M20120123

** Minutes ** //(1-23-12)//
 * SUECON Planning Committee **

__Date & Place of Meeting__: 1-23-12, Woodward Building, Room 204, 11:30 to 12:30.

__Those Attending__: Charlie, Clint Stephens, Cody, Corey Stokes, Dale, Ian, Jane, Jim, Jeanette, Michelle, Randy, Summer, Tammy, Tony R, Tyler.

__Future Meetings__: Next committee meeting will be on Monday, March 5, 2012, 11:30 a.m., room 101, Woodward Building, with no lunch provided. We are looking forward to hearing reports about the UCET conference that took place the previous weekend.

__Wiki for the 2012 conference: http://suecon.wikispaces.com__ Go to this site for master information for schedule, vendor, attendee, and venue, as well as meeting notes and agendas, committee member contact info, etc.

__Dates for the 2012 Conferences__: October 26-27, 2011 UCET //(Utah Coalition for Educational Technology)// will be Friday and Saturday. UELMA //(Utah Coalition for Educational Technology)// will be mostly Friday.

__Times__: 1. Friday, from 2:30 - 6:30 p.m. 2. Saturday, possibly 8 to 4 p.m. 3. Remember that lots of people liked that we went through the lunch hour so that they could attend more presentations.

__Conference Theme__: “Beyond 2012 - Creating the Future”

__Conference Website__: [|http://www.suecon.org] by Cody Plumhof

__Location of Conference__: Desert Hills High School, 828 East Desert Hills Drive, St. George, Utah 84790. (Lynn Matthews is the school media coordinator, but has asked to be replaced as the “venue liaison” for this year’s conference.)

__Attendance__: 1. Notes about 2011 attendance: 2. Expected 2012 Attendance:
 * Last year there were 443 attendees from within our district. That would include our committee, but none of our volunteers.
 * 170 said they were not from Washington County or Iron County.
 * 24 listed themselves as UELMA attendees.
 * 12 said they were from UCET.
 * Our registration will be cut off at 950 and is expected to be full.
 * We want a huge number of teachers from within our district, so their registration will open first in early March.

__Size of Classes__: 1. The venue is a very large high school with about 60 classrooms. In order for us to have a class size of twenty per classroom, we could need 47 classroom presentations each hour. However if we keep presentations going on in the auditorium almost every hour, that may reduce the number of other classes we need. 2. We are allowing presenters to request a lecture hall, but we are also considering reserving those two halls as overflow rooms, so as soon as we see major lineups at a classroom, we could ask to move them down to a larger room rather than turn people away.

__Registration__: 1. __Online registration__: Registration will open up to district employees first, then to others. It may open as early as March 1st. We will send out email to ALL to tell them to sign up ASAP since it may fill up quickly once registration is opened to those outside of the district. Each teacher must have a current, valid district email address to register for the $15 fee. 2. __Out-of-district fees__ are $35, which would be the same as UCET if they didn’t charge $10 extra to embed UCET registration. (Note that Rural Schools Conference was $135 this past year because they used the SUU campus. They may finally be finding another venue for this year.) 3. Cut off date for __online__ registration will be October 10th. 4. Cut off date for __refunds__ will be September 1st, and there will be a reduced refund due to processing fees. 5. Cut off __number of registrants__: When we have registered 950 attendees, presenters, and vendors, then the website will say that we are full and registration has been cutoff. That number was chosen due to fire code in the auditorium, in case everyone was in there at the same time. 6. __Entry fees__: District employees will be only $15. 7. __Costs__: The registration fee for district employees will basically cover food costs. Other money will come from out-of-district attendees, UCET, vendor booth fees, and possibly local sponsors. 8. __Membership dues__: The registration fee will not include membership dues for either UCET or UELMA. Only about 25 people bought memberships last year. We are going to let the organizations take care of their own this year, but we will link it to our website, so teachers can easily go there. Jim offered to help UELMA set up PayPal so they could do online registrations from now on. PayPal is nice because there is no liability for us due to no longer gathering credit card info. 9. Cody could add payment options to the registration page, especially that if they want SUU credit, they might want to bring a blank check. 10. Cody has already changed the SUECON website to say “registration preparing to open soon.”

__Checking In and Getting Badges__: 1. Attendees, vendors, and presenters will all check in at the kiosk in the entry in the same way. Note that committee members and volunteers will not check in. 2. As soon as they check in, their badge will be printed. They will be told whether to go to line A, B, or C to pick up their badge and lanyard.

__Keynote Speakers__: 1. There will be only one, and it looks like it will be Jaime Casap from Google again. He wants to come, will do it for free, and would like to bring at least one other with him to present. (In June Jaime will speak at the principals’ conference, but we don’t think anyone will mind the repetition.) 2. We thought we would have the keynote on Saturday morning, but it might be a good way to kickoff Friday, then have Larry Shumway speak for half an hour Saturday morning, or visa versa. 3. It was suggested that we keep the auditorium in almost constant use with “All Things Google.” How many different presentations might Jaime and coworker be willing to do? Cody needs the auditorium open the hour before general assemblies to get audio-visual ready.

__Working with Presenters__: 1. __Same perks__ as last year - free lunch, free attendance at conference sessions, for one presenter and one co-presenter. 2. Cody has an __online signup__ form similar to last year, and each person will be able to print out their application info, so they will have a record of what they requested. There is a check mark they must choose in order to say that they accept the terms of our agreement. 3. __AV needs__: There will be no laptops available to them nor special requests like downloads to computers. They will have a projector and internet connection, but they must bring their own laptops, cords, etc. 4. They also must bring their own __handouts__; there will be no use of the copy machines. 5. Not many presenters took advantage of online sharing of docs last year. We may make an option of where presenters can upload their own documents or send them to Cody to post.

