Minutes of the Southern Division Reservoir Committee meeting
held on February 8, 2007 (Memphis, TN)

Opening Remarks

• Vic Dicenzo gave opening remarks
• Everyone introduced themselves. See roll sheet for attendance
• Colton Dennis has minutes from 2006 summer meeting.  These will be posted on the web for approval in June 2007.

Financial Report (Dicenzo)

Scholarship Report (Gene Gilliland)

• 7 applicants for Jenkins Memorial Scholarship
• 1 new scholarship awarded and 1 renewal from last year

Old Business – Fourth National American Reservoir Symposium

• Program Update (Mike Allen and Steve Sammons)
• Presentations
• Brief overview of invited and contributed talks
• There are a few alternates for presentations in case of cancellations
• AFS online manuscript submission will be available
• Symposium editors want to have Proceedings published 1 year after the symposium
• Some funding is available for international folks (e.g., lodging)
• Mike Allen:  we have 4-6 international presentations so should the symposium name be changed to reflect this (i.e., International Reservoir Symposium)?
• Other discussion
• Vic:  we need to work on assigning moderators
• Sammons:  maybe folks putting together the sessions can moderate
• Maceina:  we need a list of potential reviewers (3 per paper * 40 papers)
• Allen:  we will have access to AFS reviewer database, we should lean on agency folks as reviewers
• Maceina:  expect 6-8 week turnaround on reviews
• Allen:  everyone go back to their agency and send Allen 2-3 potential referees and their specialties
• Posters
• Allen:  We need some more posters, we have 11 (not counting alternates for presentations)
• Poster authors are welcome to submit manuscripts, but not required to
• Workshop
• Colvin:  looking for someone that can give state biologists an update on what is going on with NFHI and how it applies to them
• Jared Koosa, USFWS, gave a brief update on where things are with the NFHI
• Tim Churchill’s Natl. Conservation Need Proposal was introduced
• Colvin is still looking for a speaker.  Gary Whelan (MI DNR) was proposed as a potential workshop speaker
• Heitman:  with the addition of the workshop do we need to plan for more than 350 people?
• Arrangements
• Budget / Fundraising (Heitman)
• Fundraising
• EPA grant cannot be funded until Congress passes a budget and USFWS cannot likely fund new resolutions either
• Vic has received $21,000
• Checks in the mail from Fish Mgmt Section (5,000), S. Division (2,000), and Arkansas (5,000)
• $25,000 out for request, hoping for $15,000
• We had planned for $30,000 in corporate donations
• Heitman:  please identify and provide specific individuals that can make decisions for contributions
• Vic projected list of potential donors and contact list
• If you are getting the contact then you should send the letter, however if there are conflict of interest issues either Fred or Vic will send the letter
• Mike Allen will contact Florida Water Management Districts
• Neal will contact Cabelas
• Gene Gilliland will contact Motorguide, Mercury, Lowrance, and Berkely
• Heitman will contact Triton and Geosyntec
• Try to get letters out by the end of February
• Vic projected list of donors
• Should we contact state chapters?
• SAS® may donate up to $2,000
• US Fish & Wildlife Service may donate up to $10,000
• Budget
• Major costs include the offsite social, publication costs, and speaker travel
• Sponsors will be recognized at differing levels
• Vic projected sponsor levels documents
• This needs to go out with donation request letters
• Heitman:  our 501C3 status allows private sector tax breaks
• Gilliland:  has anyone specifically asked to sponsor a break?
• Sammons:  breaks are currently $3500-4500, attempts to get Georgia to pay (to eliminate state taxes) failed
• Colvin:  how do we want to handle Bass Pro Shops donation through the Heritage Program?  He’s open to suggestions
• Neal Jackson needs all pertinent forms so he can solicit Cabela’s for a donation
• Heitman will contact other Chapters within other Divisions.  He is interested in volunteer help with this.
• Other discussion
• What about power companies outside the south?
• Lawrence Dorsey has list of power folks he’s planning to contact
• Heitman:  including a stamped envelope may help get a response
• Heitman will email out form letter for solicitation of donations
• Janssen:  get clear instructions about which logo donors want and how it should look
• Be sure to let folks know who you contact so potential donors do not get contacted multiple times
•  Registration
• Abney:  Brenda Miles is largely coordinating registration
• Name tags with a schedule and graphics will be provided
• There will be 2 registration personnel on duty at all times
• Signage at the hotel and for busses will be provided
• Abney will bring a laptop for registration
• On-site registration will run 2pm – 6pm on June 6
• On-site registration will run 7am – 6pm on June 7-8
• On-line registration is in progress and should be finished in the next few weeks
• On-line registration will not have links for hotel reservations
• We will have the ability to enter credit card information to the web from a laptop and will avoid costs from having to swipe credit cards
