Sponsor Meeting Conference 2017

Welcome to Conference 2016 Since this is the first year returning to the site, we may experience some new challenges and problems which will require us to meet and to overcome

A brief look at the state of MST Missouri is one of the fastest growing states in terms of new troupes We continue to be looked on as leaders - Debbie Corbin is VP of EdTA We continue to look at our state level activities (All-State, Leadership, Board) to ensure they are valuable, cost effective, and worthwhile experiences for troupes and individuals alike.

A big Thank You! • We look forward to bringing a great educational theatre conference opportunity to more Missouri ITS students. One of the ways we can do this is through the active involvement of our sponsors. Thank you to those of you who are presenting workshops and productions. Thank you in advance for performing your adult delegate duty – it helps make everyone’s conference experience smoother.

By the Numbers this year (last year’s total) Total Troupes – 90 (89) Total Delegates – 1897 (1953) Total Student Delegates – 1673 (1725) Total Jr. Delegates – 49 (72) Total Jr. Student Delegates – 44 (60) Colleges – 29 (27), Vendors – 9 (8) Total College/Vendor Attendees – 115 (105) •Invited Guest Artists – (28) •TOTAL - 2061 (2158)

Troupes Largest Registration - Francis Howell North (45) Welcome to New Troupes (have not attended for more than 6 yrs): Oakville Savannah Sullivan Thomas Jefferson

Conference Specific 2017 Please read the be familiar with Delegate Guidelines (on Guidebook and program if you need an additional copy)- later claiming “I didn’t know” will not excuse consequences delegates in your troupe may experience as a result of not following them. It really helps us all if we are all on the same page. We are not allowing students to enter and leave the late night activity space. Once they enter they will be there. Please make sure you communicate with your students as to what they wish to do. If you are allowing students to be in their hotel rooms please have an adult on the floor with them. If you have more than one adult and you have students in both places please have a rep in each area to supervise your students. We have started 2 new ‘paper programs’ - hotel hang tags (# of rooms you reserved) and compliment cards (2). You should have found them in your troupe’s registration packet but please tell us if they were missing.

Hotel Specific Stuff If you are staying in the conference hotel – please collect your student delegate’s room keys each day and only allow them in their rooms when you see fit. This allows you greater control as to where your students are and releases you (and us) from any liability in case a student is in their room when you don’t want them to be. If you have allowed your students to have Keys tell them secure them.

Usual Conference Stuff Each adult delegate received a punch card for snacks in the MST store in their troupe’s packet upon check-in. Health forms and badges - please make sure ALL your delegates are wearing both items at all times Please be present in the halls and workshops – your presence encourages appropriate conference and theatre behavior. In addition please model positive behavior and correct inappropriate behavior. Go to General Sessions. There are less of them, so the ones that exist will all have very important announcements. Please hand out t-shirts as soon as possible so we can try to correct mistakes quickly.

Last Conference Specific Reminder Dismissal from conference may be less hectic than usual since we are in 2 tracks - but you may want to warn your students given the weather report and various other things it may not be as smooth as we would all wish. We have a phone specifically for emergencies - it is 636-893-5950 (in program and Guidebook as well). PLEASE ONLY USE THIS FOR EMERGENCIES (ie if you are planning on calling an ambulance so someone is in emina danger call it first and then us so we know). If it is something that is not urgent but you would like resolved by the end of conference please see a board member to help with this.

Brief Reminders We will continue to tweak activities and policies to gain the most advantage, the safest, and most cost effective conference for the most number of students. We anticipate next year that being in the area of hotel rooming reservations. Please remember the members of the board hold the same jobs you do – theatre teachers who have classes to teach and productions to direct like you do. It is not always possible for us to answer you as quickly as you/we would like.

Expense Breakdown •Scholarships - $4.25 (5%) •Office/Conference Supplies/Badges - $.85 (1%) •Chapter Travel - $.85(1%) •Website/Postage - .85 (1%) •State Conference Expenses (without Guest Artists) - $56.95 (67%) •Advocacy - $.85 (1%) •Guest Artists (Meals, Travel, Hotel) - $5.95 (7%) •State Board Expenses - $2.55 (3%) •State Non-Conference Specific Student Activities (All-State/STO/ect)- $11.90 (14%) NOTE: none of the above takes board members donations (usually unofficial) into account

Financial Report •Treasurer’s Report will be posted on-line •Thank you to all those who paid their conference bill on time. We are at 99.3% paid. •Please make sure in the future you update your bookkeeper’s W-9 •Reminder that you can print off paid invoices on-line at any time after you have paid and/or received notification of payment received. •If you have a credit on your account we will be mailing checks to you next week.

Financial Report Main Checking: $81,642.88 All State: $2,733.77 Money Market: $275,414.63 CD: $14,214.56 Credit Card: $-6,716.75 Total: $367,289.09

Financial Report Due to venues requiring pre-payment of goods and services we can no longer wait for your PO’s check to arrive – we need the funds by the requested due date to pay for the conference. We do understand that many of you are at the mercy of your schools but for the most part 90% of the conference needs to be paid for BEFORE the conference and the other 10% is directly after the conference.

Financial Reminder: any school/troupe who owes money (either registration or hotel) on Jan 12th will be charged a 20% rate for the ‘loan’ MST had to extend to the troupe to cover their pre-conference expenses. (NOTE: this is not inclusive of late/change fees but will include charges to hotel rooms if they show up on the final master bill).

Leadership •Voting for new board members (student and adult) •Leadership ‘17 will probably be held at the Capitol Plaza in Jefferson City on Sept 8 (with some optional evening activities/workshops held on Sept 7). Look for more information to be released as to hotel room prices and registration in early May on the website and in emails. •If there are workshops you would like to see presented and/or would like to present please email Jennifer Forrest-James •As with last year, Leadership will have the following activities: •Voting for new board members (student and adult) •Voting for the conference logo •Honor Troupe presentations

Gentle Reminder PLEASE read all emails completely from Missouri Thespians. We know you are busy people and we try to be very judicious in how we use the email blast system. Some emails may be very long, but they contain information that you need to know to help your students have a successful conference experience. It is imperative that you read for detail.

Running for Office •Students and Adults who are interested in running for office at Leadership in 2017 will be able to get the application on-line by March 31st. •All applications are due June 1st with interviews happening at the July meeting. •All interested should look at the on-line listing of dates and times for board meetings to make sure they can meet the obligations.

Future Sites 2018 - St. Louis Renaissance Grand Hotel and America’s Convention Center 2019/20 - Return to KC. 2021/22 - Currently being researched. Looking to return to STL. 2022/23 - No idea as of yet