Just wanted to pass along the info that Steve Auerbach (Video Archives Unlimited) and past NPVA president suffered a serious heart attack about a week and a half ago. He did have some heart muscle damage and is currently on nine medications.

As you probably know from recent announcements in the NPVA newsletter and at recent membership meetings, a board-appointed By-Laws Committee has been working on a comprehensive overhaul of the association's By-Laws, which guide the governance and structure of the NPVA.

The By-Laws Committee consisted of Hal Slifer, Bill Ramsay, Craig Newman, Whit Wales, Joyce Bertolami, and myself.

We are pleased to submit to you a document which represents the work of this committee, as adopted and unanimously approved by the NPVA Board of Directors last week. (It may be found at this link: NPVA Proposed Amended By-Laws). It is now being submitted to the membership for approval.

There are literally hundreds of proposed changes to the By-Laws, so rather than submitting page after page of proposed changes, we are submitting a clean document for membership approval. The By-Laws require that changes be submitted to the membership with 30 days notice, and that approval must be made with an affirmative vote by 2/3 vote of those voting. After you receive this email message, you will receive instructions on how to cast your ballot on these changes.

If adopted, the By-Laws will take effect as of May 1st, and the board plans to call a special election to fill any vacancies that exist in the board.

The changes to the NPVA By-Laws fall into several categories:

1. Purpose - the purposes of the Association have been expanded to include outreach and promotion of our profession and the benefits of videography
2. Governance - the Board has been expanded from 7 to 9, new roles of Marketing Director, Membership Director, and Competition Director have been introduced, the National Liaison responsibilities have been absorbed into the president's role, the presidential succession has been changed, and there are 5-year term limits on all Board positions except Technical Advisor.
3. Membership Process - the process of becoming an NPVA member will become more formalized, and will involve a provisional membership period of a year before being accepted to permanent membership; initiation and reinstatement fees have also been introduced for new or lapsed members, and there is a process for termination of membership for cause
4. Membership Classes - provision has been made for four new classes of membership -- Student Members, Sponsoring Members, and Life Members, as well as the Provisional Members in their first year
5. Code of Ethics - the code of ethics is incorporated formally into our By-Laws as a standard of conduct required of all members
6. Duties - The duties and responsibilities of all officers, board members, and committees are spelled out more clearly.

In addition, there are dozens of "clean-up" corrections that ensure consistency throughout the By-Laws, and that modernize the By-Laws to address such concepts as electronic voting, use of email lists, and teleconference meetings.

It might also be noted that the By-Laws Committee recommended to the Board that it begin considering a change to the name of the Association, to more appropriately reflect its New England regional focus. While it did not make a specific recommendation, it suggested that this be an issue addressed in the coming months by the Board.

If you do NOT receive an electronic ballot later today, please let me know.

Respectfully submitted,
Michael Kolowich
Chairman, By-Laws Committee
National Professional Videographers Association
31 March 2007

If you have not received it, please check your spam folder just in case...and if you still don't see it, please contact Michael Kolowich at michael@diginovations.com.

In the 36 hours since the survey was launched, nearly 50% of the NPVA membership has responded...which is great! Surveys rarely get more than 50% response. Still, that's about 40 voices that haven't yet been heard, and we urge everyone to take the 10 minutes required to fill out the online survey.

Michael Kolowich
DigiNovations / MemoryWorks Studios
Concord, Massachusetts

NPVA members have been doing a great job in building links to www.npva.org into their websites.

Over the summer, after a membership meeting talk by NPVA web guru Michael Kolowich about the importance of links to traffic and search rankings, the board decided to challenge the members with a contest.

Just before the October membership meeting, we'll take an audit of all the member sites that are linking in to www.npva.org, and we'll hold a drawing among those linked-in members.  Some lucky member will have his/her dues paid for in 2007 by winning this contest.

There's still time to make it happen.  Here are the member sites that we know of that link to www.npva.org:

• www.alexvideo.com/
• www.alloccasionvideography.com/
• www.beaconvideo.net/
• www.cookproductions.com/
• www.diginovations.com/
• www.eastcoastvideoservices.com/
• www.fairytaleproductions.biz/
• www.familymemories.net/
• www.halslifervideo.com/
• www.joyofvideo.com
• www.kvimedia.com/
• www.mcvideography.com/
• www.memoryworks.net/
• www.richardtalmageimages.com/
• www.silvercityvideo.com/
• www.strathamheightsvideo.com

  www.thevideohistory.com/
• www.video-sensations.com/
• www.video-services.net/
• www.vitalmemories.com/
• www.wingstv.com/

If your member site links to us, but you aren't listed above, please post a comment to this entry, and we'll be sure to include you in the official drawing!

Newly installed WEVA Hall of Fame recipients, Al and Kathy Ritondo will also be taking part in the festivities. 

Don’t miss this great opportunity to participate in this momentous event. We will trace the history of the NPVA from its’ humble beginnings at the Waltham, MA Public library to its present role as one of the most influential local video associations in the Wedding and Event Videography World.

BLACK TIE OPTIONAL

MUSIC PROVIDED BY THE EVENT CONNECTION

DATE:  SEPTEMBER 18, 2006
PLACE: HOLIDAY INN DEDHAM, MA.

TIME:   6:30-11PM

RSVP BY SEPTEMBER 12, 2006

Come to the 2oth Anniversary of the National Professional Videographers’ Association. Help us honor all those who have helped us reach this very important milestone. In acknowledgment of the NPVA’s position as the first and one of the most active local associations in the country, some nationally known leaders in the industry are coming to help us celebrate this special event. More information will follow.

Date: September 18, 2006

Place: Holiday Inn Dedham , Ma

Time: 6:30-11pm

20^th Anniversary Recognition Dinner-$20.00

A CASH BAR WILL BE AVAILABLE

Music provided by Richard Coury of the Event Connection

BLACK TIE OPTIONAL

RSVP BY SEPTEMBER 12, 2006
781-933-8674

The program is being tested in the southeast US region, but will be rolled out to New England as part of the national program launch at WEVA Expo in August.  Read more about it here.

Eugene's EugeneWorks is the lastest of a string of local studios profiled recently by the magazine.  To see others, click here.

Please let Joyce Bertolami know by 4/20 if you're planning to attend the meeting.

If you're curious about checking out the SquareSpace web publishing system for your own site, click here to try it out.

Please let us know what you think, and how you'd suggest we improve the site.  We've only just begun!