by John Callaway

On Wednesday, April 9th, there was a planning meeting for the upcoming ABS/BCI conference in Louisville.  We had several members on hand to help with the planning of the event.  A big thanks to Earl Cormney for hosting the evening.

The agenda for the evening was as follows:

• Vote on a name for the conference
• Nominate and name committee chairpersons
• Develop a list of instructors to submit for approval
• Develop a list of vendors to submit for approval
• Develop a list of donors

Thank you to all members who submitted suggestions for the naming of the conference.  Nearly every person who made a suggestion included “Bonsai in the Bluegrass” in their list.  This fact was noted during the meeting and the vote was unanimously in favor of the name.

Committee chairs were then nominated by the attendees of the planning meeting.  Here is the list of names and their positions:

ABS Chair     - George Buehler
Local Chair  - John Callaway 
Publicity/Advertising     - Midge Goeth
Registration/Check-in   - Tom McCurry / Linda Kossmann
Hospitality/Facilities   - Brian Schanding
Auction/Raffle      - Lee Squires
Exhibit      - Earl Ekman
Instructors     - John Callaway
Vendors     - Earl Cormney
Brochure    - Mike Schmidt / Linda Kossmann
Treasurer    - Tom McCurry

There is still a need for volunteers to help with the planning.  The committee chairs will be calling on members for support in the coming months.

Time ran out during the planning meeting, It will be up to the committee chairs and their committees to develop the lists of instructors, vendors, and donors to submit to ABS and BCI for approval.  More information will be available in the coming months.