NIARN Board Meeting
July 30, 2010
1330-1530
Cheesecake Factory, Oakbrook
½ price cheesecake today HAH!

Members present:
Jo Bestmann, treasurer
Diane LaPorta, president
Naomi Seef, president elect
Merry Dreier, secretary

Members absent:
Tess Arban
Irene Tranowski, past president
Karen Hodroff
Carolyn Walton
Pat Gawrys

Minutes:
1. Treasurer Jo Bestmann advised that we spent over $900 for the Save our Skin conference and we only took in $400. She suggested that we try better to "break even".
Current balance in our account is $5,525.18.

It is estimated that we will need $1500 to send our chapter president to ARN national convention in October. And there are other outstanding expenses associated with the skin conference yet to be paid (ANA fee for contact hours application, postage).

2. Minutes were approved as written from the last board meeting.

3. Our next conference is "Falls in the Fall" hosted by Lutheran General Hospital. Carolyn is not here today to update us on the status of that conference. The date is set for 9/14/10 from 5-7 p.m. Diane will contact Carolyn on the information on the program (cost, specific location etc).

4. Merry Dreier reports that the Nurses Caring for Themselves (title to be determined) program is set for 11/17/10 at Marianjoy. We can have the conference center again (where we had the CMS/RACs program last March). There should be more information at the next board meeting. The speaker is quite good and energetic and has given a similar conference to case managers and social workers last spring. We will also end the program with GONG therapy.

5. We will need to check with Carolyn on the subject of letterhead production and design.

6. Discussed posting our seminars/ programs on our web site plus sending out via e0mail instead of snail mail. We do get some back as undeliverable, according to Jo from the last mailing. The addresses need to be updated, Diane will check with ARN national office re: e-mail addresses. That would be a little intensive to load the names, but then it could save a fortune in printing and postage costs for each program we produce. We will discuss this further at the next board meeting.

7. We need a web site liaison - possibly one of the board members would be willing to communicate with the web guy we use. We will ask at the next board meeting if one of the board members would be willing to do this.

8. Discussion of charges for each contact hour being $10 PLUS the unit cost of the food. So most of the conferences would be $20 for 2 contact hours PLUS the cost of food, let's say $10 making it $30. We could discount it to $25 for NIARN members, and perhaps the hosting site employees as well. We could also ask our facilities for food $$ support to keep our costs down. We have been losing money on our last conferences. We would like to keep the door prize concept, but maybe less buying soaps and lotions, and using more of what we have (tee shirts, umbrellas, and nail/sewing kits.)

9. Merry suggested a speaker - Lowine Sarbacker she could speak on
" Lateral violence
" Generational differences
" Change/stress management
" Communication

We could also look at a combination of 2 items, and Merry has e-mailed Lowine about other possible topics. This could be for next year. Jo Bestmann also has a possible speaker on PAIN from Alexian Brothers for next year.

10. It was noted that Irene has applied for excellence awards at ARN for our chapter to be recognized.

11. It was discussed that we should produce a little "to do" booklet for organizing a program - everything from preparation and ANA application for contact hours, brochure design, key elements to include, and even the wrap up elements. Merry has agreed to get this started for the next board meeting.

12. Our next board meeting will be held August 27, 2010 at the Cheesecake Factory in Oakbrook. We should finalize our September conference details, and have sample brochures for the November conference ready. Please bring ideas for possible conferences to be held in 2011.

Respectfully submitted,

Merry Dreier
Secretary, NIARN board