Minutes  of  a  Board  Meeting  12/04/10  Holborn  

   
Present: Max Eggeling, Babs Williams, Axel Landin, Marley Miller, Ava Mayer

Apologies: Mek Mesfin, Arthur Baker, Alex Naamani

In attendance: Jane Cahill (in the Chair)

1. YOUTH LEADERSHIP DEBATE

There was a general consensus that the Youth Leadership debate on April 8 had
been a resounding success. Board members congratulated Marley Miller on his
leadership in the run-up to the event.

Turnout had been at an all-time high. Audience involvement had verb abundant and
of a high-quality, and the speakers were excellent, each giving receptive an
thoughtful responses to the questions posed.

In evaluation it was suggested that, aside from the unforeseen complications

involving venue officials (where it was agreed that contingency responses could
have been more effective so that more policy ground could have been covered, even
in view of the shortened time-frame) a future event could be improved by taking
questions on paper beforehand and then sifting through and selecting, to ensure
more contentious and thought-provoking debate.

2. DEVELOPMENT FORUM & RECRUITMENT

Reflecting on the Development Forum the previous day (Sun 11 April) board
members agreed that turnout had been poor. It was suggested that this owed
primarily to the location (Mile End is hardly central London) and the timing (Sunday
lunch-time in the school holiday is hardly prime-time for outreach).

However, three provisional appointments had been made: Amos in administration

and operations, Craig Melson as a press officer under communications and Maxwell
Stead as an articles sub-editor.

Board members considered the three to be of high calibre (Craig was impeccably
well-connected in the broadcast media community, and Amos and Maxwell had a
history of lay involvement with New Turn) and ratified the appointments without
reservation.

Concern was raised that there remained a vacancy in the leadership of the New
Membership section. Board members agreed that it was vital, for the development of
the organisation in line with its objectives, that this be filled with expediency. Axel
and Ava were tasked with drawing up a shortlist of suitable candidates and setting
out a timescale for appointment.
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ACTION: AXEL LANDIN & AVA MAYER

3. COMMUNICATIONS & DEVELOPMENT STRATEGY

Axel set out the newly drafter ʻCommunications & Development Strategyʼ (attached
as Appendix A). This outlined his priorities in the Communications division for the
coming two months, including building on the success of the monthly newsletter (and
potentially increasing its frequency) collating contacts, creating a ʻsocieties resource
packʼ, further additions to the team, templates for external communications,
reorganising membership, and training lead members to edit the website.

It was noted that following the appointment of Craig Melson as Press Officer, further
additions to the team should not be at the expense of manpower in other sections
that were thinner on the ground.

Board members welcomed the plan, although it was suggested that some elements
were a little ambitious given the tight time frame.

Axel stated that in his view it was entirely feasible for the provisions to be
implemented on schedule, and said that if they were approved by the board he would
work on a detailed timeline, together with success and failure criteria, with Craig,
ahead of the following meeting. He promised to step down from the board if the
deadlines were not met.

The board unanimously approved the provisional workload, promising to get in touch
promptly if any issues arose after more detailed consultation of the document.

ACTION: AXEL LANDIN (and Craig Melson)

4. FUNDRAISING

The item had been nominated for discussion by Arthur Baker, who was not present,
and was thus postponed until the following meeting.

5. AOB

Babs had been stunned by the poor quality of pre-election party political literature
that had been distributed in London. He proposed a consultation with young
Londoners, which would look into their opinions on such literature. There was
unanimous approval for such a consultation in principle, and it was noted that this
would take place after the election.

Marley highlighted his keenness for a programme centred around accountability in

politics, in partnership with the Roundhouse. He was seeking three young people
with differing opinions to give their views for an article piece.
Axel said he would be keen to see an event on this issue, as reform of political
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institutions was a hot topic in Westminster, as well as around the country, at the
current time. The board again agreed in principle with such a programme. Marley
agreed to investigate further.

ACTION: MARLEY MILLER

The meeting concluded at 6:39pm.

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 APPENDIX  A  
Communications  &  Development  Strategy  
 
   

1. Newsletter  Development  –  deadline  mid  May  2010  

 
Move  from  a  monthly  newsletter  to  a  fortnightly  round-­‐up,  less  text-­‐based  and  more  of  a  
bulletin  listing  our  own  events,  third-­‐party  events,  and  other  initiatives  in  which  
members  can  get  involved.  This  could  be  modelled  on  “Conservative  Home”  or  “Labour  
List”  and  if  successful  could  be  even  more  frequent.  It  should  be  packed  with  links  to  
articles,  polls  and  events  on  our  website,  as  well  as  on  other  related  sites.  Newsletter  to  
be  streamlined  using  distribution  software.  
 
2. Press  contacts  double  list  compiled  –  deadline  end  April  2010  

Craig  Melson  to  compile  a  two-­‐sheet  Excel  workbook  of  Press  contacts,  listing  official  
contacts  for  relevant  departments  in  all  national  quality  and  tabloid  papers,  local  
London  papers,  student  papers,  and  political  journals  on  one  worksheet,  and  personal  
New  Turn  contacts  in  all  of  the  above  on  another.  Both  should  be  constructed  in  a  mail-­‐
merge  friendly  format.  

3. New  Turn  Societies  resource  pack  –  deadline  end  May  2010  

 
Compile  resource  pack  to  ease  the  establishment  by  lay-­‐members  of  New  Turn  societies  
at  satellite  institutions.  This  should  include  terms  of  reference,  examples  of  articles,  
advice  on  operations,  sample  event  planning  documentation  and  promotion  literature.  
 
4. Communications  &  Development  team  –  deadline  end  May  2010  
 
Recruit  an  additional  press  officer,  and  a  communications  admin  officer.  
Also  recruit  a  new  media  officer,  responsible  for  keeping  Facebook,  Twitter  and  other  
social  networking  facilities  current  with  up-­‐to-­‐the-­‐minute  postings.  Hold  team  meetings  
once  a  fortnight.  
 
5. Template  press-­releases  and  mailouts  –  deadline  20  April  2010  
 
Best  practise  would  see  those  leading  on  initiatives  (eg.  coordinator  of  an  event)  
authoring  mailouts  and  press  releases  (as  they  are  better  informed  and  know  what  to  
emphasise)  and  only  then  should  these  be  vetted  by  Comms  team.  Templates  of  these  
documents  will  be  produced  and  distributed  so  that  team  leaders  know  exactly  how  to  
adapt  them.  
 
6. Organisation  development:  membership  –  deadline  end  April  2010  
 
Current  membership  structure  is  neither  professional  nor  sufficient.  Register  
compiled  based  on  forum  membership,  but  also  by  writing  out  to  forum  
members  for  further  details,  as  well  as  non-­‐forum  members  who  regularly  
attend  events.    
 
7. Training  –  website  maintenance  –  deadline  mid  May  2010  
 
Train  all  team  members  to  maintain  content  on  NT  website.  
 
AJL                     11/04/10  

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