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 will begin charging a $0.50/game/player participation fee on July 1st, 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
- Will the rules and lexicon change? — Denise Mahnken
- The NSA Rules Committee and Dictionary Committee will be transferred to NASPA, and continue their work as usual. There will be regular updates to the Rules, and the Long Words will be updated in the next few words. — John Chew
- Who will publish the word list? — Judy Cole
- We do not yet know who will publish the next word list, but will take into consideration the examples of WESPA and the USCF when beginning negotiations. — John Chew
- Will NASPA be taking over Word Gear too? — Joel Sherman
- Not in the foreseeable future. The NSA and Word Gear are separate businesses that happen to share staff and facilities. — John Chew
- Will there be executive stipends, will the members decide them, and will they be published? — Shelley Ubeika
- Yes, because there are and will be people working long hours and spending money for the association; no, the membership at large will not vote on compensation; yes, NASPA will report its budget in accordance with statutory requirements. — Chris Cree, John Chew and Steve Pellinen
- Do Local Club Tournament players still have to be paid members? — Laura Scheimberg
- Yes, that may be reviewed in future, but for the moment at least has not changed. — John Chew
- How many rated games were there in 2008? — Mike Baron
- Approximately 70,000. — Steve Pellinen
- Should people buy NASPA memberships now? — Marty Gabriel
- Yes. — Chris Cree
- Who is on the new Advisory Board? — Mike Baker
- Present are Chris Cree, John Chew, Mary Rhoades and Rod MacNeil. — Chris Cree
- Will the exemption from paying a membership fee for the first rated tournament continue? — Joel Sherman
- It is under serious review. — John Chew
- Will ratings be instantaneously available to directors who submit ratings data? — Keith Smith
- Probably by April. — John Chew
- Will NASPA accept a large cash donation to support a seniors tournament? — William Clark
- NASPA will consider the issue seriously. — John Chew