Section 1304

Minutes of June 14, 2011

Haveli Indian Buffet in St. Louis, MO

Participants: John O’Reilly, Ed Valentori,  Tony Indihar, Linh Dye, Steve Hyland, Kunita Gear, Randy Thompson, Kim Rochetti, Denise Arthur

1. Meeting called to order at 6:14 by John

1. Minutes approved as prepared by Denise – It was moved, seconded, and approved to accept the minutes.

1. Financial Report by Randy  Received notice of a bounced check from March meeting.  The individual has been e-mailed twice to try to recover the costs ($37).  No response on second call and will attempt to make final contact.  Preliminary financial report for Spring Conference shows a slight profit (under $1,000).  Request for outstanding expenses to be captured before the end of June. 

For the May statement:  CD balance $55,725.33; checking balance $22,842.73; additional deposits none; outstanding checks 6 for $2,144.90; petty cash $150.00.  Total section balance is $76,573.16. Motion to approve as prepared, seconded and approved to accept report as prepared.

1. QMP for 2010-2011 by Steve H.  Everything looks good except the retention and should make 6 out of 8.  Do not know how retention is calculated at National.

1. Certification Refresher Classes by John for Ed  All classes are over and in the black for $2,380.  Free rooms are no longer available for classes.  Idea to get into online classes.  Use GoTo Meeting at $49 per month or $39 per month if buy for the year for 15 slots. Will bring to planning meeting to discuss budgeting in for next year. Look at ½ day seminars and plan a few for the new fiscal year.  Repeat non-paying students are not counted on P&L report.

1. Certification Exams by John for Eric Certification Exams June 4 by John for Mary Ellen used a small room and the dining hall for over 50 exam takers.  27 signed up to take green belt exam.

1. Website by Linh We have the new technology from ASQ but are not using and has not been standardized for the sections yet.  It was suggested that we stay on our own and not use the technology from the National.  Linh asked that the LC team send her examples of what we like for a website and she will consolidate the ideas and functions/needs for submission to a website builder.  Would like to have everyone on the LC to have the ability to update their own section on the site.                               
2. Spring Conference Update by Kim Spring Conference Update by Kim/John still need the rest of the evaluations from Steve H.  Next Spring Conference ideas will be discussed at the planning meeting.

1. Mentoring by John for Mike No report from Mike

1. Section Updates by John June APICS Joint Meeting, June 21 topic will be about St. Louis County and the China hub.  We will also try to sell remaining books at the June meeting. Distribution of RUs by John has been distributed in an email.

1. Planning Meeting by Kim Planning meeting will be at Rob Herhold’s on June 26^th.  Ideas from regional director will be discussed. Budget will also be discussed. Email ideas to John if you cannot attend.

Around the Table

John O’Reilly - Pass  

Ed Valentori  - Pass

Tony Indihar - Suggested upping the membership meeting price for the next year by a few dollars. 

Linh Dye - Pass

Steve Hyland - Pass

Kunita Gear - Pass

Randy Thompson - Pass

Kim Rochetti - Asked if Monday would work when Tuesday didn’t work for travel everyone was agreeable and it was agreed by the group to move the meeting to the 2^nd Monday of the month.  Would like to discus roles and descriptions that was found out at the National convention for the next meeting.  Healthcare very interesting topic at the National.  Michelle Mason would like to do an article in Quality Progress about the International students.

Denise Arthur – Pass

Adjourn at 7:24

Section 1304

Minutes of May 10, 2011

Meglio’s in St. Louis, MO

Participants: John O’Reilly, Kunita Gear, Mike Lee, Tony Indihar, Kim Rochetti, Chris Anderson, Randy Thompson, Steve Hyland, Jim Ebone, Steve Mundwiller, and Denise Arthur

1. Meeting called to order at 6:00 by John

1. Minutes approved as prepared by Denise – It was moved, seconded, and approved to accept the minutes.

1. Financial Report by Randy  - Still awaiting final invoice to make payment to Crowne Plaza for Spring Conference (~$9,724) Transferred $10,000 dollars from CD to checking to cover expenses at Spring Conference.  Total attendance for Spring Conference was around 116 people. There were 86 people paid at least some part of the Spring Conference to attend  There were approximately 20 speakers/presenters and around 10 volunteers. Preliminary financial report for Spring Conference shows a slight loss (under $1,000).  Received notice of a bounced check from March meeting. The individual has been e-mailed twice to try to recover the costs ($37).  Randy will continue to try to collect.

