Cory Golob, KU1U writes:
We had our first Board Meeting last night virtually, using freeconferencecall.com and it worked well for its intended purpose; video and audio quality was good, screen sharing worked well.
The biggest issue was attendance. 43 people were invited, 10 were in attendance. We are open to suggestions on having a better day/time of the week. 6PM on a Saturday may not be the most convenient. We used the entire hour and a half scheduled which means we have plenty to discuss.
Bob Gould (N1WJO) would like to have these meetings every two weeks for a while until we can get some plans in motion and then look at scaling it back in the future.
Introductions were done by everyone in attendance. The biggest topic was Recruitment and Retention: How can we get people involved in the hobby. It was mentioned that we should have both a Facebook page for social media since that is the way of the times and also a webpage for those who do not use social media. The discussion was that Joy, K1SEW and I would likely head up these formats since Joy does a wonderful job maintaining the League page.
We also discussed having a virtual ham radio convention in early/mid January. Joe, W1SK and I have been talking about this idea for a little while. We would have talks, group meetings and an area for “eyeball QSOs.” The benefit of a virtual conference is there is no travel time involved so it can be a great opportunity to get some stellar talks from people anywhere in the world!
I mentioned the newsletter that was started in September, called the Maine Telegraph which is open to receiving an articles or items from people around Maine, what they may be doing with the hobby, any club activities, articles people may want to write. I suggested adding a “Show Your Shack” section to the newsletter, people could send in a picture of their shack. As hams, we take pride in our shack, so why not showcase it in the newsletter? The suggestion was well received.
I talked about ongoing nets and time changes due to conditions changing. I encouraged people to get on nets when possible.
Next meeting Sat December 5th at 6 pm unless a better day/time is more suitable