Meeting Minutes Communications Committee February 22, 2012, 7pm at the Community Center Goals for 2012: We kicked

off the meeting with a lively discussion about ideas for the committee to focus on in the next year. After a brainstorming process and vote, the committee concluded that the goals for 2012 will primarily focus on success for the following items: Increase participation of residents in activities and volunteer efforts in the neighborhood Welcome Committee for new residents/ new resident packet information News about Your Neighbors for the Round Robin A lot of other ideas were generated as well and the committee agreed to continue discussion on all ideas, but focus energy on these three in particular.

Website Update: The Robinwood Website has been in need of better access and updating for some time. The committee efforts last year began a project to improve and reconstruct an easier access website. The goal of the site will be to provide a central reference point for information to residents. Web designs have been proposed and content is currently being collected. The website should be technically ready mid-March of 2012. Content is being collected from the Board, the Trustees, as well as each club and committee. The Communications Committee also received a draft of the description content for the Communications Committee section on the website for review/feedback. Additionally, it was recognized that residents may have had difficulty remembering the site name in the past. As such, the domain name for the new website will be RobinwoodWest.org and a number of other website domain names are now owned by the CID including RobinwoodWest.net, RobinwoodWest.com, etc. All of these names will redirect to the same website location. Round Robin Newsletter and Advertising Update: The current newsletter timeline was discussed as well as advertising. Since current advertising falls short of covering the cost of the publication, the committee agreed that efforts should be extended to increase advertising to that point. A new business brochure was presented for committee feedback that could be left with local businesses that might be interested in advertising. Also, the committee approved a search for a resident volunteer for 6 months to assist us in gaining advertising sponsors from local businesses. The next edition of the newsletter will include a request for a volunteer interested in partnering with a communications committee member for the next 6 months to jump start our advertising sales to 3 or 4 advertisements each month. The goal of advertising is to keep at the point where we simply cover the cost of publication, since excessive advertising may lead past a break- event point for cost of the publication. Block Captain Discussion: The block captain structure was a hot topic for the meeting, with lots of good energy and ideas on ways in which we improve the relationship of the block captains to our communication efforts. Current issues included gaps in delivery of the Round Robin each month, as well as identifying new

residents /welcome packet information distribution. Jane Hawkins, Sue Beecher and Marian Galvin have been tasked to take the ideas raised at the meeting and formulate a plan to develop alternates for block captains, as well as revising the 2003 Welcome Packet information. This group will report back at our next meeting in April. Frequency of Meetings: The group reviewed the chosen goals for 2012 and decided that meeting frequency should be increased to every other month in order to properly give attention to these in 2012. The next meeting will be targeted for mid April, just prior to the deadline for the May Round Robin.

Action Items/Next Steps: Jane, Marian and Sue Beecher: Develop a plan to incorporate ideas around block captain alternates, welcome packet information. All review the Communications Committee content for the website and reply to Suzanne with any suggested changes/edits All Use the advertising brochure for a business that you visit in the next month; Brett and Suzanne will take on the April edition goal of 3 4 business advertisements Suzanne Schedule our next Communications Committee meeting for Mid April.

If you are interested in joining us for a meeting, or have questions about the communications committee, feel free to contact Suzanne Zimmerman at rwcid.communications@rwcid.org. Thanks for your interest!