For the April statement:  CD balance $55,742.96; checking balance $30,385.01; additional deposits none; outstanding checks 8 for $1,270.70; petty cash $150.00.  Total section balance is $84,707.27. Discussion with group about CD options about trying to make a little more interest on savings.  Decision to transfer will be decided at a future meeting.  Motion to approve as prepared, seconded and approved to accept report as prepared.

1. QMP for 2010-2011 by Steve H.  - Review of metrics and are doing OK with 6 out of 8 goals.  Suggestion to promote Senior membership at next meeting.  Kim and Denise will look for suggestions at the ASQ conference for ideas on how to increase retention.

1. Certification Refresher Classes by John for Ed – Ahead for year on refresher classes.

1. Certification Exams by John for Eric - 67 people are scheduled to take exams at the June 4^th exam.  Kim and John will go in the first hour to help check in examinees.  88 free dinners were awarded for people who have passed the exams over the past year and 23 attended the March meeting using the free dinner award. John and Will proctored the exam at the Black Engineers convention and there were 6 people who sat for an exam. 

1. Spring Conference Update by Kim - Lots of feedback from participants and speakers.  Speakers enjoyed conference.  Good scores on speakers and only one scored below 4.  Good attendance. No major issues and only minor issues with parking. We broke even on the conference. 

There was a lessons learned meeting with conference committee. Captured 60 improvement ideas and identified 20 ideas that were liked.  This info will go into workbook for next year.  It will include speaker survey results.  It was suggested to not have a healthcare track next year.  Workbook will be distributed to team.  Concerns about the problems with registration were discussed and thoughts to improve it by using 123 Sign Up features that were not used for this conference. 

There was a discussion about low attendance despite a strong group of speakers. Steve suggested improving for next year to include marketing to surrounding sections and send a hard copy to them in January. Tony felt that it is the middle or lower level management is who are attending and the conference should be structured more to that group.  There were questions about whether businesses are sending still sending as many people to classes as they have in the past. There was also discussion about going to one day conference as workshops have been less attended over the past few years. It was agreed that overall it was an excellent job.

1. June LC Meeting Proposal by John  - Presented an opportunity that the last LC meeting be at a baseball game.  There are tickets for 32 people and it could be a social LC meeting.  The price is $3,900.  This would be Friday June 17^th at 5pm.  There would be a short meeting would be included with the event.  It was suggested that any opening that those be given to instructors and regular speakers. It was motioned that the $3,900 be approved and seconded; it was amended to pick up cost of significant other and was not seconded.  It was put to vote and the motion was not passed.

9.   May 24^th Section Meeting/Volunteers by John - We will have two speakers at May section meeting.  Peter Shaw will discuss strategic quality and Ian Meggarrey will discuss innovation and value creation. The SEED students will be performing a dance in between speakers.  Tony will call Three Leaves Catering for May meeting and Kenrick’s grill has been reserved by Randy.  It is anticipated that 90 to 100 people will be attending.  Lynn will be creating name tags for the meeting.  June speaker is still to be determined. 

9.      Around the Table

John O’Reilly - Pass

Kunita Gear - Pass

Mike Lee – Will be checking into mentoring.

Tony Indihar - Pass

Kim Rochetti – Still have all the ideas to prioritize with the membership.  Suggest using the May meeting to prioritize and will print on large paper to facilitate the voting.  Kim has found speakers for all but one of the fall meetings.  Requested suggestions from group for additional speakers to fill open fall slot and the 2012 slots.

Chris Anderson - Expressed concern about too many activities at the May meeting.          

