11 Feb 2006 - Board Meeting
by Mike Swatek

The OCA Board met 11 February following the Madison Bulldogs Scholastic Open in Norman. Participating in the meeting were: President Chuck Unruh (presiding); VP John Dunlap; Treasurer Jim Gray; Secretary Mike Swatek; Members At Large Bill Molton and Ben Shaffer; and OCA Member Tom Pepper.

The purpose of the meeting was to discuss a restructuring of the OCA. This was being considered due to the following:

1.      OCA membership has been flat to down for many years. This assessment discounts the temporary membership inflation that occurred prior to June, 2003 due to past Board members purchasing many memberships for other people and youth memberships that were required for several years to participate solely in scholastic events.

2.      The OCA is allowing more room in the schedule for independent tournaments and organizing less on its own. This has naturally reduced OCA membership further in recent months.

3.      Overall Oklahoma participation in rated open tournaments for all ages by all organizers was down by 21% in 2005 compared to 2004.

4.      The printing and distribution costs of the OCB far exceed all OCA membership dues combined.

5.      The structure of the OCA, as it has been for many years, requires contributions by corporate and individual sponsors and supporters to remain financially solvent.

6.      Requiring tournament players to pay for OCA membership in exchange for a printed OCB may reduce tournament  participation due to objections and economics. It almost certainly does nothing to increase participation.

The following items were approved by the Board:

1.      A change in the OCA bylaws will be put to a vote of the membership at the Annual Meeting on Sunday 25 June 2006. It will change the currently set Regular and Youth membership dues stated in the bylaws to instead be maximum membership dues. The verbiage will state: Any person may become a Regular Member of the OCA upon payment of “no more than” $10.00 dues for one year. The Youth member dues will also have “no more than” added similarly.  This measure was approved unanimously.

2.      At the same meeting, the members will be asked to approve Free Regular and Youth memberships at OCA tournaments for participants that play in two or more rounds. This membership will include full voting privileges until one year from the date of the tournament at which the membership was conferred. The OCB for those with Free memberships will be published on the OCA website in a format than can be easily viewed and printed.  This measure was approved by a vote of 5-1.

3.      Organizers of Free OCA membership events will receive value added promotional services from the OCA in consideration of a shared risk fee based on tournament participation.

4.      Patron memberships will remain at $25. Patrons will have a choice of receiving a printed copy of the OCB, or instead viewing and/or printing it from the website. The OCA will not lose money on these memberships.

5.      Funding made available by these changes will be put toward promotional activities to increase participation in over-the-board tournament chess.

These changes will enable the OCA to be a financially sound organization, with no reliance on benevolence of corporate and individual sponsors and supporters. The ability to invest in promotion of open chess tournaments for all ages, combined with reduced objections and costs associated with OCA membership, is expected to raise tournament participation for the first time in many years. This will benefit players and organizers alike, and be much better aligned with the mission of the OCA.

Adjourned.