__Advertising and Website__: 1. Cody will get posters out to the schools in March so teachers will know to register before it’s too late. 2. Cody will make a commercial for UCET in March, then post it on our website. 3. Michelle reminded us that we need to start soliciting advertising sooner this year, since many organizations decide on their budgets in January and February and have no funds available from March on.

__Credit__: 1. UCET gets a full credit for their 1-1/2 day conference, so we believe that we will be able to work it out with SUU. The cost is $15. 2. Payment options: Only 80 people applied for credit at our last conference, but Michelle some couldn’t because they didn’t have a blank check with them. This year we can provide Square attachment to iPads, so that she can accept credit cards as well. It would go through Zion’s Bank, so cost them an extra $3. 3. Last year we had all the paperwork completed and submitted within just a couple of weeks.

__Volunteers__: 1. DHHS and ROTC both said yes, they will provide students to help out and earn service hours. Will request fewer ROTC this time since they didn’t have enough to do, but there were great comments about them coming in uniform to stand at the doors. 2. Jane will ask lab aides this week how many of them want to work again this year, then send the list to Jeanette.

__Prizes__: Prizes may be given out only at the end of the day on Friday.

__Vendors__: 1. Vendors will have an __online signup__ form, and they are required to have their booth manned at all times. If for some reason, no one can be there, they must bring a sign that says what time they will return. There is a check mark they must choose in order to say that they accept the terms of our agreement, like that we are not responsible for lost items. 2. Vendors are loaned stamps from UCET to stamp attendee cards, but last year two got lost. (We suspect attendees thought they were free gifts at that booth.) So this year it will be free to check the stamps out, but there will be a $50 penalty for each ones that is lost. 2. __Vendor area__: We have the larger gym in the same building, but still there is room for only 36 vendors with some space. Booths will be nicer; made out of PVC pipes and black drapes between them. PVC walls 4.5 feet tall. 8 foot tables, booth about 8 x 9-3/4 foot area. 3. __Information__ kiosk: new this year. 2 tables with area raised 16” off floor so Scott can easily see over the entire area. 4. __Fees__: One vendor booth will cost $500 for the two days. A sponsor package may have two booths or one booth and a classroom with 5 sessions taught. 5. __Continuous Coverage__: Vendors will be told that their booths should not be left uncovered while they go to make presentations. 6. Vendors will be asked to bring their own table coverings but can use ours if requested. We will use them for the tables in the commons area and have some leftover. Last year not very many vendors wanted to use them. 7. __Food__: Vendors enjoyed having us bring them free food last year to their tables. No one had done that for them before. 8. __Classrooms for vendors__: We can release only five rooms, first come first served. We need all the other classrooms for presentations. 9. The same five non-profits and two authors will be allowed to have tables in the commons area.

__Budget__: This year we should be able to cover all of our costs.

__Housing for attendees__: 1. Michelle will call the motels to see how they did last year when they blocked out 20 rooms for our attendees. Will they want to do the same again? 2. Casablanca in Mesquite contacted us and said they want to offer discounted rooms this time. 3. Most of the Iron County attendees just commuted so they did not need housing in the area.

__Food__: 1. We will have only one lunch, so it will be Durango’s again on Saturday. 2. This time we will provide coffee only on Saturday and Charlie will buy 10 gallons from Starbucks.

__Facilities__: 1. DHHS is pleased to have us return. 2. Cody has confirmed with the vice principal which days and times we have exclusive use of the large gym, auditorium, classrooms, commons area, kitchen area, and media center. Most are after school gets out on Friday, but the auditorium is available Thursday after school and the large gym is available Wednesday through Saturday. 3. Capacity of large gym is 1675, so we do not need to worry about exceeding our limits.

__Local Activities for Visitors__: 1. Tuacahn is so popular that it does not have to offer discounted tickets. 2. Cody said we can all make suggestions to be added to the page called “St. George Information.” So far it has links to City of St. George, Zion National Park, and Tuacahn websites.

__Committee Openings__: 1. New school venue liaison since Lynn Matthews asked to be replaced. 2. UELMA representative. Summer continues to attend for registration desk, but someone else will be assigned as the official rep.

__Group Assignments__: 1. Charlie requests that we all consider attending the UCET conference up north on March 2nd and 3rd, 2012 (Friday-Saturday). Watch to see if they have an “un-conference” room to see how well it works. This is what was suggested by Mitchell Jorgenson from UEN. He says it is becoming popular and can be quite effective, and he would be willing to be the facilitator all day long. 2. Cody said we can all make suggestions to be added to the page called “St. George Information.” So far it has links to City of St. George, Zion National Park, and Tuacahn websites.

__Individual Assignments__: 1. Charlie will contact Jaime Casap to see who he wants to bring and how many presentations they would like to do in the auditorium. 2. Charlie said he would invite Charice Black to the next meeting. 3. Charlie asked Jane to contact Mitchell Jorgenson from UEN to facilitate the “un-conference” in the media center. 4. Jane will ask lab aides this week how many of them want to work again this year, then send the list to Jeanette. 5. Cody could add payment options to the registration page, especially that if they want SUU credit, they might want to bring a blank check. 6. Who is in charge of soliciting advertising for our program booklet, since Michelle reminded us that it should be sooner this year. Many organizations decide on their budgets in January and February and have no funds available from March on. 7. Jim may work with UELMA to get PayPal working on their own website. 8. Cody may create an option of where presenters can upload their own documents.

__Next Meeting__ will be on Monday, March 5, 2012, 11:30 a.m., room 101, Woodward Building.