Java Monkey & Fountainhead

Yesterday Shane, Deborah, Anne and Valerie met at Java Monkey. A couple of you expressed your regrets that you couldn’t attend the meeting. We missed you a lot. But the upside is that there was more room on the table for my salad. So that’s good.

We covered a lot of really exciting stuff. I’ll include the minutes here.

Minutes–May 16 NV Meeting

Let me give you a little background, if you will – and I’ll post a photo or two of what we’ve discussed.

So about a week or so ago, I got an email from Matt saying that we need to spend the remainder of our fiscal budget before the next meeting (that was the one that occurred yesterday). So of course, I was like, “I’m on it.” Fortunately for me, Deborah was the biggest asset in the whole of the New Voices universe, and she jumped right on obtaining bags and all that from the King of Screen, who we used last year. She also got full permission for us to use the little green monster from the oatmeal. You’ll see him when we publish the final CFP.

So a bunch of emails went around to those of you who wished to participate in selecting the bag design and logo. The final count was 84 emails, in case anyone was curious. But we decided.

Here is a mock-up of what the bags will look like:

I think it’s going to be really cute.

I also went ahead and ordered a bunch of pens with our new logo on it. The logo ended up looking like this:

It’s super simple, and will hopefully last. Though new years of New Voices committees are more than welcome to overhaul it. But the pens will pretty much match the bags. But they will be black and white with green writing.

So we took care of the fiscal budget that way. Today I turn in the paperwork to Marta who was AMAZING and gave us an extra day to get it all done.

Further, Shane filled out the paperwork for the rooms in the Union.  — the day I got the news we had to spend this money FAST, I was fortunately meeting with both Shane and Deborah to check out Student Union rooms. Deborah (again being amazing) said that the rooms on the 4th floor of the University Union are really professional looking and would be excellent for our conference. And she was right! AND… these rooms are available for the dates on which we would like to hold the conference! It’s like a dream come true.

So the next thing that is happening is that Shane and I will be solidifying the CFP, running it by Schmidt for approval, and getting a signature on the room request form so we can get the rooms for sure.

IN OTHER NEWS –

We also met with the rep from Fountainhead Press, Mark Price – really nice guy. He is excited to be involved with the conference. He also offered to demo the book that is coming out, which you can read about on this PDF – http://www.fountainheadpress.com/vseries/images/PDFs/monsters_TOC.pdf

Or if you want, you can even read the Introduction – http://www.fountainheadpress.com/vseries/images/PDFs/monsters_Intro.pdf

Further, Mark wants to make our promo posters for us, fliers, and things like that. It’s going to be very cool and very professional looking. Pretty much, if I got any more excited about working with Fountainhead, I might explode into cheesey rays of sunshine. Sunshine all over the walls and stuff.

So that’s it for now.

VERY soon, like in less than a week, probably, we’ll have the first round of CFP’s up and ready for your viewing and preparation.

Please let us know if you have any questions about the minutes, or anything else. Or if you just want to get involved.

newvoices11@gmail.com

V-

 

Category: Planning | Comments Off on Java Monkey & Fountainhead

Planning Stages

Hey all!

Anne Melfi just sent me the minutes of the last meeting, which she called ‘planning meeting’ and I think is absolutely what it was.

Our primary goal of the meeting was to decide how to spend the remaining budget before the end of the fiscal year, which is at the end of May. We definitely want this to go toward the next conference, so we discussed a few ideas:

– making canvas bags like the ones we had last year, but with next year’s info and art

– getting a bunch of pens that say New Voices so you all have one and can remember that this conference happens every year

– paying for student center rooms (or whatever it is they charge) so we can get more than one panel going at a time

These are all excellent ideas, and we threw around several others, all great ideas.

Here is the bag for last year’s conference:

Mary Grace did a really good job snagging us a great deal. This year, we are going to do something similar, with new art, and of course, the new dates.

