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Chapter call notes – November 8, 2012

National – Anita Jaffe, Betsy Werley

Atlanta – Lynn Anderson

Bay Area – Linda Sherwin

Chicago – Del McCormick and Emma Kaladjian

Central Ohio – Carol Oswald

Ft. Lauderdale – Julie McGinty

Philadelphia – Peggy Stelle

Santa Fe – Jean Palmer

Washington – Barbara Hoenig, Mara Mayor

Many thanks to Anita Jaffe for her invaluable notes.

Proposed 2013 call dates (all Tuesdays from 4:30 to 6:00/6:30 PM ET (3:30 CT, 2:30 MT, 1:30 PT): January 22, March 12, May 14, July 9, September 10, November 12

Followup items:

• BW – get chapter feedback on topics for one-hour calls starting in early 2013

• BW – prepare an updated newsletter distribution list for all newsletter editors

• BW – work with the Ft. Lauderdale team on a paragraph inviting snowbirds to get in touch and attend local events for chapter newsletters in the Northeast

Communications discussion

The group discussed communications, primarily phone calls but we also touched on other communication topics.

All agreed that the real-time calls are valuable. A number of chapter leads commented that they would like to engage more of their leadership teams in the calls, but have had a hard time getting them to commit.

We agreed on the following with regard to real-time calls:

Bi-monthly chapter call – we’ll continue to hold these calls every other month with chapter leads as the primary participants, on Tuesdays from 4:30 to 6:00/6:30 PM ET (3:30 CT, 2:30 MT, 1:30 PT). Most people would welcome a shorter call, say 90 minutes, but wanted to leave open the option of using the full two hours depending on the topics; or allowing those who want to continue a discussion to stay on at the end of the call.

The agenda for those calls will be:

• 30 to 45 minutes of national updates

• 30 to 45 minutes of chapter updates, with half the chapters reporting “what’s new” on each call for 5 minutes each. Chapters that have a major initiative or issue to share but aren’t on the list for that call can let me know in advance that they want time on the call. People like the real-time sharing provided that participants stay focused, and Betsy suggested that we experiment with having a time-keeper so that verbal reports stay focused.

• If we have a national topic, we’ll fit that into 90 minute/2 hour time frame.

Related comments: We’ll archive the first couple of calls next year and if people find them useful we’ll continue. We’ll also experiment with an internet calling option, webinar technology for sharing documents and video conferencing.

Topical calls We agreed to supplement the chapter calls with one-hour monthly calls on specific topics. The calls will be scheduled for a consistent time and chapter SC members who focus on those areas will be invited to participate (and chapter leads will participate only if the topic is of interest). Participants will submit discussion topics/comments in advance. We will try to recruit chapter people and/or board members to lead the discussions rather than having Betsy coordinate another 10 – 12 meetings per year.

Topics of interest included: membership, communications (internal and external), small-peer-special interest groups, programs, fundraising, community impact programs, diversity, newsletters, publicity.

Related comment – as part of each discussion, the group can decide how they would like to stay in touch going forward. That could be through a listserve for sending out questions or ideas, additional meetings or in some other way we haven’t defined yet.

Other comments related to communications

-Consider calls for groups at similar stages of formation, e.g. new chapters, chapters in formation

-Newsletter sharing is great, we get lots of ideas from that. Betsy will prepare a revised newsletter list for all editors.

National updates

National Finances - the national organization and its chapters operated in the black as of July 31, 2012, the date of the most recent review by the whole Board (See Excel spreadsheet sent along with last meeting agenda. Betsy welcomes offline discussions with interested parties)

Letting fellow members know about the death of a member – Betsy mentioned that board member Audrey Bernfield and another NYC member had died recently, which made us realize that we didn’t have guidelines for sharing news of a death among our members. Del McCormick suggested a link in the newsletter or on the website with a title such as: Passages or In Memoriam.

Peggy Stelle asked if members who are going through extraordinary life changes might also be included although she recognized that it might be a touchy subject since some people might want privacy. Carol Oswald suggested that they receive permission in advance

Emergency Response Guidelines - After the experience of Hurricane Sandy, board member Livia Yanowicz volunteered to develop guidelines for chapter responses. Anyone interested should contact Livia at liviay@. She’s had interest from a couple of chapters; she will share draft guidelines with the chapters for input.

Honorary Members – Betsy highlighted DC’s recent decision to offer honorary memberships to participants in an event on intentional integration, and outlined two alternatives: 1) the “minimalist” honorary membership, in which the chapter gives a prominent person a certificate and keeps in touch through personal contacts, but does not sign the person up for newsletters, etc.; and 2) a more engaged version where we set the person up as a member (so we need e-mail and ideally snail mail addresses) and she receives newsletters and other TTN information.

Chapters are encouraged to build relationships through honorary memberships, and to work with Betsy to enter new honorary members in our database.

Next national conference - Betsy said that we expect to start planning for our next conference early in 2013. Based on initial research, we’ll come back to the chapters to discuss the timing, location and other key elements of the next conference.

Chapter updates

• Snowbirds - Julie McGinty of Ft. Lauderdale reported that they will be having an informal get together in January and a group from the New York chapter will attend. She would like to be able to advertise it more widely. Betsy said that she would update a blurb to go into the chapter newsletters.

• THANK YOU - to Arlene Reiff of the Bay Area for the huge success of the Paris Modern Art Program, with 21 TTN participants from 8 chapters. Our next travel adventure is to Cuba in May 2013, again run by Road Scholar. These programs provide income to TTN through donations built into the trip fees.

• Philadelphia’s new BounceBackAbility program launched in November. This structured approach to building resilience was developed by founding Columbus chapter chair, Pat Snyder and expanded with the help of many TTN Philadelphia members.

• Peggy Stelle reported that this was a Members Only event, which 106 people attended. They developed four sections of 12 persons each; facilitators have been trained and are ready to go. They are doing it as a pilot to come up with best practices. The fee is $50, which includes a hefty profit for the chapter. In addition, the chapter has required that participants be paid-up members through June 2013, resulting in additional signups and membership renewals.

• Each group will be meeting six times and will operate like a mini peer group. Betsy highlighted the focus on small group work and connecting with other members, a core value of TTN as well as a key to building resilience. Peggy said that they expected to have a package to share with other chapters by next January’s call.

• Chicago’s Del McCormick reported on a movie called “Poster Girl”, documenting PTSD will be shown on November 17th in partnership, once again, with The National Veterans’ Museum. It will be a downtown event.

• Webinars - Chicago’s Emma Kalaidjian – is co-presenting a 90 minute webinar called “New to Medicare.” Carol Oswald questioned whether something will be done to promote the webinars more. Betsy replied that she will work with the staff on that.

• Bay Area’s Linda Sherwin talked about the chapter’s focus on housing options. In September the chapter offered a panel talking about local housing options for older people. As a followup to that discussion, it has formed small groups that will continue to research and discuss the topic. Only members may participate in the peer groups. 40 people have signed up, in two special interest groups. Betsy said that this was a program for members only and that she would ask Mona to write up something that could be shared.

Betsy ended the meeting by thanking everyone for a great year of chapter calls and congratulating everyone on their creativity and success in 2012.

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