GAZeL Board of Directors Meeting

Thursday, January 3rd – Noon 

Audio Bridge Number: 1.888.847.8686    7256108#

Attending:  Alex, Bobbie, Michele, Casey, Christopher, Ted C, Doug B, Richard,

Sher, Steve, Kelly, Maggie, and guest Loren Wingate.

Alex called the meeting to order and thanked our sponsors.

Then Loren Wingate, Salt Lake City based Fund Raiser gave a summary of her resume.

She is interested in using the GAZeL Golf Tournament in combination with OLPC as a fund raiser for GAZeL. She is passionate about getting laptops in use across the US. A lengthy discussion ensued.  Steve asked what would happen if we were unable to meet Loren’s $7500 fee. She said that she was very confident that she would be successful. She did not believe that it would become a problem.  She indicated that she didn’t expect GAZeL to pay if she failed.

Bobbie moved to accept Loren’s proposal.  Richard seconded and we voted.  Motion passed unanimously.

Agenda Items:

CEO Breakfast-- Bobbie gave an update on the CEO Breakfast, 17 January 2008.  We have had a good response. So far 36 people have signed up. Richard and Kelley will do a demonstration of the ASUS / OLPC network and Kelley will do a brief presentation (training) of the GAZeL Portal to show CEOs what they can do with the Portal. Maggie mentioned that we need to announce the launch of the Vendor Product Directory and Announcement capabilities.

Summit Conference Update – Steve gave an update on the Summit 2008 conference.  We are doing well but we are still behind on getting sponsors.  Steve went through the probable speakers and the agenda.  Alex will be giving the initial Summit overview of GAZeL. Steve will send Alex a powerpoint presentation about GAZeL.  Alex can review and revise the content.  We have 3 people on the luncheon panel to discuss WEB 2.0.  There will be 5 breakout groups.  Steve also had meeting with the Summit’s Workshop facilitators to help them prepare.  Steve requested that the Board do all they can to contact potential sponsors and exhibitors.

Membership Update –  Michele met with Alex, Bobbie and Sheri to discuss membership, what GAZeL can do with the membership fees and what members could get for their membership contributions.  Steve mentioned that he has some material listing the results of earlier discussions on this subject that could serve as a basis.  Bobbie mentioned there would be a second audio conference meeting this Sunday at 10am.

 Portal Development Update - Kelley and Maggie discussed how people can us the GAZeL portal at www.gazel.org. The CRM is being updated and many are using the site.  Job postings, vendor product announcements and RFPs can also be displayed after a simple login.  Maggie wanted to be able to post some of the people attending the CEO Breakfast so that they can see their presence on the GAZeL Portal. Bobbie will send a list of people who will attend the next GAZeL Breakfast event to Maggie.

Marketing – Kelley thought that adding Loren was a good step.  We need to add a generic brochure. Alex asked about GAZeL business cards and Kelley will work on that with InterMedia.  Alex and Kelley will be meeting this afternoon with InterMedia to discuss their marketing support activities and involvement in the next Golf event. They already have a presence on the Portal.

Research Committee – Maggie said that the Research committee met in December 2007 and they discussed launching a GAZeL research survey at the CEO Breakfast. The Portal will support the survey and the CEOs at the Breakfast can use the OLPC or ASUS to take the survey.

Next Executive Board Meeting will be Jan 8^th and the next Board Meeting will be Jan 22^nd.

     Meeting was adjourned 1:40.