Randy Thompson - Pass

Steve Hyland - Pass

Jim Ebone - Pass

Steve Mundwiller – Pass

Denise Arthur - Pass

Adjourn 7:51                                                                   

Section 1304

Minutes of April 5, 2011

Crowne Plaza in St. Louis, MO

Participants: Kim Rochetti, Tony Indihar, Kunita Gear, Ed Vallorani, Linh Dye, Randy Thompson, Steve Mundwiller

1. Meeting called to order 6:02 by Kim

1. Minutes approved as prepared by Denise – It was moved, seconded and approved to accept the minutes

1. Financial Report by Randy - A transfer from CD to checking will be necessary prior to Spring Conference to cover expenses.  Estimate transfer to be $10-15K.  Received notice of a bounced check from March Meeting.  The individual has been e-mailed to try to recover the costs ($37). The individual stated that they will mail a mail order.  Quarterly financial data has been submitted to ASQ on 4/5/11.  For the March statement: CD balance $65,724.38; checking balance $5,876.43; additional deposits none; outstanding checks 2 for $313.32; and petty cash $150.00.  Total section balance is $71,437.49.

1. QMP for 2010-2011  - No report. Steven Hyland absent.

1. Certification Refresher Classes by Ed  - 15 students signed up for CSSGB. CQIA has 4 at this point and there is a possibly for more.  CQA/CQE was cancelled due to low attendance.  This round of classes will make $2,504.56.  This will keep us with a positive balance for year.  Quality Council of Indiana gives us a 20% discount for orders of 5 or more. Quality Council of Indiana does not offer any further discounting at our purchasing level. Some damaged Primers will be sold at the Spring Conference.  Considering having the schedule of upcoming classes on website.

1. Certification Exams by Kim for Mary Ellen/Eric – 95 scheduled for exam.

1.  Spring Conference April 13-14 by Kim - The full day workshop will be cancelled due to low interest.  The individuals who signed up for full day workshops will be asked if they are interested in a half day workshop.  The half day workshop individuals will be contacted to see which workshop they are interested in.  Those workshops that have less than 6-8 in attendance will be cancelled.  Kim will contact the individuals who have signed up for the workshops to let them know the status of the workshop.  Linh will send Kim the email addresses to the conference attendees to find out which sessions they are interested in attending.  Kim will identify room sizes needed and if there are any tracks that have no interest.

   Around the Table

Kim Rochetti - pass

Tony Indihar - pass

Kunita Gear - pass

Ed Vallorani - pass

Linh Dye - pass

Randy Thompson - pass

Steve Mundwiller – pass

Denise Arthur - pass

Adjourn                                                                             Kim  7:30pm

Next LC May 10, 2011         

Section 1304

Minutes of March 8, 2011

Syberg’s Restaurant in St. Louis, MO

Participants:  Chris Anderson, Randy Thompson, Ed Vallorani, John O’Reilly, Kim Rochetti, Tony Indihar,  Steve Hyland, Amy Thomas, Jim Ebone, Denise Arthur                                                    

1. Meeting called to order 6:07pm by John

1. Minutes Approved as prepared by Denise – It was moved, seconded, and approved to accept the minutes.

1. Financial Report by Randy   - We may need to transfer money to checking account due to large checks for classes and scholarship award but there is no problem with removing money from CD because there are no penalties. ASQ National posted $133.21 to our checking account for the distribution of assets from section 0921 (Southeast Kentucky) CD balance: $65,706.74, checking balance: $12,946.52, additional deposits: none, outstanding checks: 8 for total of $3,928.18, petty cash: $150.00.  Total section balance $74,875.08 at reconciliation.  The report was approved and seconded.

1. QMP for 2010-2011 by Steve  - Poll from last meeting reveled that reasons for coming were topics(23), networking(17), learning(11), RU(9) and food(6).  Meeting rated at 4.38 out of 5 with 89 attendees.  Meeting topics were about data collection measurements. 

1. Certification Refresher Classes by Ed - Three people have signed up for green belt. Ed asked if three would be enough for the class with a loss of $300.  Team suggested to wait for 4 students as this is easier for the instructor.  Engineer, auditor, have one CQIA has none. Email blasts will go out every ten days to encourage sign up.  Obtaining instructor evaluation has been hard and it was suggested to try a process where a student collects evaluation from other students.  88 people have received certifications and attendance is expected to be high for the March meeting.  23 signed up currently.  John will check to see if students will attend the March meeting. Ed will check with the Quality Council of Indiana to see if there could be additional savings if we change how we purchase the primers.

