FITS Excom Conference Call 11/3/2016 10:00am-10:50am Central

Attendees:

Julie DeFilippi

Andy Loftus

Nick Sievert

Thom Litts

Jeff Kopaska

Discussion:

• Nick provides dues information
  • Dues Reimbursement: Jan 1- Dec 31
  • Renewal Period: Sep 1-August 31
  • So using the most recent year as an example our membership roster (if we looked at the list through December) would show everyone who has joined fits from Sep 1 2014-Dec 31 2015, however we would only be receiving dues for members who enrolled from Jan 1 2015-Dec 31 2015 (2014 members dues would have come to us the previous year). I can’t verify this information exactly because the membership lists don’t include enrollment date so I can’t verify if someone whose membership expires Dec 31 2015 was a 2015 enrollee or late 2014 enrollee, however the numbers appear to be close enough that I don’t think there are any issues with the reimbursement we receive. It’s just confusing based on the information we get.
  • We also noticed there seemed to be an issue with fluctuating membership, and actually saw that we were having members drop off, which didn’t make sense because membership should only grow throughout the year. It turns out this is due to the grace period AFS offers members. For example if a member paid dues for 2015, they will actually remain a member until being dropped in February or March, because of this we observe drops in memberships when old members who haven’t paid their dues are moved to non-member status.

• Julie discusses website
  • Andy-link between chapters and parent society. AFS parent society should be prominent and consistent
    • Been an issue for 30 years
  • Julie get Rebecca our comments
    • Figure out how are stuff will translate
    • Thom always a challenge moving from custom page to template
  • FDX-Julie
    • Has not gotten a chance to reach out to Jen
  • Symposia in Tampa-Julie
    • Julie- Symposium to complement fits continuing ed course
    • Jeff K and Julie will discuss further and getting the ball rolling.
  • FITS goals for what we are offering our membership (Julie)

FITS Goals Draft

• To offer guidance and information to section members and the wider AFS community on the existence, use, and XXX of various technologies and aspects information management.
  • Website
  • Software
  • Continuing education
  • Symposia
• To foster the discussion and exchange of new ideas, methodologies, and tools related for fisheries technologies and information.
  • Blog style discussion forum on website
  • Symposia
  • Other? – We have gotten questions in the past and don’t have a good method or place for centering these questions and discussions, but it would be an excellent section service
• To provide future, new, and existing fisheries professionals with the information and technological skills necessary to excel.
  • Continuing education
  • Certification
  • Symposia

• Andy- Balance detail without being too intimidating (dense)
  • Julies outline is a good start
• Thom feedback
  • Good start, prefers to keep it clear and simple
  • Symposia can probably fit under a single goal instead of in multiple categories.
  • Keep goals consistent, strategies can be flexible and change
• Andy-When Bill Fischer was president we had an old website that had a unique feature. It had a blog feature that allowed members to create own posts and comments. Engaged section membership. May be useful to engage membership in outlining what the section should be and how it could serve them through interactive means like a blog posting.
  • Thom, This could be done through blog posts or through survey-moneky
    • Andy-Benefit that it was interactive and build on each other’s thoughts. Feedback is valuable
    • Julie- Facebook could do this
    • Thom-Drawback of this approach is that it couldn’t be confined to membership. Could have issues moderating.
      • Julie could moderate comments if done on facebook.
    • Julie will get this organized and send out to the group.
  • Andy- USGS is going to be taking down the MARIS Website
    • Could FITS provide an archive of this to keep it available
    • Could be done on new site or migrated to fishdata,
      • Andy can keep it alive on one of his own domains temporarily
    • Julie- Supporting the preservation of MARIS is definitely something FITS should work on and support
  • Thom- Do we have a timeline on the website migration.
    • Julie will touch base with Rebecca to find out what the current status is