Minutes 

WBL Board Meeting 

February 16, 2005

 

The meeting was held at Winston Edward’s house.

In attendance: Don Berman, Winston Edwards, Richard Ferrin, Fred King, Steve Robinson, and Dick Wegman, and non-voting members Donna Rogall, Nadine Wood, and Ted Ying.

President Dick Wegman called the meeting to order at 7:40 PM.

Secretary’s Report

Without objection, the board approved the minutes, as amended.

Treasurer’s Report

Steve Robinson reported that the WBL had $10,324.76 in its checking account.  The WBL has not yet applied for a refund from the Newport Mill Middle School for rent for the January tournament that was held elsewhere.  Nadine Wood said that she would contact the school for the refund.  The treasurer’s report was approved, without objection.

Sectional Rescheduling

Dick Wegman reported that the Schweinhaut Center will be unavailable until late September/early October.  Therefore, the WBL will shift the August sectional back to September/October.  Nadine Wood reported that the WBL has signed a contract with the Schweinhaut Center for renting space for the October 2005 and January 2006 tournaments.  Ted Ying commented that given the change in the tournament schedule, the WBL should reschedule one of its unit game events, currently scheduled as a North American Pairs qualifier.  There was no objection to Ted’s suggestion.  Nadine commented that the spacing of sectionals in 2006 likely will be better than in 2005.

March Sectional

Dick Wegman asked if there would be any workshop on Saturday of the tournament.  Steve Robinson said that he and John Adams would provide a lecture.  Dick reported that he talked with Ron Starr and Mark Rosen and hope to get students from the high school and middle school programs to attend on Saturday.

March 24 Unit Game

Dick Wegman reminded the Board that Christ the King Church would be unavailable for the unit game on March 24, because of Holy Week services.  Dick considered the Washington Bridge Center (“WBC”) as an alternative location, but the problem is that that site is too small.  Ted Ying commented that the unit game tends to have smaller attendance anyway when it is relocated at the WBC, but Fred King recalled that the WBC site is too cramped, even with a smaller attendance.  According to Dick, Ron Zucker promised to check with Ohr Khodesh to see if their facility would be available.  Ted will confer with Ron Zucker about this.  Dick said that somebody needs to be posted at Christ the King on March 24 to redirect people to the alternate site.

WBL/ABA Joint Game

Dick Wegman reported that the WBL and ABA will hold a joint game on April 16 at 11 AM.  Dick suggested notifying WBL members and recommending that WBL members who plan to attend should notify the ABA’s coordinator, so that the ABA doesn’t become overwhelmed.  Winston Edwards estimated that the ABA location, the “Hut”, holds a maximum of 25-28 tables.  If WBL attendance drew an additional 10 additional tables, that would reach the maximum.  As an aside, Winston noted that the ABA owns the property where the event will be held, and rents out the space to other clubs from time to time.  Fred King asked how long the ABA has owned the space.  Winston replied that the ABA purchased the building about 5 years ago.  The facility is a stand-alone building with a parking lot.  Ted Ying noted that the WBL had discussed in the past purchasing a facility, but it could not do the same thing as the ABA because the WBL would need a bigger facility.  Dick asked for a volunteer to coordinate the ABA/WBL event.  Winston volunteered to coordinate.  Ted suggested having a partnership desk to mix and match ABA and WBL members for the event.  Dick asked who would direct the event.  Winston said that if there is no ACBL sanction, there would be no issue of getting an ACBL-approved director.  Ted asked whether the event could be dual-sanctioned, and promised to call Cassandra Smith about that possibility.  Dick asked for a volunteer to prepare an advertising flyer for the event.  Winston volunteered to prepare the flyer. 

Request to Approve July 4th Regional in White Plains

Nadine Wood stated that normally, when there are existing regionals scheduled at the same time, the protocol is for the proposed new regional to get permission from existing regionals to schedule the event.  White Plains, New York will host a regional, as a substitute regional for the New York region following the New York nationals last summer.  The White Plains tournament chair asked Nadine whether it was OK to schedule it during the July 4th holiday, the same time as the Washington regional.  Nadine said that it was OK this year, but she asked the White Plains tournament chairman not to schedule a July 4th regional in 2007, which would be the next time that the WBL is scheduled to host the Washington July 4th regional.  The White Plains chair agreed to Nadine’s condition.

Partnership Guarantee Desk

Dick Wegman reported that Ron Zucker has volunteered to share responsibility for unit game partnerships with Charleen, when Ron steps down from the WBL Board.  Dick also raised the issue of the online partnership “desk”, noting that the entries are a bit dated.  Don Berman disagreed.  Don said that the problem with the online partnership “desk” is that the software is inadequate.  Steve Robinson inquired as to the usage of the online partnership area.  Don estimated that 30-35 people post partnership queries online.  The owner of the software suggested a share arrangement among District 6, the WBL, and NVBA.  However, the software would not separate the games.  Dick queried why combine the partnership area for the three organizations when the WBL has the software for free right now?  Ted Ying explained that the area is not really a partnership “desk”, but rather a partnership bulletin board.  He said that he has heard at least one complaint from a member who thought tat the online partnership bulletin board guarantees a partner, like a real partnership desk at a tournament.  Therefore, Ted recommended that the WBL clarify onsite that the service is a bulletin board and does not guarantee a partner.  Donna Rogall suggested that perhaps the partnership chair for the unit game should check the online bulletin board.  Charleen Brand does not have a computer, but Ron Zucker does.  Don Berman stated that based on the Board’s discussion, we will keep the partnership area the same, and not combine it with District 6 or NVBA.  Fred King suggested simply changing the name of the area to “Partnership Bulletin Board”.