1. Certification Exams by John for Mary Ellen/Eric - 42 signed up for exams and 32 took exams, 7 rescheduled and 3 were no shows.  There was one Six Sigma master black belt in this round.  Next exam scheduled in April and enrollment ended Friday.  After April, June will be the next time for exams.

7.      Section Elections and Awards by John - John will be running elections for meeting since he isn’t running for office.  Awards have been identified and recognition list assembled.  Instructors will read the names of those who have passed the exam along with others from LC.  We will use projector to promote Spring Conference at March meeting during networking and dinner.  Amy will compile slides for meeting and send to John and Tony.

9.   Scholarship Winners by Tony - Eight scholarship applications and all from LC.  The two winners selected at random drawing are Blake Osecki and Alicia Vallorani.  Notices will go out tomorrow and a check request will go to Randy. 

10.  Spring Conference by Kim - Kim asked about an Email question on how to do a group discount.  It was suggested to put the information into excel worksheet. Ed volunteered take care of signing up groups.  There are two different forms for exhibitor and sponsor and there are people who want to like to do both.  It was determined that $500 to be either a sponsor or an exhibitor.  Volunteers and between jobs would be the same and there would no additional discounts for both.  Need to bring projectors to meeting to avoid renting during the conference.  We have three sponsors now.  The brochure is completed.  Amy volunteered to work on the flier. The flier should look like email blast and have a place to look like signup site that Linh can use for the link. When completed it was suggested to send blast out every week.  Ed suggested also adding to subject line how many days left to register.

John asked Chris about ASQ National but there was nothing new to report including nothing new about QuickBooks. 

Around the Table

Chris Anderson - Pass

Randy Thompson - Pass

Ed Vallorani - Pass

John O’Reilly - Pass

Kim Rochetti – VisionQuest pass out lists at the March meeting to multi-vote on list during the meeting.  Use dots to vote at beginning of meeting.  Will mention what has already been implemented. 

Tony Indihar – Awards meeting has a tentative program.  No game cards this year for dinner.  Group suggested a few changes and typo corrections.

Steve Hyland - Pass

Amy Thomas - Pass

Jim Ebone – Asked about computer and needing new one or software

Denise Arthur  - Pass

Adjourn                                                                             John  7:42                

Next LC April 5, 2011          Crowne Plaza – Clayton, in the Board Room

Section 1304
Minutes of 12/14/10
At Meglio’s Italian Grill and Bar, in St. Louis, Mo.
Prepared 12/14/10

Participants: John O’Reily, Eric Schellenberg, Kunita Gear, Will Meyer, Tony Indihar, Randy Thompson, Mary Ellen Rowland, Ed Vallorani, Kim Rochetti, Mike Lee, Linh Dye, Denise Arthur , Jim Ebone

1. Meeting called to order at 6:03 pm by John

2. LC Member introductions - John introduced new member Mike Lee and team introduced themselves.

3. Minutes Approval as prepared by Denise – It was moved, seconded, and approved to accept the minutes.

4. Financial Report by Randy - Passed out finance. 6 month audit bounced check still outstanding if check does not come in by end of December it was motioned that bounced check be written off and motion seconded and approved. December meeting was a significant loss due to students and high cost for the venue. Estimating at least a $1,000 loss. Discussion around student prices for dinner meeting determined no change at this time. CD rate still being investigated for more than 0.5% rate. Account information for November, CD Balance $65,643.32, Checking Balance $17,273.52, No additional deposits, 8 outstanding checks for $3,964.62, Petty Cash $150.00 Total section balance at reconciliation $79,102.22 Bounced check (for $60 + $6 service fee) still outstanding from May meeting. Steve Mundwiller assisting with recovery efforts.

