TriTrog Officers Meeting (March 18, 2014)

In attendance: Rob Harris (Chair), Mark Daughtridge (Vice Chair), Matthew Weiss (Webmaster), and Ken Walsh (Secretary).

To get everyone brainstorming, Rob started the meeting with a discussion of possible meeting programs this year.  Mark D. had collected multiple ideas the previous year and didn’t have enough meetings to implement them all (Ed. I don’t think we’ll adopt biweekly meetings this year just to make sure he can squeeze them all in). In March Matthew Weiss will share a presentation about his geology class in Mammoth Cave last summer. In April Brooke Massey is set to talk about the WNS findings in North Carolina this year (with some questions about decon info).

Other topics included the perpetual favorite (Diana Gietl’s trip to Iceland) and the close second (Dave Duguid’s talk that doesn’t make cave diving sound like a death wish).  We may have a Gorp-May program that involves cave foods, how to pack cave packs (does not include cell phones as light sources), geologist from UNC, NSS and youtube videos, a story about a missing scuba diver with massive debt, a documentary about a cave sculptor, lightning talks, climber technique philosophy, knot tying, the 1980s (caving on goldline), and bright light photography.

The first order of business on the web page revisions is to remove the mailing address that was dropped more than a year ago.

Budget discussion: Rob’s email about the bankruptcy item was a joke to find out if anyone was reading the message (copied from a message from Ken). There was discussion about possibly having a fundraiser in order to make a charitable donation (e.g., raffle with donated prizes). Perhaps help grotto members with gas or food costs for a conservation trip. The grotto funds can help promote caving activities (e.g,, group gear or the grotto trip) or protect caves for cavers. The discussion concluded that further discussions should be had with Mark Little (Treasurer) to come up with a more concrete plan.

On the topic of membership, there was consensus that members should be able to join/renew through the web (pdf files, Google Docs, etc.). Rob will discuss the possibility of Paypal with Mark Little, but the TriTrogs will not accept bitcoins.

The discussion turned to how to reach out new members, and a plan was developed to attract new members. Mark Daughtridge will lead the effort, and Matthew Weiss agreed to help. It will begin with flyers online and at climbing gyms, as well as a notice on a meetup.com site. A caving basics meeting will be held (perhaps at a climbing gym), and those attending will be invited to join a Paxton Cave trip in September. The number of participants will be limited.

Ken and Mark Little will be expected to figure out ways to stir up lapsed grotto members, but they will need some additional online help as well (e.g., updates to web pages).

Those old members may be interested in helping to celebrate the TriTrogs’ 25^th Anniversary. Besides a holiday party (possibly a fancier dinner than a pot luck), several ideas were floated about the annual grotto trip. We’ll aim for an August 16 trip to Friars Hole with the thought that we may bring along a 1980s theme.

Regarding conservation trips, Matthew Weiss expressed interest in trying to clean the graffiti from the walls of Hancock Cave. Ken mentioned that the TriTrogs might be asked to help Walker Mountain Grotto clean the trash out of Buchanan Saltpeter Cave.

The remaining discussion involved some logistics. Ken will draft meeting agendas for Rob, we will remind people to pay dues at meetings, and Mark D. will get envelopes with Mark L.’s address for people to send in dues.