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The board meeting from 8-9 am was a recap of the previous night's discussion about Instagift procedures, group finances, and selecting our new accountant. In attendance: Holly, Colin Walsh, Jaimie Onasch, Ed Shinnick, Erin Vranas, plus guest Dmitri Vranas. Board members not present at board meeting: Jay Mouille, Brian Johnson, Dave Heide
The meeting started just after 9 am with introductions and answers to the get-to-know-you question "Favorite place you've ever been." Holly reminded group about upcoming sexual harassment seminar scheduled for Feb. 27 and informed group that changes will be coming to dues structure in time for first quarter sale (occurring in mid to late February), applying to multi-restaurant locations. Also, additional updates, as indicated on agenda. Maureen Martin of the GMCVB shared updates. Hannah and Rhonda of The River Food Pantry shared updates, primarily about Feed the Need. Hannah, Rhonda, and Holly answered member questions about Feed the Need. Shanan and Yogie of Swink Design were in attendance. Shanan shared a presentation about our branding project, including an unveiling of the new chosen design. Nate of Instagift was present. Nate shared new website features that will be coming soon, as well as additional updates, as indicated on agenda. The meeting adjourned at 11 am, with an additional 45 minute informal meeting of board members and Andrea Van Nest, discussing branding project and other organizational news.
Meet with Nate Schmidt of Instagift, Ellen Narkis of EWH Small Business Accounting. Also present: Holly, Ed, Jaimie, Erin, Jay November 21 Board Meeting followed by Fourth Quarter All Member Meeting – Hosted by GMCVB at their office (22 E Mifflin St #200)
Present at the board meeting were Holly, and board members Jay Mouille, Colin Walsh, Jaimie Onasch, Brian Johnson, Ed Shinnick, Erin Vranas, and guest Dimitri Vranas. The board meeting was a shorter, more informal meeting than usual since it took place before the all-member meeting, The following was discussed: Swink design project, the accounting transition (meaning choosing between our two remaining candidates [Broyles CPAs and EWH Small Business Accounting SC], and letting Kim [True Consulting] know that she would soon be let go), and the topic of raising our rates in 2018/adjusting our pricing structure and membership requirements for multi-restaurant locations. It was determined at this meeting that Jay and Holly would finish the accounting selection process and keep things moving, with the intention of having a replacement in place by the end of 2017. (As of December 2017, with the board's approval, Jay selected and informed EWH Small Business Accounting SC that we chose to work with them. They accepted our offer.)
Hello Madison Originals members.
Yesterday was our fourth quarter meeting. Thank you, Visitors Bureau, for hosting us, and thank you, Manna Cafe and Bakery, for supplying a great variety of delicious breakfast treats.
Our meeting was lots of fun, with door prizes and a white elephant exchange. Deb Archer of the GMCVB addressed our group, sharing a lot of interesting information about the history of the Visitors Bureau, their future plans, and the many ways they work to bring tourism to Madison and improve visitors' experience here.
We welcomed Erin and Dimitri from new member Parthenon Gyros and Lisa and Lance from new member Yola's Cafe.
We also updated the group on financials, our Swink branding plan (it's going great -- we should have an unveiling most likely at our first quarter meeting next year), and Feed the Need 2018 news (it will be April 22 at Noah's Event Venue -- sign up now!).
Deb, Lori, and Gale from Wisconsin Council of the the Blind and Visually Impaired and Mark from Vignette Dining Club also joined us to talk about making dining a better experience for visually impaired guests, and about the possibility of our organization hosting a "Dining in the Dark" event. You may have heard about events like this, where diners are blindfolded. Dining in the Dark is meant to be more about experiencing food with all your other senses than "trying on" being blind for a couple of hours. Our guests stressed the importance of handling the event in a way that's thoughtful and respectful. Many other cities host events like this (Milwaukee has events like this that draw 200+ attendees.), and after hearing enthusiastic feedback from Amy Carlson of NBC15 about her experience at a Dining in the Dark event, I thought that there's probably an audience of interested people in Madison who would like to attend an event like this, and our organization could be the ones to bring this to our community.
While this would be an event primarily about raising money for the WI Council of the Blind, like other community events we participate in, it would also raise awareness for your restaurant, be a great way for some of our restaurant members to work together and get to know one another better, and likely include a good amount of media exposure. If your restaurant would like to host an event like this on your own, I'm happy to put you in contact with council and Mark (of Vignette Dining Club, a local personal chef who has experience hosting small Dining in the Dark events). If some members of our organization as a whole would like to work together on an event like this (I'm thinking something along the lines of how Harvest Dinner for Hunger worked, with each interested member taking on a course), then I'd be happy to coordinate for you all and work with their marketing person on promoting the event.
Notes about redeeming Madison Originals full price gift certificates, from Darlene of InstaGift, clarifying how mobile redemption works: