Agenda for April 18, NSCA Member Meeting

1) Trends in NSCA memberships - I have membership numbers from Nov-2007 to current that show a marked decrease in memberships.  I think we need to try and examine why this is, and what we should do about it.  I will try to get additional numbers as I will be the first to admit that it is hard to base any decisions based on a single year of data. 

2) Examine and create an NSCA Budget - It is my understanding that the NSCA, at least in the last few years, has never had a budget.  We keep track of Income and Expenses, but don't actually have any plan for either.

3) Try to answer the following questions.

a. What does the NSCA do for me? (as a member, school, coach, or club)
b. What do I get in return for my annual dues?

c. What are the goals of the NSCA? And what are we doing to achieve those goals?

4) Publish the Gambit on-line – Over the past 2-3 years there have been several requests to publish the Gambit online. The current publication (and mailing) is probably the single largest expense that the NSCA currently has. Online publication would see a large cost savings, but may also be seen as a reduction in member benefits (i.e. why pay for a membership if the publication is free). Additionally, if the Gambit is published on-line what options are there for members without internet access?

5) Redesign of the NSCA website – There has been a request by our current webmaster to turn over those duties to someone else. Chad Cox has expressed interest in helping to redesign the website so that it would allow information to be uploaded more directly by users, TD’s, organizers, etc. What other additions/changes would we like to have included in the redesign.

6) High School Team State Championship - Discussion surrounding the historical conflict concerning the High School Team State Championship (organized by Drew Thyden in Omaha 2006-present) and the NSCA High School Team State Championship (2008-Tom Lombard-Lincoln, 2007-Jeff Solheim-Blair, 2006-Karen Swartz-Columbus, 2005-Karen Swartz-Columbus). It has been voiced that any event providing a state title must be sponsored by the NSCA. If this is the stance of the NSCA, the items of Enforcement and Repercussions need to be examined.

Enforcement - How does the NSCA stop an organizer from calling their event a State Championship if it is not NSCA-sanctioned, and what actions can be taken?

Repercussions - If organizers stop organizing events, then there is less chess being played.  If organizers continue to run non-NSCA state titles, nothing has changed and there is still a conflict.  Are both titles equal or is one more valuable than the other?  Does that value come from USCF & NSCA sanctioning? or from the number of players/teams participating?

* * * If you have any additional items that you would like added to the Agenda, please send an e-mail to the NSCA Secretary (Ben Ryan) at ben.j.ryan@hotmail.com, or by mail to Ben Ryan, 4423 Frederick St, Omaha, NE 68105.