EB-ESA Final Executive Committee Meeting, Ocean City, Maryland
Tuesday evening, March 12th, 2002 Meeting Minutes prepared by R. R. Youngman, Secretary
Members present: George Hamilton, Tom Kuhar, Jay McPherson (current President ESA National Organization), Jan Nyrop, Mark Rothschild, Susan Whitney, and Rod Youngman
After a brief welcome, Jan Nyrop said we will need a larger room for posters, and we should schedule a time for authors to be present at their posters. Jan went on to say that we had 42 students, three of which said they really enjoyed the meeting and felt they profited from it. Two other students told Jan they enjoyed it more than the National meeting. Jan encouraged the students to talk it up with other students. Overall, Jan thought the meeting was very successful. So rather than making major changes, he asked for suggestions for making minor improvements for the next meeting.
Tom Kuhar reported the final meeting attendance numbers: Registered attendees were 192; banquet attendance was 155; and there were 60-70 in each of the two concurrent symposia on Tuesday afternoon.
George Hamilton said he received comments about moving the student paper competition to Tuesday afternoon. Someone else made the point that we should hold the student paper competition in the biggest room at the next meeting.
To make the 2003 meeting as successful as the 2002 meeting, Jan suggested we assist Ellen Klinger in identifying the next student representative to EB-ESA.
Mark Rothschild noted that several schools were well represented.
George felt we should continue to have rooms available for student volunteers. Based on projected revenues, Jan thought we could provide up to four rooms for 2003. Rod Youngman felt the free student registration and free rooms was a big draw for students attending the Ocean City meeting.
Jan said we should try to keep EB-ESA in a centralized meeting location. A suggestion to combine the SE and EB meetings was criticized for the reason that a combined meeting of that nature starts to approach the ESA National meeting. Also, someone remarked that the SE branch is too heavily commodity oriented.
Jay McPherson, spent a few minutes discussing how the national office calculates the Program Enhancement Funds for the branches.
Jan next asked the question about the ongoing purpose and viability of the EB-ESA meeting. There was general discussion on the topic. In the end it was concluded that the meeting is not for everyone, and we risk failing as a branch if we attempt to develop subsequent meetings around the idea of getting everyone to attend. Jay McPherson added if you cancel the branches, then those people who only go to branch meetings will end up dropping out of the society.
Mark said from a private industry perspective, the cost of attending the EB-ESA meeting is a factor. Out of state travel is the first thing agencies cut during bad budgetary times.
George proposed we develop a topical agenda around a meeting location, and added that we would need a special registration fee for one-day participants. Jan said we have had outreach programs in the past, but decided not to have one at the 2002 meeting because of low winter populations at Ocean City. Jan also said if outreach is to be part of the EB-ESA core values, then fine, but don't do it if just dilutes the overall effort. Susan felt children's outreach is important, but only if someone who is committed to it can be identified. Jan said you gain a multiplier effect if you can teach teachers to use insects in their classrooms. For the 2003 meeting, Susan said the Frasiers will be on sabbatical, so a museum has agreed to take over their outreach program for 2003.
Jay remarked that although he likes the ESA National meeting Insect EXPO, he said you must think about carrying insurance. You have serious problems if a kid were to have an allergic reaction from eating a bug.