TMAC Board Present: Dale Dunlop (president), Tracy Ford, Paul Knowles, Monica MacNeil, Yashy Murphy, Marc Smith, Guy Thé©riault, Jerry Grymek
Regrets: Suzie Loiselle
ED: Elizabeth Kerr
Call to order: Dale Dunlop, 12:01 p.m.
Approval of agenda – DD approved agenda.
Minutes: Board meeting Sept. 18, 2019
– acceptance moved MS seconded TF, carried.
Financial report – EK shared the report from treasurer Darcy Rhyno. DD: TMAC is in good financial shape. He emphasized the benefit from the change to an executive director system. We will continue to receive financial reports on a quarterly basis.
ED report: EK – Little change in overall membership figures since 2018. Growing is our number one mission for 2020. Discussed financial reward for recruiting new members. Options – $50, $25 or draw for conference registration. DD: If we give $50, we will still be ahead in net revenue. GT: Would have been fine with $25, okay with concensus. MS: $50 shows we are serious about growing our membership. TF: agrees with Guy. YM: Either $25 or $50, not in favour of draw. MM: $50 more incentive. We stay with $50. EK will announce the membership recruitment incentive on Monday, Nov. 4.
EK is working on membership drive, and on requalification. If long-time members do not meet 50 points in new criteria, we can review their applications under old criteria for this last time.
Members will requal and when successful, will be invoiced.
EK: Has updated the organizational chart. JG reports that TF is added to sponsorship committee.
JG: We have people interested in sponsoring elements of Sudbury conference.
EK: At this point, industry membership references have to come from TMAC members. This is a challenge for some potential industry members. MM: Committee liked the idea that we could accept references from accredited media, even if they are not TMAC members. YM: advantage – gets the TMAC name out there.
It was decided that this issue would be decided by email within the next week. Subsequently, A motion was Moved by Yashy Murphy, and Seconded by Monica MacNeil: that the reference criteria for media and industry qualification be updated as follows:
FOR MEDIA
FROM:
Two letters of reference from TMAC industry members must be provided.
TO:
Two letters of reference must be provided
At least one reference must be from a current TMAC industry member with whom you have worked directly.
The other may be from:
– a travel media professional who is a member of TMAC or another media-accredited association, or:
– a member of the travel industry profession.
FOR INDUSTRY
FROM:
Two letters of reference from TMAC media members must be provided.
TO:
Two letters of reference must be provided. At least one reference must be from a current TMAC media member with whom you have worked directly.
The other may be from:
– a travel media professional who is a member of TMAC or another media-accredited association, or:
– a member of the travel industry profession.
After an email vote was carried out, the motion was passed unanimously.
MM: Asked if member benefits apply to all employees of a member organization? EK: Only the named member.
MS: National PD – working on survey; will send draft member survey to directors in next few days. Wants to get survey launched, get data, then recruit further volunteers.
Social media: YM – draft of call for social media coordinator is included in board package. General approval from executive members. EK – will post it today internally to all members.
EK – volunteerism – every committee is listed in report. Still some spaces to be filled.
GT: Conference – everything planned to start in month of November. Will meet with host destination in November.
PD – still to be developed; seeking new volunteers to coordinate sessions
Keynote speaker – have suggestions; will update. DD: Attended SATW conference in El Paso. Note: they are twice our size. Their demographics are much older than ours. Outreach to social media less successful than ours. Youngest people at the conference were all industry representatives. They are also facing challenges in getting conference hosts. PD sessions were good – focused on website affiliation to monetize your website without become a sponsorship site. Good keynote. Overall, we have done the right thing in completely overhauling our membership requirements.
TF – awards – next meeting Nov. 15. Planning to remove one category and replace with another. Will have more detail for next National Board meeting. Awards open Jan 6, close Feb 14, judging start Feb 15; March 31, announce top five finalists in each category.
Future hosts – JG – Several potential hosts have been identified for 2021 and following years. The committee, with other board members assisting, is in touch with them.
EK will send general invitation to industry that we are seeking bids for the next several years. Will send out to entire industry in next week. MS: will also be shared through Facebook.
Strategic planning workshop – EK will convert draft report into a formal document.
Press trip waiver forms: DD commented. His comments included in package. Yukon Tourism will try to get a change indemnity from simple negligence to gross negligence. DD- if they did that change, I would be happy. We have done what we can. EK will redraft DD's report on this and it will be sent to board and upon approval, disseminate it via FB and email.
Next meeting: Nov. 27, 12 noon EDT.
Adjournment: DD declared adjournment.