[uploaded july 2022]
Fall Regional Meeting Guide
Rev.Date 11/17/2017
11. Table Arrangements are optional. These can be simple and made by club members. They can be given as door prizes as the meeting ends.
12. Equipment Rentals. Some facilities will allow projectors, screens, etc., to be brought in while others will prefer that you rent from them the visual and audio equipment to be used for the meetings. Some clubs may also not own adequate equipment or simply prefer to rent it. A member familiar with this type of equipment should be in charge of checking out the rental equipment or equipment from club members, particularly a computer (laptop preferably), projector, and screen, before the meetings and should be on hand in case problems arise with the equipment. Know where the light switches are when it is show-time!
13. Regional Awards. The awards presented for the fall meeting are regional awards and regional expenses. The host club is not responsible for obtaining or paying for these prizes. They will be purchased by the Regional Awards Chair and brought to the meeting by the Regional Awards Chair or designated Regional Officer.
14. Clinics. Coordinate with the Regional Garden Judges Liaison and the Regional Exhibition Judges Liaison as to which clinics will be needed. These Liaisons will recruit instructors and determine and let you know how many rooms will be needed. It is the host club’s responsibility to report back to the Garden Judges Liaison and the Exhibition Judges Liaison in a timely manner if it appears that a scheduled class is not going to be needed, due to no attendees.
15. Commonly, there are two classes, Garden Judges I, and Exhibition Judges I at the fall meeting with their times commonly in the 1:00 pm to 4:00 pm range. The regional liaisons will confirm if they do have participants, and the times needed for their class.
16. Coordinate with the current RP to determine if they plan to hold a RegionalBoard/Officers meeting, and/or a Regional Officers & Club Officers meeting, so to plan for this room if needed. Usually the RP holds these meetings Friday afternoon, back to back, and usually in the same location, so only one room would be needed.
17. Budget. Determine estimated costs and set registration fee based on estimated number of paid attendees with the goal to have a break even meeting cost vs registration income at a reasonably conservative attendance projection. Attendance projections will vary between Summer and Fall meetings, and can vary slightly dependent on the meeting location. Based on recent fall meetings, a conservative planning estimate of paid attendees for a fall meeting is 55. Commonly, the estimated paid attendance numbers are exceeded by 15 to 20 people providing the host club additional income to cover fixed costs.Some costs will be set, or “fixed” like the meeting location, and others will vary with number of attendees, or other variables.
Take into consideration:
18. The Regional secretary will record the minutes for the official Regional meeting. The secretary from the host club should record items of note during the remainder of the meeting, like other contributions, contributors, event speakers, etc., that are outside of the Regional business meeting so “thank you’s” and other acknowledgement, including recognition in the Hemalina can be made. Prior to the start of the meeting, the club/meeting secretary should coordinate with the Regional Secretary, and the Regional Editor, to insure full coverage.
19. Budgets, projected meeting schedules, extra meetings needed during the event, and information relative to expenses from previous meetings, are being requested from previous Host Clubs. These can be provided to future Host Clubs on request, from the Regional Meetings Liaison, to provide realistic guidelines for future Host Clubs.
20. In addition to the above guidelines, the region will work with recent Host clubs to maintain a set of meeting planning information, including budgets, actual costs such as hotels & buses, previous auction lists, etc., to additionally use as planning tools, although these costs will vary some, dependent on meeting location.
RBQ 11/17/2017
Rev.Date 11/17/2017
- Have club vote on hosting the regional meeting. At one time, Clubs sometimes hosted both Fall and Summer meetings, but hosting only a single meeting is the norm now. Elect a Chairperson and other core committee members. If possible, recruit a Chairperson and committee members who have assisted previously with meeting planning as they can providing valuable experience and guidance. The region will maintain a Regional Meetings Liaison, who has past meeting planning experience, who can provide guidance as needed as the club plans its Fall meeting.
- Choose a date, usually in the late half of September, so auction plants can still be safely dug and planted, and also allow regional voting for awards, due on 9/01 each year, to be processed and awards created by the Regional Awards Chair. The host club may also want to consider when other major events are planned.
