AAGT:::NEWSLETTER

JULY 2007:

July 29, 2007 Board MeetingAAGT Board MeetingPresent: Ann Bowman, Peter Philippson, Dan Bloom, Phil Brownell, Tine van Wijk, Brian O’Neill, Peter Cole, Ansel Woldt, Morgan Goodlander, Marcy Stern, Robert DeVos, Silvie Falschlunger, Sarah Fallon, Bud Feder.Absent: Jack Aylward, Marilyn Myles.PROPOSED AGENDA ITEMSA. Manchester Conference (Jenny and Sarah)B. RCP (Tine)C. Treasurer’s Report (Peter) Possible financial support for SW and SE ConferencesD. e-Newsletter (Marcy and Phil)E. Committee on our Process – Task Force on Decision Making (Dan)F. Annual Meeting October 2007G. Scholarship fund (Bud)H. Organization Membership Component Report (Bud)I. Brian volunteering for Membership Co-ChairTHE NEXT BOARD MEETING TIME – August 26, 2007 at the same time as this one. Please note Europe, USA, Canada and Bermuda are now in Daylight Saving Time, while Australia is not.WelcomeManchester ConferenceIn an email sent prior to the conference call, Sarah Fallon wrote:Conference Planning Report for July 2007:1) PPC report:Phil has moved the PPC to the GSTALT-J mailing list, to help manage communications.Tali, in her role as Publicity chair, has now joined the PPC. This means the PPC now has members representing all the committees - CPC, Publicity and Peer Review.In the main, discussion has been around the conference schedule and having an "invited presenters" round.At the moment the PPC is considering how to work with the room dimensions at the Thistle.Phil liaised with the Publicity committee over the call for proposals and pre-conference workshops.2) Publicity report:We have an advert in the latest edition of the British Gestalt Journal – which has been delivered this week in the UK .Ronnie Lac, from the UK , has now joined the Publicity committee as a full member. Great to have you on board with us, Ronnie.Phil is now copied in to the Publicity mails that have an implication for programme planning. This has arisen out of our general commitment to facilitating open and effective communication between all committees.The call for proposals has gone out.The call for pre-conference workshops has also gone out.Publicity items were included in the delegate packs at the GPTI conference – postcards, call for proposals, call for pre-conference workshops etc. Danny, from the Publicity committee, also gave a short presentation on AAGT. In rhyme, apparently. (I missed it, but heard it went down very well!)Ronnie has agreed to compile a central database for all future contacts and publicity announcements. This is a serious task but is one that will be a fantastic resource and great help to us. Thank you for doing this, Ronnie.Tali requests that anybody who belongs/owns a list or has an extensive private email list (and is willing) forwards it to Tali so that it can be included on the database. This will be a great resource for the community for the future so, while Ronnie has the energy for it, I’d encourage us all to respond in kind.Also, for those of who feel it not appropriate to share your address lists with a third party, Tali asks that you be willing to forward our announcements to your contacts lists yourselves. If you are willing to do this, please send Tali an email to let her know. She will then include you on her circulation list for all future announcements, so you can cascade them from your own personal address.The Publicity committee is also planning to compose a time-line of responsibilities and tasks and Tali would welcome any suggestions from members of the Board to incorporate along it. She would welcome suggestions before the end of the week.Peter P was planning to do a similar publicity drive at the recent British Gestalt Society conference as was done at the GPTI one. However, Peter was turned back half way through his journey due to severe flooding in the south. Danny has, therefore, contacted a representative from BGS and they have agreed to send out all our information to their delegates list via snail mail. This is better for us, as not all delegates listed themselves on email.3) CPC report:Entertainment:We have now settled on having a Ceilidh band. Danny has been looking into this. Many bands are already booked up as far as next summer- apparently July is a popular month. Danny has checked out some that are still free. He has a preference, has been to see them perform and, currently, they are still available for the night we want them. They are a Manchester band – The Maerlock. They have sent Danny a demonstration DVD.Entertainment Budget:The fee for the Ceilidh band is £ £850 ($1700) for 2 sets of around 90 minutes. This price seems to be comparable to other equivalent bands - the recent GPTI conference band were a similar priceDanny requests a response to this asap, as time is running out for making advance bookings.Reconfiguring membership:Janice has been in touch and has requested that she just concentrate her energies on what we refer to as “conference goodies”. This includes conference bags and contents etc. Obviously we are backing her all the way on this, and it is fantastic that she feels both able and willing to re-join us in the planning in this way. Clearly we will need to reconfigure as a team in response to recent events but, if we reshuffle in a considered way, we should be able to manage just fine. One idea is for Sharon to withdraw from the PPC for now and concentrate on her treasury duties - as the treasury role is necessitating increasingly more commitment. Additionally, this move would also free her up to support Janice and help with the tasks that Janice has needed to withdraw from. Phil and Mae have expressed their support of this, should Sharon agree to it, and also made clear she would be welcome to return to the PPC should the situation change. (Thanks for that, you two.)The other thing that would greatly help us would be if Jenny was willing to engage as an active member again. I will keep trying to find out about this.Audio-Visual Recording:I have been in touch with the Audio Visual company that The Thistle use – Saville AV. I enquired about a quote for the following slots, based on the current schedule drafted by the PPC:1) Wed 23rd -18:30 - 21:00 for the opening plenary, although there will be a space in the middle where the workshop leaders have requested no-recording (and where the form of the workshop will become experiential in nature.)2) Thurs 24th - 9:00 -11:00 for the keynotes moderated by Peter P.3) Saturday 26th - 11:30 - 13:30 for the invited presenters, with each session being recorded simultaneously.For these services, plus 200 Multi-Region DVDs (as a working example) that will be ready to purchase at the end of the conference they will charge us: £3685.20 Excluding VAT.Each DVD will contain all recorded items separated into individual “programmes”. Going by a division by 200, and to recoup ALL the costs, each DVD would need to sell at £18.43, excluding VAT. It may be (meaningfully) cheaper if we order more. (Might we also be willing to subsidise the costs in view of the invited speakers presenting simultaneously?)I have more information from the company, in the form of attachments, which I will forward to you all individually before the call. Please let me know if you do not receive them.Peter C – when you have some time, can you please make a response as to whether we can engage this company? I have included a more detailed quote in the separate attachments. I appreciate you have your hands full at the moment, and I also think this matter can wait a while. It is certainly not as urgent as the other matters you are involved in right now!Thistle Visit No2:Peter P and Danny have arranged a further visit next week – unfortunately I will be out of the country at that time. They’ll be specifically checking our concerns around capacity and possible solutions such as creative seating/scene-setting.Thank you very much to you both for being willing to do this again. I look forward to hearing how it goes.4) Scholarship Fund:Bud’s fund-raising workshop at Manchester was extremely successful. Without expenses, he raised £1600/$3200.