BOD Meeting Zoom Link As I mentioned in the previous post. There’s a new Zoom link for BOD meetings: https://us06web.zoom.us/j/86703686612?pwd=UM3tuQe3HBtBNycGvI1icThZsfVvl7.1 It is posted to the home page calendar events and works for every BOD meeting. They happen on the 3rd Thursday of the month at 7PM Central. Every member is always welcome to drop in and observe.
Home Office Contract We’re currently negotiating the next multi year contract with IMI, the company that provides our home office services. Our current 3 year contract expired July 1. Home office services provide all the behind the scenes support to keep this organization running. Don Gossard our office manager has been indispensable. I lean on him heavily. We talk multiple times each week. Without his support and expertise I could only get done 40% of what I’m currently doing. I would be lost without IMI and Don. He brings a deep knowledge of management practices, administrative structure, marketing, the hospitality industry (hotels and contracts) plus extensive skills in website management, book keeping and accounting. He maintains our CRM (Customer Relations Management) software… Membership Works, the primary tool we use to maintain our membership records and run symposiums with. The contract isn’t cheap but we get a huge bang for our buck by paying trained, licensed, bonded, insured, professionals to help us get our work done. Some have suggested we go back to hiring a retired member or friend part time to answer the phone and do some book keeping. We could do that but who would take care of the other 85% of what IMI does for us? While it might sting a bit to pay for the services I feel strongly it makes sense to do so. If you feel strongly about this give me a shout and let’s talk about it.
Symposium Hotel Contract We’re very close to inking a deal with The Wyndham Denver Tech Center hotel for the 2027 Symposium. It was the same price as the Antlers Hotel in Colorado Springs a few years ago. We’ll be getting the next revision of the contract any day now. Over all things look great. The hotel is 25 minutes from Denver International Airport and close to both field trip locations: Precision Glass and Coors Brewing. We will have use of all the meeting rooms as well as a 9000 square foot ballroom. Fingers crossed we get this signed and can move ahead with event planning.
Symposium planning The board is looking at some changes to the traditional symposium schedule to make it a bit less expensive to participate and more inviting to non-members. There are hundreds of local folk, some who do scientific boro work, some in quartz, some in artistic. I’m doing what I can to make the symposium appealing to these folks who might be very interested in learning what we have to teach. If we can generate interest from non-members to attend it will help our finances and quite possibly bring in new members as well.
Fusion Planning for the transition to a new publisher in 2027 is underway. There are all sorts of interesting rumors floating around about this change. I’d like to address a few:
#1 Fusions are ending. This is patently false. We are changing printers not canceling Fusion. Marylin Brown and her team continue to create amazing content as they have done for years. Nothing will change but the printer. We’re moving from Hot Graphics to Lulu. What will end is mailing Fusions to you every quarter without you doing anything. Beginning in 2027 you will need to hop over the ASGS store and order a hard copy to be sent to you. (Cost is ~$14 depending on shipping charges.) This solves two really big issues. First is the cost of printing which will now be paid by those who want a printed copy. The old system had ASGS paying to print and mail Fusions, this cost us $16,000 -$20,000 each year. It was a major contributing facto to our budget woes. The second issue was making sure your hard copy got to you. With every issue there were problems with people not getting their Fusion. Sometimes it was the Post Office. Fusions had been sent out “Media rate” which means multiple weeks for delivery and no way to track the mailing if it doesn’t get to you. With the new system you enter the address you want it sent to and it arrives via 1st class mail (trackable) in 2 weeks. Sometimes it was our records. If you moved and didn’t update your information with us, your Fusion got sent to the old address not the new one. Overseas addresses required personal handling every time and when the issue never arrived it was impossible to know why.
#2 No more back issues Again not true. With the current printing system, we’d order 100 to 150 extra copies with each run (an unrecoverable expense) to be sure that we’d have back issues available should someone want one. What actually happened was that some back issues were given out and most sat in boxes and boxes and boxes in the home office or in storage collecting dust. So many boxes of them that it happened twice that I can remember, the home office couldn’t store anymore and gave away full sets of every issue for free to any member who asked, because there wasn’t room to store them all. Rest assured there will be back issues to give out for years to come. Some day when the current pile runs out, we can print as many copies of any issue we want for promotion or giveaways at section meetings, and conferences. As soon as IMI finishes loading them all into Lulu you can do the same. Any issue of Fusion ever published will be available for you to order a hard copy of.
#3 No advertiser will want a digital Fusion Again I respectfully disagree. Digital Fusions will include at no additional cost embedded hyperlinks in every advertisement, taking the reader directly to the advertiser’s website. The exhibitor or advertiser will be able to track where that internet customer came from and know exactly which ad generates the most interest.
#4 No reader will want a digital Fusion This depends on whether you’d like to see article photos in full color and full size. This depends on whether article authors or readers would enjoy links for more information online. This depends on whether it matters to you what language Fusion is written in. Using AI, digital Fusions will be translated into multiple languages beginning with German and Japanese, followed by Spanish Italian and who knows what else. This is a big project which may take a few months to figure out, but when we do, Fusion will be a global publication, we will have a worldwide audience. What’s not to like about that?
All that said I realize there are strong feelings about this change which I want to respect. Change is hard, Change can be scary and uncomfortable. If you’d like to talk I’m always just a phone call or email away. You can also contact your section Director for more information or pop into one of the ASGS Town Hall Zoom calls and speak your mind there. I’d love to hear from you.
