Date: August 1, 2010 1.25pm-4.30pm Members present: Louisa Leung, Crystal Lee, Philip Tai, Helios Tsoi, Alex Wong, Mandick Wong Participated via email: Keith Cho, Peter Poon Location: Philip Tai's home PICNIC REVIEW - 55 adults + 5 children attended - Special thanks to volunteers: Roy Chan, Kathy Lau, Mr & Mrs Thomas Lee, Agnes Leung, Ed Sun, Katherine Wong - Approximately break-even for this event, including reimbursing picnic fees paid on behalf of Mr & Mrs Thomas Lee. - Mostly favorable comments - As usual, a lot of people signed up late, making it difficult to manage. - No good solution proposed. - More latecomers than expected. - People starting to pack food earlier than expected, leaving insufficient food for latecomers. - For next meeting, may bring out food slowly, so there will be a continuous supply, and no excess available to pack. - Will require more resources to handle logistics. - Volunteers will have less time to social with other members. - There were some last-minute request for certain food - Made planning very difficult - Not fair to other members since resource may have to be diverted. - For future meetings, will only accept the request when convenient. - Will attempt to satisfy special dietary restrictions, but will have to be notified earlier. - DVD/CD/books exchange has good response, but other items not too popular. - Will limit to DVD/CD/books only next time. - Karaoke - Too much ambient light makes the screen difficult to see - Should start with more "folk" song to get people in the mood of singing. - Mics may be useful to focus attention. - Louisa: Will investigate jukebox/loudspeaker system - Possible improvement: More "physical" activities might get people more involved. QESOSA ANNUAL REPORT ADVERTISEMENT - Decided to continue - Payment arranged, but still pending BIMONTHLY DINNER - Mandick: send email - 8/21, dinner at Papillon (Fremont) MEMBERSHIP UPDATE - Sent forms to Maria Chui, Betty, Hui, but still no response - Updating information during picnic was not too efficient, but still very useful. - Encourage members to refer - Consider offering award for most referrals (to be discussed next time) - Will do more formal update of information during next annual dinner. - Directors do not have most updated membership list. - Alex: send membership list to all directors. ANNUAL DINNER - Investigated hotels - relatively large deposit and minimum fee - Restaurants - location/food could be an issue - considering Willow Tree in Dublin (same place as last year) - large space for activities - location not ideal (perceived as far) - dinner buffet style - will request dance floor - will find dancing instructor - need program to make dancing portion more organized - aim for $40 - will have lucky draw (raffle tickets with Alex) - Tentatively 3/19/2011 - No photo contests this year - Rules not clear enough (e.g. some entries used Photoshop, not fair comparison) - winners should show up and share how the photos were taken - not enough resource to hold contest this year - technical issues with submitting photos/voting/etc. - email addresses with underscores can easily confuse members - Board of Directors Election - Need to recruit new directors - Nominate (need permission from nominee first) or volunteer. - Helios: 12/1 email to solicit nominations - Helios: 1/19 email to remind nomination deadline - 2/19 deadline for nominations - Helios: Investigate online voting tools VOLUNTEERING WORK - Mitchel (Philip's son) to provide info - Suggestions include food bank, nursing home OVERNIGHT TOUR/DAY TOUR - Replaces bi-monthly dinner in October - Tentatively 10/9 - Angel Island or Alcatraz - Louisa: Research parking/ferry schedules/etc - Signup around 9/15 CONSTITUTION AMENDMENT - No updates. - Stop pursuing. IT UPDATE - Sent email to QESOSA regarding qesalumni.com. - No response. - Will let domain name expire. - qesaausa.com does not have mailing list feature - Will continue to use Yahoo groups for now NEXT MEETING - 12/11 at Louisa's home