(When I collected Bud at the end, it was very clear to me that people had experienced something significant. I understand from Bud that he also receive very positive feedback form the evaluation sheets.)Bud also ran a fund-raising workshop in London .This raised – $2500, although Bud is waiting for the exact figure form Jenny.One of our members has pledged a $1000 contribution.Bud will give a more detailed report on the call.Thank you Bud, for putting so much of your time and energy into both these events.5) Contract negotiations:Linda Brownell has very kindly offered us her expertise in negotiating a better financial deal for us with The Thistle. Peter C is working with her on this. Linda, Phil and Peter C have had a phone meeting and discussed how to proceed. One issue is that of unbundling the bed and breakfast rate from the conference rooms and food rates. The hotel’s initial response to Peter C on this was friendly, so let’s hope the financial implications of doing so are equally friendly…..I’m sure I speak for everybody in expressing our thanks and appreciation for this (I am certainly very grateful). Please would you pass on our thanks to Linda, Phil? And also thanks to you, for considering and supporting this as a possibility. 6) Financial issues:Sylvie and Peter C have been considering options around currency with regard to the online registration facility.Sylvie will need to work with our UK treasurer, Sharon, on banking issues.Peter C is also looking into this further and will advise us more specifically once we haveAppreciations were expressed to Sarah for the report above.Peter C – felt the band was excessive in their fees.Sarah – Has checked out many bands and they are about the same costs. Danny continues to check on other bands which are cheaper but not as good.Ansel – price of band compared to Cleveland’s band’s costs are about the same. ($2000 or so). Perhaps this isn’t as costly as it seems.Peter P – due to the exchange rate, all bands will seem to cost more $$$.Sarah – do need to decide as soon as possible due to bands booking up through next summer.Ann – Do we know what we have paid in the past a conferences for bands?Sarah – has asked treasurer to email Bea to check on what we paid in Vancouver.Peter P - probably need to stick with whether we decide to have a band or entertainment that is congruent with the country.Ansel – is it possible that another organization will sponsor the band like what happened in Cleveland?Peter P – great idea. Manchester Institute not big enough but perhaps other organizations could.Ansel – has asked Sage to help support the conference.Peter P – would also ask his publisher about this.Sarah - Deposit in the UK treasury. Is it OK to book the band?Peter P – send the contract to me and I will forward this to whoever is appropriate.Ann – What is happening with the Thistle contract?Peter C, - Phil, Linda and he spoke on the phone. Main issue is separating out the bed and breakfast charges from the dinner and conference charges. Peter C had talked with them recently and they seemed very open.Linda – The hotel is a little slow to respond but she has relayed our considerations for the space and the number of people per room. Ex. need space for 60 – they have 30 with tables. She is going to ask them to take out the tables. Also – they will take away the bar which adds space. Also may use rooms without furniture.RE: the bed and breakfast charges, they said yes they will break that out. No rate card available – all room rates are done via contract with the organization.Peter P – the total was $95,000 pounds but the original was around $80,000.Sarah – yes it was around $80,000 and we don’t know how they got the extra $15000.Brian – will they expect a certain number to book into the hotel? Florida this became problematic.Peter C – can cancel rooms up to 30 days before the conference and we won’t be responsible.Linda – will also ask about this. What will happen to the room rate if we get a rate on 200 rooms and there are 175?Peter P – initial negotiations was 150 people.Bud – per 150 persons or room nights.Peter P – room nights.Linda – it is 150 sleeping nights not 150 people?Peter P – 24 hour rate for 150 which include 150 rooms.Peter P and Danny are going to look at the rooms again this coming Tuesday. Need to email them Monday night with and questions.Linda – will email questions and things she wants them to look at Monday night.Treasurer’s ReportPeter C – In an email sent prior to the board call, Peter C sent copies of the AAGT Balance sheet and the year to date Overall Financial Statement. These are available upon request.Peter C - Not yet received the funds from England.Bud – how much did they earn from Manchester?Sarah - $3200 from Manchester less expenses.Peter C – please Sarah let whomever sent check from the workshop know that Peter has not received this as of yet.Silvi – there were more registrations for membership. 144 have paid and they have sent out another email.Bud – only paid up members are entitled to be in the conference directory.RE: Possible financial assistance for the SW and SE Regional ConferencesIn an email sent to Peter P prior to the call, Anne Leibig wrote:Peter - I have put some more information together to present to the AAGT board in support of the request for the seed grant. AnneBoard of AAGT - I realized that when I asked for a seed grant to help us do our regional conference I was initiating a new process. Peter said he would be taking the proposal to the Board. I wanted to givesome background for the request.In checking the AAGT by-laws ( I really like them. I am a fan of by-laws) I read the purpose:The purpose of the Association shall be to support the professional and personal associating and advancing of persons interested in participating in a forum committed to the preservation and advancement of the philosophy, theory, practice, and research of Gestalt therapyand its various applications. In furtherance of this purpose, AAGT shall encourage the development and application of principles and practices in the organization consistent with the following tenets: • That an organization can be created, rather than imposed, and that it will grow out of our contacting; and • That a structure will emerge in response to our shared needs, interests and concerns; and • That by believing