Meeting commenced on 7.35 p.m.
PRESENT: President, John Dillon, Vice President, Dell Lowien (Garden City/Dalby/Bundaberg), Barbara Chester (Casino Richmond/Townsville), Noelle Wardle (Northern Suburbs), Ian Crook (West Moreton), Paul Wilson (Events Manager), Alan Salmon (Assoc Member), Walter, Lucy & Lance Coassin (Redlands), Kylie Adams (Redcliffe), Sonic Edwards (Guest), Des & Lorraine Boughen, Leisa Jackwitz, Bessie Parsons, Wal & Nellie Cole, Tracey Bolton, Debbie Richards, Rod & Margie Campbell, Reg Weatherell.
APOLOGIES: Angela Gerrittsen, Joyce Green, Keyonie Bolton
MINUTES: Walter Coassin moved the minutes as circularized be accepted as a true and correct record, seconded Lorraine Boughen CARRIED
CORRESPONDENCE:
IN: Pioneer Valley – Affiliation fee
Kedron Wavell – Sponsorship $2,300 – Thanking us
Gold Coast - $150 – advertising for programme
Voting information for CMAA
Invoices – Greg Williams – Fuel; Motel; Insurance – Public Liability
Statement from Spot Colour – which has been paid
Barbara moved the Inward correspondence be accepted, seconded Walter Coassin CARRIED
Lorraine moved the adoption of her report and that the accounts be ratified, seconded Walter Coassin CARRIED
Noelle moved a Vote of thanks for the very concise report presented by Lorraine.
BUSINESS ARISING FROM MINUTES:
TWO WAYS: Better means of communication – however some to the units purchased were not effective – paying for units that are a little more expensive is probably worthwhile.
GUITAR STAND: Worked well again.
SPONSORS FOR THE PROGRAMME: Need to find out whether all who pledged sponsorship have paid their money.
COMPARISON OF THE LAST THREE YEARS: Lorraine presented a comparison between the income and expenditure for the past three years and this reflected the lack of outside money being received. Entry fees were up, Affiliation fees were down by $450 (reflecting that some clubs have either folded or chosen not to affiliation), Raffles were down, Door takings were down, programme sales were up – however there were more losses than gains. Lorraines summary 2004 and 2005 were full house – this year attendance down slightly.
PENSIONERS: Felt that it should only be aged pensioners who receive a concession through the door – not all concession card holders. Need to look at what is charged for this group of people as at appears that at least 40% of the audience were concession holders. Photo of the cards that are acceptable as pension cards.
PRICES: Comments were received regarding the price of weekend pass and the price of the programmes ($5) - response was that prices have not changed in the last few years.
GENERAL BUSINESS:
Noelle: Congratulations to all on a great weekend.
Tracey Bolton (on behalf of Keyonie Bolton – Junior Representative): the following questions were raised with Keyonie during the weekend of Champs
Based on the number of juniors in the competition – why are only 6 taken through out of 32 - Margie Campbell moved that 8 juniors not 6 be taken into the Finals, seconded Nellie T – vote taken – all in favour – none against.
Should the Junior Males and Females be separated – this is all dependant on the number of contestants in the section – not practical if not enough males.
Professional performers – a couple of contestants eligibility as non professionals was questioned – all contestants sign off that they are not professionals – we have to rely on their honesty.
Duo disqualification – due to the number of musicians on stage – duo in question were referred to their Rule Book in relation to this rule – Paul mentioned that the information regarding the disqualification was spread by the contestants involved and not by the committee. Back stage marshals do endeavour to monitor this situation however it is still the contestants responsible to monitor the rules.
Songwriters competition – need to review the wording in the Rule book as it appears to be ambiguous. Clarification that the songwriting competition was initially judged and from this judging 5 senior and 5 juniors are then chosen to have their songs judged again by a separate panel of judges at Champs.
Junior Songwriters – Keyonie personally happy to see the Junior competition progressing.
Score Sheets – some sheets went missing – people should be good enough to return sheets that don’t belong to them. Paul moved that score sheets be scraped, seconded Margie. Discussion followed centring around – high class judges, dispel any rumours that there is anything underhand about the decisions made, John spoke in favour of keeping sheets. Motion put to the vote – 7 for and 10 against – motion defeated.
Tracey thanked the meeting and committee for a good event.
Kylie: Chord Charts – need to be strict with making sure that contestants provide the right number of charts (3) – change will be made to the marshalling sheets for a column to tick to show that the charts have been physically sighted.
Need to organize something better with regard to breakfast and the band.
Thanks to all for their work back stage – 5 people back stage works well. Designated person as band liaison so that the band knew when they were and were not required.
Couple of Rules need to be reviewed – Rule 9a – regarding playing for yourself and the use of the house band – and Rule 36.
Need to organize a Band Bio – so that the audience and the contestants are fully aware who these people are and that they are in fact recognized musicians in the Australian Country Music industry – Paul and Dell had already discussed the implementing this.