- Choose a location. Research area hotels for space and price. Negotiate price for rooms and meeting rooms. Rooms will be needed for Workshops and Clinics. Have the hotel set aside a reasonable block of rooms at reduced rate that they will honor until near the date of meeting. (Some hotels offer 1 free room with x-number booked, it is customarily used for the guest speaker or hospitality room.) Be sure the hotel is convenient to your meeting location. Choose a speaker or speakers. Confirm dates and travel plans with your speaker/s. Consider asking the speaker to do 2 programs if needed (one Friday night, one Saturday morning).This will help get more “bang for the buck”, and help manage registration cost.
- Make the agenda of meeting. Everything depends on this schedule, so the earlier it is prepared, the sooner committees can get started. NOTE: The Regional President will need 1.5 hours for the Fall Regional Business meeting, which is the primary business meeting for the region each year. This meeting will include presentation of Regional awards. It is customarily scheduled Saturday morning after opening the meeting. Coordinate with RP for inclusion of the agenda, registration, and other info, in the Hemalina and the Regional web site. Make copies of the final agenda and place on registration table for hand-outs.
- Set up committees. Remember that the Chair cannot do it all! Meet monthly for progress reports. Consider the following committees:
- Speaker – Secure the speaker and confirm dates and times for the meeting ASAP. Consider having the speaker do 2 programs if needed (ex. – one Friday night, one Saturday). Make his/her hotel reservation and plane reservations if necessary. Arrange Pick-up and delivery to the airport if necessary, or provide a rental car if in the budget. Discuss charges and explain what expenses the club is willing to pay for, and understand if auction plants are part of the package. NOTE: If the speaker provides auction plants, often the speaker will get a % of the auction proceeds of those plants. In recent years, the typical speaker/meeting split has been 50/50. If this the case, it is customary that the remaining auction proceeds not paid to the speaker would be applied to the speaker/meeting costs to help decrease registration cost for all attendees. If the speaker specifies the plants are for the meeting and doesn’t ask for a % of their auction proceeds, it is then customary that they be auctioned as part of the normal auction. (Many speakers do not charge an additional speaking fee, as this is an opportunity for them to show his/her hybridizing program or other skills.) There can be a significant variation in speaker costs, so make sure you have details in writing and considered carefully when considering a speaker on the high end of the cost range. Arrange for A/V equipment, including computer, projector, & screen, tables, chairs, and podium as needed. Speakers customarily now bring only his/her PowerPoint presentation on a memory device.
- Registration (Note – The Regional officers, the Director, Regional President, Treasurer, Secretary, RPD, & Editor, now pay regional registration the same as all other attendees. Speakers should be exempt, with these costs built into the overall meeting cost, which is normally covered by the meeting registrations. Individual clubs, including host clubs, can consider special incentives to encourage meeting attendance at the local level. The Club Registrar should mail or e-mail confirmation letters as registrations come in. On the day of the meeting, the registrar, or someone with registrar’s list, should be at the registration table to greet attendees as they sign in and get their badges. A list of attendees with badge numbers, addresses, telephone numbers and e-mail addresses, as well as the auction list, and meeting agenda should be available for pickup at this table, or included in gift bags. Sheets with other pertinent information such as open gardens after the meeting (which may have already been mailed) should also be available.
- Publicity. Coordinate with RPD/Editor to get the meeting, agenda, hotel, and registration information in the Hemalina as soon as possible. (Usually, the Summer Hemalina will feature the Fall meeting) The Club Chair for Regional Meeting Publicity needs to engage with the Regional Webmaster to post the meeting information on the regional Web Site, and the host club web site. The meeting information must include location, registration form, agenda, hotel information, and secondary information such as gardens of interest in the area. Once meeting information content is complete and in the Regional web site, the club Publicity Chair, or the Regional Webmaster is to contact the AHS Webmaster to have the meeting information listed in the AHS site. The AHS web master will then pick up the AHS information from the Regional site. (Target information for the Fall meeting to be posted to the Regional web site within two weeks after the Summer meeting is held, or no later than 7/15 of the Fall meeting year) Advance notice always helps attendance. Provide a short write-up of the meeting and other interesting information about the area for the Hemalina and other publicity. The registration form is responsibility of club. (Examples can be found in the Regional Meetings package maintained by Regional officers for meeting planning.) Stay in touch with the Editor to get information printed on time. As the meeting date nears, the RPD can also help by sending e-mail reminders to the regional members. (The host club should have someone from your club attend the previous summer meeting to invite everyone to the Fall meeting your club is hosting.