in the unity of theory and practice, an organization which so creates itself, is itself an experiment, an on-going organic process of Gestalt formation and destruction, in whichold forms are destroyed and new figures emerge through contact that is bright and lively, energetic, graceful and fluid; and • That such an organization provides the ground for the enrichment, articulation and support of the constantly emerging figure that is Gestalt TherapyIN THIS SEED GRANT PROPOSAL I FEEL ENCOURAGED TO CREATE A STRUCTURE INSOUTH EAST USA - AS STATED BY THE APPALACHIAN GESTALT TRAININGINSTITUTE: the purpose of the conference is to launch a Gestalt Learning community in the Southeast USA with the culture, persons, support and tools of AAGT. The workshops will be designed to give a view of how Gestalt Therapy can enhance everyday therapy practice. The Appalachian Gestalt Training Institute, as local host, will draw on the regional network, recruiting locally. The AAGT web site will recruit from the broader membership. Phil Brownell, Iris Fodor, Deborah Ullman and Sylvia Crocker (and maybe Marilyn Myles????) have agreed to do workshops. Ansel has said he will help with continuing education. Nicholas Emmanuel, Patsy Owens and I, as regional based will also present.I HAVE EXPERIENCED THE "CULTURE. SUPPORT, PERSONS, TOOLS OF AAGT ATTHREE BIANNUAL CONFERENCES IN ST. PETE'S AND VANCOUVER" AND MY ENERGY FOR PROVIDING LEADERSHIP IN THE SOUTHEAST COMES FROM THIS AND THE WILLINGNESS OF OTHER AAGT MEMBERS TO COME TO ASHEVILLE. THIS UNIQUE FORM OF AAGT CAN BE EXTENDED.CAUGHT BUT TAKES SOME SEED MONEY. I CONTRACTED WITH TWO YOUNG PEOPLE FOR $ 700 TO: 1) preparing a brochure/flyer (to send with e-mail and print mail), 2) establishing a Gestalt Therapy e-mail list that I can send information to for marketing -some training on my Mac Address book 3) -designing web page to AAGT to help with marketing. (Association for the Advancement of Gestalt Therapy). 4) mailing costsTHIS $700 IS WHAT I AM REQUESTING.I vision AAGT being helped through more members in the SoutheEast USA -right now there is only about a dozen - and we will recruit for theManchester conference - and - the organization will be creating out ofthe contacting. We do not have the final brochure yet - but I attachit in the process.- Anne Leibig -of the Clinch River and Appalachian MountainsPeter C – my view is the regional conferences should be self supporting.Peter P – SW conference has asked for a good will offering due to the annual meeting being held there. They also say that some folks attending the annual meeting not the conference would probably want to come on Saturday night to the entertainment. Therefore a donation would be made.Bud – not sure about entertainment on Saturday night. Should check on this.Phil – it’s seed money to build up the region.Peter P – need to look at this globally.Peter C – we are struggling doing this for Manchester. Don’t think we can do this on an ongoing basis.Tine – maybe we will get this back with conference attendees.Peter P – reluctantly agrees with Peter C.Phil – what if we get registration money in for Manchester – would that change the point of view.Dan – how much are they asking?Peter P - $700.Dan – so we would do this for each regional conference?Some board members also asked if this would be returned.Peter P - Being asked not as a loan.Many board members said that it could be repaid but need to talk about this at the annual meeting.Brian – talked about difficulties of giving seed money.Tine – advertised Amsterdam over email.Peter P – perhaps SE conference could do this as well.Phil – they are starting from scratch.Bud – great that they are being creative and starting. Support giving a loan.Marcy – supportive of this.Peter C – need a systematic way to do this. Create a grant money situation. Perhaps have a committee like the scholarship committee to review requests and have set amount for this.Ansel – Need also some kind of feedback loop for AAGT. Reports from regional conferences are who are asking for funds. Ansel donates his time for the CEUs.There was a discussion regarding SW conference being a part of AAGT. Lynn Stadler is an RCP person and reports the regional group processes.Peter P – and the regional conferences don’t share their financial reports with AAGT. Question remains can AAGT support them financially?Robert – Do we support the creation of and stimulation of regional conferences. Will we support the regional initiatives?Peter C – if we financially support, then we are also probably going to ask them to be more accountable to AAGT. We would lose something in this – they would lose their own creativity.Peter P – RCP is supportive, website, also getting members from AAGT to attend and present. Financial support crosses a boundary that has consequences.Tine and other board members discussed how difficult it is for start up costs.Brian – when we step in financially, there is a need to do a business analysis.Bud – offer $500 as a loan to SE conference as an experiment.Peter C – would like to support them as a loan.Peter P – what they will be told is that they have a loan of $500.Ann – is the SW conference asking also for money?Peter P – yes to support the entertainment on Friday night.Peter C – Bud, will you check this out and let us know next meeting?Bud – will do this.Committee on our Process – Task Force on Decision Making (Dan)Has been emailing the membership and will present at next meeting.RCP (Tine)Gave a brief report and also stated that Susan G was in on the last call.E- NewsletterWhen you click on newsletter, doesn’t go to blog. Send bios – announcements or stories soon.Silvi – will change this and notifyScholarship FundJenny Edwards will help co-chair. Same person who did the Laura document is also wanting to do a Fritz document.Organizational Membership Component ReportMorgan – to enhance more organizational memberships, proposed integrating the directory and getting them out to organizations in a more professional look with binding.Tine – beside the directory, perhaps organizations can link to their websites from the web.Marcy – may also consider this from blog.Morgan – supporting a brief description of each member organization on the web with a link to their websites.Phil – probably can do this from the website, also AAGT 2 and blog.Morgan – stated he has been participating as a board member via talking with Bud about the committee.Peter C – would like Morgan to be on the conference calls.Several board members agreed.Morgan – not sure about how many calls he can be on and wondering if there was a quota.Peter P – is it hard to be on the calls?Morgan – I have a lot going on – not sure.Tine – could also check on emails if he cannot make the calls.Peter P – AAGT needs this committee and attendance is important.Morgan – agreeable to this.Phil – need to prescribe him to the leaders list. Morgan will email Phil as Phil currently doesn’t have Morgan’s email address.Brian Volunteering to be Membership Co-ChairNo objections for Brian to co-chair with Robert.THE NEXT BOARD MEETING August 26, 2007 at the same time as this one. Please note Europe, USA, Canada and Bermuda are now in Daylight Saving Time, while Australia is not.

