Business Meeting - Fall 2020

Sunday, November 1, 2020

Officer Reports

This year started well with planning, but the pandemic has delayed acting on many plans
Biggest action was sending out a survey looking for basic data and volunteers for the 75th chapter anniversary and communicating with the chapter about plans for the event
Lea made progress on alumni outreach
EZAA relaunched its website this year
- Still working on document library
- This meeting and last week’s event were announced on the website
Last week EZAA hosted a successful anniversary event remotely on Zoom
James would like to continue with quarterly remote events. Possibilities include trivia games and roomtalks with pledges

The survey got good results (49 responses and a list of volunteers)
Main question is when to hold reunion (spring or fall semester of 2022)
- Most respondents preferred a spring date; active brotherhood agrees
- Covid-19 concerns might make fall a safer time to plan for
- The RPI Alumni House has been very helpful and says we may be able to sign a contract for a spring date with the possibility of pushing the event to fall if Covid-19 is still a concern
- Further discussion of dates proposed for later in the meeting

Current contact count:
- 235 contacts on Mailchimp, 131 subscribers
- 293 followers on Facebook
Activity since last meeting:
- Published a signup page for emails
- Set up welcome automation email
- Sent 8 emails, mostly event invitations
- 19 social posts, same subjects as emails, plus boosting chapter activities and promoting communication between alumni and active brothers
- Launched cooperative outreach project
Cooperative outreach project
- Collected data from 2000 directory, national office, chapter corresponding secretary
- Emailed graduates from 2015-2020 and added 18 subscribers
- About 1000 contacts from our Excel list are currently unverified (email not registered in Mailchimp as subscribed or unsubscribed, not marked as deceased or do not contact)
- 377 of these have a listed email, not yet verified as deliverable
- Looking for volunteers to contact known unverified brothers
- So far 6 volunteers have offered 52 potential contacts
- Open to recruiting other volunteers, but as a limited rollout to keep communication manageable

All positions were uncontested and the incumbents were approved for a new term by acclamation for each position.

Reunion Brainstorming
- May is likely too late because of finals, although the chapter has previously held a spring formal around that time
- Early April is available, but late April is not good because of Easter and Passover
- How much do we want to plan now vs. save until later?
- The Alumni House can help with procuring event space
- Many present at the meeting still prefer spring
- Preference noted for hosting in Troy rather than Albany
- General opinion seems to be to spend up to 6 more month gathering information, mainly as surveys to alumni, before committing to a space
Possible Bylaws Amendments
- James would like to draft amendments to the bylaws (last amended in 2009).
- Previous suggestions to move responsibilities from Sec/Treas to Ex-chair, remove the duty to publish a directory
Other suggested EZAA actions
- Create standing rules to supplement the bylaws
- State who is responsible for the website
- Replace newsletter with website
- Create more instructional materials for continuity between officers, available digitally
- Add a responsibility for alumni networking
  - Currently accomplished through LinkedIn
  - Chapter has expressed interest in more opportunities
- Improve outreach to new alums
  - Rules for interacting with active brotherhood
Question about transferring funds to the chapter without paper checks
- Will need followup, but likely possible