2024 Agenda & Minutes
Video recording: https://youtu.be/cOc3ICmrf9I
Agenda:
Approve 2023 minutes: https://www.ppadomes.org/business/business-meetings/2023-agenda-minutes
Conferences:
GLPA/WAC in 2025? At Minneapolis Minnesota
2026 - WAC in Las Vegas?
An IPS year in Fukuoka Japan
2027 National Conference in Huntsville Alabama
Regular meetings quarterly
Favorite time based on the poll that was sent out: 2pm-3pm Pacific, Tuesday, quarterly around the solstices and equinoxes
Alternate day/times: Mondays 2-3pm, Tuesdays 11am-12pm, Thursdays 2-3pm
First meeting time/date: December 17th at 2pm Pacific
Treasurer’s report
Committees share outs
Mini grants
IDEA
Outreach/Inreach
History Non-Committee
New members
Board of Trustees
Monthly Zoom Webinars
Open Discussion
Notes:
Participants: Karl von Ahnen, Mary Holt, Alan Gould, Jim Todd, Tony Smith, Nick Strobel, Jeremy Amarant, Rosemary Walling, Scott Mitchell, Jon Elvert, Andrew Kerr, Ryan Moore, Alby Luchko, Andy Kreyche
Discussion of the GLPA/WAC meeting in Peoria
Jeremy called for a vote to approve the minutes from 2023 - passed unanimously
2025 GLPA/WAC?
Is that something we want to do as PPA, have it be a WAC?
Question - have we received any other invitations? No not at this time
GLPA/WAC in Peoria was fantastic, so doing this again would be great
GLPA/WAC this year was also pretty large so there were lots of vendors there
Jeremy will let them know that we’re interested in participating
2026 conference ideas
Have a conference in the PPA region? Possibly in Las Vegas at CSN?
Andrew Kerr would love to have it in Las Vegas, there have been some issues getting permissions but might be able to do it if we just go forward with planning
Goal would be to do this in 2026
Probably can’t promise anything until at least July 2025
Discussion of the Sphere
Concern about support from the parent facility
WAC can give support for the conference
Last time we had an in-person conference in PPA region?
It’s been a while
Invite other regionals?
2019 WAC was in Nebraska
Shall we form a committee to help?
Not quite yet, but having letters of support from WAC institutions would be helpful
Ryan Moore offered Fiske/Boulder as a possible 2026 or 2027 site with Dome Fest West
WAC general question:
When Rosemary tried to contact folks from WAC didn’t get much response, do we have official WAC officers?
WAC isn’t totally official
WAC was formed so that the regionals could have a conference together and attract vendors to come to the conference
Webpage for WAC is out of date for some organizations - Alan started the website - several regionals use the website, so they should be upkeeping it
Not sure who is responsible for the PPA section
Jack Northrup would be a good person to contact, he organizes the newsletter and uses the website some so he might know
OMSI would be interested in a conference in the future
2027 National Conference in Huntsville Alabama
Huntsville had a SEPA conference in 2022
Last National was 2023 in Tennessee
Quarterly meetings
No official talks, not a business meeting or the monthly webinar, moreso a place for PPA members to regularly connect and get support from other members
First meeting time/date: December 17th at 2pm Pacific
Announcement will be sent out on the PPA Google Group after this meeting
A new/additional resource for PPA members
Could have mini regional meetings at the same time but in separate areas, since there are clusters of domes in certain areas and get together in person on a smaller scale
Could be an incentive to get more people to join PPA
Having some financial support for these meetings would be very helpful as well
SEPA offers financial support for things like this
Could form committees in different areas
Karl is also trying to start meet-ups in person in Northern CA and Southern CA, could do similar things in other PPA states
Could have a stated purpose for each meeting as well?
Could ask if folks have topics they want to discuss
Timing of the meetings will be around the solstices and the equinoxes
Treasurer’s Report
Ask Alan Gould, PPA Treasurer, for details
Think about who might be a good treasurer - Alan doesn’t want to do this forever!
Request of sending out a “job description” for what the treasurer duties are
Alan will make a document of responsibilities
Generally it would be good for each officer to share out responsibilities in election years
Having a second person on the accounts as well might be good so it’s not all on one person
Committee share out for Mini Grants - Karl von Ahnen, Alan Gould, Andy Kreyche, Jon Elvert
Have been having trouble picking a specific time of year to meet - settled on the Spring of each year
Deadline this year was a bit too early - used to be in August, became May, haven’t settled on a regular deadline each year
There can be confusion when there aren’t reports yet before the previous year
Reports can be found on the website: https://www.ppadomes.org/business/minigrant-reports
Committee share out for IDEA
Got some mini grant money to support doing workshops/panels at the ASP and GLPA/WAC conferences
Updates to the website will happen soon for recent meetings and panels
Contacted other regionals to get participation from their similar committees, if they have them
Summary of topics that were brought up at the GLPA/WAC workshop
IDEA’s focus now is to collaborate more with the other regionals going forward
Outreach/Inreach committee - Karl von Ahnen, Mary Holt, Ryan Moore
Karl has reached out to a new planetarium in San Jose
No regular meetings yet for this committee
History non-committee, Alan Gould, Jon Elvert, Bing Quock
Does PPA have a historian? Norm Sperling?
There are some older meeting notes - Jon has some of these
Panoramas and previous meeting notes are on website
Would be nice to have a list of past officers on the website and other information
New members
Alby Luchko joined last year
Welcome to other new members!
Board of trustees
Requirement from the state of Nevada to have one
A while back it was decided that the officers can be the board as well as a board member from Nevada -
Secretary wasn’t included on the Board initially - can be added if the President adds it
Board meets once a year in December
Movement to make secretary an official board member - approved by the President
Monthly Zoom webinars, Alan Gould and Rosemary Walling
Attendance has been good, and they’re all available via YouTube as well if you can’t make it live
Should these continue? Yes folks find it valuable
Open discussion