Co-chair Trever Waltos called the meeting to order at 11:15 AM. Attending were Board members Randy Cook, Jerry Galland, Gene Sanders, Dale Scott, Dennis Simpson and Trever.
8th Annual Northwest Santa Conference, Nov. 2-4, 2017. Trever reported that we appear to be on track regarding preparation for the upcoming conference. Conference and hotel registration information has been sent to NORPAC members and associates, and he’s posted information regarding the conference on Facebook and other media sites. Robert Seutter (aka “Santa True”) will be our presenter for sessions on several different topics and Trever reported that Santa True is “on board.” One change this year is that we won’t be having “Christmas Karaoke” on Friday evening with Santa Ramsey Cowlishaw. Trever will check with Santa True about possibly leading an appropriate session during that evening time slot.
Discussion confirmed that we’ll again do the ornament exchange and the Santa Olympics, and Dale mentioned that he has the colorful sacks we’ll use for gift bags and the little boxes for raffle tickets.
Dennis raised the possibility of moving the conference to an earlier date in the future because its present date precludes some from attending. Trever said he’d check with the Great Wolf Lodge to see if an earlier date (in 2019 or beyond) is a possibility.
IBRBS National Conference. Trever and Dennis have both been approached by the International Brotherhood of Real Bearded Santas (IBRBS) regarding the possibility of NORPAC hosting a future IBRBS National Conference, perhaps in 2020 or 2022. Discussion followed, mostly around the question of whether we have enough members to provide the necessary “manpower” for such a conference. We also discussed the need for professional help from an event planner if we were to move ahead with this. No decisions reached except that we’d bring this up at the general membership meeting to follow.
Board Elections. Trever and Dennis reminded us that elections for all Board positions will occur at our February meeting and that we need to appoint an Election Committee Chair to coordinate this process. It was moved by Randy, and 2nded by Trever, that we ask Santa Bob Partlow if he’d be willing to assume that responsibility. Approved unanimously.
BassPro. Trever initiated a discussion regarding Bass Pro and their recent corporate decision to engage an agency called the “Premier Santa Group” (from Chicago) to hire Santas for the local Bass Pro store. There’s been considerable “chatter” on Facebook about this company not always paying their Santas and we agreed that our membership should at least be aware of this possible concern. Dale also shared that the pay rate offered by this agency is considerably less than he was paid last year to do the same job.
Trever adjourned the meeting at 11:55 AM. Other NORPAC members and friends had arrived by then and we spent the next hour or so enjoying a bar-b-que and fellowship.
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