AGM9
Minutes
of the 1999 USOF ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING
The
1999 Annual General meeting of the United States Orienteering Federation was
held at the School at Church Farm, Exton, PA on July 2, 1999. It was organized by DVOA.
AGENDA
OF THE USOF ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING
1.
Opening of the convention.
2.
Approval of the agenda.
3.
Report by the Credentials Committee.
4.
Election of two certifiers of the minutes.
5.
Motion to dispense with the reading of the minutes of the previous
annual Convention and any Federation Referendums.
6.
Reports from the Auditor and treasurer.
7.
Budget for the next financial period.
8.
Election of Officers and at-Large Board members.
9.
8a. Results of the raffle to support ski orienteering
10.
Report of the President.
11.
Reports of the Vice Presidents.
12.
Proposals from committees and the Board of Directors.
13.
Proposals from member clubs.
14.
Questions related to the Constitution and Bylaws.
15.
Questions related to the competition rules.
16.
Questions related to competition meets both national and international.
17.
Questions related to USOF publications.
18.
Questions related to the membership situation.
19.
Questions related to membership fees and other financial matters.
20.
Any other business.
21.
Closing of the convention and announcements.
MINUTES
ITEM 1. Opening the convention
The
1999 Annual General Meeting (AGM) of the United States Orienteering Federation
(USOF) was called to order on July 2 at 1:36 PM by Gary Kraght (Gary),
President. A welcome was given by Terry
Schriner, Head of School. Jack Williams,
Convention Chair, presenter a convention T-shirt and thanks to Terry as well as
advice to future convention chairs to have plans B and C ready for every
event. He also thanked the 100 or so
DVOA members who worked on the convention.
ITEM 2. Approval of agenda.
ITEM 3. Report by the Credentials Committee.
Al Petit presented the
Report from the Credentials Committee.
There were thirty-six clubs representing one thousand three hundred six
votes, which met the requirements for a quorum.
ITEM 4. Election of two certifiers of the minutes.
Two
certifiers were elected: Valerie Murray and Rich Armstrong.
Page
2, AGM99
ITEM 5. Motion to
dispense with the reading of the minutes of the previous Annual Convention and
any Federation Referendums.
A
motion from the floor was made to accept item 5 as published. The motion passed. Minutes of the 1998 AGM are available from
Robin Shannonhouse, Ex. Dir.
ITEM 6. Reports from the Treasurer and the Auditor.
The
Treasurer’s Report was given by Robin Shannonhouse. (Please contact Robin if you need a copy of
the report and didn’t get one at the convention.)
Catherine
Yekenevicz gave the auditor’s report. She reported that books were in order and
in a good format. Additional
information: Map fund loans that still are to be repaid are listed as assets. About $8800 was given in donations this year,
$1200 of it to the general fund. Net
profit from VWC was $7026.03 and the books are closed except for $1000 in a
special account. She recommended to the
board that the profit be used in support of the US Team.
ITEM 7. Budget for the next financial period
The budget is prepared on a calendar year
and will be developed by the Board in the fall.
There were no questions on the 1999 budget.
ITEM 8. Election of Officers and at-Large Board members.
Frank
Kuhn, Nominating Committee Chair, presented a slate of candidates and he
announced the new representatives from the Pacific: Claire Durand, Gary Kraght,
alt.; Heartland: Gale Teschendorf, Dick Neuburger, alt.; Northeast Robert
Buraczynski, Joanne Sankus, alt.
Nominated for President: Chuck Ferguson. Nominated for Secretary:
Linda Ferguson. Nominated for At-Large Member: Barb Sleight. After the motion to close nominations was
made and seconded, the slate was unanimously elected.
ITEM 9. Report of the President
Gary
Kraght reported on:
1. the accomplishments
of the last years:
-there
is a raft of new clubs
-the
map grant fund is in use for start-up and small clubs
-a
promotional brochure from Eva Ruutopold was published
-a
mission statement was approved
-a
long-range growth plan was approved
-there
are 2 new vice-presidents (club services and marketing/public relations)
-there
is a significant marketing budget
-a
web site was maintained and updated, first by Rick Slater now by Debbie Newell
-O/NA
will continue under Donna Fluegel after all the good years under the Bermans
-an
endowment fund is being created
-a
trail-O committee has formed and we are on the cutting edge in that branch of
the sport.
