ITO: New York-Meeting Minutes
Saturday, September 24, 2011

1. Welcome Overview – Impressions (Led by Terry McGonigle and Nancy Brown)
a. Activity – Impressions of “Fogwarts”.

2. Theme – Make theme interesting and entertaining.
Many ideas mentioned, but most prevalent being “OZ”.(Nancy)

3. Goal Setting – Goals must be considered in three parts: Should be attainable, should have a plan (with steps), and should be measurable.(Terry)
a. Group Goal- Advocacy tool kit including a packet. Creating, compiling, and publicizing is important. Write a sample of what to say to advocate school theatre when you go to state workshops. At least 30,000 students join every year. We have a lot of students, meaning we can cause a greater impact. ITO came in contact with 28,000 students last year. Arts cuts are happening and teachers are losing their jobs. We have the power to stop it. Schools are cutting theatre, not football or basketball, etc. We need a slogan for our campaign. WE NEED TO KEEP SCHOOL THEATRE AND THE ARTS ALIVE. (Led by John Stark)
b. Individual Goal- We all obtained a list for ideas to achieve goals. It is okay to fail, but try to achieve it and learn from your mistakes! It can be anything from local to national. Just make it measurable and obtainable.(Terry)

4. Communication – You must be clear, descriptive, patient, and both parties should provide clarification. Also, make it simple and to the point, meaning no fluff. Make a clear statement on who you are. Always follow it up! All people in the conversation should be involved. Normally the more quiet ones or the ones that ask a lot of questions will have better ideas. COMMUNICATION IS VERY, VERY IMPORTANT! (Nancy)
Activity – Building What You Hear (Sitting back to back and building the communicator’s structure without looking.)

5. Conflict Management – Avoid as much conflict as possible. (Nancy)
a. Activity – Four-Word Build
We decided on the following words to describe conflict: Obstacle, division, think win-win; miscommunication (misunderstanding), human, respect, overview.

6. Problem Solving – Talk to the person about the problem, not to someone else about the person and the problem. (Terry)
a. Activity – What If…? (Think “What if… to solve situations. For example, if someone does not like a position that they are in within a group, say to them, “What if we put you somewhere else”. Always try to reach a compromise.)

7. EdTA / ITS Information – (Nancy)
a. Activity – Game- Fogwarts with trivia

8. ITO Budget (Nancy)
a. Fundraising Efforts (Auction, etc.)- We were given a list of contacts for auction items. We would also be able to Google places and see if they could provide donations as items.

b. Handling Expenses

	2011-12 Budget	Last Year’s Budget	Last Year’s Actual
REVENUE	13,000	13,000	16,763
EXPENSES
Scholarships	2,000	2,000	2,000
Printing	300	775	-
Postage	50	100	82
Shipping	250	250	260
Employee Travel	2,000	1,800	2,569
Non-Employee Travel	19,000	18,000	20,830
Supplies	4,000	3,500	3,537
Bank Fees	50	-	9
Other Expenses	-	-	152
Telephone	400	100	243
	----------	----------	----------
	28,050	26,525	20,681
Loss	(15,050)	(13,525)	(12,917)

 

9. BC/EFA – He was very glad that we were there. We bring in most money for Broadway Cares every year.(Joe)

10. Job Assignments & Deadlines – (Nancy & Terry)

Discussions lead by ITO Chair (John)

• Leadership Book Presentations – Each ITO presented his/her 10-minute piece including supporting activities. The entire group participated.
• Discussion of 2010-11 leadership training.
a. It was all good material except for Henry’s game was "over-used", which we have now changed by finding a new one.
b. We can improve by practicing our workshops before we go to our conferences.
• Website
a. How can ITO contribute to keep it fresh? New blogs, including video blogs, will be frequently added to GOBO and the EDTA site
b. What do we offer that makes kids want to go there? Links and info on different pages. Also, the ability to see more of the interpersonal things of the ITO. We have decided to add the advocacy tool kit as well.
c. Folding ITO Website into EDTA site?
o We decided that we would like to take off all of the old information on the website. We have also decided to make GOBO look like the EDTA site. GOBO will be more interpersonal while EDTA will be straight info, as well as video blogs. There will be links between sites.

11 . Doug Finney Festival Grant – Awards coordinators will judge for this scholarship.

12 . John Marshall / ITO Legacy Scholarship
a. How do we spread the word about this scholarship? Take our advocacy tool kit to workshops, brochures on it as well as other ITO info, and spread the word at state conferences we go to.
b. Website articles about the winners.

13 . Dance Themes: Tuesday- Neon night: Light up the dance floor. Wednesday- Paint the Town Red: Wear red to show you care. Thursday- Monster Mash: Let your freak flag fly. Saturday- Keep It Classy: A Formal Farewell.

14 . Junior Thespian Festival
a. March 15-18, 2012
b. Denver, Colorado
c. ITO Responsibilities: Will vary depending on skills and what they want us to do for workshops.

15. Spring Meeting Date – February 24-26

16. Holiday Cards – We all signed cards to be sent to adult volunteer leaders and governing board.