Executive Meeting: Secretary Minutes May 2012
Attendees
Laura S
Dan
Laura L
Michelle
Jeff
Club Business
If you would like to be a club officers, please let Dan know ASAP.
Dan announced the current nominations as follows: Laura L. for President; Michelle for Vice President of Education; Tomomi for Vice President of Membership; JoAnna for Vice President Public Relations; Linda C. Secretary; Natalie and Cindy for Sergeant at Arms.
Anniversary Dinner is planned for June 3 time and location will be McCormick and Schmick’s or J.T. Schmidts. Meals will run between $25 and $40. Members will be allowed to bring their favorite wine.
Laura S. is finalizing the guest speaker for the Anniversary Dinner.
Dan made a motion for the club to sponsor Ray as an honorary member for a period of one year at a rate of $72, contingent upon the club having sufficient funds available for the payment of the TI dues.”, and should reflect that the motion was approved during the club business portion of the meeting by the majority of the members. It was seconded by Laura L.
Membership
New members were voted into the club today: Kristine, Ashley, Les, Gene, Paula, and Bonnie. Welcome to Vineyard Journeys!
Humbly submitted by Michelle, Secretary
Executive Meeting: Secretary Minutes April 2012
Attendees
Laura S
Dan
Laura L
Michelle
Tomomi
Sue Lee
Special Events
Vineyard Journey 2nd Anniversary Dinner
Sunday, June 3rd from 3:00 to 6:00 pm; tentatively. Dan and Laura S. to send requests for guest speakers to Founder’s District winner.
Plans are open to suggestions. We need a room large enough for 50 people & cost a maximum of $30 per person. Michelle suggested JT Schmid’s at the District in Tustin.
Membership
Current membership is 24.
Club Business
VJ’s Distinguished Club Program Goal is on track to become a President’s Distinguished Club by June 30, 2012.
Club Officer Elections are in June. We have started succession planning for new officers. See Dan if you are interested in a role.
Natalie needs to purchase more ballots. Laura S. needs to be reimbursed for Contest Fees or VJ Speakers.
Laura L and was nominated to compete in the Division A Speech Contests. Good Luck!
Ideas & Recommendations
Membership Drive. Motion by Laura L and amended by Dan: During May, members that bring a guest to our Toastmaster Meeting and the person ultimately joins will receive a Total Wine Gift Card or Advance Speaker Manual. Seconded by Laura S. Passed unanimously.
If, at any time, club members notice any errors in the meeting minutes, feel free to contact the secretary immediately. Your input is always appreciated.
Humbly submitted by Sonja Michelle, Secretary
Executive Meeting: Secretary Minutes January 2012
Attendees
Laura S
Dan
Norm
Laura L
Michelle
Tomomi
Wilton
Special Events
Filippi Winery Tour, Rancho Cucamonga – Cancelled due to numerous conflicting club
member schedules. Wilton will reschedule it within the next couple of months. Options
discussed were the 2nd or 4th Saturday in March. We should invite other clubs to join us.
10 a.m. Wine Tour
Noon lunch at Centro Basco
Visit Graber Olives
Vineyard Journeys 2nd Anniversary, June 17th. Need someone working on Competent Leader Manual Project 6 Help Organize a Club Special Event or Project 10 Club Special Event Chair to plan the event.
Ideas on the table for an anniversary dinner: Blue Water Grill, Mc Cormack Schmidt, other restaurant, maximum of $30 per person.
Membership
Current membership is 26.
VJ Membership Drive. Need someone working on Competent Leader Manual Project 6 – Help Organize a Club Special Event or Project 10 – Club Special Event Chair to plan the event.
100% of our Leadership Team has been trained for the second half of their term as required by Toastmasters International.
Club Business
VJ’s Distinguished Club Program Goal is to become a President’s Distinguished Club by June 30, 2012.
Currently, we have achieved 5 of the 10 annual club goals. This qualifies Vineyard Journey’s for the designation of Distinguished Club. To become President’s Distinguished, we need 3 CCs, 2 ACs, 2 new members,
We need to begin succession planning for new officers.
Start officer training now
Create a nomination process
Contact potential leaders
Use speeches & table topics to educate members
VJ Speech Contest in March. Need someone working on Competent Leader Manual Project 6 – Help Organize a Club Special Event or Project 10 – Club Special Event Chair to plan the event.
