Minutes of NINA Executive Board Meeting
April 13, 2000
Northern Star office, NIU

Executive board convened at 9:20 a.m. In attendance: Lonny Cain, Joan Heyers, John Etheridge, Rick Nagel, Jim Killam, Jan Larsen, Jim Slonoff, Cheryl Wormley.
Program Committee: Lonny Cain said the spring conference will be Thomson speaking on its journalism school. Also speaking will be Trevor Brown from U of Indiana. Lois Self wants to meet with Trevor Brown on NIU accreditation. The cost will be Brown's travel expenses from Indiana and an overnight stay. NIU will pick that up. Thomson's costs are covered by the chain. Lonny asked if we should spring for a gift for the two speakers. Also, Sauk Valley Newspapers (Shaw) is starting up an 18-month trade school, somewhat like Thomson's. We will ask that ME to join our panel. She's state APME prez. (Jonie Larson-Derrickson).
Minutes: Cheryl moved to accept January minutes. Jim Slonoff seconded. Unanimous.
Membership: Jan will check with Dana to see if she is sending out membership renewals. It would be good to have a board member from the AH Herald. Larsen had committee meeting in March and the committee members each volunteered to ask 10 newspapers to join. She handed out form letter, envelopes, new brochures to aid in marketing. The newspapers that are not members were identified and those, of course, are our targets. There will be a committee meeting in May. Larsen needs to check ASAP with her committee members and see how many did their work.
Education: Should we have another Internet reporting seminar by Dedman of Chicago? Should it be this summer? IPA is having him. If we do host him, do we want a better facility than NIU? NW? Should it be end of June? His cost is $800 for the day. Last summer we made $425, Slonoff reported. Should we have three sessions with him? Etheridge, chairman, will try to nail this down. Fee suggested is $55 for members, $85 for nonmembers.
Prez report: Nagel went over his goals for 2000, which include a 25 percent increase in membership. He suggested to Lois and Killam that Dana attend board meetings, at least the executive sessions, as she is keeping all membership records now and we might have questions that she can immediately answer for us. Nagel said the bylaws are a work in progress and he has some scribblings on them.
Cain moved to adjourn. Slonoff seconded. Unanimous.
Respectfully submitted,
Jan Larsen,
Secretary