Meeting opened at 3.25pm

Present

Andy Lovell – Chairman (A)
Hugh McGuinness  - Treasurer (H)
Paul Smith  - Secretary (P)
Sandy Hristov - Marketing (S)
Mo Rowlands  - Benefits (M)
Steve Skinner – Membership (via conference call) (St)

1. Chairman called meeting to order and welcomed new committee members.



2. Admin/Secretaries report. P. updated the committee on current membership figures and trends. Membership is slightly down from last year. The committee needed to discuss ways to increase applications for membership.



3. Chairman’s report. A. reported on two major issues concerning the committee;  Nominet dispute and a client complaint. These items to be discussed later in the agenda. Hopes for the future of WDJA were bright with the doubling of the committee to six. A. felt much more would be achieved this year.



4. Treasurer’s report. S. reported on the accounts as they stood at present. Although in the black, more money was needed for marketing to clients. Money spent on Nominet complaint of abusive registrations needed to be sought in the small claims court. Encouraging more members would also increase resources for marketing. S. handed over the role of treasurer to H.



5. Minutes of previous meeting were read and agreed as a true account. The date and venue of this MC meeting was changed to accommodate the new members.



6. New roles defined
   
   
   • a. Marketing – S reported on the previous marketing campaigns and their success. It was agreed that S would continue to SEO the website and when the budget allowed, would start a google ad campaign of targeted content only. All agreed that advertising in magazines wouldn’t be fruitful or cost effective at this time.
   
   
   
   • b. Benefits officer – M. to investigate discounts for members for things such as car/van insurance, printing, accountant and DJ shops/suppliers. The discounted Public Liability Insurance from AMPdj will continue for WDJA members
   
   
   
   • c. Membership & Registration Officer. St to carry out initial checks then forward applications to registration panel, collate and pass on results to Administrator for action.



7. Complaints. A complaint had been received from a client who had booked a member. A number of errors and a catalogue of disasters had occurred during the event and the client was looking for compensation. The member had been given the opportunity to discuss the allegations and agreed that they did happen. The member had contravened a number of points in the WDJA code of ethics. The MC looked at all aspects of the booking from the initial enquiry through to the booking. The member was contacted on several by the MC to resolve this matter and he finally agreed to pay client a small amount of compensation. Unanimously, the MC agreed that a letter needs to be sent to the member to terminate his membership and remove all mention of WDJA on his site. All agreed that member had brought WDJA into disrepute. A. to write letter to member and contact client to tell him of the decision.



8. Cost of Membership. All agreed that an increase was needed from immediate effect to allow for more marketing to potential clients. New fees will be £49 membership for 3 areas with each additional area priced at £10.



9. Canvassing for new members. All agreed that this was like singling people out and other methods needed to be investigated. All agreed that 20% of funds could be used to generate new membership, thus increasing funds for marketing to clients. P. agreed that WDJA can be featured on a future AMPdj newsletter to promote to DJs. P and S to design postcard to be distributed to DJ shops and would enquire about costs to be discussed by MC.



10. Nominet Update. With regard to the abusive registrations by Pete Williams and Mark Davies. The action against Pete Williams had been successful with Nominet deciding it was an abusive registration, transferring the domain to WDJA and naming Pete Williams on their website. Currently P. is pursuing PW for the costs of this case. He has been sent two invoices, which have been ignored. After the 3^rd a County Court Judgement will be pursued. Mark Davis has emailed Nominet to say he is prepared to relinquish the .co.uk domain although he has sold the .com domain. P. and A. are in conversation with Nominet about this issue and the MC will be kept informed of progress.



11. Other Associations S and P reported their recent trip to SEDA Shownight and how welcome they were made. All agreed that it is important for the association to continue forging links and cooperating with other DJ associations.



12. Accounts. This year accounts to be compiled by H and verified by St. H to look into opening a new bank account for WDJA with minimal (if any) expense to the Association.



13. Other Business - WDJA Liability Insurance P. to look into liability insurance for WDJA to protect against a claim.



14. Next Meeting AGM to be moved to November. Next MC meeting would take place at the same time.

The meeting closed at 6.28pm

Minutes submitted by Paul Smith - Secretary