Board Meeting Minutes Nov 2015

Tuesday 10th November 2015.
Attendance:
Jonathan     Bex     David
Kaitlin     Libby     Sheena
Clare
Apologies:
Chris     Lee     Gemma
Julie
Non Attendance:
Steve     Barbara

1. Outstanding appointments.
   • Babs still TBC as Child Protection Officer.
   • Bex to talk with Jaz regarding website bits.
2. Swordmark/Clubmark
   • Could not be discussed due to absence or Babs.
   • This needs to be looked at asap. Also are there any others we can get accredited for?
3. Twitter Campaigns & Club promotion – Jonathan
   • Twitter bombing session went okay, a lot of the club don’t have social media channels so this fell a little flat with them. Do we want to organise another one just before xmas?
   • Tweeting Olympians has helped lots. Have had faves & RT’s from Samantha Murray & a bunch of other clubs, even round the world!
   • Stats: 251 followers. Following 228.
   • Our target is 500 followers.
4. Sponsoring for the club.
   • Jonathan has been sending many many emails to no response. Do we need to make direct calls?
   • Is there anywhere else we can try? Schools?
5. Coaches qualifications.
   • We need to arrange a time to talk to all coaches regarding further education.
   • Thoughts on training up Libby/Kaitlin/Paige etc to be Junior Coaches?
   • Thoughts on increasing number of coaches? Ian Clowes has a grade 4 in Epee & foil & would be interested in coaches qualification.
   • David is going to contact the BAF regarding getting a Master or Professor down to do higher coaches grades.
   • Could Chris teach the Grade 1 Coaches the stuff for Grade 2 and then just get someone in to administer the exams?
6. Taster sessions vs. Start dates.
   • How do we best manage the intake? – Bex is going to design a better flow for the tasters & will send out separately. She will be the main point of contact for all newbies up until they start their full course, via the domainslfc@gmail.com email address. All typeform replies will now only go there & she will cascade to relevant coaches.
   • Jonathan happy to take tasters at 7pm as a way to manage uptake of these sessions. Gives newbies more flexibility.
   • We can run two grade one sessions per school term. This links in to coach education timelines.
   • 5 week grade one sessions would need to be designed but should theoretically just be double ups of the standard course. Could we do them as a 2 hour block?
   • Can we run package discounts for advance payment?
     1. Grade 1/2/3 full term: £75.
     2. Grade 1 short course (½ term): £50.
     3. Grade 1 – 3 full year: £210.
     4. Grade 1 – 3 late starter: £185/£190.
7. Next Meeting: Sunday 10th Jan – 4pm. Pub location TBC.
   • Coaches meeting TBC before xmas.
8. AOB.
   • The kids are getting bored. Once people have completed their first 3 grades what can we do to keep their interest etc. Links in to getting higher coaching grades for the coaches as they will then be able to award higher grades.
   • We need to keep consistency within each night, with a combination of individual lessons vs time on boxes. Kids feel that the epee lot get more time on the boxes & they end up just sitting round, especially if they are there every week the ones that aren’t get given precedent for lessons sometimes.
   • What can we do to forward plan better for each session?
   • Can we find somewhere to give us a room for free? (schools etc)
   • Can we get donations from schools or clubs? IE unused kit (Kaitlin’s school)
   • Can we run a Cadet Session like east midlands do? With a free room the fee would pay for coaches.
   • How does the Duke of Edinborough Award work? Can we integrate that for some of the middle age group kids? (JULIE???).
   • Club business cards say 10+ could we alter that to say something about “age per coaches decision”?
   • How many business cards do we have left?
   • Bex is going to run a full update of the member’s emails through mail chimp list. Sending many to people not even coming to club anymore (~150).
   • We need to get ICE info for everyone asap. Bex will send emails.
   • Thoughts on updating the club application form.
     Including social handles.
     Including photo consent.
     Changing the boxes to individual letter boxes to aid terrible handwriting.
   • Shall we send out the digital form as soon as their taster is confirmed? Saves time on night.
9. David’s catch up with Chris as unable to get to meeting consisted of:
   • Notice board in the leisure centre will be moved, much better location to be seen as soon as people enter the centre (next to the window overlooking the pool.
   • Thoughts on updating a handbook to be given to newbies via email.
   • Updating plan of action for coaches and sessions to be kept up to date via ical and/or google cal on website.
   • Harry Palmer’s dad has expressed interest in photographing club for us. He’s a pro photog & would do it for free. We need to get the parent’s consent for this. See attached form.
   • We need to be more careful with children who are getting to / leaving the club under their own steam. Should have a parental consent for under 16s & they have to sign out. Under 18s should sign themselves out. Are there any other child welfare things we may be missing? David to talk to Andrew at Harborough about such.