- Hospitality. Several club members can greet attendees in the lobby area and direct them to the registration table or greet them in that area and help them bring in plants for the sale table, auction, etc. A nice gesture that is always appreciated.
- Badges. These need to be numbered for several purposes – registration, sales table purchases, auction purchases, door prizes. They should include meeting information (example – “Region 15 Summer Meeting 2017, Raleigh, NC”), registrants name (big print for their name please) and town of attendee. Color and artwork are not necessary, but make the badge more attractive. Your Club logo, or Region 15 logo, works nicely.
- Gift bags & door prizes. Both of these are optional, but appreciated by many attendees. Gift bags can be simple and include a notepad and pen, etc. Door prizes, usually solicited from local garden and nursery businesses as well as club members, should be acknowledged with a thank you to the donors. (This can be a sheet listing donated items and their donors so thank-you’s can be mailed to them after the meeting. A handout of this list can also be placed on the registration table or the table where items are displayed so that winning members can send their own thank you notes.)
- Plant Sales. Usually, plants with retail value under $20 are placed on a sales table rather than the auction table to save time, if there is a sales table. At the sales table, plants can include companion plants as well as daylilies. Companion plants usually sell very well. Several host club people will be needed to staff the sales table or other projects, and will need a separate cash box as sales at the sales table will be separate from the plant auction.
- Special Sale or Raffle Items. Proceeds from sale and raffle items customarily go to the club to help pay for meeting costs. At times, when the meeting is well attended, the host club will choose to donate some % of these proceeds to the region. The more interesting the items, the more tickets that will be sold.
- Auction. Taken from the 2010 Regional Business Meeting Vote and Minutes
- The same allocation is applied to both the Summer and Fall meetings.
- The Region 15 Treasury will receive 75% and the host club will receive 25%.
- The host club will retain 100 percent of all revenue produced by local efforts including but not limited to: plant sale tables, boutique sales, silent auctions and commissions on vendor supplied merchandise.
- It is important to note that the Host Club should not lose money hosting the meeting, if expenses vs registration costs & planned paid registrations, are well planned. The host club should not expect, or plan, to gain a significant sum from the meeting expenses. At times, when the meeting is well attended, the host club will choose to donate some % of these proceeds to the region.
- (If an external event such as an act of God, or other emergency situation impacts the Meeting and/or attendance, if requested by the host club, a group consisting of the host club meeting chair, club president, and Regional Officers can be convened to determine fair and equitable income distribution, after consideration has been given to all costs and income sources made as part of the Meeting.)
- A good auctioneer, who can hold the crowd’s attention and knows many cultivars, is a big help. Soliciting plants for the auction will need to be coordinated between the meeting chair and the RP. It is customary that a local club representative solicits plants from local and regional donors, regional hybridizers, and sometimes from outside the region. The club auction coordinator can engage the Regional officers regarding plant solicitation from regional and national level donors as they maintain a list of past and potential donors. The host club should be sure that notices are put in the Hemalina to solicit plants, but nothing takes the place of personal contact, by e-mail or preferably direct phone calls. The number of plants to target for the auction is usually in the 95 to 120 range. The host club also needs to provide local support the weekend of the meeting to receive and stage auction plants as they come in from donors, prior to the auction. When auction plants are being requested, in addition to new registrations that are of interest to some regional members, the host club and Regional requestors should also consider obtaining a good % of plants in the $35 to $75 range, as those will often auction nearer their retail price than new intros. The club auction coordinator should provide copies of the auction list of known donations (more donations always will arrive the day of the auction). These copies should be placed on the registration table to pique interest and to give credit to the donors. We always try to recognize and thank those who faithfully support our region! The Region 15 Treasurer, along with two regional members selected by the Treasurer, will handle the auction process—tracking plants auctioned, winning bid price, winning person, and the collection of payments. Once the Auction net is established, the Regional Treasurer will then disburse the proceeds to the host Club and the Region using the formula previously established and noted above. Two or three additional people provided by the host club will be needed to serve as runners so that auctioneer can keep auction moving. Runners take plants from the holding tables to the auctioneer, and on to winning bidders. They also need to help to confirm the badge numbers of recipients as well as ending price for tallying.
