APSE Executive Committee Meeting
11 a.m. Sunday, February 26, 2017
Doubletree, Lake Buena Vista, Florida
Welcome
President Tommy Deas introduces himself and:
First vice president Jeff Rosen
Second vice president John Bednarowski
Third vice president Robert Gagliardi
Secretary-Treasurer Bill Eichenberger
Past presidents present:
Bill Eichenberger, now Bleacher Report then Newsday (2003)
Glen Crevier, The Star Tribune of Minneapolis (2005)
Phil Kaplan, The News Sentinel of Knoxville (2010)
Gerry Ahern, then USA Today Sports Group (2012), now USAT and Golfweek
Mike Sheman, then Oklahoman, now Tampa Bay Times (2015)
Region representatives
Atlantic Coast
Erik Hall
Great Lakes
Emily Horos
Great Plains
Matt L. Stephens
Mid-Atlantic
Gary Potosky
Northeast
Justin Pelletier
Northwest
Paul Barrett, Seattle Times
Southeast
Dana Sulonen
Southwest
Jim Lefko
West
Joe Baird
Finances and budget update (Bill Eichenberger)
Committee updates:
Conference: Next year St. Petersburg at Poynter. Hampton Inn, St, Petersburg, Fla.
Feb. 24-28, 2018 at the Hampton Inn in St. Pete works. $159.
2019 VOTE NEEDED (Executive Committee only)
Return to DoubleTree Inn and Suites, Lake Buena Vista, Fla.
$168.00
Sunday – Friday – March 3-8, 2019 – $155.00
Vote — Unanimous
ALSO:
2017 Summer Conference — Joe Schiefelbein talks about New Orleans
Let’s do great things and make it the best convention ever. New Orleans never stops and we will have a good time.
Update on 2018 Summer Conference — Nashville Tennessee exploring it
Commissioners (Gary Potosky)
Will go back to the leagues and have further discussions. Try to satisfy everyone’s needs and who gets access.
In case they make news, want to have option of asking on the record questions and be able to report.
Deas – People attending commissioners meeting must be APSE members.
Contest (Justin Pelletier)
Anybody with contest ideas, please see Justin.
Diversity (Jorge Rojas):
The Fellows worked hard this week, 20 percent of our members are past/present Fellows.
Legal affairs and ethics (Gerry Ahern and John Cherwa):
Will continue with US Basketball to monitor credentialing, seating at NCAA Tournament locations.
Olympics (John Cherwa)
Nothing new to report
Outreach (Tommy Deas):
Continue to push membership
Red Smith Award (Joe Sullivan): Out for vote, deadline March 3.
Regions (Dana Sulonen): Get Dana region meeting dates.
Scholarship (Joe Sullivan): When call made for scholarship entries, please retweet.
Student Liaison (Tim Stephens)
ALSO: Reminder of president’s call for every member to sponsor a student
Deas – Malcolm Moran named co-chair
Website (Emily Horos):
Had many volunteers offer help. Will be in touch.
Writers (James Crepea)
If we want more writers in the organization, they want to know if they can participate in the contest on their own.
Consider the subject of members of the writers committee being allowed a seat on the executive committee and potentially running for office.
Subject to be further discussed and voted on at the summer conference in New Orleans.
Election business:
We will need, in the coming month or so, to elect a new Second Vice President who will take office this summer. The following region chairs are automatically nominated and will run unless they decline:
Steve Hemphill, Atlantic Coast; Chris Imperiale, Mid-Atlantic; Greg Rajan, Southwest; Tom Moore, West.
Now, the floor is open for nominations:
Gary Potosky, Philadelphia Inquirer, nominated by Gerry Ahern, seconded by Mike Sherman
Todd Adams, Springfield State-Journal, nominated by Erik Hall, seconded by Jim Luttrell
New business:
For vote: Awarding contest plaques for first place writing only and Grand Slam/Triple Crown only for sections/digital contest. Slate vote for meeting at the end of judging. Printable, framable certificates for everything else, whch will be emailed. Approximate savings of $9,000.
Sherman – We should do a story announcing/explaining the decision.
Vote – Unanimous, passes
Vote on SkyBoat.com membership tabled until they provide more information about structure.
Finally, it’s time to talk judging. Congrats to Jeff Rosen. I’ve been in the contest room for the last four years. It has NEVER been run smoother. The reason is that Jeff is the best contest chair I’ve ever worked with, bar none, and I’ve worked with some good ones. Let’s offer him a round of applause.
And now I’ll turn it over to Jeff to talk about the contest and get your feedback.
Rosen – Everything went smoothly. We had substantial offsite work.
Every year we come here and have great conversations and great ideas are exchanged.
In the future, when completing entries, be as complete as possible. Make sure everyone’s names are spelled correctly, if you have The in front of your paper name, please include it. Have all names on entries. It is an extensive process to make changes once things get posted.
James Crepea – Can we do a survey of how the contest entry numbers have changed over the last few years. Mike Sherman volunteers to research, will work with Rosen.
Rojas – Caught 75-175 section entries. Seems 10 percent fewer,
Deas – Sections are also smaller.
Deas – we are either digital or we’re not. Of all the contest entries, web contest and digital entries least entered. We had one with only seven entries.
Luttrell – Charge Justin with finding out why. Find out what equipment news organizations of various sizes are working with.
Potosky – Share findings with complete membership.
Call for meeting to be adjourned. Rosen motions, Matt Stephens second.