It was brought to everyone’s attention that we were not being diligent about organizing a monthly dinner meeting. Everyone agreed that we need to continue the tradition and Blue Water Grill was suggested for an April dinner on a Friday. We need a commitment from at least 10 people.
Dan revamped club website. It is very attractive and easy to use. He needs input from officers to contribute information. He would like to start a wine blog that all club members can contribute their wine experiences.
The established average meeting budget of $125 is working.
Thursday Executive Meetings have been canceled indefinitely. Sunday Executive meetings will remain as scheduled.
Ideas & Recommendations
There was a suggestion that we recognize a Club Toastmaster of the Year and/or a Club Sparkplug of the Year at the anniversary dinner. Possibly assign a point system for the secretary to track progress towards these titles.
Club reviewed the ideas and recommendations over the last 4 months. All have been resolved and/or addressed. Please feel free to review old Executive Meeting Minutes to read previous ideas and recommendations.
If, at any time, club members notice any errors in the meeting minutes, feel free to contact the secretary immediately. You input is always appreciated.
Humbly submitted by Michelle, Secretary
Executive Meeting: Secretary Minutes November 2011
Attendees
Laura S, President
Laura L, VP of Membership
Michelle, Secretary
Tomomi, VP of Public Relations
Sue Lee, VP of Education
Special Events
Wildton’s Shrimp Boil Dinner went off without a hitch this month.
Marti Gras themed membership drive planned for February. VP of Membership is accepting volunteers to assist with the event.
Filippi Winery Tour in Ranch Cucamonga second/third week in January. Wilton - more information to follow
2nd Anniversary Dinner planned for June. President is accepting volunteers to assist with the event.
Membership
We have a new guestbook to better track and follow-up on club guests with a phone to boost membership. VP of Membership.
Club should make phone calls to verify status of roles instead of email. Email is too slow and everyone is not using it as a method of communication. VP of Education
Accepting volunteers to help develop a process to follow-up on our mentoring program to see if is working as expected. Modify as needed. VP of Education.
Find and implement ways to improve club member’s knowledge of eduction in CC & CL manuals. VP of Education
VP of Membership and Treasurer will review and update member list and dues
Club Business
Review distinguish club goals and see if we are on track. President and leadership team
Allow 5 minutes at the end of each meeting to allow time for VP of Education to assign roles for the next meeting.
Tomomi, VP of Public Relations, created and published Vineyard Journeys’ first newsletter. Yeah!
Ideas & Recommendations
There was a request to change the agenda format back to the old format. Group decided to leave it up to the discretion of the Toastmaster.
A club member recommended that we continue the practice of posting club minutes on Meetup Website. Secretary.
Humbly submitted by Michelle, Secretary
Executive Meeting: Secretary Minutes October 2011
Attendees
Laura S
Wilton
Jeff
Michelle
Tomomi
Special Events
November 6th 2-4 p.m. RSVP by October 23rd.
Wilton provided information about the Crawfish Boil Dinner scheduled to replace regular meeting and prepared speeches. Dinner to include: Crawfish, sausage, corn, and potatoes
Choice of 2 locations
$22 per person at the Roddy’s (members must help setup 1 p.m. and cleanup after dinner)
$40 per person (depending on attendance) at McCormick & Schmicks
Location to be determined by number of people interested in attending.
Filippi Winery Tour in Ranch Cucamonga second/third week in January
Estimated cost $40 per person
10 a.m. Tour
Noon Lunch at Centro Basco
Visit Graber Olives
Membership
Executive Team should make a concerted effort to let members know that they are missed at meetings by following up with a phone call.
Reminder: TM & Club dues were due on September 30th.
Reminder: Glasses of wine cannot be removed from the meeting room and carried through the store.
Wilton volunteers to be the Cellar Master unless/until contested.
Club Business
Motion to maintain a small supply of CC & CL manuals for new members to use until their new manuals arrive from Toastmasters. At that time, the member returns the borrowed manuals back to the club.
On motion of Secretary Michelle Powell and second by Wilton Roddy, the Committee voted unanimously to approve purchase of CC & CL manuals.
Motion that the WOD be selected by the Tabletopics Master in concurrence with the Toastmaster. In addition, said word must be used in the tabletopic response in order to qualify for a ribbon.
On motion from Cellar Master Wilton and second by Treasurer Jeffery, the committee voted unanimously to approve the WOD selection process.
