Minutes
Western Pennsylvania Orienteering Club
11 November 2018

Memberships represented:  Barak, Fisher (2), Huffman, Jarvis, Livingston, Logan, Opila, Rzewski, Shank, Sleppy (2), Steinbring, Stiles, Strat, Wolfe. 

Jim Wolfe called the meeting to order at 2:35 pm.

1.  Minutes from 12 November, 2017 were approved.

2.  Election of Officers

          The following officers were nominated and seconded and elected by acclamation, as there were no other nominations - each to a two year term.

•        President- Jim Wolfe

•        Vice President- Joe Logan

•        Secretary- Jennifer Livingston

           Alexis Rzewski submitted his written request to be removed from the remainder of his position as a non-officer board member.  The membership approved his resignation.  The open position will be filled by the board until next year when the position comes up for election again.

3.  Report on the Achievements of 2018

 •                  WPOC held eight regular orienteering events plus Ski-O at Laurel Ridge, Raccoongaine at Raccoon Creek, Training at Deer Lakes, Night-O at Yellow Creek and Street-O in Beaver.

•                  Sixteen orienteering workshops, including four in conjunction with World Orienteering Week were held.  Only two workshops were open to the public while the others were all for specific groups or organizations.

•                  Three orienteering promotional activities were held as well.

•                  New club maps for 2018 include several small maps that were made for workshops- Camp Hamilton, Camp Allegheny, Sts. Peter and Paul Church/School, and Wilderness Lodge.  The map of Prince Gallitzin State Park was extended.

 
4. 4. Thank You

 •                  WPOC thanked the Meet directors, Vetters, Workshop Presenters, Volunteer Coordinator, Membership Coordinator, Event Coordinator, Social Media/Advertising Manager/ Photographer, Equipment Repairman, and all Meet Volunteers for their many hours of service to the club.

•                  Those persons who fill the three Coordinator positions as well as our Social Media volunteer and Equipment Repair volunteer all agree to continue their duties associated with their volunteer position.

•                  A special thank you also goes to Ryan Knecht for getting his now former employer (Wyotech) to again donate $250 as well as arranging a donation from that employer (which is leaving Blairsville) to give the club two Lenovo computers with installed operating systems.

5.5.   Report on Board Actions in 2018

•                  WPOC Board purchased more e-punch equipment including 10 control boxes, 6 control stands, and 1 service card.  Also purchased were 12 compasses, 50 permanent control markers for use at permanent courses designed mostly at Heritage Reservation, and a feather banner with the WPOC letters on it.  The power pack which failed was replaced with a new one purchased by the Board.

•                  The Board also printed maps for the permanent courses at Heritage Reservation and Camp Allegheny and trained the staff to use the materials with their campers over the summer. 

•                  One other Board action was to make one map free for groups that contain at least one minor in 2018 and evaluate at the end of the year.

 
6.  Financial Report

•                  A financial report was made for WPOC through November 2018.  It shows the club to be financially stable.  A complete report for 2018 will be sent to the membership in January after the fiscal year is completed.

•                  A brief discussion was had regarding the actual loss of income to WPOC for making one map free for groups that contain at least one minor.  The totals from regular events in 2017 were used as a comparison and it turns out that WPOC lost approximately $731 in profit by implementing this program.  In some events, we actually lost money just by holding the event.  We deem this to be acceptable in exchange for the learning taking place with the youth participants.

•                  It was also noted that memberships with WPOC and Orienteering USA seem to have been stagnant for a few years.

 
7.  Goals for 2019

•        The club discussed the goals for next year to include approximately ten meets for 2019 with at least one being training oriented and one being a ski-o event planned for January.

•        Raccoongaine is planned for March 30-31.  It will be two days with a three hour event on Saturday and a six hour event on Sunday in which control markers are unique to each course for any participants wishing to participate in both.

•        WPOC will continue to provide promotional and educational events and workshops and to continue to participate in World Orienteering Week.

•        WPOC would like to increase club membership and increase volunteerism at meets.

8. Discussions

•                  A call for meet directors for 2019, with the potential for meet directors or other volunteers to take on more of the small tasks associated with meet prep.

•                  Kevin Fisher discussed an idea for advertising which was first attempted by his previous club, Southern Michigan Orienteering Club.  They spend a specific amount of money from each orienteering meet on Facebook advertisement.  Their result over the course of a year was approximately $313 spent which increased their Facebook page likes by double and their starts at meets by 10-15%.  The people targeted were friends of people who already liked the Facebook page as well as those who liked other outdoor activities and groups revolving around hiking and such.  Discussion was had regarding getting another admin for the WPOC Facebook page to help determine the feasibility of implementing that for our club as well as to help create the events on Facebook.  Kevin said he would be willing to take on that role.

•                  Discussion was had regarding the need for more volunteers for Raccoongaine since it will be a two day event this year.  The club may offer a free entry to club members on the day opposite their volunteer day. 

•                  Jennifer Livingston showed and explained about a free sample activity from Go4O which was advertised during World Orienteering Week.  The free sample, Pac Man Challenge, was used by Jennifer during a workshop held during the summer and she reported that the beginner level worked quite well with the youth she was teaching.  It is a nice activity that can be done without using a map and has options for beginner through advanced.  She suggested the club consider purchasing the whole set which would include activities for open areas, and sports type fields.  Some money would need to be spent on printing and laminating the cards.  The club will attempt to have at least the Pac Man challenge available for an event in the spring for club members to explore.

•                  The club was made aware of Orienteering USA's progress on updating their guidelines regarding protection of club members and participants from emotional, physical, and sexual misconduct as well as who is a mandated reporter for Child Abuse and how to make a report.  Once OUSA has updated their guidelines, anything that directly affects club members will be communicated.  Currently, OUSA is looking at the SafeSport training which is designed for all sports with a national governing body which includes Orienteering USA.

•                  Yaki suggested making low resolution jpegs of maps available for meet participants to share their course routes on social media.

•                  Jim Wolfe noted that many of the club's small maps were now available on the wpoc.org website

Meeting adjourned at 3:44pm.