October ATOS Happenings
The month of September saw several happenings of interest to everyone.
ATOS Board Activities
During the September 2017 ATOS Board meeting, the Board of Directors appointed Ken Double to Chair this year’s Directors Nominating Committee. Ken is busy preparing this year’s nominations campaign in support of an election late in the winter months. Watch the next ATOS Journal for Ken’s Committee’s announcement of the election effort.
During the Board Meeting approval was given to the Oklahoma University American Organ Institute (AOI) to post on-line past issues of the ATOS Journal and its predecessors publications. ATOS publications older than two years since their initial publication will be posted. This limit is to preserve to our members initial access to the publication going forward while allowing the majority of the material to be available on-line as resources allow for their posting.
The Board also discussed a proposal to analyze the effort and requirements for ATOS to create their own on-line convention registration system to replace the system now being utilized from a commercial vendor to support convention registration. An October meeting of the Board is scheduled to review the concept and implementation issues prior to approval to proceed.
Chapter Conference
September saw the first virtual Chapter Conference of the year hosted by Board member Taylor Trimby. Several topics were presented and questions answered or referred for follow-up.
The participants, among other questions, asked about CD production and the process for getting “clearance” with respect to copyright permissions. Mark Renwick, the producer of this year’s Convention CD set, has strongly recommend Easy Song Licensing, https://www.easysonglicensing.com/pages/services/cover-song-licensing.aspx as a good place to start. If you wish to learn more from someone that has been producing CDs, please contact Mark at m.renwick [at] atos.org.
Also requested was an update regarding ATOS’s finances. A complete annual report for last fiscal year is in preparation and will be published in the January-February ATOS Journal.
Taylor may be contacted by his e-mail address, t.trimby [at] atos.org or you may utilize the following URL to register for the Chapters Conference e-mailings: http://eepurl.com/cZgcrn. This URL allows for getting chapter representatives on a special e-mail list for monthly communications from ATOS regarding Chapter related activities.
Annual Fundraising Campaign
Final preparations for this year’s campaign are being completed. As in the past years, the late fall period is being utilized for the effort, since this is the time of the year when we personally focus on helping others and being generous in support of our favorite causes. The ATOS Journal appeal includes descriptions of our major ATOS programs for which we are asking support. Members will be receiving a mailed appeal along with an envelope with which to make your always-generous donations. Also, there will be postings on the ATOS website and messages to non-members via chapter newsletters.
Other Activities
The first set of updates to the ATOS website are in process and a second set of program activities are being drafted. Anyone interested in becoming a contributor to our website should make themselves known to the Chairman, who is spearheading this long-term effort to make the site more current and useful. As always, we encourage your input, and welcome volunteers to participate in conducting our various chapter and other program efforts and activities. Contact information for many of these program efforts can be found on the ATOS Programs page of the ATOS website.
Richard Neidich
Chairman, ATOS
r.neidich [at] atos.org