AUGUST 2007:

August 26, 2007 Board Meeting AAGT Board Meeting Present: Ann Bowman, Peter Philippson, Dan Bloom, Brian O¹Neill, Robert DeVos, Silvie Falschlunger, Sarah Fallon, Bud Feder.Ab sent: Jack Aylward, Marilyn Myles, Peter Cole, Ansel Woldt, Morgan Goodlander, Marcy Stern, Tine van Wijk, and Phil Brownell. PROPOSED AGENDA ITEMS A. Manchester Conference (Sarah) B. RCP (PeterP) C. Treasurer¹s Report (Peter C) D. Committee on our Process Task Force on Decision Making (Dan) E. Annual Meeting October 2007 F. New membership applications forms THE NEXT BOARD MEETING TIME September 23, 2007 at the same time as this one. Please note Europe, USA, Canada and Bermuda are now in Daylight Saving Time, while Australia is not. Welcome Manchester Conference In an email sent prior to the conference call, Sarah Fallon wrote: CPC report for August 2007: August has been a quiet month on all of the committees due to so many people being away on their Summer holidays. PPC summary: The PPC have now have permissions from all the invited presenters to record their presentations. Bios and descriptions of these presentations are now up at the conference web site (click on "program" in the menu). Phil will be> adding pictures of them all, and also of Peter Philippson. The PPC is continuing to receive pre-conference workshop proposals, and there have been several submissions made in both categories (workshop and marathon). There are also some hybrid marathon/workshops in that they are topical marathons. Two of the Invited Presenters will be doing pre-conference workshops (Margherita and Lynne). After Sept 15th (the deadline for receiving these pre-conference workshop proposals), the PPC will decide how to handle them> all (when to schedule them and where to put them). Publicity Summary: Ronnie has almost finished creating a central database that will serve as an address list. This has been an arduous task and we are all very grateful! (Tali: She deserves a medal²) A reminder was sent out regarding the call for pre conference workshops, using the old method of mailing all our separate lists (as the one-button list isn¹t quite finished yet). Tali now has a list of people that have agreed to forward our material to their private lists. The Publicity committee wish to raise their concern that the registration facility being up and running soon. Tali has been pooling information re other conferences at which we can publicise. Tali has had some responses from people on the board and the PPC who have agreed to forward our publicity. Peter P has agreed to publicise the conference at EAGT-thanks for doing this, Peter. Dan has contacted Margherita about the possibility of us sharing her table thanks, Dan. Ansel publicised the conference at Cleveland Institute's recent Creativity Celebration. He reports that there were positive responses to the colourful large poster that he had blown up and that people received copies of the General Publicity Flyer. Several delegates picked up copies of the Call for Conference Proposals and Call for Pre-Conference Workshops & Marathons. There were about 100 attendees and quite a few talked about the possibility of coming to Manchester. Two couples decided to submit proposals while they were there. He also made an announcement in the largest morning meetingwhich was well-received. Ansel has sent his expenses for the poster to Peter C the poster and left over publicity will be taken to the SW-AAGT Regional Conference in North Carolina in October. Ansel regretted the absence of an AAGT membershipapplication form on the back of the publicity flyers and is currently rectifying this by working on a membership flyer. Thanks, Ansel. Phil has continued to update the website note the new easy to read font! Thanks, Phil it looks great! Peer Review: Susan has received no proposals to date. If I've understood correctly, she would value a conversation with Phil just to clarify procedures. CPC summary; Reconfiguration: Last month we were re-looking at roles and responsibilities due to Janice¹s sudden bereavement. We have reconfigured slightly in that Sharon has left the PPC and, aside from concentrating on her UK treasury duties, will now be in a position to support Janice in activities connected to Logistics. This feels better. We have still had no contact from Jenny Edwards although she is still included in all the CPC mails. As I said last month, I have made attempts to get in touch. We will continue to try and find out what¹s going on re this. One problem we have is that Jenny still holds the password to the aagt08 email account and we are concerned that emails may be sitting there unattended to. So far, Peter P has asked her to forward us the password, Bud has emailed her to ask her for i on our behalf and I have left a message via her mobile/cell phone. Yesterday I telephoned her house twice the first time leaving a message with her husband who asked me to ring back later. When I rang back, Jenny refused to speak with me. I really don¹t know what else we can do about this and we remain concerned. AV recording: Peter C requested that we discuss audio visual recording on this month¹s call. The quote from the company the Thistle use formed part of last month's report. There was initially a suggestion that we try to find 3 different people (that we know personally) to see if they could separately record the invited presenters. I have made contact with one such person. My own view is that, in view of the fact that we would want to pay any such people a fair fee anyway, it makes more sense to go through one (professional) company. Doing this also makes it possible to have the DVDs available to purchase AT the conference (where energy for them may be higher) and we would recuperate costs immediately. Should we agree to this, then I would be willing to get two more quotes from Manchester companies so that we can make a comparison with the one The Thistle recommend. Ceilidh Band: Danny has continued negotiations with The Maerlock band and we will pay their deposit from the UK account, as agreed at the last board meeting. However, before we do that, Danny is> just wanting to double-check we are getting the best deal from what¹s> available. In view of this, he is going to another gig by The Maerlock and also a gig by a cheaper Ceilidh band before we confirm the final booking. Thanks, Danny. 