Hi folks, here are the minutes from the committee meeting on Saturday 3/5/11.  Joe

Program/Education & Publications/Publicity Committee
Attendees: Frank Gillespie, Harold Van Aken, Joe Devine

Membership: To take advantage of a resent surge in membership interest, Frank agreed to proceed with a membership effort and to follow-up with the dues part of that effort when the financial structure is in place. Note: After the meeting, Joe exchanged emails with Joan and submitted a revised membership form for her review. Joan agreed to have the members mail/email the forms to her directly. Status: The revised membership form was approved by Joan and sent to Harold for addition to the web site. Done! Joan was advised to inform Harold as new member emails are identified so that Harold can maintain the master email distribution list.

Web site input regarding recent presentations to outside groups. Joe to provide and we will also list planned events and presentations as they become available. Society meeting minutes to be stored on the web site also, but not committee minutes.
Status: Joe sent the public outreach info to Harold on 3/6. Frank to follow to ensure society meeting minutes are sent to Harold for posting. We should inquire with other committees (research, botany group, etc.) regarding whether they have had any activity that could be described as public outreach.

March 27 Society Meeting - Joe to speak about a local Revolutionary War soldier and hero. This is a remarkable story and it should be well attended. Plan to publicize. Joe sent a presentation flyer to Ted Sly (OC Historian) for distribution and Joe will send notices to the newspapers and email contacts. We need to be at the WRS early for setup of chairs, projector. Status: Flyer for the 3/27 presentation was sent to Ted Sly and to Harold for posting on the web site. Joe will send input to the TH-Record and WVT next week.

Communication with society members and potential members: Harold will dispatch periodic emails to the membership from his ColdenPreservation@gmail.org email ID. Note that the WRS is now closed on Sundays so the key must be retrieved from the outhouse. See separate instructions.

Project Plan: Joe to maintain an informal project plan and periodically distribute this to committee members. Harold to advise if we want the latest committee project plan on the web site. Joe will distribute the committee project plan to Frank monthly so it can be used at society meetings if need be. Status: Joe to redistribute project plan at the end of March, Frank to advise.

Projection for 2011 Events and Presentations: Approximately 6 considering that there are 10 months to go, counting March. We do not want to exhaust our event/speaker supply in our first year.  The committee (Lori, Gail, Harold and Joe) will discuss events for 2011 and publish a proposed list. Status: Committee to advise in April

Joint sponsorship of events for speakers: Gail has made arrangements for a speaker on Wednesday, September 21st. This would be co-sponsored with the Historical Society of Walden and the Wallkill Valley in the Walden Municipal (time of presentation needed). This presentation is by the Command Historian of West Point and his topic is the subject of his new book, the Mormon Battalion, an amazing story, and there is a Colden descendant connection as well. We will likely have to offer some volunteers for setup/serving work at this event. We should look for more of these opportunities to draw larger crowds so that speakers will be more inclined to participate.

Newsy Emails: Status: Joe to draft s short newsy email for March and circulate for comment.  Harold will dispatch to the distribution list afterward. Lets chat about how to do this going forward.

Botany Group: Frank to determine what this group is doing and under what guidelines to determine if they should be reclassified as a society committee. It would be great to have a member of this group present to the society membership regarding their activity. Status: Frank to advise.

Committee Volunteers Needed:
One topic was how to get mention of the presentations, after the fact, to be reported in Barbara Bedell's column. Her contact info is: Barbara Bedell – Tel: 346-3125 - PO box 2046 Middletown NY 10940  She prefers to have articles mailed to her via the Postal Service. Joe will follow regarding the March 27th presentation, a few days after the event. Does anyone have a good relationship with her? Status: Open

Guidelines for committee activity: We will periodically ask Frank to review and approve tentative presentation and event schedules. Once the general approval is achieved, the committee can act on its own to schedule these activities.

Topics for future discussion: Organizational flyer. roles/responsibilities of committee members, Facebook, a blog and more