FLORIDA STATE POETS ASSOCIATION
Fall General Membership Meeting Minutes
Residence Inn, Daytona Beach Shores
October 22, 2022
The Plenary Meeting of the FSPA Fall Forum took place on October 22, 2022. at the Residence Inn ballroom. President Mary Marcelle called the meeting to order at 9:20am
The Secretary, Sonja Jean Craig called roll of the officers. President, Mary Marcelle, Vice-President, Mark Andrew James Terry and Secretary, Sonja Jean Craig were present. Treasurer, Robyn Weinbaum was not.
There was a count of chapter members in attendance. Live Poets had 2 representatives. New River Poets had 1. North Florida Poetry Hub came in with 3 members while Orlando Area Poets were 7. There was 1 member from Space Coast. Tomoka Poets were well represented as 5 members. 1 Member-at-Large was attending,
Sonja Jean Craig read the minutes from our last meeting, Spring Fling, April 30. The minutes were unanimously approved.
What followed was the Committee Reports:
Membership Chair, Ruth Van Alstine shared her report. She has set up a new email account for the Membership Committee. ruth@FSPAmembership.com
Ruth spoke of our success by reminding us of the 2021 report. At that time, there were 195 active members. 30 expired. As of September 30, 2022, we are 239 members strong with only 8 expired in August.
Over the past year we welcomed three new chapters: Ancient City Poets, South Florida Poets and Sun Coast Writers Poetry Pod.
Ruth described how she sends renewal notifications. She cleverly sends out past due notifications via Mail Chimp to see who opens it. She also sends out renewal date confirmations with “thank you” and welcome”.
Ruth started a zoom meeting called the Membership Happy Hour. It is relaxed atmosphere, participants can share poems. It can be a vehicle to invite potential members and friends.
Ruth reminded us to keep our email updated so that communication is effortless and effective.
Contests Chair, Marc Davidson gave a report citing this years contest was the largest ever. He offered some encouraging statistics.
There were 1189 poems submitted by108 poets.
42 poets were from Florida. He had 21 poets from out of state and 2 from other countries. FSPA handed out 217 prizes at $2695 in total. FSPA made $2650 in entry fees.
Gary Broughman was not in attendance for the Anthology report, so it was read by co-editor Elaine Person.This year’s Cadence is the largest issue since it began with 226 pages. There are also the largest amount of categories we have ever had. Cadence features 100 poets, (many new), and 6 Chancellors. We are thrilled to see the return of the student contest. Represented are middle school, high school and added are undergrad students for the contest.
Gary Broughman is stepping down as editor.
Historian Chair, Elaine Person has been taking Cadence to her local libraries for safe keeping and for public consumption. She is considering other places like assisted living facilities. She spoke about us maintaining a presence with open mics and classes. There was the Paint-out at the Polasek Museum and Words and Wonders.
Of Poets & Poetry is edited by Mark Andrew James Terry. He is committed to six issues a year. As always, Mark is looking for interviews and remains a sponge for ideas. Mark said that there will be no more mailing to those who do not have email as it is too expensive. He will send printed copies to contributors as a courtesy. Printed copies are always available on Amazon. He would like to establish an Editorial Board. This committee will assist Mark by reviewing poetry for publication. Please submit your work to Mark. Deadlines are the first of every other month.The next will be December 1, 2022 for January/February issue. Due dates can be found in the back of the publication.
Mark Andrew James Terry is also responsible for the Website, floridastatepoetsassociation.org It is a monumental task that requires a full time webmaster. Mark cannot do it all. He is actively seeking someone to take that responsibility. The web site will include links to and from author’s websites. This was a question from an attendee.
Carlton Johnson represented the Nominating Committee. He reported that the votes for all incumbent officers was unanimous. That would be Mary Marcelle, President, Mark Andrew James Terry, Vice-President, Robyn Weinbaum, Treasurer and Sonja Jean Craig, Secretary.
The vote was taken from the floor. The members said “yay”. The motion was carried.
ByLaws revision was a hot topic. There was a copy of the bylaws and the proposed changes available to the attendees. Mark is the committee chair. He took the mic and explained the changes. It was decided to change “Chairman” to “Chair” throughout. In Article III, Section 2, B. we will change to “20”. Also we will change “Members” to “Individuals”. This will cover section 3, E.
It was agreed that the word “newsletter” shall be replaced by “Of Poets and Poetry” throughout. The Board is allowed to give Honorary Memberships.
There was some discussion about contest rules: Judges cannot be a resident of Florida, full or part time was the decided result. The motion carried. The acceptance of Bylaws change was approved.
For new business it was announced that membership fees are increasing to $35 as of January 1, 2023. Members have to option to pre-pay before that time at the $25 price. For example, if your your membership renewal is after that, like in February, members may pay $25 if they renew before January 1, 202.
The meeting was adjourned by Mary Marcelle at10:20am
Respectfully submitted, Leslie Halpern