2nd Thistle Visit: Peter P and Danny made the second visit to The Thistle. Peter also made a visit to Central Hall to check out their rooms should we need an overspill facility. Details of this are included in Peter's report below. Danny and I went to the Thistle and Central Hall today. My sense after meeting them is one of relief. We could not see the small rooms on the First Floor as they were in use, but see below: The main room in the basement can be turned into 3 rooms which will hold about 50 people each (Thistle 5 and 6). Of the two larger rooms on the First Floor (2nd for Americans), one will take 25 the other 30 in a circle of chairs (Thistle 9 and 10). The Manchester Boardroom on the Ground Floor will take 30 (Thistle 11), the Portland Boardroom on the 7th Floor will take 25. In the photos, the rooms look foreshortened because of taking the photo from within the room, and because there are chairs in the middle rather than round the sides. They have also offered us space in the lobby (Thistle 2) and the restaurant (Thistle 3). We will have sole use of the hotel, so no-one else would be using this. They have also offered to put chairs in the bar area outside the basement room(s) (Thistle 7), which can be divided in two for Process groups. And they have shown us the suites which can take about 8 - 10 people (Thistle 12 and 13). They would charge £150 each for these per day. That makes 7 rooms large enough for workshops with at least 25 people. Plus 6 areas for smaller numbers which could be used for Process groups plus the suites (4 of them). We asked about the dinnertime, where they had said they would use the main meeting room. They agreed that this would be impractical for us, and will do all meals in the restaurant. I also attach two photos of the extra rooms at Central Hall. They are not great rooms, but can be there as overflow on the Thursday Saturday at a total cost of £250 if we want. One will take 60, the other 25. The Hall is about 5 minutes walk away from the Thistle. Thistle is of Piccadilly Gardens just outside the hotel. Thistle 8 is of the leisure centre, pool and gym. For reference, I have sent Peter's photos as attachments in separate mail to you all. Conference Fees: As Tali wrote on the leaders list, the publicity committee are currently concerned about this particularly in relation to the forthcoming EAGT conference (6th 9th September). Obviously we can't really do anything until we know the outcome of the negotiations around the venue (see below) after which we will be in a position to set the various fees. How does this normally happen? Is this something that you will be doing, Peter C? Online Registration Facility: I have asked Sharon, UK treasurer to initiate an email dialogue regarding this between herself, Peter C and Silvie. However, please do not be afraid, either of you (Silvie or Peter C) to initiate it yourselves. Thistle negotiations: Thanks again to Linda for looking into this for us. I understand that Linda will be forwarding some information to board members in time for the call. Linda has been doing some great work in talking with The Thistle. Additionally, she has offered to explore some other Manchester hotels alongside her current negotiations. We are very grateful to her for putting so much energy into the conference this way. Please, again, pass on our appreciation, Phil. Scholarship Fund: Peter P is just awaiting bank details from Peter C so that we can forward the £1500/$3000 from Bud¹s workshop. At the time of writing Bud is still waiting to hear from Jenny Edwards about proceeds from the workshop she organised in the South. Any updates on that, Bud? UK Treasury Report: If I haven¹t received at the time of sending the report, I will forward as soon as I receive it. (Sharon is possibly on holiday. Appreciations were expressed to Sarah for the report above. Peter P Linda has been negotiating with the Thistle Hotel and is not completely satisfied with what they have been willing to do financially for the organization. Phil has been encouraging her to move quicklywith this as time is of the essence now. Brian would another venue hold more people? Peter P the Thistle holds 290 or more with people sharing rooms. Brian asking about this as our membership has now grown to 180 some folks which is quite high for an off-conference year. Silvie as of today, 192 are now members. Brian haven't seen this many members since 1990¹s. Silvie - Phone calls have been very successful in recruiting folks to become members. Brian if we can continue this over the next year, the Thistle may not be big enough. Sarah probably not all members will come. Peter P stated it is hard to know exactly how many folks will actually come to Manchester due to the uniqueness of the conference being held in Europe. Probably need to not overextend at this time but will need to have contingency plans for extra hotel rooms and also perhaps meeting rooms. We will need to keep close watch on recruitment and make adjustments if needed. Brian in the previous conference there was such good energy that perhaps lots of Europeans will come to the 2008 conference. Peter P going to Athens (EAGT conference) and will promote Manchester there. Peter P advised the board that there is an uncomfortable situation with email from the postcards sent out and previous publicity that has> people responding to an email address which is password protected. Sarah does not have the password and Jenny Edwards (who has the password and access to the correspondence so far) has as of this time failed to pass this vital information onto Sarah. Dan wondering about alternatives to getting into the account. There was a discussion among the board members to clarify what is being needed and the issues re: this. Sarah this issue is important because people have likely responded to our advertising (like the postcards, announcements, websites) which have this address that only Jenny is able to access. We could potentially lose these inquiries and emails if we are not able to access the email account. It would be helpful to have mail sent to> Sarah and if we knew the password then the emails could be forwarded to> Sarah. Bud has been in contact with Jenny and will ask her to assist in this very important matter. Peter P if Jenny will not agree to help, then Peter will send out an email to the membership to not use the email account that is controlled by Jenny at present. Dan may need to send out an email to the membership to do this anyway even if/when Jenny lets Bud or someone else know how to access the email account. There was support for Peter P to post to the members list and other lists as well not to email AAGT08@googlemail.com for conference> information as previously advertised. There was also a discussion for other board members to put the word out about this as well to international lists which may have received some of this publicity and would have that email listed as a contact. Sarah would like to hold off on notifying the members and other email lists about AAGT08 email for now and see if we can get the password Jenny which would be very helpful at this time. There was also a discussion regarding the possibility of issues like this occurring within other aspects of AAGT (e.g. scholarship committee) unless the chairpersons build in safe guards which would be proactive to prevent this kind of situation. Membership Committee and Membership Forms Peter P asked Brian