Change over between sections and time frames may need to be looked at differently – it is to be remembered that the time frame presented is only a suggestion. Judges’ change over time were a little longer at times, most of this stemmed from having to wait for the exiting judge to finish their sheets before the next judge could be seated.
Meal passes – seem to at times that there were some double up on these – Barb reminded all that if any meal passes were given to any volunteers were only given if we had an oversupply after the judges and band were fed and those who received a double up should have the decency to hand them back so that they can be given to another worthy helper.
Check in people – change the entry desk and the check in counter around – the general public were trying to pay at the check in desk as it was the first desk they came to on arrival.
Food Liaison person for the band fell down slightly – however this stemmed from the original thought that we may have been able to have meal breaks – which meant the band could basically look after themselves.
Bessie Parsons: Enjoyed Champs very much.
Sonic: He had discussions with Hughie with regard to Chord Charts and what is acceptable – noting the charts straight off the internet are not acceptable, e.g. Cowpie. Suggested that two or three examples of acceptable charts be included with the invitation to competitors and also on the champs website.
Nellie T: Questioned what score sheets are used – is it just one score out of a 100 – yes.
Walter Coassin: Should there be an area set aside for the judges to sit so that they are not sitting with the crowd. Rules only state that there should not be any contact with the judges only when they are judging. Judges should not be perceived as unapproachable and someone to be frightened of.
Reg: Felt that the level of compering was below standard – comperes present defended their abilities and it was noted that three top comperes (two of which were professionals) were unable to be present on the weekend and we were only aware of this upon arrival on the weekend.
Barb: Need to liaise with Kedron with regard to meals particularly breakfast – if we require the doors opened earlier this can be arranged – what meals are served in the hot box can be arranged with discussion as well.
Salads can be organized in small quantities for judges and the band. It was unfortunate this year that a member of the general public abused some of the Kedron staff and unacceptable that one person who held a voucher also saw fit to show his bad manners – both of these incidents were totally unacceptable.
Need to show more respect for both of our major sponsors – it needs to be promoted what Ellaways can do for us and what we can do for them by supporting them by purchasing equipment through them and it needs to be made known what both of them contribute to our event.
Kedron – provide a first class venue – free of charge, provide the sound man – free of charge, provide a meeting venue for our meetings – free of charge, $2,300 in cash sponsorship, and meal vouchers during the weekend – in excess of $20,000 – even with all of this they have been generous enough to give Ellaways the naming rights. Need to put in writing what our requirements are for 2007 so that it is clear what is required.
Ellaways – provide the backline (amps, drums, etc) – free of charge and $2,500 in cash.
Paul: Thanks to everybody for their work over the weekend – job well done – apologies for not doing these thank yous at the end of the event – but the main aim at the time was to get everyone home as soon as possible. Have received at least 6 complimentary emails and no complaints this year – Dell has also received 2 or 3 emails as well.
Dell: There are a couple of administration issues that we need to address – but she and Paul have these in hand.
Lorraine: The person who won the guitar lives in Ingham – need to organize to have the guitar sent by Greyhound – Paul suggested that we send it from the Toowoomba depot of Greyhound COD.
SPONSORSHIP:
Barb: Written to Garnier (no), Wizard Home Loans, Domino Pizzas, Cartridge World, and two in the pipeline to Lyn Drages sons.
Paul: Earlier this year Paul tabled a sponsorship package and nothing has been done with this – anyone who is interested – he will email it to them.
Recently he made contact with a lady from Brisbane who is a professional grant writer who would be happy to assist by helping write grant applications. She charges a fee of $250 which she writes into the grant as an administrative charge. No sure whether there is still a charge if the grant is not obtained. She is at present obtaining information for us free of charge about what is available – most grants available are not available to eisteddfod type events. Greg Williams is doing the same for Barb. Telstra would not touch us let’s go to Optus, Barb found that Optus weren’t responsive. Jayco have just come on board the Golden Guitars – Paul has letters of support from the CMAA Board members in support of what the event does for the industry.
John asked if there was an up to date list of affiliated clubs, contact details and membership numbers – Barbara has membership numbers available as this is one of the questions asked on the affiliation renewal form each year. Barbara also reminded us that 40 letters were written before Kedron agreed to come on board and originally Ellaways said no.
Reg Weatherell: He felt that the obtaining of grants were a “quick fix” and that it wasn’t going to solve the problem – he felt that the problem was that Champs and the Clubs were not unified – he questioned what the Clubs were getting out of Champs – Paul’s comment was the Clubs need to work with Champs as well. Number of Clubs affiliated and a number unaffiliated – numbers he has been given were 46 affiliated and 44 unaffiliated – in essence 90 – need to get the 44 affiliated with Champs – to do this we need to help the Clubs raise money through Corporate sponsorship. Major problem for most Clubs is cash flow and lack of younger members coming through.