11. Table Arrangements are optional. These can be simple and made by club members. They can be given as door prizes as the meeting ends.
12. Equipment Rentals. Some facilities will allow projectors, screens, etc., to be brought in while others will prefer that you rent from them the visual and audio equipment to be used for the meetings. Some clubs may also not own adequate equipment or simply prefer to rent it. A member familiar with this type of equipment should be in charge of checking out the rental equipment or equipment from club members, particularly a computer (laptop preferably), projector, and screen, before the meetings and should be on hand in case problems arise with the equipment. Know where the light switches are when it is show-time!
13. Regional Awards. The awards presented for the fall meeting are regional awards and regional expenses. The host club is not responsible for obtaining or paying for these prizes. They will be purchased by the Regional Awards Chair and brought to the meeting by the Regional Awards Chair or designated Regional Officer.
14. Clinics. Coordinate with the Regional Garden Judges Liaison and the Regional Exhibition Judges Liaison as to which clinics will be needed. These Liaisons will recruit instructors and determine and let you know how many rooms will be needed. It is the host club’s responsibility to report back to the Garden Judges Liaison and the Exhibition Judges Liaison in a timely manner if it appears that a scheduled class is not going to be needed, due to no attendees.
15. Commonly, there are two classes, Garden Judges I, and Exhibition Judges I at the fall meeting with their times commonly in the 1:00 pm to 4:00 pm range. The regional liaisons will confirm if they do have participants, and the times needed for their class.
16. Coordinate with the current RP to determine if they plan to hold a RegionalBoard/Officers meeting, and/or a Regional Officers & Club Officers meeting, so to plan for this room if needed. Usually the RP holds these meetings Friday afternoon, back to back, and usually in the same location, so only one room would be needed.
17. Budget. Determine estimated costs and set registration fee based on estimated number of paid attendees with the goal to have a break even meeting cost vs registration income at a reasonably conservative attendance projection. Attendance projections will vary between Summer and Fall meetings, and can vary slightly dependent on the meeting location. Based on recent fall meetings, a conservative planning estimate of paid attendees for a fall meeting is 55. Commonly, the estimated paid attendance numbers are exceeded by 15 to 20 people providing the host club additional income to cover fixed costs.Some costs will be set, or “fixed” like the meeting location, and others will vary with number of attendees, or other variables.
Take into consideration:
- Cost of all food, banquet, social hour, etc. (Be sure to include tax and tips as this is a large portion of the expense.)
- Speaker’s expenses (including flight, meals when traveling, car parking, lodging at event, etc.)
- Equipment rentals (including AV for auction & speaker, and podium)
- Meeting room fees if applicable
- Publicity – printing fees, etc.
- Table arrangements
- Badges
- Goody bags
- Postage for mailings
- Postage to return Region 15 seedling bed plants, if necessary
- Miscellaneous costs – auction supplies, registrar’s supplies, phone bills, and printing costs, etc.
18. The Regional secretary will record the minutes for the official Regional meeting. The secretary from the host club should record items of note during the remainder of the meeting, like other contributions, contributors, event speakers, etc., that are outside of the Regional business meeting so “thank you’s” and other acknowledgement, including recognition in the Hemalina can be made. Prior to the start of the meeting, the club/meeting secretary should coordinate with the Regional Secretary, and the Regional Editor, to insure full coverage.
19. Budgets, projected meeting schedules, extra meetings needed during the event, and information relative to expenses from previous meetings, are being requested from previous Host Clubs. These can be provided to future Host Clubs on request, from the Regional Meetings Liaison, to provide realistic guidelines for future Host Clubs.
20. In addition to the above guidelines, the region will work with recent Host clubs to maintain a set of meeting planning information, including budgets, actual costs such as hotels & buses, previous auction lists, etc., to additionally use as planning tools, although these costs will vary some, dependent on meeting location.
RBQ 11/17/2017