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Project - Trial Meeting PlaceDBARA and ARC ContinueDBARA and ARC are still working on ironing out the wrinkles in the sheets concerning a possible meeting place for DBARA. In the interim time period the Board of Directors and the elected Staff Officers decided to keep the line of communications open between themselves and ARC. There are no more trial general meetings scheduled for the second or third Saturdays on a regular basis. President John LoCicero, K4TUG, wants to have one Saturday morning meeting a month for his "monthly brain storming crew" to get together and brainstorm ideas for the betterment of DBARA. 2011.06.08 After Action Report on the 14 May 2011 Saturday Trial Meetingby Bob Ledford, WA4IDIIt started out with me thinking there is some place I need to be today. Where is it? Oh yea, the Saturday DBARA, meeting trial date is today. So I hurried up and got my act together. Arriving ten minutes late they were not yet getting started so I actually made it in time. The coffee an doughnuts was pre-packaged from Krispy Kreme so I quickly poured myself one and settled in for what I thought was going to be a brief meeting because attendance was not what I personally (keyword) thought it would be. (1000 to 1200 hours) President John LoCicero, K4TUG, called the general meeting to order with his usual protocol of having everyone introduce themselves. Then he switched to committee or project managers present giving a briefing on their respective project progress. With the small amount of people present this went really well as we were able to ask questions and exchange ideas across the table without the conversation going astray from the topic as happens in many large group scenarios. The most recent General Licensing class success was discussed by those present and President LoCicero announced that a Technician class is on the planning table for the next Ham Bone College (HBC) project. Which brought to the table of how does the club and HBC reach out to get more interested people into ham radio. Many good solid ideas were brought to the table and discussed to the fullest extent possible. Jim Needham reported on the progress made with the Basic Electronics Course and Kit Building class. The discussion involved the teaching and construction techniques used and the results. The next class will probably be a VFO kit to go along with the QRP Transceiver and Frequency Counter kits already completed. His report then broke into another discussion that tied in with the Licensing Courses. The next topic was the CW familiarization of the non CW skilled and increasing of personal CW skills for those that wanted to brush up the already learned skills. That sparked a discussion on why not to do and what to do in the next event. Also is sparked a very good discussion as to why CW is or should not be considered a dead skill or mode by anyone. Director Arthur Byrnes and his spouse Vicky, gave a briefing on what and why ARC exists and what they do with their "clients." How they fund their operations and the good work that comes from the efforts of the organization within the community. This was a very informative and constructive presentation. It also revealed a lot of the Byrnes families involvement in community affairs that is not very obvious to many of us. Arthur was not present very long as he had worked most of the night and was on his way back to work at Embry-Riddle University. Where he had to finish up a major computer breakdown that had taken place early Friday evening. He had taken a brief break to come to the meeting while some software did a diagnostic process and hopefully repaired itself in the process. To summarize the whole of the meeting I would have to say that from my personal view point (keyword) it was one of the most productive and informative meetings that has been held in the past ten years. It was very informal, constructive, well managed or controlled (that translates to no or minimal interruptions), and very progressive. Everyone present asked to continue the discussion next month on a Saturday morning at the ARC facility if it could be arranged. President LoCicero asked everyone to think about a project that would involve the organization and possibly gain us more members and member interest for next year. Attendance statistics: The most devastating occurrence at this meeting occurred when I turned a whole cup of hot coffee over making sure it dumped almost 100 percent of the contents into my note pad briefing portfolio case that I usually take to meetings. The most interesting thing was the fact that Vicky Byrnes brought her knitting project with her as she was the designated door unlock and lockup person and she never got to open it up as she was a very active participant as a "guest." Sincerely //s// Bob Ledford, WA4IDI Director and Webmaster Background information about the Saturday trial and meeting move. written by Arthur J. Brynes, KA4WDK, Director DBARA During January 2011 the staff of "the First Presbyterian Church (FPC) of Daytona Beach" scheduled a year long "Bible Study Group" on Monday nights. When the Church Administrator called our President John LoCicero, K4TUG and made him aware that Mondays were no longer available to DBARA, John, immediately negotiated to transfer our meeting nights to the third Wednesday night of every month at 7:30 PM. in order to have a place to meet. The President had to make some decisions quickly in order not to totally lose our meeting place. The e-mail notification of the pending date change caused some members to ask, "Why didn't the Board of Directors (BOD) just change it to Saturdays?" The answer to that is quite simple, most Saturdays at the church were unavailable. As happens sometimes on the Internet, things get blown way out of proportion and some people get their feelings hurt, by misinformation. During this time no decisions were made about Saturday meetings, but several mailing list members had the impression that the Board was against Saturday meetings. Finding a meeting place takes time and effort. The Board had no clue that they were going to have to find a new place for our regular meeting. But, because discussion of Saturday meetings and testing had been going on for several months, several BOD members were looking for Saturday meeting places. Several places looked promising, but for various reasons fell through. In some cases they wanted payment for usage of the facility, in others parking or other problems were the cause. The good folks at ARC met with the President and offered their facilities for a meeting place. Monday nights are already being used by another organization. So, we have tentatively reserved the second Saturday of the month for DBARA meetings. At the next Board meeting Feb 9, (changed to the 9th of Feb to accommodate WB4OMM) the ARC meeting place option will be officially presented to the full Board. The Board members are already aware of this option from email. The full Board is likely to approve it, since no negative comments have been seen in email. The ARC has been around for over 30 years, and their facilities will accommodate our membership. The option as it will be presented is a trial period whereby DBARA will have Saturday meetings at the ARC, while still having Wednesday meetings at the FPC. If the Board approves the option, it will be presented to the Full Membership at the Feb meeting. It is important if you support Saturday meetings, to let your Board Members know, and attend the Feb meeting to make your vote count. If the trial is approved, which is very likely, the dates are;
Information as to what and where ARC of Volusia is: Arc of Volusia Incorporated Street Address: 100 Jimmy Huger Cir, Daytona Beach, FL Get Directions to ARC of Volusia County Arc's web site: http://arcvolusia.org Prepared and submitted for web posting by Arthur J. Byrnes, Director |
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