and Robert for their thoughts re: Ansel's proposed forms. Brian and Robert both stated they liked the form and saw no problem using them. Brian also liked the trifold form too that Silvie sent out but really fine with Ansel's forms. Brian and Robert will work together on this committee and soon will be discussing membership drives, organization membership drives, etc. Sivlie thinks we will be well over 200 members soon. Peter P stated that there will not be many people from the SW conference attending the Annual meeting. We can distribute Directories but not a lot of folks will be there. Appreciation given for Silvi and all that she has done for the membership committee and AAGT, Brian soon he and Robert will do membership drives, organizational drives will be discussed. Dan has some reservations re: the membership forms and emailed about this. Peter P - Will hold off on doing anything for a few days with the forms and would like to take them to Athens with him for EAGT conference if possible. Treasurer's Report Peter C In an email sent prior to the board call, Peter C sent copies of the AAGT Balance sheet and the year to date Overall Financial Statement. These are available upon request. Committee on our Process Task Force on Decision Making (Dan) Dan - needs to send out a notice to the membership re: issues that will be discussed at the Annual meeting. Wondering how best to do this. Website, membership list and possibly mailings. Right now there....are no regular and no By-law requirement for notice other than that itbe given to the members. Silvie has an updated membership list which she could give to Dan. She also said the AAGT directory will be sent out and a letter could be included with that mailing. Dan will send the notice to Silvie and she will forward it to the membership list. Dan is reluctant to put it on the web site since that is not for members only. RCP (Peter P) Peter P The last call was the first time the RCP from the Philippines (Emanuel Hermone) was on the call. He stated that a small group of psychologists from the Philippines who have been interested in gestalt since the 1990¹s has grown to about 200 in all. Bud there will also be a person from the Phillipines at the SW Conference. Brian there also is a group from ??? who have been in contact with him. Silvie There should also be something on the membership form for persons who need a reduced rate. She also stated she may not have a complete RCP list. She noticed that there are people from Russia on her RCP list but they have not renewed their membership. Peter P Russian RCPs have not attended conferences recently. Tine and Marilyn will need to talk with them. Brian and Peter P and Silvie had a discussion re: whether there has been a shift with the Russian's interest or focus since the Yalta Fall conference has changed. Annual Meeting October 7, 2007 Peter P asked who of the board will be attending the Annual Meeting. Peter P, Peter C, Ansel, Dan, Bud and possibly Morgan are all planning to attend. Ann B and Robert are also hoping to go. THE NEXT BOARD MEETING September 23, 2007 at the same time as this one. Please note Europe, USA, Canada and Bermuda are now in Daylight Saving Time, while Australia is not.

SEPTEMBER 2007:

September 23, 2007 Board Meeting AAGT Board MeetingPresent: Ann Bowman, Dan Bloom, Silvie Falschlunger, Sarah Fallon, Tine van Wijk, Peter Cole, Bud Feder, Morgan Goodlander, Phil Brownell, and Linda Brownell. Absent: Jack Aylward, Marilyn Myles, Ansel Woldt, Marcy Stern, Peter Philippson, Brian O’Neill, and Robert DeVos.PROPOSED AGENDA ITEMSA. Manchester Conference (Sarah) including discussion about numbersB. RCP (Tine)C. Treasurer’s Report (Peter C)D. Committee on our Process – Task Force on Decision Making (Dan)E. Annual Meeting October 2007 F. Conference issues 2010G. E-newsletter (Phil and Marcy)THE NEXT BOARD MEETING TIME – October 28, 2007 at the same time as this one. Welcome Manchester ConferenceIn an email sent prior to the conference call, Sarah Fallon wrote:Conference Planning Report – September 2007:Things are now coming to life again on all the planning committees – after the recent quieter period due to Summer and the EAGT conference.PPC Report:The PPC have worked with Susan Gregory to create a Peer Review process and evaluation form to use in order to evaluate the proposals for the conference.Note: in an email sent prior to the call, Phil Brownell offered this correction: CORRECTION: THE DEADLINE FOR PRESENTATION PROPOSALS IS NOVEMBER 15TH. THAT IS THE DATE ON ALL FORMS, AT THE WEB SITE, AND IN THE CALL FOR PROPOSALS THAT HAS GONE OUT. There have been discussions around whether or not to accept all the pre-conference workshop/marathon proposals or to eliminate some. The decision has been to accept them all - ten workshop and five marathon proposals, with two days and seven rooms in which to fit them. One is a two-day marathon that will likely use the facilities at the Manchester Gestalt Centre. There was some concern as to whether or not we would make registration too thin for the pre-conference if we offered so many, and some people just felt fifteen was too many, but nobody could come up with good reasons to eliminate any of them. Phil has indicated that the market will take care of all this if we set a minimum number enrolment, a maximum number, and a firm cut off date. The PPC had previously discussed that if the minimum were not met by the cut off date, then the presenter could "negotiate" with the conference convenor, and what this means is that the presenter could decide to go ahead with the hopes of picking up some more registrations "at the door," but then the presenter would be liable for the room rent.Now that all this has been decided, Phil has put up the pre-conference schedule at the web site, and the next thing will be to handle the conference presentations themselves.Publicity Committee:Hard copy publicity was sent to the EAGT conference. Dan negotiated our sharing a table with Margherita.Peter P also gave an announcement – as some of you heard about on the list :“I was invited to speak about AAGT at the opening welcomes of the EAGT conference, and introduced as the 'President of the American Association for Gestalt Therapy'. I put them right. I was then told by an EAGT committee member that I was being 'abusive' because I talked about the Manchester conference. I told him I'd been invited to do so.Anyway, there is a LOT of interest among the 550 attenders here.”Peter later reported there was a specific interest in AAGT as a conference in which time was given towards processing.I did a Saturday night performance at the Conference of the British Association of Dramatherapists and distributed hard-copy advertising there.Calls for pre-conference proposals have been sent out – to the Members' List and Gstalt-L, also to the GPTI list and Tali's own list.Tali requests that the board brainstorm