Listing of WBL Members on NVBA Website

Don Berman reported that he spoke with Leo Cardillo about the online listing previously proposed by the NVBA, but Don is unaware of any WBL member who has an interest in being listed on the NVBA website.

Bridge and Bowling

Fred King reported that some things about the Bridge and Bowling event went well, and some did not.  Attendance was a little bit low--about 29 bowlers.  Fred said that they paid by the hour instead of by the game, which was a mistake.  The WBL needs to reimburse $14 to Ron Zucker, to make up a shortfall in the fee.  Don Berman reported that the bridge part of the event drew 8 tables.  There was no problem with the bridge event.  There was, however, a problem with the dinner in between the bowling and bridge event, due to slow service.  Fred reported that he now has a database of about 100 people who have participated in the bridge and bowling even over the last 4 or 5 years.  Ted Ying suggested that the low attendance is not surprising, given that the sponsorship of the event changed from the Northern Virginia side of the river to the Maryland side.  He predicted that attendance would improve in future years.  Donna Rogall suggested trophies for the next event.  Fred said that there were supposed to have been trophies this time, but the trophies were never purchased.  Fred promised to make sure next year that there are trophies.

Unit Growth

Dick Wegman stated that the WBL Board has taken several steps to promote growth, but we need more ideas.  We will soon have a meeting of the Unit Growth Committee to spur new ideas.  Fred King noted that he recently sent out an e-mail on this topic to the WBL Board and received no responses.  Dick suggested putting a tag line on the Washington Post bridge column.  He said that Barbara Shaw suggested this two years ago.  At that time, Bob Levy could not persuade the Post to insert the tag line in the printed edition of the Post, but the tag line is there in the online edition of the Post.  Steve Robinson said that he contacted Frank Stewart in the past about a tag line on Stewart’s column, but the problem is that it has to be a generic ACBL plug, since the column is syndicated.  We need the cooperation of ACBL, with a plug of a portion of the ACBL website that in turn has a link to the WBL.  Dick suggested that either Steve or Nadine Wood contact Frank Stewart about this possibility, and also contact the ACBL.  Ted Ying suggested contacting the ACBL webmaster about forming a collection of links to local websites and contact phone numbers.  Nadine Wood suggested that we need to start higher up in the ACBL organization than the webmaster.  Nadine suggested Linda Grinell, who is in charge of marketing at ACBL.  Steve volunteered to write up a draft proposal.  Donna Rogall said that if the advertising leads to inquiries, we should send them one of the WBL/NVBA brochures.  Dick Wegman suggested that Frances Burke could mail out brochures in responses to inquiries.  Dick noted that another growth idea would be to talk to other DC-area newspapers, and see if any of them would be willing to run a local bridge column.  At some point in the past, Jim Allen inquired about this possibility with the Washington Times, and the Times indicated that they would be interested.  We should consider reviving this idea.  Also, we should inquire to see if the Gazette newspapers would be interested in a local bridge column.

Free Plays

Fred King reported that the free-play issue is not a major problem now, but we need to make sure that the number of free plays does not exceed 10 to 15 percent of attendance.  Fred referred to ideas suggested by Ron Zucker in an e-mail to the WBL Board, but suggested that those ideas are a bit too generous.  Ted Ying referred to the policy of awarding a free play to the person who purchases sodas for the unit game, stating that this has been the policy for 10 years, and it is justified because purchase of sodas for the unit game and bringing them to the game takes a long time.  When Kitty Gottfried is unable to attend, it is particularly difficult to get refreshments for the game.  Steve Robinson suggested that with respect to free plays in general, we should speak with the people who get free plays and ask them if they deserve the free plays.  Perhaps some might concede that they do not deserve the free plays.  Fred King suggested to the contrary, some people are likely to get defensive about it.  Ted Ying said that as for the free plays awarded by Kitty Gottfried, he is inclined not to second-guess Kitty if she thinks somebody deserves a free play for helping her.  Richard Ferrin suggested that since free plays are not a major problem now, there is no need to make major revisions.  Dick Wegman pointed out, however, that the cost of free plays currently runs approximately $5,000 to $6,000 per year.  Nadine Wood observed that that amount is not necessarily all lost revenue, because some people who use free plays otherwise would not play at all.  Plus, some of the people who use free plays attract more revenue by bringing a partner.  Ted Ying suggested that the WBL needs to consolidate the number of persons who have authority to authorize free plays.

E-Mail from University of Maryland Student

Dick noted an e-mail that he received from a University of Maryland student, asking for subjects in connection with a study.  He forwarded the e-mail to the WBL Board.  Dick asked if we should publicize the student’s request.  Don Berman offered to distribute the request at the Laurel Bridge Club.  Fred King recommended that we announce the request at a unit game.

Other Business

Ted Ying suggested that the WBL consider renting a shared space with the WBC.  Dick Wegman replied that we have spent a lot of time looking for space for WBL events.  If there are two or three people who would volunteer to look, Dick would be amenable.  Ted stated that in order to make such a joint arrangement feasible, we first need to have an agreement with the club.  Ted observed that other clubs in other jurisdictions have obtained cheap space from shut-down shopping center stores.  Dick recommended that we defer further discussion of this topic to a future Board meeting.

Donna Rogall reported that March 11 is the next deadline for the Bulletin.  We need biographies for Board candidates, along with pictures.  Donna can take the pictures at a unit game.  If any party has a proposed motion for the Annual Meeting, it needs to be advertised, and the deadline is March 11.

Next Meeting

The meeting adjourned at 9:20 PM.  The next WBL board meeting will take place March 23 at Donna Rogall’s house.  The Board thanked Winston Edwards for his hospitality.

Respectfully submitted,

Richard Ferrin, Secretary