-there
are 2 new championships, Interscholastic and Night-O
-a
down-loadable, cohesive set of rules is on the Web site
-VWC
was completed with many outstanding features
2. the first goal of the Long Range Growth Plan
-USOF
needs to build consensus on the need for and means of growth
-a
closer alignment needs to be built between the clubs and USOF. There is lots of discussion about having all
club members being members of USOF
-Modification
of communications is underway with a new Web site, a network of presidents,
editors, and publicity people of the clubs under the VP Marketing/Public
Relations
-change
in the O magazine gives an opportunity to increase growth; maybe some form
electronic publishing will be added
-there
needs to be some change in services to benefit members. No concrete action has yet been taken in this
area.
10.
Reports of the Vice Presidents
VP Administration, Frank
Kuhn
supervises 7 committees and procedures.
-the 1998 Silva Award winner will get her
medal at the AGM
-JJ
Cote reported as grievance chair that 2 grievances related to the US Team
selection were completed.
-Val
Murray reported that the Convention will be at North Star at Tahoe in 2000, that 2001 and 2002 are open, and that ROC and the
Canadian clubs are trying for a joint venture in 2003.
-Rob
Wilkison is in charge of by-laws and a change will be voted on at this AGM
-Clem
McGrath and his committee are reworking the policy they developed for an
Endowment Policy. We will need a Board
of Directors for that Fund and Clem’s committee will put forward a slate for
that.
-Steve
Shannonhouse in January 1999 completed an update in 10 areas and in June 2
more. Comprehensive revisions are
underway.
-Bill
Cusworth and the computer/technology committee have been working to improve the
Rankings system programs.
-The
Nominating Committee needs more members!
VP Marketing and Public
Relations, Liz Kotowski, began her report by thanking the Board for substantial support for
her budget.
Website:
She
reported that the new USOF web site is up and running with Debbie Newell as
webmaster. In addition to creating the site,
she arranged for a new web host and registered the site with several major
search engines. Debbie also designed and launched the new US Team website in
June. It includes photos of all WOC ’99
team members and will be maintained regularly.
All USOF clubs now have links to the USOF website. USOF worked with the Boy Scouts of America
webmaster and the editor of Boys Life
Magazine to post a short article about orienteering on their website and worked with the
webmaster for the Women’s Sports Foundation website. That site now has a listing for orienteering,
which includes a photo from USOF.
Improvements to the IOF and WOC ’99 websites were suggested. The IOF home page now includes a direct link
to the list of national federations, and the WOC ’99 home page includes more
information for the media and general public.
Media
Contacts were developed with Bob Cooper,
Men’s Fitness, article on
orienteering (Liz, Jon Nash); David Fischer, Sports Illustrated, book chronicling all the sports mentioned in
the magazine over the years (Jon);Dylan
Tomlinson, Denver Post, article about
Sharon Crawford; Kristin Carpenter, Shape
and Walking Magazines, articles on outdoor adventure sports; Chases’s Calendar of Sports Events
(Jon); (Liz, Gary Kraght); Pat Joseph,
Universal Press Syndicate, "Adventuring" column on orienteering for
distribution to newspapers nationwide.
Several USOF members have reported seeing the article in their local
paper. (Liz, Gary Kraght); Brennan Lukas, Journal
of Health, Physical Education, Recreation, and Dance, article on
orienteering and other nontraditional activities that can be added to the PE
curriculum in schools (will include
photos from USOF); Helen Maier, NYC television producer, called for information
about orienteering. She may film an
event at a later date. (Liz, Jon)
A
photography contest was held, with prizes to be awarded in eight categories . Some of
these photos are now posted on the USOF website. We hired Jerry and Marcy Monkman (EcoPhotography.com)
to take photos at the Team Trials in early May.
USOF now has a new collection of color slides to supplement the slides
taken several years ago by Andy Freeberg.
Several photos are now posted on the USOF website. Others have been used in the JWOC ’99 and WOC
’99 team booklets. (Eva Ruutopold, Liz)
JROTC Championships: Pre-event news releases were sent to the Tyler and Dallas/Fort Worth papers and television stations. (Jon, Liz) After the event, press releases with photos were sent to the local papers for first, second, and third place teams. At least one team reported seeing an article and photo in their local paper. (Liz)
World
Ranking Event: Press releases were sent
to the Cincinnati media prior to the event. (Jon) After the event, releases were sent to
papers in the hometowns and current cities of residence of the two top US
finishers: Eric Bone and Peggy Dickison.
The releases resulted in a mention in the St. Paul Pioneer Press (MN) and an article in the Bowie Blade-News (MD), which was later
picked up by the Associated Press and ESPN.