ideas for publicity for the next year. The publicity committee would welcome such ideas and greet them with enthusiasm. Tali would like to gear a publicity drive that coincides with the publishing of registration fees on the website. Tali wishes to voice her deep concern over the delay in our negotiations with The Thistle. She is concerned about this in itself, but especially in how this impacts upon a delay in the registration facility. She fears we may have lost some potential interest due to this. The committee is currently looking into placing an advert with the next GANZ Journal.Peer Review Summary:Susan is concerned not to have received any submissions for main-conference workshops to date. The deadline for these is November 25th. The Publicity committee has sought to address this by sending out Calls for Proposals this week, through various lists and via their own database. CPC Report:Ceilidh – Danny is continuing to research the Ceilidh to allay the fears expressed by some when it was first mentioned. He has attended a gig by a small ceilidh band called the Peak Folk. He said they were “OK and cheapish but maybe not good enough for our requirements”. He has contacted some other Ceilidh bands in order to make a thorough comparison. He has been given further recommendations of The Maerlock. Danny has confirmed that we are interested in booking them and they are still available on the date. He is going to their ceilidh next week with a group of friends to give them a thorough road testing – in terms of how they do the “calling”. He will also meet the band members again and talk about the contract. Jenny Edwards – After an extended period of trying to communicate with Jenny, and of being open to her continuing to take part in the planning (but with no response) the CPC decided to remove Jenny from the email planning list. Jenny is no longer a member of the CPC.Peter P has been communicating with her re her giving us access to the aagt08 account. Most of you will have read about this on the leaders' list. As we agreed at the last board meeting, Peter has emailed the members' list, Gstalt-L and the GPTI list so that people are now aware that they may need to resend any mails to me at the manchester08 account instead.We have received a request from Phil - “Linda has recommended that she be a "go to" person during the conference for any problems working with the hotel staff, etc. If people want this, then that would put Linda on the Logistics Committee for the conference (or working with whoever is attending to such things). If that is what the board/CPC want, that's fine, but I think she would need to be part of a working group - under the wings of our organization rather than working by herself in tandem to our other organzational structures.”Peter P suggested this be brought to the board and also be discussed by the CPC. The CPC are discussing this at the moment and, following the response from the board tonight, I will write to Linda to share our response.Registration - Peter C has confirmed that a Paypal account has been set up to support the registration process. (Using PayPal means that he can simultaneously keep a pound and dollar balance without the need to convert currency and lose money. People will be able to pay by credit card, and Peter C and Silvie are working out how to link to PayPal on the website.)To avoid the problems we had over Jenny's e-mail, Peter C has passed the login password to Peter P, so he can also access the account if he is unable to. (As an aside – and also to avoid the problems we had over Jenny's mail – Peter P has been holding the password to my aagt08 account.)AV recording - (Item carried from last month.)Peter C requested that we discuss audio visual recording on August's call. The quote from the company the Thistle use formed part of July's report. There was initially a suggestion that we try to find 3 different people (that we know personally) to see if they could separately record the invited presenters. I have made contact with one such person. My own view is that, in view of the fact that we would want to pay any such people a fair fee anyway, it makes more sense to go through one (professional) company. Doing this also makes it possible to have the DVDs available to purchase AT the conference (where energy for them may be higher) and we would recuperate costs immediately. Should we agree to this, then I would be willing to get two more quotes from Manchester companies so that we can make a comparison with the one The Thistle recommend.UK Treasury Report - Sharon is working on costing up the non-venue expenses, so that this work will be done before we close negotiations with The Thisltle. This will reduce any further delay in setting registration costs (through us then having to work this out later). Scholarship Committee:Bud reports that several other people have told him that they are considering holding special events to raise money for the Fund.The Venue:Linda has been continuing her recommendations re venue. She initially looked at other facilities around Manchester but couldn't find a viable alternative. At that time she wrote to us that: “Most cannot accommodate the group we have.....and the few that (might) be able to....are (way)over our budget or are not available. I recc. you take a final consideration for the Thistle. The advantage of my time spent on this is that I am convinced I could not find you a better facility that could accommodate us for the price. Because I'm a perfectionist :) and very budget conscious, I have some concerns about them due to their slow response time and seeming (in-house) confusion about pricing....but it still seems they are the best match. I will do one last negotiating attempt with them to get the price down.”The situation seems the same now as it was then– in that Linda reports the conference staff are slow to respond to her requests for clarification of/re-negotitaion around the contract.She is requesting that she fly over to Manchester to finalise the contract in a face to face meeting with The Thistle. This has been mentioned on the Leaders' list and proposed as an agenda item at the board meeting. Appreciations were expressed to Sarah for the report above.Sarah – Linda was invited into the meeting today to discuss her negotiations with the Thistle. Linda has reported that they are slow about getting things back to her re: the contract. She would like to visit the Thistle and speak with their management in person to speed up the process.Linda – the financial manager has been responsive to her. She put out a 14 point email to them last week and was alarmed about some of the loose ends that were presented – he was agreeable to change schedules, put room rate in – there are daily function sheets that were to be signed which were potentially difficult for AAGT. The financial manager has given her written consent he will