ISOC - Philadelphia Area Chapter

THE INTERNET SOCIETY –PHILADELPHIA AREA CHAPTER

Minutes of the ISOC Phila. Area Chapter Meeting of November 29, 2007

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Tom Durham/Secretary

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A meeting of the Internet Society Philadelphia Area Chapter was held at the Metropolitan Career Center (MCC) Computer Technology Institute, 100 South Broad Street, Suite 830, Philadelphia, on the evening ofThursday, 29November2007, from 6:00 pm to 7:00 pm.

Present:

Mara Lipschutz, Roland LaPlante, Heather Read, and Tom Durham. There was no quorum present.

Agenda:

1. Welcome – Mara Lipschutz, Chapter President

2. Presentation: “Master Your Domain” – Roland LaPlante, Chapter Treasurer

3. General Discussion – Attendees

4. Closing Remarks – Mara

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Main Presentation:

1. Welcome

Mara Lipschutz called the meeting to order.

Mara then introduced Roland LaPlante.

2. Presentation: “Master Your Domain”

Attendees voted to reschedule Roland’s presentation for a future meeting as attendance was lower than expected for this meeting.

3. General Discussion

Election of Treasurer

Roland nominated Mr. Stephen Pack to replace him as Treasurer for the Chapter. Steve is currently Chief Financial Officer at Afilias and has over thirty years experience with a variety of corporate financial reporting systems. He also has experience working with not-for-profit organizations.

Suggestion for ‘Virtual’ Meetings

Roland suggested that the Chapter should consider the possibility of having our meetings at two different locations. This would enable members from downtown Philadelphiabusinesses and members from surrounding suburban locations to attend the same meeting at different sites via a teleconference hook-up. Offering more than one meeting site should help increase attendance.

Roland will determineprecisely what is required to link the Afilias office in Horsham and the MCC in downtown Philadelphia for such a meeting.

How to Proceed as a Chapter

The attendees expressed concern over ‘next steps’ as a Chapter and the direction that we should be heading.

Roland reported that he had contacted someone in the New York Chapter about suggestions as to how to proceed now that we are a Chapter in Formation. Unfortunately, the person he contacted had not returned his call prior to this meeting.

For the next meeting, Mara said she will contact Anne Lord to ask, “What are the top three successful ISOC Chapters?”

Other ideas for getting the Chapter moving:

  • Pick one or two “big” projects to focus on in 2008. From her experience working with several other organizations, Heather suggested that the Chapter might choose some kind of “fund raising drive” to start. We should also decide who our target audience is for whatever project we select, and decide the best vehicle to reach them.
    Heather also suggested that no matter what event we choose, the best way to promote it is through media organizations and getting on business calendars.
  • Contact IETF to see if they would be interested in helping promote ISOC Philadelphia. If we can decide on one major initiative (see above), IETF would likely let us promote it at their conference on March 3-10, 2008. (The thought is that once our Chapter decides on our “cause”, it will be easier to get organizations such as IETF on board with us.) Roland said we might organize IETF internships as another possibility.
    Roland suggested that we might have a couple of ‘super geeks’ at the IETF conference, to help explain the initiative we select.
    Heather’s suggestion for an initiative or project: Form ‘teams’ that travel to Philadelphia schools to talk about the Internet with children, and help them learn about it. We could ask some of the local professional sports teams to partner with us to engage the kids. Possibly someone from the Philadelphia Soul, or even the Eagles, could team up with our technical experts to give the presentations.
    We should contact their community relations organizations to find out how to get them involved.
  • Establish a corporate list of companies that we feel we MUST have for ISOC Philadelphia Area Chapter membership. Initially, there may only be 4-5 companies, but it will grow. Comcast would be a very good starting point as they have already shown interest by attending our inaugural event.
  • Set up a newsletter-type page on Facebook for posting Chapter events, information, etc.
  • Put together a “Speakers Bureau” on Internet topics
  • Beef up the Resources section of our ISOC Philadelphia Area Chapter website with Internet-related white papers
  • Set up the Chapter website to allow members to vote online on various Chapter issues and elections. This would be very useful in the case of the vacant Board of Directors seat, for example, she noted.

Future Meeting Dates

Proposed Dates for Future Meetings:

January 31, 2008

March 27, 2008

May 22, 2008

July 31, 2008

September 25, 2008

November 11, 2008

The time for these meetings is tentatively set for 6:00 p.m. Each meeting day is a Thursday.

As Chapter membership grows, it was suggested that we might encourage our members to ask the companies they work for about allowing us to hold meetings in conference rooms at their facilities. This would not only provide a variety of locations but also expose the Chapter to other potential members in those locations as well.

January 31st Meeting

The following suggestions were made at the meeting:

Prior to the meeting:

  • For the 1/31 meeting, and all meetings thereafter, Heather suggested that we set up notices (RSVPs) on our website. This will enable people to let us know they are planning to attend and thus how many attendees we can expect.
  • We should advertise the meeting at colleges and universities in this area
  • We should provide a “Happy Hour” prior to the actual meeting for people to meet and get to know one another.

4. Closing Remarks

There being no further business to discuss, Mara concluded the meeting.

6. What’s Ahead

The next meeting is scheduled forJanuary 31, 2008. It will again be held atthe MCC location. It will begin at 6:00 p.m. and end at 7:30 p.m. Speaker and agenda to be determined.

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