I would just like to add my second to Bob letter and the hard work he
has done this year. It is hard to imagine that we have come so far in a
year's time. I think it show commitment on everyone's part to make this
work. This is not just the Bob Boyer and Buster Irvin THING it belongs
to all of us. It was wonderful to see everyone at the meeting
participate in the discussions. We are very fortunate to have some one
of Bob's drive and also 2 months off to keep things going.  Bob you are
just GREAT.
Thanks 
Charles(Buster) Irvin
Concert & Touring Administrator
Cumberland County Playhouse
P.O.Box 484
Crossville, TN 38557
Phone: 931-484-4324, ext 226
Fax: 931-484-6299


-----Original Message-----
From: Tennessee Presenters, Board & Agents [mailto:[log in to unmask]]
On Behalf Of Robert Boyer
Sent: Thursday, June 21, 2007 4:16 PM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Annual Meeting Update

Thanks to everyone for making the trip Monday to participate in our 
first annual meeting! A couple of thanks in particular to: Mimi 
Shimmin, who graciously hosted us at an exceedingly cool pre-civil war 
mansion that Metro Parks owns, Larry Kosson of SMG Artists for his 
insights - and the beer, and to Lee Warren for the donation of her 
fingertips. She had to have worn every finger down to the first knuckle 
the way she was pounding on the keyboard trying to keep notes on our 
brainstorming efforts.

For those of you unable to attend, please check out the report in the 
news section of the website (bookmark www.tnpresenters.org right now 
while you're thinking about it!) and go to for a more detailed report 
at:
http://www.tnpresenters.org/news(detail).php?resourcesid=2

The short story is that after a lot of thought and discussion on the 
part of each and every one of us in attendance, we didn't quite do a 
180 degree turn from how most folks think a presenting consortium goes 
about its business, but we adjusted our thinking pretty significantly 
based on our mutually agreed-upon needs. The bottom line is that we are 
going to try to hold down the costs associated with our planned 
activities by trying to keep as much information and operations online 
as possible and by combining functions at our meetings.

The effort is going to be two-pronged: 1) add as much information and 
functionality as we can imagine (and is technically possible) to the 
website and our listserves and 2) combine meeting functions to hold 
down on production and travel costs when we do get together. Instead of 
a big showcase conference every other year, we'll have a smaller, one 
day showcase conference coupled to a booking conference and we'll hold 
them at member's venues across the state instead of renting space in 
trade centers. Hopefully, these initiatives will keep us from 
increasing our budgets and worrying about funding so much that we lose 
sight of what we're really supposed to be providing for our members: 
block booking opportunities and access to each other.

J Noble of the TAC (yea, J!) has graciously offered to rework our venue 
and series survey (which I e-mailed to all of you a couple of  months 
ago in its raw form) and Bonnie MacDonald in Kingsport has offered to 
spearhead the drive to collect all of the information which we will be 
asking you to provide about your venue. When we get everything 
together, we'll get it up on the website so, in addition to our 
programming information, we can get a feel for what types of programs 
might work in which venues. Simultaneously, member agents will be 
adding their rosters to the website so we might quickly ascertain some 
of the acts which are out there.

We're also going to be surveying members for their particular interests 
and areas of expertise and posting that information. We are hoping to 
be able to use these "experts" to help members by providing additional 
programming information we might not otherwise be able to obtain as 
well as providing a general pool of expertise about operations, 
marketing, sponsorships, and a host of other informational needs we all 
share.

We're going to try to organize a formal process to easily enable 
members to attend each other's performances as the need may arise to 
see an act first-hand before making a booking decision.

This is just the beginning. The only limit to what we can accomplish is 
our own imagination. If you see a need, or have an idea, post it to the 
list. We started a list of action items at the meeting for us to 
accomplish and we want your continued input so that list continues to 
drive our thinking.

While we're not quite done lurching from one organizational issue to 
another, we're finally getting to the point where we can start figuring 
out what we want to be when we grow up...and that's exciting. I'm 
looking forward to the journey with everyone here.

Bob


Robert Boyer
Patten Performances Director
UTC Fine Arts Center
www.utc.edu/finearts
423.425.4379