change the contract and she is expecting to hear back in a week re: the final contract. She has also been talking with them about meeting rooms and thinks that perhaps there may be more of a demand for rooms than what they can offer. Phil – manager has given verbal ok that changes will be made to the contract and promised to change the contract and send it to her tomorrow. Also there is an issue of rooms and whether we can accommodate people if we get more than is expected? Probably need to put together a contingency plan if we get more attendees. There is also an issue of if there would be a cap on the number of attendees.Bud – let’s get Linda to Manchester as soon as possible.Sarah – asked Linda if she would you wait to see if they send a new contract tomorrow.Dan – need to have all the “oral agreements” written.Ann – do you think that if you go there they will print the contract out while you are there?Linda – she thinks that she could do this by letting them know when she will be there and what her expectations for her visit are. What she would hope to get is a contract that is agreeable for AAGT and with a signature from the Thistle.Phil – the person she needs to meet with is not available this week. If Peter is back, he could possibly meet her there next week and sign the contract on behalf of AAGT if appropriate.Ann – Asked Linda what her expected expenses would be for the trip.Linda – Her tentative plan at this time would be to leave next Saturday, 9/29/07. She anticipates her air fare would be around $900 and she would be willing to stay with someone locally if possible when she is there. Sarah – Thinks that staying with someone locally would be easy to arrange.Dan – asked Linda if a $2000 ear mark would work for the trip?Linda – Agreed that it should cover her expenses. The board expressed appreciation for Linda willing to do this and supported financing her trip.Bud – Peter P will be leaving on the 4th of October and returning on the 8th of October for the annual meeting.Linda – will meet with Chris when he returns which should be the week of October 1. She will check with his office people and arrange this.Bud – doesn’t feel that we need to worry about added rooms at this point. The board agreed to move on to the next agenda item.Email and NewsletterPhil – Marcy has the blog working at this time.Treasurer’s ReportPeter C will get report out next week. Bud has about $6000 in scholarship funds.Silvie – the directory will go into print next week. We currently have the most number of paid members in our membership for any non-conference year.Committee on our Process – Task Force on Decision Making (Dan)Dan – There are two items on the agenda for the annual conference meeting in Berkley. One is to bring all the documents in conformity re: AAGT an “international” community. The other is to give 90 day notice to the membership for agenda items for all annual meetings.There are more controversial issues which the Task Force has discussed and which the membership needs to discuss further. These will be discussed between now and Manchester on the member’s list and via the mail. There is a need to raise the level of interest in these items among the members so that discussions will occur as the issues are important and impact the organization. RCP (Tine)Tine - Have a new member in Phillipines who was on the last call. No active Autralian RCP and Tine will talk with Brian about this so we don’t lose the area and connections we have made or will potentially make there. There is a very small group who participates on the calls and Tine would like for others who have signed up to participate. The people who are on the calls are very active. The RCP group as a whole is not very coherent as Tine sees it and she would like to make this a group again. She is hoping to reconnect and revitalize the group in Manchester. In past conferences, RCP have had workshops and meetings for inviting RCPs to sign up and to form a group.Dan – would like to help with that as this is such an important part of keeping our connection and energy and publicity going in-between conferences.Tine and Dan discussed the differences and complimentary of AAGT and EAGT.Phil – Regarding the RCP’s and AAGT committee’s in general, people should know what they are signing up for and have enthusiasm for the experience.Ann – Expressed the need for publicity for the RCP committee so people would know what it is and the importance of their work, what they do and set some time aside in the Manchester conference to promote this.Tine – would love to have time set aside for RCP in Manchester. Her experience was that setting aside time during a lunch period at the conference last time was not enough time for interest and for the group to develop. Phil – suggested having a table at Manchester for RCP’s.Dan – also we could mention the RCP at the plenary.Tine – could we combine this with the membership? She noted there was a discussion about this at one time.Annual Meeting October 7, 2007See note above under Task force on Decision Making.2010 ConferenceDan - Cathy Grey wants to have the conference 2010 in Philadelphia. She is the only volunteer at this time. There was a discussion that followed about picking a date for the conference at the annual meeting. There is also an ongoing discussion about this on the members list currently. Some on the call today noted that September 2010 is EAGT’s conference and they would not want to have a conference at the same time. Dan also noted that Cathy has opinions about when is the best time to be in Philadelphia which needs to be considered. There was a discussion about having the conferences always in the same month every 2 years. Bud noted that there has been a misconception that the conferences have been held mostly in November when actually we had 2 conferences (Florida) in Nov and 2 or 3 in June and in other months as well. June of 2010 was noted as possibly a good time for the 2010 conference but more discussion from the members and board needs to happen around this.Phil was also wondering about the ideas that have been expressed regarding having a Template (model or structure or procedure for next meeting in 2010) be in place as well as identifying a Liaison who is a person who would work with the next planning committee who has also worked on the previous conference (in this case, Manchester).Bud – the liaison would logically be the last convener which for this conference would be Sarah.Phil – if the liaison was put in place, it would be important for the convener to understand that this would also be the part of the convener’s job – to be a liaison after the conference is over and the next begins.THE NEXT BOARD MEETING October 28, 2007 at the same time as this one. Please note Europe, USA, Canada and Bermuda are now in Daylight Saving Time, while Australia is not.

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