1. General comments from the Chair:

a. The Section has purchased a computer projector. The Chair-elect maintains control of it. The Section expects that renting will generate revenue.

b. Attendees were reminded that dinner meetings are planned to be quarterly events with Quality Round Tables scheduled for the two months in between.

c. Intend to focus on Community Quality Council involvement.

d. Attendees were reminded that the Section Newsletter will be distributed on a bi-monthly basis. Draft copies of the new Newsletter were distributed for review and comment. The Chair requested an article from each member of the Board for the December Newsletter.

e. Request that Board members keep the Publicity Chair and the Newsletter Editor informed of planned events.

f. The Chair plans on scheduling a Saturday meeting to focus on development of the SMP goals for the coming year.

2. Meeting minutes: minutes from the August and September meetings were not available for review.

3. Treasurer’s Repor:

Beginning of accounting	year			$16,987.10
Revenue       					    589.36
Expended					  4,313.61
						----------
End of July balance				 13,262.85

Revenue						     16.74
Expended					    545.29
						 ---------
End of August balance				 12,734.30

Revenue						  3,900.00
Expended					 10,162.18
Check						    168.05
 						 ---------
End of September balance			 $6,304.07
(less Sept interest)

4. Resignation of Dallas Fredrick: Dallas Fredrick submitted his resignation as Program Chair. The resignation accepted with regret. An ASQ plaque will be presented to him for his past service to the Section.

5. Arter Presentation Summary: There were 16 paid attendees. After paying for the facility, speaker and books, the Section has cleared $63.74. There are 29 autographed books remaining to be sold. With a suggested price of $29, there is a potential for an additional $841 profit to be made.

1. Vacant Board positions: The Board voted to accept Norm Hills as the new Secretary, Roger Mercer as the new Program Chair, and Jim Coley as the Newsletter Editor.

2. NQM report: The NQM event is scheduled for 9 Oct 97 and there are currently approximately 12 paid participants. The rate of registration is a source of concern. This generated a discussion during which the following points were made:

a. This turnout reflects the historical trend of poor attendance for the last few years

b. This may be symptomatic of a larger downturn in participation and interest in quality activities by the business community

c. Larger companies frequently make the NQM feed available to employees free of charge. The Chair will contact ASQ to determine how many companies in the DC area have paid for the downlink

d. Section 0511 may need Corporate help in the future with this event

e. The Chair-elect will email info to the Section members as a reminder.

A list of logistic details that needed volunteer support was reviewed to obtain said volunteers from the Board members.

3. Health Care Chair: David Simmons reviewed the history and success of his involvement with Mary Washington Hospital, ASQ and other organizations in the Fredricksburg area to apply quality principles and techniques to the reduction of teenage traffic fatalities. Bill Casti requested a written summary that could be put up on a Health Care web page. Bill Eastham suggested that this subject was worthy of presentation at a Section 0511 dinner meeting. It was tentatively scheduled for 18 Mar 97.

4. Publicity Chair: Tim Gavagin reported on the NQM advertisement in the Washington Post. Havey Shaw noted that he had a list of 41 organizations (radio stations, local newspapers, etc) that will take free advertising. Discussion then centered on the fact that the Section 0511 letterhead had the incorrect URL listed. The Board agreed to buy new, correct stationary. The old stationary will have the incorrect information removed and used as scratch paper for future ASQ exams and other purposes. The Board also agreed to purchase 2000 business cards (without personalized names) for the Board members. Also discussed was the need to purchase 3 color cards advertising the Hotline address which has been receiving 18-25 calls a month. This action was tabled unt il the next Board meeting.

5. ISO 9000 Chair: Quentin Conroy noted that meeting attendance is falling off. The team will try to determine why attendance is low. Mr. Conroy also noted that as a quality organization, Section 0511 has precious few documented processes and procedures. A short discussion focused on how processes would be handled if we had them. No clear conclusion was reached.

6. Program Chair: The new Program Chair had nothing to report. Roger noted that he will attempt to document processes associated with his effort. The next dinner meeting is scheduled for 19 Nov 97.

7. Electronic Media Chair: Bill Casti provided a written report. There were 66 hits on our website in September. The updated Member White Pages will be completed and online by the end of October. In his report, Bill suggested considering bookselling as a money-making endeavor. This was not really discussed, no action taken.

8. Education Chair: Don Hendrix noted that the CQM and software courses end in two weeks. There were not enough people signed up for the CQE/CQA courses to have them.

9. Community Quality Council: Mark Jones noted that he was working to get the Quality Roundtable functioning.

10. Membership: Henry Kling stated that he will put his report on the web site.

Adjournment:

1. Two hours were up, one agenda item was not addressed; teamwork among Board members.

2. The next Section 0511 Board meeting is Thursday, November 6th at Intertek.