Mr. Simons called meeting to order at 4:10 p.m. EDT

Present: Mr. Barry Simons, Mr. Bob Pentico, Mr. Larry Sosna, Mr. Charlie Nyman, Ms. Suzanne Sherrod, Mr. Dave Heuman

Seated with the Board: Mr. Steve Autor

Treasurer’s Report (presented by Mr. Autor on behalf of Mr. Laxdal)

· Membership dues revenue is lower than previous year.

· Business Partner dues are on track for the first half of the calendar year.

· Member Directory came in under budget due to using same graphic design as previous edition and just changing the cover color.

· NECSI as a “not-for-profit” now has to file an annual return and expenses were related to legal professional services.

In view of NECSI’s solid financial status, Mr. Simons asked the Board to propose worthy undertakings and projects that would give value back to the Membership, such as holding a web conference with a Round Table focus. Mr. Autor will work on a topic content agenda, research the number of collaboration sessions, and cost for 100-150 participants for 1 hour sessions. Mr. Nyman will look into a one-topic newsletter format that can be emailed to membership on a monthly basis.

Motion to Approve Treasurer’s Report made by Mr. Simons, seconded by Mr. Pentico. Motion carried.

Secretary’s Report: Motion to Approve Minutes subject to correction of misspelled name, made by Mr. Pentico, seconded by Mr. Simons. Motion carried.

Administrative Report:

Membership down from 135 to 119 and as all Associates are now Basic Members and some Premier Members signed on in 2005-2006 have not renewed. Value-add sessions and programs are essential to retaining/building Premier Membership.

Action Item: each board member should be working toward signing on a new business partner.

Business Partners who have a ¼ ad in Crosstalk should get a ½ page ad in the Directory because it is a smaller publication and the ¼ ads do not show up well. Motion to Approve made by Ms. Sherrod, seconded by Mr. Pentico. Motion carried.

By-Laws Changes:

IRS mandates that the Association Bylaws include a procedure for funds disbursement if the association were ever to disband.

Members are designated as Basic Members (non-dues) and Premier Members (dues paying)

Motion to Approve the By-laws changes as written was made by Mr. Sosna, seconded by Mr. Nyman. Motion Carried.

Newsletter:

Crosstalk continues to be challenged to obtain editorial content submitted by Members. Ms. Sherrod suggested surveying members as to what they want in the newsletter. Discussed pros and cons of publishing electronically; all agreed that the Membership should be surveyed. The major concern with electronic only publication, particularly to our advertising Business Partners, is how many people are actually viewing Crosstalk. With hard copy they know that the circulation is 800 copies.

NECSI could electronically publish using a tool that would provide capture & statistical reports of number of opens and click-thrus on the newsletter (a la eProspector) to report back to our advertising Business Partners. Further research on how NECSI could use eProspector’s system as a distribution and reporting mechanism to be followed up by Ms. Gaynor.

Election 2007: Two seats are open (appointees Lawrence Sosna and Charlie Nyman). Run Dr. Sosna and Mr. Nyman as candidates with bio and photos.

Webmaster: Everyone is positive about Ms. Gaynor’s candidate. Board requests status update from Ms. Gaynor.

Board Appointment: Motion to approve Mr. Nyman’s appointment to the Board was made by Mr. Pentico, seconded by Mr. Heuman. Motion carried.

Survey:

Mr. Simons expressed questioned the usefulness of the end result of the survey questions. Mr. Heuman echoed that concern asking, “Are we pushing information or pulling information? Does NEC want this feedback from the Channel? ”

Mr. Simons wants to create survey questions that result in action item feedback rather than “attitude or temperature” so that NEC can take specific action. The survey needs a theme and an objective in terms of what we want to accomplish and we need to do this with urgency. For example, do we want to capture feedback from those who attended Advantage? Feedback on new management team?

Mr. Nyman suggested a format that would allow responders to rank pressing issues in order of importance to term rather than being forced to choose a single most important. Mr. Sosna noted that NEC has a survey out on Channel Managers (due end of June) that everyone on the Board has not seen.

Action Item:

· Create 5 questions soliciting feedback from Advantage: Mr. Nyman and Mr. Heuman will create.

· Question 6: What are your top 5 questions for NEC that you would like answers to?

Ms. Sherrod tabled the value of NECSI using a web Forum that allows for specific topic/quick votes. (Such as phpBB)

Meeting adjourned at 5:05 EDT