Hi all, For those that were unable to attend the technology committee meeting (or for folks that attended and would like a copy of the notes), here is a summary of the discussion: 1. TRIO Day 2025: - AV arrangements are complete and we are working with the vendor to address any last minute questions or needs. We were able to swap out 1 or 2 wireless handheld microphones for lapel microphones for guest speakers. - Programs who are bringing NEOA AV equipment can contact Josh or Heidi or Becky when you arrive to hand off the equipment. Josh will be coordinating room setup on Wednesday night and Thursday morning and Thursday night. - We'll be testing out some personal voice amplifiers for the small group sessions. If they work well, we would like to buy one for each NEOA AV kit to use at future events. 2. Conference 2025 - AV arrangements are coming along. The hotel has a list of equipment we need for the large room. The AV is handled by a third party but is billed with our regular conference hotel bill. We are not planning on any Zoom guest speakers at this time, but this may change. We will have the usual 2-screen projector setup, microphones, and a way to connect a laptop to do presentations and play videos in the ballroom. We would like to have all 8 sets of NEOA equipment at the conference as well. I will contact folks about that as we get closer to the conference, and I will also recruit some tech committee members to help set up. I will also create a spreadsheet of every conference session and the location and date and time, and what AV is needed for the session. 3. Conference 2026 - Last week I met with Yara and Arielle and a salesperson from Encore (AV vendor) about AV for the 2026 conference that will be held in Connecticut in April 2026. We provided a list of what we need for AV for the large ballroom setup, and an approximate budget based on the last few years ($12,000 - $14,000 was the number I came up with). We have worked with Encore in the past at other event locations, and the salesperson has access to those records of our previous events, so they know what equipment we used and what it cost at the time we did the event. They are willing to work with us to provide an affordable AV setup for the 2026 conference. This will be my last conference as technology committee chair. 4. Other - I have not done much additional work on our new SquareSpace website that I hope to roll out in August 2025. I have most of the basic pages done. I still need to figure out how to do an online membership form and an online event registration form. I will continue working on the website later in the spring after TRIO Day and the annual conference are done. - There is some interest in streamlining our member surveys in order to reduce the size and number of surveys that we send to NEOA members. I made a note of this for future discussion. - Not mentioned at today's meeting - I am still interested in recruiting a technology committee co-chair for next year, if you know anyone who might be interested. Ideally this person will serve alongside me for the 2025-2026 board year, and then step into the technology chair role on 9/1/2026. I plan to hold another technology committee meeting in March, and possibly one in April right before the conference. In the meantime, please feel free to contact me if you have any questions or if there is anything I can help you with. Casey --- Casey O. Henderson (he/him/his) Technology Coordinator Maine Educational Opportunity Center and Maine Educational Talent Search 308 Chadbourne Hall, Orono, ME 04469-5713 Tel: (207) 581-3707 Email: casey.henderson@maine.edu