OCC Minutes February 3, 2015

OCC Minutes February 3, 2015

Vice President Myers Burmeister called the meeting to order at 6:40.  21 members present.

Treasurer:  $2,847.43 in the club account and $463.66 in the N4C Conference account.

Secretary:  Marty Barker says we have snack bringers signed up through St. Patrick’s Day.

Equipment:  All available

Snacks:  provided by Larry Headley

March print competition: Nikki will take prints through the Saturday before the meeting on March 3rd when

photos will be judged by Jerry Bartek, a photographer from Blair who does mostly portrait photography.  Four

entries per person is the likely amount we’ll judge.  However in case we can add more, you may enter 2 more

photos if you number them 1 to  6 in order of preference with 1 being most preferred.

PSA Competition: Larry Headley tried a PSA evaluation of his photos.  On our blog you can see the response he

got from them.  It’s agreed that more people should read the blog.

Tonight’s program:  February Competition Reveal by Myers Burmeister; Gary Prill previewed his Omaha slide

show which was beautifully done and well accepted.

Break

N4C Conference Update:  Ina Ohnmeiss opened the second half of the meeting with handouts on the speaker

schedule, speaker agreements, registration steps, and a “to do” list.

Compensation for Speakers:  Doug Hansgate and Roman Kurywczak:   Speakers will be paid Sunday morning with

reimbursement for their expenses Thursday through Sunday only, along with 520 dollars air fare for Roman.

  Sigma is also helping with Roman’s expenses.  Doug is driving and will be given the government rate of 52

cents per mile along with room and meals.   Rockbrook is excited about helping with ANYTHING, especially

providing bags with their logo for handouts.

Visiting Hotel Site:  Any club member can accompany our N4C committee on Feb. 12 to look at the space (3

rooms) we’ll use Ramada Plaza hotel at 3321 South 72nd.  Meet in front lobby.

Discussion of using Steampunk people in photos:  As we consider photo releases, compensation, etc., we need

to find how this type of thing has been handled in the past.  We’ll tell them we’ll give a donation to their

group, but not give a definite dollar amount at this time; and until we get a policy on photo releases in

general, we’ll tell them the photos are not for commercial purposes.

Field Trip discussion:  The Mangelsens tour will now just be a visit to the gallery from 2:00 – 4:00 on

Thursday with 20% off purchases.  Nikki suggested we not call this a field trip, but just let people know the

gallery is available to shop in.  Perhaps as attendees arrive on Thursday, they could have more open time on

their own at places such as Mangelsen’s, Durham Museum, Joslyn Art Museum, Old Market, Lauritzen Gardens.  If

people want to be guided, we could provide maps, carpooling, etc.  Also the info provided by the Convention

Center will be in their bags.  Tom Pfeffer suggested we have the Omaha video playing continuously behind the

registration desk to create interest.  Old Market trips could be both Friday and Saturday.

To Do List:  Pricing is needed on SAC and Lauritzen tours.  Ina will meet with insurance people.  Myers is

still working on 5013c designation.

We have an email for the conference:  focusonomaha@gmail.com.  We’ll have sites on Google, Facebook, and a

website that Gary Prill is creating.  We’ll have online registration, and discussed using Paypal instead of

credit cards.  Paypal would also  accommodate the younger/more digital-aged generation, as urged by younger

member Steve Frith who reminded us that they rarely pay by check anymore.  However, people who prefer to pay

by check could send them to Ina who will then give them to treasurer Tim White.  Steve also strongly

supported the use of social websites such as Facebook, especially to get the word out and attract

participants.  Brian Alspaugh said we should look at some claims that the OCC isn’t very responsive when

people contact the OCC website.

Sponsor packages:  Ina presented 5 different levels of compensation packages with each representing “x”

dollar amounts in donations.  We are still thinking about how we will compenste other types of participants,

along with special rates for different categories of people attending (i.e. students, photo journalists,

etc).  Tom Pfeffer said it all will depend on our total costs and what we can afford.

Tom Pfeffer also suggested we consider Fr. Don Dahl of Creighton as a speaker.

Submitted Secretary Marty Barker