(Jon)
Intercollegiate
Championships: Pre-race new releases were sent to the Ithaca papers. The story was covered by the Ithaca
Journal. (Jon)
JWOC
’99 Team: Pre-event press releases were sent to the hometown newspapers of all
team members. Included with each release
was a JWOC ’99 team booklet and USOF brochures on orienteering. The Dedham
Daily Transcript plans to do a major article about Samantha Saeger when she
returns. Other local papers are likely
to do the same.
On the Horizon: Press releases will be prepared for the WOC team members and for the winners of the Short Course, Night, Relay, Long Course, and Classic Championships. (Jon)
Road Runners Club of America National Convention, Spokane, WA, April. John Beck and Kristin Ritzenthaler presented
a workshop on orienteering and a one-hour score-O event. (Mike Minium, Liz)
American Alliance for Health, Physical Education, Recreation, and Dance
(AAHPERD), Boston, MA, April. A large USOF
booth was created and set up in the Olympic Village section of the exhibit hall
for four days. Volunteers from NEOC,
UNO, CSU, and Orienteering Unlimited staffed the booth and presented
information to teachers. An indoor
score-O event was run as well.
On
the Horizon: US Olympic Committee Teacher Training Institute, Lake Placid, NY,
September. This week-long program will
be geared for physical education teachers, who will be introduced to several
Olympic or affiliated sports, including orienteering. This institute was originally scheduled for
the spring but was postponed until the end of September to ensure better
attendance. (Barb Sleight, Robin
Shannonhouse, Liz, Mike) USOF will
provide training staff for this program.
USOF also may have a presence at the International Conference on Outdoor
Recreation and Education in Wyoming in November. In addition, a second exhibit will be
purchased for larger conventions.
Publications:
We
produced a new interim USOF brochure for the AAHPERD convention in April. (Eva and Liz) JWOC ’99 Team booklets were prepared in
color for the national and foreign media, potential sponsors, foreign teams, US
team members, and team supporters and
WOC ’99 Team booklets are currently in preparation. (Liz, Jon)
We are currently working with the US Olympic Committee’s Education Office to develop teacher training materials for orienteering. (Liz, Mike)
The
USOF News was published in every issue of ONA.
(Michael Schneiderman)
Articles
were written for ONA about the new USOF website and this year’s marketing
goals.
A
new publisher selected for the national orienteering magazine and a contract
was prepared. (Michael, Gary)
On
the Horizon: USOF will reprint the Coaching Manual within the next few
months.
Nominees from the orienteering community were solicited and selected for the Jack Kelly Fair Play Award and the Sullivan Award. (Jon)
An
exploratory meeting was held
with the US Junior Team coach, the UNO Juniors coach, Eva
Ruutopold and several other interested people to discuss content and format for
the proposed juniors promotional video.
We
spoke with Per Stensby, Chris Cassone, and Gail Finnerty Keech about existing
video footage from WOC ’93 for inclusion in a promotional video and possible
posting on the USOF website.
Preliminary
work has been done to establish an e-mail network or Listserv that will connect
all club webmasters, newsletter editors, publicity contacts, presidents, and
USOF marketing team members so that information and ideas can be shared.
Liz
met with the President of Mountain Sports Marketing in Denver to explore
possible roles for MSM in obtaining sponsors for USOF and promoting
orienteering nationally. She contacted
the US Olympic Committee’s Disabled Sports Director and affiliated
organizations to help promote a trail-O workshop held in Springfield, MA, this
spring. She flew to Washington, DC, to
meet with the people who will be conducting the National Survey on Recreation
and the Environment (NSRE
2000). This survey will be administered
to about 15,000 randomly selected people across the country. It will collect information about attitudes and
participation in dozens of recreational activities, including
orienteering.
USOF
distributed the USOF Coaching Manual and other information to JROTC units in
the Southeast and at the JROTC Championships.
(Robin Shannonhouse, Frank Campbell)
We
promoted orienteering by working with the HI-TEC Adventure Race organizers to
include it in all of their events.
(Jon, Paul Pearson, J-J Cote)
We
met with the Program Director for Elderhostel in Boston to discuss
opportunities for introducing orienteering into several of their programs
nationwide.
We
corresponded with the U.S. Canoe Association about possible future
collaboration on their annual U.S. Canoe and Kayak Orienteering
Championships.
We
purchased a national media guide for USOF with up-to-date information about
daily, weekly, and college newspapers, as well as television and radio
stations.
