The NSNC board of directors met Monday evening online. The major topic was the the 2012 NSNC Conference in Macon, Georgia, May 3-6 at the Marriott Hotel. Ed Grisamore, conference chair reports, “Everything is going great. Sponsorships falling into place. Programs lining up.” Ed is getting help from the Convention and Visitor’s Bureau and a committee from the Macon community.
Southern hospitality is being rolled out for events at the conference. Macon is billed as the cherry blossom capital of the universe in spring. Preliminary planning suggests a dinner at the Allman Brother Museum and another at the historic Hay House, aka, The Grand Palace of the South.
President Ben noted,” … people really come to learn stuff, be better writers, be better marketers and these days, be more visible online and be better online communicators.” He summed up conference planning saying, “Consensus is we’re comfortable with Ed’s progress on conference planning and fundraising.”
In other business, the writing contest plan is close to complete. The board decided to stay with the same categories and rules as last year for the writing contest. The cash prizes were eliminated, but winners may expect engraved plaques along with the prestige of winning. Judges are being approached and will be experts in the categories they are judging. The contest deadline is March 1st due to the earlier date of the conference this year.
NSNC Director Luenna Kim sent out a financial report prior to the meeting showing that memberships are up with many joining on the three-year promotion. Membership Chair, Rose Valenta, is working on completing the new online membership directory that will assist our members in their endeavor to land paid freelance assignments and speaking engagements. If you are interested in submitting information, it is not too late. Contact Rose via the feedback form. The board would like to collect Twitter and Facebook addresses as people renew their memberships.
In media news, the newsletter contract with Haught Associates for the Columnist newsletter was extended for six months. Traffic on the columnist.com website saw several days of traffic surge due to the article on Romenesko by President Ben Pollock. The article was re-tweeted by Romenesko who has thousands of followers.
If you are not currently a follower on our Twitter page, please go to http://twitter.com/NSNCgroups, and click our “follow” button. Twitter is a great way stay in touch with the latest happenings. Ben Pollock suggested that we re-tweet Twitter posts and when NSNC posts to Facebook, “like” the item, or better, “comment,” or even better, “share.” Our page on Facebook is at http://www.facebook.com/columnists .
We are pursuing a project for online interviews with bloggers and columnists that has been suggested by several board members. The project was referred to committee to come up with a workable plan.
Conference momentum left the board enthusiastic and energized and looking forward to our meeting in Georgia this spring.
