June 9, 2019 ZA Board Meeting Minutes

June 9, 2019 Zimfest Association Board Meeting Synopsis

Members in Attendance: Chris Halaska, Daniel Lockley, Mandy Walker-LaFollette, Alex Weeks, Janis Weeks
Members Absent: Tendai Muparutsa, Jacqueline Fallon
Non-voting member in attendance: Claire Jones

A quorum was declared

Review/Modify Agenda (All)

Nothing to add

Approval of the May Minutes/Synopsis (All)

Approve by email

Zimfest 2019 Update (Claire)

  • Registration is still slow, one per day. As of June 9: 115 registrants, 291 workshop slots sold (of 1018 max)
  • Zim Guests update: One visa is approved, others are working on the application and one has and interview date. Janis & Alex are checking to see if we have contacts at the US Embassy in Harare.
  • Publicity efforts: Anesu Ndoro will be doing marketing interviews (and working at registration onsite) w/ Pamela Ngwenya and Gilbert Zvamaida
    • Posters sent to Oregon volunteers
    • Press release to Monmouth City and Oregon media outlets.
  • Concerts and performers are set: contracts/agreements sent; performers are displayed on website. Info needed from late additions to the lineup.
    • Sprout City reduced their sound expenses by renting equipment from a different source and reducing # sound people to three
  • WOU responses and updates
    • Guest wifi login for participants to last three days
    • WOU housing check-in at Ackerman on Thursday noon-5 PM only; otherwise at RSC. Breakfast times changed to 7-9 AM. All rooms now have mini-fridges and microwaves. Two meals/day requirement unchanged; we should be proactive, cautioning about food waste and food left in fridges.
    • No meal purchase discount unless we hit 300 purchasers. However, we will be eligible for new discount of 10% on rooms for WOU-sponsored groups!
  • Marimba procuring, tee shirt ordering, Festival Guide etc. in progress
  • Festival Guide articles are needed from the Board: Membership and Fundraising (Daniel and Jacqueline); Board report (Alex).

ZATC (Janis)

  • Registration software, website content, etc. are largely proceeding on schedule. Bug fixes, revisions and improvements are ongoing (e.g., monthly reports).
  • ZATC will evaluate RegFox after festival
  • Follow-through on tasks has been challenging. Better prioritization and tracking of tasks have been instituted.

Zimfest 2020 (Claire)

  • Evergreen is holding July 30 – Aug 2, 2020 for Zimfest.
  • Discussion of whether to commit yet. The decision was to delay an official decision on whether to hold a 2020 festival after this year’s festival based on commitment from the community and the success of this year’s festival.

Donation Campaign (Alex)

  • The goal of 20 new donors over a month to unlock the $500 match was not achieved. But we did get 10 new donors.

Adjourned 8:09 PM

Next Meeting

Sunday July 14th, 6:30 pm PST on Google Hangouts