M20121105


 * SUECON Planning Committee**
 * (11-5-12)**

Date & Place of Meeting: Monday, November 5th, 2012, Pasta Factory, 11:30 to 12:30.

Those Attending: Charlie, Cody, Dale, Ian, Jane, Jeanette, Jim, Kathy, Kay Pierce, Ken, Kerry, Randy, Summer, Tammy, Terri, Tony C., Tony R.

Kudos:

1. Cody gave us a list of unsolicited feedback from various attendees with wonderful results that came out of the conference. 2. Charlie shared with us in Google Docs the feedback that came back through his survey and there are mentioned that we already recognized. We realize that we can’t please everyone about everything, but some of the issues do need to be addresses and new ideas incorporated.

Thank you’s: 1. Committee members had a lunch together at Pasta Factory, received a gift certificate from 25 Main Street, and a souvenir SUECON flash drive. 2. We want to let the student volunteers know how much we appreciated them, so we will donate $300 to each organization. (JROTC and DHHS Student Service Club) It will allow them to do some fun things they haven’t been able to afford.

Attendance: 1. 822 registered attendees. 350 of them attended both days. 2. 700 were checked in on Friday afternoon, 500 Saturday morning, and only 300 dropped their badges for the closing assembly

Prizes: 1. The school that won the Chromebook Cart will find out in their faculty meeting Tuesday morning (11-6-12), then email notification will be sent out to the ALL list. There was a clear winner, since their percentage attendance of certified personnel was remarkably higher than any other school. 2. Jim said that prizes next time are more likely to be tablets rather than a cart with Chromebooks.

Venue Concerns: 1. Ian said there were not many complaints by teachers after we left. Some would have liked to have known sooner that their room was going to be used. One teacher had about 300 pages for packets moved by someone, and he can’t find them and may have to redo them.

Budget: 1. 2012: We did not lose money this year! The extra money this time around is due to all the vendors and sponsors, and now that we have purchased so many of the basic needs, there will be fewer expenses next year, which will mean more profit. 2. 2013: For next year Cody needs to buy a couple more drapes for the partitions, and Charlie wants to buy 4-5 touch screens, so people can look up classes at various spots around the school.

Announcement for next conference in 2013: 1. In order the keep the quality up, we feel the conference must be done every year, and it will go smoother if we stay at the same venue. But not all the same people have to do the same things every year. We need to mentor new committee members to take our place preparing for an elected Board like UCET. 2. The WCSD executive board approved a Friday/Saturday conference for us in 2013, November 1-2. It will be all day on Friday and half day on Saturday with closing assembly starting at noon. Teachers in the district will have a paid teacher work day (not PLC day), so they can choose to be at their school or at the conference on Friday. Saturday will be decided by the teacher, since it is their own time but it’s just the morning, so they still have half a day for other things. 3. UELMA board members are not convinced that this is the best way to gather their members, so they may not join with us in 2013.

Role of Committee Members: 1. Please write down the procedures of your job so that others can take over. Some of us will be able to move aside, while others may need to do some extra mentoring. Try to have them ready by our first meeting in January. 2. Jane has made a list of specifics that can help her responsibilities go better, learning from this year’s mistakes and will try to mentor a team of people to avoid problems as much as possible.

2013 Registration: 1. Cody would like have it open by UCET conference, March 8-9 at Jordan High School. 2. There are 1300 teachers, secretaries, and staff, but the potential for 2000 people with everyone involved, including out of district.

Presenters: 1. Next year their names will be automatically inserted into sched.org when they sign up on the “Call for Presenters” page, so we will not have anyone cut and paste in that information. 2. We will ask presenters to be more specific in their write-up, so that attendees can make better decisions about what fits their needs.

Keynote Speakers 2013: 1. Some vendors had ideas for keynote speakers. We would like to have one give the same speech twice while other sessions are going on, so that for overall attendance, we can handle more than the 950 that fit in the auditorium. 2. Summer is willing to be the MC again next year for the assemblies.

Vendors/Sponsors: 1. We know many of the vendors want to come back, so we’ll will ask them soon about signups. We would like to be a little more selective having vendors that teachers can relate to. 2. Teachers want to more booths that meet their classroom needs. Some say they spend money as these types of exhibits buying things for their classroom. 3. Book vendors would like to come even if UELMA is not part of us this year.

Food: 1. Only two people complained about the conference lunch, but most liked it and for $5.59 a salad, we are inclined to stay with Durango’s again. 2. One suggestion was to bring in vendors to sell from their own booths rather than order the same thing for everyone. But many people like the cost and simplicity of getting the same thing for all. 3. There will be two mornings for continental breakfast, and Friday lunch. 4. We will put more control over snacks. One lady walked out with 4 packages of six muffins (so 24 total)!

Website: 1. Cody wants to update the SUECON website. He will add the venue’s street address for people with GPS in their vehicles. 2. Jane will write up an “about us” page or something similar, so people understand our history and goals. 3. Summer would like the original video of her and Charlie talking removed from the new website.

Signage: 1. Charlie would like all of our signage to reflect a new variation of our name; instead of “Southern Utah Education Conference,” it will now say, “Southern Utah Educator’s Conference.” 2. We would like more banners up around the hallways, high up like the entry way ones, so people can easily see where 301 and 303 are, etc. Dale is getting a new machine that will make a difference.

Notes about Future Meetings in 2013: Committee meetings in the future will be at 4 p.m. Mondays, possibly in the Woodward Building.