Minutes

Meeting of the Society of Professional Journalists Board of Directors, Valley of the Sun Pro Chapter

Jan. 13, 2019, 10 a.m., First Watch, Tempe

STARTED 10:11

Opening

• Secretary’s report and approval of minutes from Nov. 4, 2018
• Approved
• Treasurer’s report
• Per the new regulations, Treasurer has to make bank statements available at meeting and available to Deb every quarter. Tim was added to bank account. Treasurer needs to set up read-only access (possibly on Mint).
• The new binder includes bank statements for the month and the investment fund. Receipts are kept in the back.
• Check for Publicity Summit from Fingerpaint came.
• Contacted Rick Buyer to review account but have not heard back; Treasurer following up.
• Sold six caps and five T-shirts at holiday party (total of $65)
• Mark’s Mighty Minute!
• Start brainstorming things SPJ can do for hosting regionals in 2020. Get venue and headliner and start promoting that a few months ahead of time.
• Reserve time at next meeting to start working on this.
• Possible theme could be 2020: The Future of Journalism
  • Trend/thought: Newspapers are going away, but the need for news and knowing how to report it is still there
  • Possible headliner: Jeff Flake

Old Business

• Annual chapter holiday party, Bliss | Rebar, Tuesday, Dec. 4
• Social media/marketing + member retention/recruitment: New chapter e-newsletter launched in December – content ideas welcome
• Tim checking with Paula about this as not every board member received it.
• Sending first Tuesday of every month
• If you have ideas for newsletter, submit to Tim.
• Tim Eigo reached out again to Clarendon Hotel leadership on its selection as a Historic Site in Journalism.
• Tim trying to get hold of owner to organize unveiling, etc. Tim looking into if hotel has a PR team/person to work with instead.

New Business

• Meet the Board of the Arizona Association of Black Journalists, Jan. 25, 5 pm, Cronkite School
• Having a relaunch of sorts
• Keith Jenkins is president
• SPJ Region 11 conference, Las Vegas, March 29-30, 2019
• Typically, we try to send someone who is not going to the annual conference (which is in San Antonio the weekend after Labor Day)
• Deb will be there regardless as regional director so she will not be there as a representative of our board.
• Mark is interested in going. Could stay with friend and save board on the hotel cost.
• Tim is interested in going as well.
• Discuss possible Sunshine Week programming (March 16, 2019) (and beyond):
• Deb previously did a program on free press in Indian country, with Dennis Wagner and Dodi Manuel
• March on the Legislature
• Hackathon
• Open-records audit
• Newsroom open hours/tours
• Maybe connect with Ilana Lowery, now with Common Sense Media, “dedicated to improving the lives of kids and families by providing the trustworthy information, education, and independent voice they need to thrive in a world of media and technology”
  • Mark touching base with her about partnering for Sunshine Week
• ABA designation of Law Day topic (May 1) to be Free Speech, Free Press, Free Society
• Idea from Robert: Do a session with Morgan Lowe, Chris Wagner and other investigative reporters
  • Building on that: Add in an active citizens group to talk about how to get into a meeting that’s closed, what documents are available as public records.
• Other chapter outreach ideas (including rethinking our monthly mixers)
  • Maybe do a quarterly mixer
  • Theme could be: From Journalist to Author with local authors including Chelsea Young, Erin Thorburn (writes for AZ Big Media and others), Michael Gossie (AZ Big Media), Scott Hansen (HMA)
    • Could also be a theme for regionals in 2020
  • Another idea from Teri: Meet your local newsmaker with notable names like Kyrsten Sinema, Cardinals coach, new mayor of Phoenix (Phoenix mayoral election is March 12), Jerry Colangelo (Mark reaching out to contacts in media relations office at GCU about this)

NEXT MEETING: Sunday, March 3 or 10, 2019

NEXT MEETING: MARCH 3, 2019

ADJOURN: 11:11