On
the Horizon: Planning was begun for a
National Orienteering Day, to be held in the spring of 2000. All clubs will be encouraged to plan and
publicize a special event in their area.
Larger clubs will be encouraged to bring an additional event to an area
currently without an orienteering club.
National Orienteering Day will be publicized nationally, and all events
will be placed on a master schedule.
Efforts to obtain sponsors and grants will become a major priority over
the next year. In addition, the Coaching
Manual will be reprinted and made available to JROTC units around the US that
express an interest in orienteering.
( from notes prepared
by Liz Kotowski, July 2, 1999)
VP Program Development, Mike
Minium,
reported highlights of the year.
-6
new clubs were established in 1999 (a goal of the LR Plan)
-map
grants were made to several clubs
-a
mountain bike-O committee has been doing lots of work
-“O-in-the-Schools”
needs people to carry on the work that was started
-JROTC
orienteering has been successful with a third championship in Texas this year
and the inclusion of some cadets at the Convention training sessions
-brochures
are for sale to the clubs at very reasonable rates
-The
USOF display is available to clubs—it can be shipped anywhere
-Trail-O
is active
-We
need to develop a national data base of inquiries by state, zip, part of
country to help when starting new clubs.
VP
competition Eric Bone reported:
-The
Foot-O is sending a team to WOC in Scotland
-In
Ski-O Scott Pleban did extremely well at the World Masters Ski-O Championships
-The
Junior Team has sent 3 women and 3 men to Bulgaria for JWOC
-The
interscholastic championships will be held in January for HS, JHS, and JROTC
-The
first World Ranking Event in North America was held by OCIN in March
-There
are bids for 2000 that are still open
-Bids
for 2001 events will be considered at the fall meeting
-in
connection with the long range plan:
-there is emphasis on developing regional competition
-it is hoped to have 2 multi-day A-events each year with a more
flexible, easier format
-there should be whole regional championships each year
-regional rankings, scored by USOF, should they be centralized or
not?
-there is a need for a standardized results format and software
-regional Junior development plans are needed
-national rankings were late again this year. Unique competitor ID numbers would help speed
up the rankings.
VP Club Services Michael
Schneiderman
reported:
-development
was covered by VP Program Development
-give
clubs what they want which seems to be insurance, map loans and grants;
magazine for advertising A-meets
-half
of club membership does not want growth
-to
help small clubs, what can we persuade them that they want?
-the
insurance coverage was raised this year
-what
should the VP Club Services be doing for clubs?
ITEM 11. Proposals
from committees and the Board of Directors.
Under
the by-laws, 5 VP’s are elected in one year and 2 in the next year. Proposal to divide the terms more equally was
recommended by the Board of Directors.
A
Motion to change the by-laws to divide the election of Vice President evenly
every other year was made and seconded and passed unanimously.
ITEM 12. Proposals from Member Clubs. None.
ITEM 13.Questions relating to the Constitution and Bylaws.
Robert Buraczynski asked to which region
former USOF at-large members who lived abroad belong. The answer was the Northeast.
ITEM 14. Questions on Competition Rules.
Steve
Shannonhouse clarified that the rules were not being changed, but the format or
them was, following the IOF lead.
Changes in the rules themselves require Board approval. He asked for help from writers and invited
all to check the Virtual Binder.
ITEM 15. Questions related to events. None.
ITEM 16. Questions on USOF Publications.
Thanks
were given to the USOF editor, Michael Schneiderman, for a great job. He will be continuing with the new
publication.
Information
about the new contract for O/NA were given.
ITEM
17Questions related to the membership situation. None.
ITEM 18. Questions related to membership
fees and other financial matters. None.
ITEM 19. Any other
business.
-Anne
Buraczynski asked about electronic board meetings. Presently it is felt that the Board needs to
meet face to face.
-Linda
Eck asked for an active Girl Scout person from each club to give feedback. Volunteers are needed to work at the booth at
the National Girl Scout Convention in October.
Barb
Sleight asked if there is a minimum number of BOD
meetings per year. One is required, but
traditionally, 3-4 is held each year.
-Gary
Kraght presented the President’s Awards to Liz Kotowski, Jonathan Reeves, Robin
Shannonhouse, and to Larry and Sara Mae Berman.
-Gary
Kraght announced the awarding of the Silva Award to Mikell Platt.
-Cathy
Yekenevicz was presented with her individual Silva award for 1998. Her response: The forest confirms me as a
human being, being one with the Earth and life itself.
The
1999 AGM closed at 4 PM.