Tee Shirts
The first item on the agenda was club T-shirts. Everyone felt that the sale and wearing of T-shirts would promote camaraderie, provide a source of income, and offer a unique gift for speakers. Marj had invested a lot of time designing the shirts which would be green with the blue Menotomy Bird club logo. The design was approved unanimously. It was determined that we would initially have made up 50 T-shirts in various sizes. Marj is going to continue to carry out this work.

First meeting of the year
Stephen said that a date has been set for the first general club meeting of the year. It will be on Monday, September 20th and will feature Betty Anderson speaking on "10,000 Years of Avian History in 60 Minutes " .

Stephen explained that in setting dates for meetings, attempts are made to hold meetings on different nights of the week in order to avoid conflicts some members were experiencing. The second meeting will probably be held in the last week of October and will feature David Larson speaking on "Birding Plum Island ;" the final date is pending finalization of room arrangements.

Marj requested that before posting notices about meetings on the list serve that the information be sent to her one week in advance so that it could be added to the web site.

Education committee
It was determined not to set up a separate education committee. The workshops which would be offered could be overseen by the steering committee and presented on an ad hoc basis.

Debora mentioned that she would like to offer another warbler workshop in the spring and was considering an introduction to birding workshop, which would also best be offered in the springtime. She had hoped to present a program on sparrow identification but is too busy for it during the fall season.

Birding trips
Karsten and other members of committee reported that there is a pretty full schedule for the fall season. A few open spots on the calendar were filled in by volunteers including Marj and Ann Gurka. Karsten reported that some potential trip leaders had been contacted such as Paul Roberts and were busy with other commitments. It was suggested that they might be contacted with a view to engaging them for trips many months down the road since their schedules are booked many months in advance.

A trip lists will be submitted and published on the Menotomy Bird club web site soon. Karsten reminded committee members that it was most effective to have committee members write up trip descriptions themselves if leaders do not do so promptly.

Format of general club meetings
The general format of club meetings was briefly reviewed and it was felt that the format of socialization, introductions, lecture and then further socialization was basically sound, but that some small fine-tuning might improve it. All agreed that it was important to continue to encourage new members and that during his introductory remarks, Stephen would continue to ask new members to identify themselves, the town they are from and perhaps respond to a short question such as how they found out about the club, whether they had been on one of the walks, how long they had been birding, or where they like to go birding. The short self introduction might provide a start for conversation during the socialization period after the lecture. Committee members will make an effort to make attendees feel comfortable by trying to talk to as many people as possible.

Name tags
There was a strong consensus that having name tags at the club meetings would also promote members getting to know each other. Marj or Deborah was going to look into purchasing or printing name tags. Deborah also felt that name tags on trips would be useful and other members remarked that they would find the use of name tags a help in associating names with faces.

Marj might make up official name tags for the speakers and committee members.

Finances
Janet expressed some concern about the efficacy of collecting funds at the meetings. It was decided to try a larger sign and collection box and place it near the name tags on a table near the doorway. Janet volunteered to come up with a sign and appropriate dish. Stephen also noted that he would be vigilant about announcing the collection of funds during the introductory phase of the club meetings.

Conclusion
The steering committee felt that the necessary background work had been put in to host a successful season of club meetings and birding trips.

The committee thanked Marj for gracious hosting of the meeting.