April 2024

Board of Directors Meeting Minutes ACBL Unit 503

Tuesday, April 9, 2024 via Zoom

Directors Present

Liz Koh, Marc Cervellino, Dan Thatte, Stephanie Youngquist, John Schwartz, David Merenbach and Dianne Giancarlo

Others Present for All or Parts of the Meeting

Alan Templeton 

M/S/P = Moved/Seconded/Passed

Call to Order

Liz Koh, President of the Board, served as Chair of the meeting, called the meeting to order at 4:00 PM and announced that a quorum of the Board members was present and that the meeting, having duly convened, was ready to proceed with business. Dianne Giancarlo served as Secretary of the meeting.

Approval of Meeting Minutes

Dianne G. announced that the minutes of the March 12, 2024 Board Meeting were approved via email.

Financials Update

Marc C. reported that financials are better than budget and we are continuing to see an upward trend in F2F club game table count. Board members noted that the Unit has recently attracted more players from nearby units to our games, some of whom are changing their membership to Unit 503.  We have also noted a decline in membership drop-off in the past 12 months.  The Unit earned a profit in March (thanks to the 4-day sectional—see below). For first quarter, table rent accounts for 23% of revenue and celebrity lectures account for 11%. The Unit’s net loss for the first three months of 2024 is better than budget and smaller than the net loss incurred in the first three months of last year.

March Open and NLM Sectional

Marc C. reported that the four-day March Open and NLM Sectional accounted for about 38% of our first quarter revenues. Adding Thursday as an additional day to the event brought in income for 36 additional tables bringing us over the amount earned at other 3-day Sectionals other than the March 2023 Sectional. Marc noted that there was a significant decline in the number of NLM attendees at the March Sectional versus the 2023 December Sectional, which members agreed we would like to see increase. The Board discussed whether it would be enticing to NLM to reduce the total number of boards at the NLM Sectionals to less than 24.

Local Sectionals

Liz K. reported that the ACBL has made a policy change that Units can no longer hold one-session NLM Sectionals.  The Board discussed whether the Unit could hold two shorter sessions in a NLM Sectional.  This could be particularly attractive to NLM players who have been asking for shorter games by attending just one session although the Board agreed that we should provide incentives for players to participate in both sessions by perhaps offering a discount for those who sign up for both sessions. John S. will investigate (1) if we can have less than 18 boards per session; and (2) the consequence of not having enough participation to hold the second session.  

Monday Monthly Swiss Games

John S. led a discussion on the monthly Swiss games that have been held on the second Monday of each month.  The games have been popular, drawing 16-18 teams at each of the first three monthly games. The next scheduled Monday Swiss games will take place on May 13 and June 10.  The Board agreed that we should continue to schedule these games, taking into account the Firecracker in July. All Monday games will begin at 11:30 starting May 6 due to the desire expressed by many Unit members to have a shorter playing time by eliminating the lunch break. The Board also discussed that in marketing these games we should highlight that the boards are pre-dealt allowing players to review hand records which is not the usual case with Swiss team games. Will Watson’s extra work to create the boards also provides a more efficient playing environment by cutting down on the amount of time spent shuffling, dealing and transporting boards.

Proposal for NLM Regional in December

David M. led a discussion on the possibility of holding a NLM Regional in December. The ACBL has put sanctions for these Regionals on hold until its June meeting. 

New Faucets on Small Sink

Stephanie Y. has requested that we replace the faucets on the small sink near the coffee service. The Board approved spending up to $500 for this purpose with the approval of Kevin. M/S/P  

ACBL Member Retention Program

Liz K. referred the Board to the email she forwarded from the ACBL on this subject. 

Meeting with Club Owners

Liz K. asked John S. to request that Unit owners participate in a meeting with the Board to address the ACBL’s ideas on how to promote more players.  John will prepare an agenda for Liz’s review. 

New Reservation System

John S. reported that he has made headway with a revised reservation system whereby players could make a reservation directly from the page on which the game is listed and could access it without a password. John S will discuss this with the other owners.

The meeting was adjourned at 5:30 PM.