Town hall, March 14, 2009

On March 14, 2009, a Town Hall meeting was held after hours at the Dallas Open SCRABBLE® tournament. In attendance were NASPA Steering Committee members Chris Cree, John Chew, Mary Rhoades, Steve Pellinen and Sherrie Saint John.

Chris opened the meeting with a brief recap of the situation so far, including the December meeting with Hasbro, the cancellation of funding for serious SCRABBLE play as of the end of 2009, and the implications for clubs and tournaments. He then opened the floor to questions:

What relationship will NASPA have with cross-tables.com? — John Aitken

Seth Lipkin is a member of the Steering Committee and is taking an active role in organizing NASPA. — John Chew

What relation will Hasbro and NASPA have with clubs, with particular reference to trademark usage? — Jim Hughes

Sanctioned clubs will be permitted to use the SCRABBLE trademark, be given guidance on its correct use, and Hasbro will provide templates and assistance for press releases that use the trademark. — John Chew

What happened to the club questionnaires? — Carol Kaplan

146 responses have been received so far, and the key suggestions will be summarized next week on NASPAWiki. — Mary Rhoades

When will NSA clubs become NASPA clubs? — Carol Kaplan

July 1, 2009, if they pay a fee. — John Chew

When can players join NASPA? — Dave Wiegand

Now. — Chris Cree

Will NASPA consider outreach and promotion using Facebook and game set inserts? — Rod MacNeil

Yes. This is one big reason why we are charging fees, to build a war chest for a publicity campaign in 2010. — John Chew

Will NASPA prepare an information sheet for directors to give to players? — Tom Tremont

We would welcome your helping us prepare one, but otherwise encourage you to redistribute a monthly news bulletin that we will soon begin producing. — John Chew

Must club members who do not attend tournaments pay the NASPA membership fee? — Joel Sherman

They do not currently have to if they do not want to play in tournaments; the Membership Committee is considering alternate forms of membership for these and other players. — John Chew