• Refund policy will follow that of the Lake Placid AFS meeting
• 80% refund before June 1st
• No refund after June 1st
• Heitman will check with Alicia Reed (AFS Bethesda) for AFS liability policy (estimated cost $150)
• Should we increase spouse prices due to increased social costs?
• Prices were on fliers distributed at SEAFWA & SDAFS meetings so we cannot change it.
• Socials
• Vic suggested a small welcoming reception Wednesday night at the hotel (Finish Line)
• Maybe some kegs outside the hotel bar/restaurant?
• Thursday night social expected to cost $50/person
• Friday night (off-site) social expected to cost $145/person
• Abney:  busses to off-site social and event tickets are included
• 3-4 luxury busses seating 55 people each
• Meeting attendees MUST have their event tickets
• Abney:  aquarium needs an exact head count a few days in advance
• Children will be admitted for $60 each, people of drinking age are expected to pay full price
• There will be an audio system at the aquarium
• Our viewing hours are from 5-7 ($10.50/ person already included)
• Open bar begins at 6pm and buffet stations open at 7pm
• Exhibits
• No trade show
• Maybe allow big donors to set up a table if they request that
• Maybe allow donors to set up posters or extra signage
• We should have room for this now, but maybe not if we get more posters
• Have to be careful about what we promise in the donor recognition form
• The letter currently says large donors may have a “booth,” so we may have to provide that or change the form
• Vic edited the recognition form by deleting “booth”
• Heitman defined “special recognition” as a photo opportunity and statement of appreciation during the meeting
• Audio / Visual Report (Colton)
• Grand Salon setup
• There will be 2 projection screens with a podium in the center
• A laptop will be on the podium
• Presenters will use the mouse as a pointer
• We will wait to see the room setup before we decide if we want microphones for the crowd to use when asking questions
• Moderators will need to loudly repeat all questions
• Equipment
• 2 wireless microphones will be rented ($150/day each)
• handheld for the moderator and clip-on for the speaker
• Mixer/Amp will be rented ($45/day)
• Computers and projectors
• Vic
• Lawrence Dorsey
• Colton Dennis
• Brent Hess
• Make sure we have compatible machines
• George Scholten may have several of the same model
• 2 screens (9’ x 12’) will be rented ($180/day each)
• VGA splitter amp will be rented ($70/day)
• 2 computer carts will be rented ($20/day each)
• No screen needed for loading room
• Rent cables and cords
• Will they set this up for us?
• Set up times for loading presentations
• Brent Hess will oversee this and Jim Hedrick will assist
• Colton will check with hotel to see if they require a technician
• If we were to have a practice room we would need someone stationed there
• Get students to run A/V during talks
• Figure out how many shifts/students needed
• Program committee will set up the schedule
• Currently have $5,000 budgeted for A/V and cost estimates are $1,000/day (times 4 days) assuming we provide projectors
• Hotel Report
• We currently have 7 meeting rooms reserved
• Entire Grand Salon (seats 800 theater style)
• Harding and Rabun
• Ogeechee
• Allatoona
• Oconee Board Room
• We only need 3 meeting rooms (Grand Salon, a storage room, and a room to load presentations)
• We will drop the Allatoona and Oconee Board Room and Vic will check with the hotel on how dropping other rooms will benefit
• We can probably close off one section of the Grand Salon for other uses
• The poster session will be in the Grand Salon Promenade
• How many guest rooms will be needed?
• Original figures for rooms were set before the workshop was scheduled
• Abney will call the hotel and request 40 rooms for Tuesday night
• Abney will request 150 rooms for Wednesday night
• Colvin:  see if the hotel has recommendations since they regularly deal with this kind of question
• Sammons:  probably > 90% of meeting attendees will stay Wednesday night because the plenary starts early Thursday
• Check to see if room rates will be the same for all nights
• Website
• Include registration link when on-line registration is available
• Add hotel information
• Room reservation is not online through the website, but a phone number is provided
• Add sponsor logos
• Program is already posted on the website
• Potential links to add:  weather, local map, aquarium, Chamber of Commerce
• Link to AFS manuscript submission website
• Announce that room blocks expire April 20th
• Publicity
• Janssen has the symposium website going
• Kim Bonvechio produced a pamphlet that was distributed at SEAFWA and the SDAFS meeting
• Other, Miscellaneous
• Do we want to do registration bags?
• Not really, but registration is expensive
• Potential ideas:  tackle box/bag, or boat bag
• Neal may ask Cabelas if they are willing to donate this
• Put name of symposium and donor on bags
• Meeting t-shirts?
• Abney will approach a Georgia student subunit to see if they want to do it
• If Georgia does not want to, we will allow another subunit to sell t-shirts if they approach us about it.

New Business – none

Meeting adjourned at 4:40 PM.