Board Meeting

January 12, 2007

Jen and I met for a very professional “Board Meeting” today at Perks. This is our self-proclaimed office, which works out nicely because I love smoothies and pastries, and Jen needs a bit of a pick-me-up between class and practice.

It’s crazy how Jen and I connect when it comes to POISE. We share the same goals, both current and future, and the overall vision of what POISE should be. Of all the staffers, I trust Jen without a doubt to lead POISE in the direction I envisioned two years ago when I started it. I wish she could actually take over for me, but unfortunately, she’s also a junior, which poses a question we talk about frequently: Who will take my place when I graduate next year?

We always discus this with hesitation, as we both have a deep connection to POISE, a connection and enterprise that we hope to continue together after graduation – with the help of my fabulously professional Uncle Mark. Both Jen and I have two very talented ladies in mind. Combined, they form our ideal Editor-in-Chief, as they share both the editorial expertise and leadership capabilities, along with the vision of and passion for POISEfashion. Individually, though, they are simply exceptional staff members, lacking one of the two components needed to carry on the POISE legacy.

“What if we just combine them?” Jen suggested.

After a bit of deliberation, we decided it wouldn’t hurt to try, but, we also decided that before we inform either of our staffers, we want to observe them from an interviewer’s perspective. So over the next few weeks we’ll be taking inventory as to how well they develop content and handle situations. Come mid-term time, we’ll have our answer.

We hope to have a lot accomplished (or at least started) by mid-terms. Our biggest (and what I consider to be the most exciting) venture is to expand the POISEfashion network. This is the first step (of many, I assume) to making POISEfashion a world-wide student-based Webzine, and professional print publication.

Jen and I decided that it would be best to target universities with accredited journalism and/or visual communication schools, as these would be the places students would a.) show the most interest, and b.) need the experience and portfolio opportunities. So we decided our first assignment is to compile a list of accredited comms schools and go from there.

Planning for Spring Training is also another major task we hope to prepare by mid-quarter. Because I'm leaving, I want to make sure that Jen isn't completely overwhelmed with managing POISE, so it's important that we organize next quarter's events. Assignment #2: create a list of workshops, speakers, and activities for Spring Training.

After light planning, we concluded that in order for Spring Training to really be effective, we'd need to make a general style guide for staffers to familiarize themselves with while preparing to work for POISE. We would like this workbook to function like a style-guide/ media kit, which will include our mission statement and dynamic; a general overview of what POISE is, how it started, and what it hopes to provide; editorial formulas and content guidelines; staff responsibilities and standards; and common grammatical mistakes and ethical considerations, among other things. Fortunately, both of us have already begun doing this, as we've spent countless hours planning for a future with POISE, and editing the work of our fellow staffers. Our final assignment is to create a style guide, along with a “how-to” book with examples and helpful tips.

We spent nearly an hour and a half discussing where we'd like to take POISE in the future. We have a ton of work to do, but with the help of one another, and a devoted staff, we're confident that it will be worth it in the end.

We ended our meeting with anticipation of what's to come - especially because our next staff meeting is when each section presents its content proposals for our upcoming issue. The fun (and work) begin from there - the amount of both is up to our staffers.

FINISHING SCHOOL
Jen and I hope to make POISE's network global.
-What do you think would encourage students to start an edition on their campus?
-How do you think we could spread the word about POISE and strengthen its popularity?

Proposals are when our staffers really show us what they're made of.
-If you were a POISEfashion staffer, in which section would you want to propose an idea (fashion; health; beauty; entertainment; life&love)? What would you propose?
-As a POISEfashion reader, what would you like to see in our next issue?