Communications Committee Meeting, 2010-06-08

We had a spirited debate about the messaging for the Democratic Party of Evanston. After going over the results from the two previous messaging meetings. And we agreed on a message to present to the Board for approval. Even though that took most of the meeting we did quickly discuss the rest of the agenda items: moving forward on the logo contest, crafting a new committee budget, and redesign of the 2010 general election sample ballot. In attendance where:

• Adam Finlayson
• Toni Gilpin
• Ginny Holbert
• John Welch
• Rene Rivera

Briefly, we agreed on the following:

1. We will present the Board with an updated core message. Which the various committees can take and use to craft their own messages as they see the need. The goal being that the core message will not generally be used "as is". But instead be a guide towards what the Party is trying to communicate.
2. The logo contest will start as soon as the message is approved and we have the five judges needed. We also decided, in order to expedite the process, that three (3) of the judges will be the chairs of the Issues, Finance, and Membership committees. And that two (2) other judges will be from outside the Board and have knowledge of branding and/or graphic design. With that Toni is looking at getting those two outside judges.
3. We will work on creating a budget immediately. And we initially agreed to include a variety of "advertising" items in the budget that are traditionally part of some committee budget, general expenses, or special purchases.

We did not have time to discuss the redesign of the sample ballot at this time. But we briefly talked about some of the constraints of the ballot. Specifically what is the required information for the ballot.