90p Admin

Shawn and I just had a conference call with Jo Ann Benzer and Stan Mork of ITA regarding possible synergies between our two groups which would allow our members of 90 Minds who are not ITA members to attend ITA conferences without having to join ITA. Here's what we ultimately discussed and agreed seemed to make the most sense. 1. 90 Minds would join at $4,000 first year initiation 2. 90 Minds would pay the annual $ 750 (second year+) dues 3. This would entitle 90 Minds members in good standing who were not already ITA members to attend the annual conference at the member rate (no change on the cost you would be responsible for the member conference fee). As part of this we generally agreed that the 90 Minds members who are taking advantage of this benefit should not be of the size where they normally would be paying for a separate ITA membership. While we did not come to a hard and fast number I think 10 total (all offices) employees or under is probably a fair size. If a member is over 10 employees then they should be encouraged to join ITA independent of 90 Minds. We also would not use the membership to circumvent the normal ITA fee schedule. For example someone like Avalara couldn't join 90 Minds (yes I know they're not eligible now but if they were eligible in the future) and make use of our membership privilege (because Avalara is a vendor and would be under a higher fee schedule at 90 Minds). I recommend we offer this as a benefit to our members. I think there are likely less than 6 total 90 Minders who might take advantage. I also recommend where possible we schedule an advance meeting at these ITA events. This could be specialized technology updates or administrative meetings. I am open to also authorizing a stipend to cover reasonable costs should we have administrative meetings before ITA. Similar to what we did with Summit. Decision: 1. Do we want to authorize a membership for $4,000 with ITA that would allow 90 Minds members to attend the ITA conferences at the member conference fee?

Thank you so much for doing this Wayne! I would say Yes, it would be a good use of our funds.

I say yes.

I say we do it. As an aside it's probably a good idea for us to have a joiner fee similar to ITA where the first year also carries an initiation fee of sorts. This prevents casual people from joining dropping. I know we're talking about this but the more I think the more it makes sense. Would only apply to new members.

I think this was a really great outcome and generous of the ITA to extend these terms. Thank you for brokering this arrangement. As a follow up, do we want to have an admin meeting at the ITA fall event this year? I would be open to that.

I'm going to be at the fall event so definitely an admin meeting there -- do any of you have issues with staff size if we use 10 as the cutoff for needing an individual membership?

Yikes, Christmas in October!!!! Great job Wayne and Shawn. I think the cutoff at 10 employees is a good number and the ongoing annual member fee is excellent. I vote YES!!!

I emailed ITA and asked them to enroll us as members and send the paperwork to me (application, fee, etc). The main stipulation is that 90 Minds use this for smaller firms and not to attract people who might otherwise be candidates for a standalone ITA membership. In general I think firms under 10 members should be able to take advantage of the ITA membership through 90 Minds (which I think is virtually all of our members who are not already affiliated with ITA through their own firms).

I agree....

Wayne, need some guidance on how to register. Do we wait to become members? Or can we sign up now?

I'll check with Jo Ann - I know they were going to talk about this at a board meeting. My guess is she will register you and you can go through the hotel link to reserve a room. I have a room but not sure how many beds. If you guys are willing to roll the dice we can all cuddle up (assuming Peter is going).

Are you planning on holding an Admin meeting as well? Are @JimWoodhead and/or @RobertWood attending? I may be attending.

Probably not an admin meeting since Robert can't go. I'm not sure if Jim is going yet. He has a few days off. I'm sure we will meet with Shawn on the topic of alternative solutions that people are offering, experiences, etc. ITA usually can arrange for a nice conference room.

Wives and their freakin' birthdays! Sheesh!

I am planning on attending ITA and am looking for a roommate.

Roommate...cuddle buddy.. They're the same thing. Right?

We are still looking at who from DSD is going. I should know by the end of the month.

Well, my wife is thinking about tagging along.......... Still looking for a way to politely discourage her.....

This is a great location - from what I hear rooms are $109 at Little America v $189 at Grand America. However if possible I recommend this hotel.

I'm thinking the rambling river pool is out this time. :)

Any update on the paperwork? I would like to book the conference but am thinking I should be a member first. And I am concerned that the fee (950 Member fee $850 Early Bird Fee through October 27 which I thought was 750 last week) will pass.

I was just going to ask the same question!!

I'm going to guess they will tell me you are ok to attend but I'll send an email now.

What do we need to do to register @WayneSchulz ?

As soon as we know it's ok to register you'd only need to go in via the website and register for hotel. 90 Minds would take care of registering people who attend and then bill the fee back. I'll update you as soon as I hear back so don't book travel just yet https://www.italliance.com/eweb/DynamicPage.aspx?Site=ITA&WebCode=2013FC2

We also need to send a note to the membership letting them know of our good fortune....

Thanks Wayne!

I would NOT book any travel just to be on the safe side.

From: Jo Ann Benzer <joann.benzer@italliance.com> Date: Tue, Oct 22, 2013 at 4:38 PM Subject: RE: 90 Minds members attending conference To: Wayne Schulz <wayne@s-consult.com> Cc: Stan Mork <stan.mork@italliance.com> Hi Wayne! Stan is currently working with the Board on it. Don't worry about the early-bird discount. If necessary, I will override the fee, so as to take the stress level off. J Jo Ann Benzer Office: 480-515-2003 / Cell: 480-363-1170

Spoke with John Hoyt yesterday, told him that something may be announced soon about the ITA. He is very much interested in attending.

Hoyt is in the 10 and over crowd. They are a fairly large firm.

But his consulting group is only 8 or 9 people. The CPA firm has no interest in their actions (except counting the money they bring in)

I'm not sure that ITA will care, but we can always try. Rule #18: It's better to seek forgiveness than ask permission.

Here's the agenda. I have no update to share about whether ITA is going to allow 90 Minds to become a member and send people to the conference. https://www.italliance.com/temp/ClientImages/ITA/01dfeeb7-eaa4-4224-9493-4cd7fa2dd7b3.pdf

??? I thought that it was agreed and they were just working out the mechanics?

The last update I had from Jo Anne is that she was waiting to hear from the board. I advise that nobody books travel until we hear further.

Perhaps we will hear something next week. I am not concerned about the conference fee or the hotel, what bothers me is that airfares will be more expensive once we get within 4 weeks of departure.

I just spoke to Stan Mork - President of ITA - he was wondering where we were at with our decision on joining ITA. I suggested that it was more likely than not that we would join and perhaps we can have a conversation when we are all together in Salt Lake City at the upcoming event. Initially I had told the ITA folks that we'd hope to have 5-6 90 Minders take advantage of the membership -- primarily by attending the conference. My guess is that still might be possible with some promotion by you, etc.

As far as I know, Jeff and I are the only ones who contacted Jo Ann. How long before we have to make the final decision to join or not?

I spoke to Stan Mork and indicated we would talk to him when we are at the ITA conference. They may be willing to move on the FTE numbers. I'm just not sure how much.