MELNA Executive Director Don Sproul
Don’s Digressions: Our Executive Director’s Column
• Membership Renewals will be mailed in October and are due back to the MELNA Office by November 30. Because we have changed MELNA’s fiscal year (formerly ending October 31; will now end June 30), this round of renewals will only be for an 8-month period (November1-June30). Terefore the dues will be roughly 67% of your normal annual dues. Because MELNA’s greatest expenses are
January through June and dues are the largest portion of MELNA’s income, this means there will be a budgeted deficit for the 8-month transitional budget. Tis will mean your association will need to take some funds from our reserves to meet expenses. Because of this, your Executive Committee wants every member to consider paying the regular annual dues amount, rather than the reduced 67% amount. By doing so, we would actually add to our reserves, instead of reducing them. Te rational is that even if you pay full dues in October/November, it will still only be one set of dues each calendar year; but starting next calendar year you will pay dues in June and July.
• Mark your calendars now!!! MELNA’s 2013 Annual Meeting and Trade Show will be Wednesday, January 23, 2013 at the Augusta Civic Center. Tere is an article in this newsletter featuring our keynote speaker. Last year’s Trade Show was a great success with a 50% increase in exhibitors and the largest attendance in the last decade. We are in hopes of adding even more exhibitors.
You can help us by forwarding the contact information of anyone you think should be invited to exhibit. Tink of those businesses with whom you do business... suppliers, wholesalers, equipment dealers, service providers such as accounting and insurance, etc. If you do business with them, maybe others in your industry would like to do business with them. Just send their contact information to the MELNA office and they will be invited.
GrowingMEGreen 5
Both exhibition fees and registration fees for attendees will be held at the same levels as last year!
• New England Grows! will be held February 6-8, 2013 in Boston. You can get information at
www.NewEnglandGrows.org. MELNA is looking into having a hospitality event on one of the evenings of the show for all Maine people to attend and socialize.
MELNA’s primary source of getting the most up-to- date information to its members is through our E-NEWS, which is sent every two weeks. If you haven’t been receiving the E-NEWS, please make sure you send you e-mail address to the MELNA Executive Director at
MngmtPlus@aol.com and make sure that e-mail from that address is not goping to your SPAM folder!
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16