Attendees: Ron Martz, president; Don North, vice president; Otto Kreisher, Sec-Treasurer
Board members: Sig Christenson, Kelly Kennedy, Lou Hansen, Mike Francis, Carl Pine, and Michelle Pendleton
Meeting called to order 1:00 pm.

Ron provided an update on the finances, contest entries & bills coming due Then he initiated a discussion of whether to have a conference this year Don – Commented that without a conference, what is MRE? He suggested the possibility of teaming up w/ the Canadian Embassy, using their facilities. The Canadians are interested because of their involvement in Iraq, Afghanistan. He suggested that perhaps the Newseum would host us.

Mike & Carl believed that we did not have enough money to hold a conference. Because of the economy, our finances and the fact that a lot of news organizations have cut travel.

Don noted that two conferences were coming up that some of us are going to. Those could represent MRE & look for support for the conference

Ron said he had contacted the Knight Foundation and got a cold shoulder on them teaming up with us

Lou asked if Gannett might be a partner, could bring a lot of interested journalists to the conference, people who were interested in the military.

Kelly said Tobias (Military Times editor) has said over and over he would like to team with us, perhaps provide books, list of equipment etc to journalists going to embed. Provide some value for membership.

Sig said Tobias has a lot of potential members. Maybe this is our opportunity to do something different down the line. He recognized that these are hard times, but if there ever were a time for a group like ours to be out there, helping the military explain what they are doing, this is now. Two wars, people still want to go cover them.

Ron questioned how many people are still in our business because of the lay offs, buyouts bureaus closing?

Carl recommended that before we commit ourselves to a conference, maybe we should canvass our members, see how many would show up.

Kelly suggested that maybe we not do a full conference, but just have a session to announce the contest winners etc.

Ron agreed it might be feasible to do perhaps a half day, late afternoon. Have a speaker, a panel and hold the election for officers.

Carl said that looking at the expenses coming up – the Galloway prize and others — I.just don’t see how we’re going to do it.

Otto said as treasurer, he was tired of us running a deficit on the conference.

Sig noted that we still would have to pay the bills. If we can get a low- or no-cost venue, perhaps we could make some money from a conference to pay the bills. He suggested the options of holding a conference at Military Times, or the Canadian Embassy, with no cost.

Carl repeated that we still need to survey the members. If no interest, why do it?

Don said we can’t survey the members if we don’t have any idea of what kind of conference we’d have, speakers etc.

Sig suggested we do 3 things: pool the members, create a small group to see who could host us, and a group to seek a speaker. If we want to roll over and end the organization, we could do that today. I don’t think we need to do that.

Otto supported the first 2 steps. Thought it was too early to look for a speaker if not likely to hold a conference.

Mike liked the scaled down idea. Or the idea of teaming with another organization.

Don said he needed to know if we were going to have a conference before I get down on my knees and ask Newseum etc. Disappointed that the Pentagon ignored us last year.

Ron said the organization was handicapped in that I’m not in Washington to talk directly to people.

Don offered to go to the Pentagon to ask for support. Knows a PAO from NATO, now an aide to Mullen. Could ask him.

Sig said not to overlook the fact that we know people, we have contacts that could help.

Michelle said when I first started working with the group, we really didn’t have trouble with money. That also was a time when people were getting ready to embed (OIF) so there was a lot of interest. Now we’re having trouble getting people to join, or to pay dues. People don’t renew because they don’t know its time to renew, and because people don’t think they get anything from belonging. We’ve never had a budget, so we don’t know how many members it takes to support that budget.

No one has gone back to old members to ask them to come back

Also suggest giving members access to web groups through MRE website – value added for membership.

Sig – What we’re suggesting is have a membership drive now. Be a good way to judge interest in a conference.

Ron asked Sig to work with him on an e-mail. Sig agreed.

Ron – Suggest not just asking members if they would attend a conference, but what would they like it to cover, what would want to get out of it.

Michelle said surveymonkey.com, will allow you to do a 10 question survey for free.

Sig – Moved to craft a questionnaire, asking our membership and former members we can track down, not just if they would attend a conference in Washington, but who would they like as a speaker, what issues to cover. Set a date of getting it back by July 6 and holding a conference call July 11.

Don – Seconded.

Unanimous voice vote.

Ron – We will craft a survey. Asked board members to submit ideas. Would like it to be ready by mid-week.

Don asks if we can afford to pay our members who we owe for loans.

Don asked why we are committed to paying three judges $100 each to judge the contest.

Carl agreed. Suggested asking the Medill professors if they would do it for the honor. We would honor them at the contest award.

Ron – Will ask Ellen about that.

Moved and second to adjourn.

Unanimous 1:04 pm