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Minutes From Fall Meeting 2011

FLORIDA MAGICIANS ASSOCIATION, INC.

Minutes of the Annual Meeting

November 5, 2011

The Annual Meeting of the Florida Magicians Association, Inc. was called to order on November 5^th, 2011 at 3:15pm.

Members Present:

Dan Stapleton – President, Bob Schvey – Vice President, Simone Marron – Secretary/Treasurer.  Ten delegates representing various clubs were also in attendance according to the sign in sheet.

Copies of the Meeting Agenda and Secretary/Treasurer Report were distributed to all in attendance.

Minutes from 2010 Meeting

A motion was made by Bob Schvey to accept the Minutes from the 2010 Meeting, which were available to be read.  Motion to accept as read was unanimous.

2012 FMA Convention

Bid sheets for future FMA conventions were sent out to all Florida clubs and groups earlier in the year.  If any bids had been received, the Board would have made the decision on the winning bid.  However, as no bids were received for 2012, the convention reverts back to Daytona if they want to host it again next year.  Daytona Magic has stated verbally that they will again host the FMA convention in 2012.

Scott Humston raised the question about the history of the declining attendance at FMA conventions.  It was suggested that this is due to there being more conventions, along with a declining national attendance; probably due to the economy.  In 1997 when the FMA held their convention in Daytona, there were approximately 750 attendees.  About 15 years ago in Ft. Lauderdale, there were close to 1000 attendees.

Questions were raised as to the financial/manpower responsibilities of hosting the FMA convention.  President Dan Stapleton stated that the hosting club/group bears the entire financial responsibility.  The FMA Board does provide some assistance, but the hosting organization needs to provide the manpower.  The hosting organization uses the Florida State name for their convention

FMA Communications/Promotions

President Dan Stapleton sent out four email communications throughout the year, but clubs/groups need to do a better job of passing these communications to their Members.  These updates are emailed to 4 or 5 addresses for each club.

Very few clubs have been passing event information to Webmaster Simone Marron for inclusion on the Florida Magicians Association website.  Simone requested that any organization who wants their upcoming events posted on the website needs to send all the pertinent information along with a request that it be posted.  As Simone receives updates from many clubs in the course of regular email, all clubs need to be aware that unless they specifically request that their event be posted in their email, this will not happen

The official Florida Magicians Association website is www.flmagic.org.  The FMA has also established a presence on Facebook, which is listed under Florida Magicians Association, Inc.  This Facebook page has over 160 fans.

FMA Constitution & By-Laws

The FMA Constitution and By-Laws were revised by the Board during the course of the year.  The revisions were offered to the attendees for their approval.   Phil Labush made a motion to accept these as submitted by the Board.  Acceptance was unanimous.

Election of FMA Officers for 2012

Mark Horowitz proposed a motion that the current Officers of the Board continue in their positions for the following year.  The motion was accepted unanimously.  The Board will remain as follows:

                        President                                  Dan Stapleton

                        Vice President                          Bob Schvey

                        Secretary/Treasurer                Simone Marron

Any Other Business

Dan Stapleton stated that this is the 47^th year of the Florida State convention.  He is currently working on assembling a history of these conventions, and is requesting any missing information.  He is looking for the location of the 2^nd, 3^rd, 4^th, and 5^th convention, along with the 12 programs that he is missing.  Phil Labush has some information on this that he will share with Dan.

There was a short discussion on this year’s convention.  It was agreed by most attendees that although the convention content was great, there were some issues with scheduling that need to be addressed with Daytona Magic.  There were too many overlapping and double scheduled events that caused frustration for many attendees.

Scott Humston suggested that someone look into applying for a grant from the State of Florida to promote the Florida Magicians Association within the state.  Bill Donovan nominated Scott to explore this opportunity, and Scott agreed to do so.  This should be put on the agenda for next year.

Bob Schvey made a motion to accept the Secretary-Treasurer’s Report as correct.  The motion was accepted unanimously.

There being no further business, the meeting was adjourned at 3:45pm.

Simone Marron

Secretary/Treasurer