. Gretchen willing to do another talent show, and Bennett again will do trivia. Considering doing two lunches rather than one lunch and one reception. Keith suggested offering a Scrabble lecture again. Bennett suggested a ball game outing to Diamondbacks.
6. Word Cup 2017: Four options for host venues are being explored in different parts of the country (Melissa Brown-Western MA; Lynda-WI; Jeff Clark-MI; and Peggy Grant- Southeast). Oversight of the selection will be coordinated by Bennett, with the goal of an announcement at the February 2016 Phoenix tournament.
7. Kamen 2016 California one-day tournaments: Roy is the organizer, directors to rotate, will be WGPO tournaments.
8. Treasurer’s report: Received from Janice Kaye; a motion was passed unanimously to include in minutes:
Last year as of 9/13/2014 our balance was $4,658.80. Our balance today is $7,475.82.
INFLOWS include tourney donations from Phoenix, Madison, GRITS, Portland and Cabo; Private donations; Auction/Raffle/Sales; and overage from WC Madison.
OUTFLOWS include Word Cup donations, Webhosting, and Director entry to WC Portland.
9. Elections: On the Executive Committee, Larry and Steph’s terms are expiring. On the Board of Player Representatives, Ruth, Steve and Rick’s terms are expiring. Keith will recruit WGPO members to serve on this year’s Nomination and Election Committee.
10. WGPO Website: Without debate, thank you to Ruth for the Web site improvement and maintenance.
Meeting adjourned at 9 a.m.
Respectfully submitted,
Melissa Brown
WGPO Member Liaison