Reg has an preliminary appointment with the State Manager of Harvey Norman Electrical – for anyone to go in and ask for $10,000 as an organization you would be unlikely to get it – however if a unified approach is made by group of 90 clubs you are going to get it – they would have 90 clubs advertising them.
The proposal is to run an art union with the help of Harvey Norman – clubs aren’t going to give Champs money but if the Clubs are going to benefit from running an art union – with for instance prizes such as laptop computer, home computer, TV – put it all together as an art union prize. To give the Club their share out of it, if the Clubs sell 100 tickets at $2 a ticket gives the Club 25%, that’s $50 and Champs makes $150 – the more you sell that more you should receive, 300 tickets – 30%, 400 tickets – 40%, 500 tickets – 50%. Someone said that it would be hard to sell 500 tickets, no its not. With 46 affiliated Clubs if each club member was to sell 10 tickets only – grosses $18,400 – 25% paid to Clubs is $4,500, 75% paid to Champs is $13,500. Working with unity by the Clubs and Champs this can work.
Question raised as to whether we were able under the not for profit banner to run such art unions – it would be a category 3 art union – prize would have to be no less than 20% of the gross value – therefore the prize would need to be $18,000 worth of prizes based on 46 clubs with each selling 500 tickets each. Art Unions must be run within a 4 months period (possibility of 3 per year).
Things that would be required:
Census type question would need to be sent to Clubs to obtain information – numbers in club, break down of ages, activities, sponsors that the Club use (so that these aren’t approached).
Nellie felt that the suggestion was all well and good but felt that the manner in which it was presented to the meeting could have been a bit more subtle as it could well put people off.
Barbara questioned whether an initial approach had been made to Harvey Norman as when she approached Harvey Norman she was told that as each individual store is run as a franchise and without the agreement of a group of franchisees no donation would be forthcoming.
Reg responded by mentioning he had already made an approach to the State Manager of the Electrical Goods department and was prepared to take it further with the permission of the committee.
Paul asked if this proposal was cost neutral to the committee – the idea is that the prizes would be donated – there will some costs to be borne by Champs namely registration of the Art Union, cost of printing the tickets, cost of postage for distribution.
Discussion followed on various approaches that have been made in the past to not only corporate sponsors but also state and local government bodies – with limited success – any hint that an efforts were not being made to find funding or sponsorship was quickly defended as Barbara is constantly on the look out for avenues – perhaps we have made going down the wrong track.
This may be the way to proceed – there will be a lot of time consuming work involved in the collating of the information from Club, the information required by regulation for the keeping of records for the Art Union – where the tickets have been sent, how many, and the follow up for the return of tickets by the required date for the drawing of the Art Union.
The question was asked as to who going to do the work involved in getting it off the ground – Noell suggested that perhaps Reg should be the one to take it on. Reg replied – he was happy to give what ever assistance was required to get it up and running however his plans for 2007 were to sell in Qld and move to Tasmania.
Comment was made that it was a wonderful idea however the next move was to find someone to do the work –it was agreed that initial we needed to get agreement from the Clubs that they were willing to come on board.
Information needs to be gathered from the Clubs before the process can start.
John Dillon put it to the meeting “Were we interested in pursuing this idea” – the general consensus was that we were but again Dell asked as to who could do the work.
John called for volunteers to start the process noting that Paul, Dell & Barbara were tied up enough so therefore he was not looking in their direction.
Discussion followed as to the approach needed to made to the Club – what was involved – what sort of incentive can be given to be involved – a lot more preparation needs to be made before the proposal can be directed to the Clubs.
During this discussion a number of people agreed to form a committee to start the process – namely Kylie Adams & Sonic Edwards, John Dillon, Walter & Lucy Coassin, and Nellie T (is contactable by phone) & Wally.
Reg agreed to provide a draft letter to the committee to commence the process.
John thanked Reg for his efforts in providing the proposal to the committee.
Further items discussed – finding funding to retain the professional band as the backing band – without them the event will not have the same credibility.
Dates have been booked for meeting for 2007 starting on February 15th, 4th week March, May 17th, July 19th, Sept 20th, October 18th.
Paul moved that the date of 2007 event be 17-18 November as Kedron will require the venue for Remembrance Day on 11th November again and early than this prevents invitations being issued to some festivals in the same year, seconded Lorraine. CARRIED.
Special logo to be used for 2007 in recognition of the 20th Anniversary of the event. Paul showed the meeting a draft drawing of the logo – not designed to replace the existing one.
Other items Paul raised –
Adjustment to the rules – Dou or Group cannot win the Overall Award – most prizes are designed for an individual.
Separate award for duo or group to be discussed further.
Friday night concert/cocktail party/louhah – to tie in with proposal for Qld Country Music Ambassador Awards – win an item at different levels for $’s raised – awards given based on incentive basis.
Booklet for the Friday night detailing what has happened in the past and where our champions are now..
Next meeting – 15th February
Meeting closed at 10.05 p.m.