EVERETT UNIT 437 BOARD MEETING OF 3/6/2016

The meeting was called to order by President Marla Patterson at 7:10 pm. 

Present were JoAnn Smith, Marla Patterson, Dave Fallen, Mark Lawson, Sharon Erwin, Nick Tipton, Jack Erickson, Marge Erickson, Melinda Lawson, and Ron Tracy.

This meeting was primarily for the purpose of discussing the just-finished tournament and plans for the one next year.

The discussion revealed a consensus that the poor turnout on Friday night was a combination of
(1) an earlier than usual start time (6:30) making it difficult for Seattle workers to arrive in time, and
(2) being sandwiched in between the Vasa park tournament and the Reno National.

After much discussion of starting times for next year it was decided to go with:
Friday:   1:30 and 7:30
Saturday: 12:30 and 6:30
Sunday (Swiss): 10:30 and TBA

It was noted that the Saturday evening 0-200 had low attendance and this generated complaints from some of the few novices who played.  The 0-750 bracket for the Friday evening game was viewed as satisfactory by the novices.  It was noted that when the novice game used the 0-750 criterion, only two C players remained for the open session.  The following decisions were made:
(1) Use 0-750 for the second novice game, both Friday and Saturday
(2) Move the strata for the open pairs games to 0-1000, 1000-3000, and 3000+
(3) Leave the 0-200 Sunday morning Swiss, despite poor attendance

It was reported that it cost the Unit $52 for 1/2 price entries, and $72 for free entries.  The consensus was that this is a worthwhile investment and voted to continue this year's policy:
0-5 master points play free
5-20 master points play for 1/2 price
Players under 21 years of age play for 1/2 price

There was considerable discussion concerning putting the amount of the entry fees on the on-line tournament flyer.  This issue was deferred for a subcommittee.

Marla stated that the tournament generated 183 1/2 tables which is about 30% less than last year.  In addition to going back to the standard 7:30 pm start time of Friday (noted above), Marla will explore next year's tournament calendar and try to find a date with fewer or no conflicts.

Because of the low attendance the Unit will not profit from the tournament as it did last year, but should at least break about even.  Nick reported that the net receipts for the tournament was $6618, and that director's fees were in the amount of $1802 - not all of which is paid to the directors (ACBL gets the fees and pays the directors out of it).  The tournament finances will be detailed at the next board meeting.

Next year's tournament will mark its 50 year anniversary.  It was suggested the we might consider other names for the "Fun" sectional as people are making fun of that name.

Issues related to recruiting new players was deferred to a future meeting.

Sharon is working on new signs for the tournament.

The consensus was that we have a great venue and should continue playing there.

There was a discussion about accommodating players with special dietary restrictions for the Sunday lunch.  If we do, players will need to notify the tournament director before Wednesday because the food needs to be ordered in advance.

David reported that the Unit web site is ready to go, lacking only approval of where it is to be hosted.  The web site is currently on a free host:  www.acblunit437.altervista.org.  There was consensus that we should pay for a commercial site (under $100 per year) so we could have our own domain name (say www.acblunit437.org, or even everettbridge.com).  David will look into the alternatives (including possible free hosting for 501(c)3 organizations, and report back at the next board meeting.

Meeting adjourned 9:00.


Respectfully submitted,
David Fallen
Secretary