5. QMP for 2010-2011 - No report but reported one meeting ahead for attendance.

6. Certification Refresher Classes by Ed - Refresher Classes start in January. The CSSBB is currently has three enrolled and room is free. The CSSBB will be at the executive plaza suites in Chesterfield Valley. Cost structure great this time. CQT/CQI $30 for all 8 nights Ed passed out the year to date financials. We made money in October exams but lost money in the December exams. Cheaper room prices will make January exams more profitable. A question was raised about salary under extraordinary expenses and that was due to the change in instructors during the last CQI/CQT class. A lot of email interest but not a large number of signups for the upcoming classes.

7. Certification Exams by Mary Ellen - 75 signed up but only 55 showed up. We had enough proctors for exam. One tester went to wrong location but a proctor was willing to sit with him for the exam. A request from the Society of Black Engineers requested having proctors for their Green and Black Belt Exam. They would like to do the exam at the America’s Center during their conference. Exams at April Spring Conference will be all exams except black belt.

8. Regional Director Nominations by John - John reported that Steve Mundwiller would like to nominate Rob Herhold to be regional director for one more term. This would be the maximum allowed for a total of 6 terms.

9. June LC Meeting Proposal - John proposed location for the LC June meeting to be a suite at Busch stadium. $3900 dollars for suite. John said that every LC member could also bring one guest. The decision on this can wait until May. It was also suggested having a minor league social event for membership over the summer in Illinois.

10. December Vision Quest (QVQ) by Kim - Kim passed the list of ideas from QVQ meeting. She shared an idea that Chris Anderson had for the next year to prioritize during the meeting. It was discussed that it may be a good idea and could be tried at next QVQ event. Kim proposed a question to team about how we could prioritized this year. Kunita suggested letting members prioritize at next meeting using dots to vote. It was also suggested having a vote by both the board and membership. Ed discussed the education topics that were gathered. He found that a big item was one-on-one mentoring. Ed would like to do a survey to the membership about education classes and what format do members like best. He would also like to include expanding questions to include some of the information gathered from QVQ. Ed also discussed the idea of one hour webinars and how to deliver them. Other improvements for the next QVQ were staggering the timeframes, a better venue with more wall space, giving a card to let everyone know what the topics were before starting numbering stations for improving flow and then tagging people with the station number they start at and determine categories month before next meeting.

11. Website update by Linh - ASQ purchased software to service websites for all sections. They are looking for sections to be a beta site for the product. This website service has all the features that the membership is looking for. Everyone on LC can post to site. Everyone agreed it would be a good idea to volunteer to be beta site.

12. Will Meyer update from International Students – Florissant Valley Community College would like to present something with the international students. John suggested January 18th as an opening for a speaker. Suggested having a tour of Florissant Valley and the students could present there. Will to check with student group to see if they can do a presentation for the January meeting. Susan will be the main presenter and some of the students will assist during the presentation. Students would like to work at a location for free as an internship. They are looking primarily a business experience that they can take home and help their country. Getting into the program is very competitive in their country. Will is proposing special proctoring for international students for CQIA and will check with National to see if it is possible.

13. Spring Conference April 14 by Kim - Still need one key note speaker and one more speaker. Looking now for sponsors. We have a great deal with Resa’s husband for printing the brochure this year.

14. Future Meeting Speakers by John – James Gear has a speaker for the March meeting who published a book. Discussion around not having a program chair for the LC and the pros and cons of the position and how this impacts the LC and chapter. Discussion about non-members coming to meetings. John asked everyone to think about who should be nominated for awards and also think about who would be interested in chair elect

Around the Table
John O’Reily - pass
Eric Schellenberg - Glad to be here
Kunita Gear - 954 membership count with 120 unpaid
Will Meyer – Explained the multicolored report for people due for recerts; red is lost certification; yellow at risk for loosing report by December; blue due in December and white coming due.
Tony Indihar -pass
Randy Thompson - pass
Mary Ellen Rowland - pass
Ed Vallorani - pass
Kim Rochetti - pass
Mike Lee - Nice to be welcomed and enjoy the mix of fun and business
Linh Dye - pass
Denise Arthur - pass
Jim Ebone – pass

Adjourn 8:06

Next LC January 11, 2011 Syberg’s on Old Dorsett