Motion to buy a timing light as soon as Treasurer has determined there is sufficient funds in the club account.
On motion from Treasurer Jeff Miller and second by Cellar Master Wilton Roddy, the Committee voted unanimously to purchase a timing light.
Jeff also offered to donate a timing light to the club. Michelle recommended soliciting donations from club members. Aprox. $100
Ideas & Recommendations
Suggest that members prepare speeches on club position roles so that expectations are better understood and carried out by the members.
Establish a point system to serve as positive reinforcement for member participation in club roles and activities.
Secret Greeter - to improve club relationships
Recommendation to create more time for evaluation activities by limiting other activities - create pauses in club program while evaluations are completed and limit the number of prepared speeches, table topics, and evaluations to 3 each. Consolidate wine educational topics and present at the beginning of the meeting.
Recommendation to spice up meetings by recommending Toastmaster of the day to use a theme. Submit all ideas to the VP of Education and consider coordinating with Tabletopics Master for WOD and questions.
Recommendation to change Executive Meeting date to Sundays was denied. Meeting dates will remain on Thursdays.
Humbly submitted by Michelle, Secretary
October 5, 2011 9:26 p.m.
Mardi Gras
We normally have some very interesting wine picks and this meeting was no exception. The theme of our meeting was Mardi Gras. The first wine was the 2007 Francis Ford Coppola Director’s Merlot. This wine from Sonoma County is a rich merlot with succulent flavors of plum, blueberries and cocoa. The ripe flavors are offset by supple tannins and a moderate display of spicy oak. I could certainly taste the blueberries right away and I love in a merlot. This is a velvety soft wine paired with the duck liver and chicken mousse with port wine.
The next wine we had is in a much higher class of wine. The 2006 Casalino Brunello di Montalcino is pure silk. This 100% Sangiovese wine contains flavors of toasted almond and sweet black cherry. When paired with the cranberry organic goat cheese the result was a phenomenal elegance you wouldn’t believe.
Our final wine was the Graham’s “Six Grape” porto. This is a finely complex wine with dark red colors and tastes of ripe plums and cherries. It was paired with a Mardi Gras King Cake which is a traditional dessert in New Orleans during the Mardi Gras. Hundreds of thousands of King Cakes are eaten in New Orleans during the Carnival season. Many are shipped throughout the U.S. for those displaced New Orleanians longing for a taste of Mardi Gras. In fact, a Mardi Gras party wouldn’t be a Mardi Gras party without a King Cake. A plastic baby is baked inside the King Cake, and the tradition is whoever receives the baby in their piece of cake must buy the next King Cake or throw the next party.
Everything’s Coming Up Roses
Several members showed up on New Years Day to kick off 2012 with speeches and table topics. In fact we had four speeches this Sunday. The theme of the meeting was ‘Everything’s Coming Up Roses’ and the word of the day was ‘rose’. And in fact one of the wine selections was a Rosé. Laura’s inspiration for the meeting theme was the Rose Parade that we have every year at this time.
The first wine was a 2007 Chateau de Rochemorin Blanc, Pessac-Leognan which is a white Bordeaux wine. This was paired with a honeydew melon. The wine is crisp with hints of flowers and fruit, and a very fine finish. We tasted this at room temperature but would probably have been more pleasant if it was chilled a little bit.
The second wine was a 2010 Les Vignes des Precheurs Tavel Rosé from the Southern Rhône region of France. This wine was very pleasant with notes of strawberry and red raspberry. This was paired with crackers and spiced shrimp, though I felt it went very well with the bleu cheese. Although not the favorite among the members that day, it was definitely my favorite, which surprised me. I do not normally enjoy a Rosé but I guess it was the cheese that connected it with me that day.
The third wine was the very popular 2009 Martin Ray Merlot from Napa Valley. A good pairing with the chocolate pomegranate seeds made this an enjoyable finish to our meeting. This was definitely the favorite among the members but was not my favorite. Although I love most all Martin Ray wines, and this being one of the better Merlots that I have tasted, I was still enamored with the Rosé so I did not fully appreciate this wine independently as it deserved. It tasted of cherry and blackberry, a little leathery and a bit high in tannin, but a good long finish. You can drink this wine with a good variety of foods.
Our next meeting will be on January 15 and I will be the Toastmaster of the Day which means I will also be selecting the wines for the meeting. I hope to find a couple of very memorable wines that we have not had before.