A friend of mine is sending us a couple of choices, and Deborah is also asking a friend. If any of you know people (or are people) that would be willing to contribute their vision of the theme “Monsters, Villains & Aberrations,” please send them my way.

We need all art contributions before the 16th of May (that’s a Wednesday).

Speaking of the 16th – that is the date of our next meeting:

May 16th 2012 11:30AM@ Java Monkey in Decatur

We will be making final decisions on the CFP, the art for the bags and other posters, the new new voices logo that Anne Melfi is creating for us, and the location for the actual conference.

Sometime early next week, a few of us will be headed down to the Student Center to see if we can get a few rooms in order to run multiple conference presentations at once. Our hope, again, is to expand the conference a little each year – and hopefully one day get national recognition. Fingers Crossed! We’ll need plenty of faculty support to pull this off, so make sure to mention New Voices often in your classes this summer and next Fall.


So to all who are interested – please join us at our next meeting. We’ll be having lunch together, or just coffee, if you’re not into sandwiches and salads. Feel free to email us @ newvoices11@gmail.com if you need directions or if you have questions.

Have a great summer! Good luck to those who have Maymester courses. And may all your grades be A+!

V-

 

Category: Next Meeting, Planning | Comments Off on Planning Stages

End of the Year Post

If you’re at all like me, you’re probably worried about the hair you’re losing or the wrinkles that feel like they’re setting in. Or how about those extra paper pounds? You know, the ones you gain while you eat ramen in the wee hours of the morning as you try and squeeze just one more sentence out?

But it’s almost over.

Almost everyone’s papers are due today or tomorrow – Grades are due the 2nd – it’s all coming to a head.

And there is light at the end of the tunnel.

See?

In light of this (pun intended) – we have scheduled the next New Voices meeting. If you attended the last one, you already know about it. But just in case, here is the info:

New Voices Meeting – May 1st, Tuesday – 5PM – Troy Moore Library

Afterward, we will be going to Leon’s for the first annual Ex Post Facto party!

Here is the link for the event: Ex Post Facto

I hope you can all come.

With that, I’ll leave you with some exciting news – we have an official co-chair team and some brand new board members!

Co-chairs:

Shane McGowan & Valerie Robin

Financial & Hospitality:

Deborah Cruz

PR Person:

Andy Fentem

And we still need someone who wants to be in charge of volunteers when it gets closer to January, and anyone who wants to help with planning, or representing us when one of us can’t. It would also REALLY help if we had anyone who has printing hookups, or hookups at any local venues who could donate ideas or services.

Please let us know if you are interested in getting involved. Our email is up and running:

newvoices11@gmail.com

I will create the ABOUT page with all that on it… well… now.

Good luck with your end of the year!

-Valerie

 

Category: Events & Parties, Next Meeting | Comments Off on End of the Year Post

New Voices 2013 – Launch Post

Hello New Voices followers!

I am super excited to announce that New Voices 2013 is off the ground.

We had our first meeting today and there are some really excellent ideas going around.

Some of you may or may not have heard that our theme was decided by the Georgia State University English graduate students. And the winner is:

Monsters, Villains and Aberrations

Thank you to everyone who took the time to vote. We got over 50 votes. That’s really helpful and exciting (Can you tell I’m excited?) We are hoping that this year, we will have a lot of interest in contributing and a lot of really fun panels. Last year was really excellent, I was there, and our hope is to grow even bigger.

Further, we selected a few people to sit on our committee. As soon as we fill one or two more spots, I will reveal who is a part of our team. That isn’t to say that all of you interested aren’t welcome. You ARE! Please feel free to comment here, or email us at newvoices11@gmail.com if you are at all interested in lending a hand, putting in your two cents, or just hanging around meetings to see what we do. We would love to have you. The more excitement, the merrier.

With that, I leave you. Please follow our blog here and keep a look out for updates and posts on random New Voices related activities.

Your New Voices Co-Chair – Valerie Robin

 

Category: Uncategorized | Comments Off on New Voices 2013 – Launch Post