AEPA Spring 2007 Meeting, April 24

The AEPA members voted to accept Texas and Arkansas as members and proceeded to ratify AEPA, Inc. bylaws, policies, and procedures. Lots of "administrivia" but necessary.

The afternoon general session continued with discussion regarding AEPA members marketing AEPA contracts in non-AEPA states.

I volunteered to serve on the furniture bid committee with Tom Post from Missouri.

Begin fall meeting Tuesday, November 27 at 10am. AEPA fall 2007 meeting is November 27-28.

Spring 2008 meeting will be April 10, 11, 12 in Arlington, Virginia.

AEPA Spring 2007 Meeting, April 23

Day two of the AEPA Spring 2007 meeting began with a continuation of the general session and review of bids.

• AEPA members are concerned over the lack of communication from ABC School Supplies

Vendor Concerns:

• consistent admin fee across AEPA members
  
• uniform reporting template
  
• how to encourage states to sign more vendor contracts
• more robust and user friendly AEPA website
• more e-mail communication to vendors from AEPA; possibly an e-newsletter
• how does AEPA position itself with other national COOP's?

Action plans from today's meeting:

• extend invitations to five AEPA members to visit Greenbush by July 1, 2007
• create list of Kansas trade shows and post to Greenbush websites

The afternoon general session was dedicated to roundtable meetings between AEPA members and vendors. The meetings allowed members and vendors to communicate on marketing strategies and product/service information. Although each roundtable meeting lasted only 10 minutes, it was a great opportunity to network with our vendor partners and strategize about how to best serve the needs of school districts.

Atlas Track and Tennis sponsored a dinner cruise on the Ohio river for AEPA members.

AEPA Spring 2007 Meeting, April 22

The AEPA spring 2007 meeting began on Sunday, April 22, with an evening reception with AEPA members and vendors and the opening of the general session. My notes are as follows:

• Kansas ranks sixth in AEPA sales
• The AEPA website typically has the most activity in December
• Top five AEPA vendors in sales: Tremco, CDW-G, Atlas Track and Tennis, Williams Scotsman, School Specialty
• Many components of the AEPA meeting are sponsored including: evening reception, breakfast, lunch, breaks, and evening “specials”
• Montana has a “How to Order with AEPA” guide on their website
• The vast majority of AEPA vendors were present at the meeting

OUT OF OFFICE APRIL 22-25

I will be out of the office from April 22-25, back in the office on Thursday, April 26. I will be attending the AEPA spring meeting and will have access to e-mail and voicemail.

Please e-mail me at brad.stefanoni@greenbush.org should you need to contact me.

Partner Promotion

We are on the verge of a whole new initiative for promoting products and services from our business partners and AEPA vendors to the school districts Greenbush serves. Following are just a few of the things that are coming for our business partners and AEPA vendors:

• marketing via audio and video Podcasting
• vendor "mall" in Secondlife in which to promote products
• opportunities for sponsoring new Mediaglobe programs
• e-marketing with Matt and Rich
• forum for Q&A about vendors and their products and/or services

"If you build it, they will come..."

OUT OF THE OFFICE ON FRIDAY, APRIL 13

I will be out of the office on Friday, April 13. Please shoot me an e-mail or voicemail and I'll return it on Monday, April 16.

Have a great weekend!

Kaw Valley USD 321 Track Resurfacing, 4All Memory, and Custom Energy

Superintendent Jim McDaniel, Kaw Valley USD 321, called today interested in vendors for track resurfacing. We chatted about AEPA and Atlas Track & Tennis and he plans to call Sarah Morehead at Atlas soon.

A draft memorandum of understanding will soon be finalized with 4All Memory that will provide Greenbush school districts with discounted rates on computer memory.

We are close to partnering with Custom Energy to provide discounted rates to Greenbush school districts on energy conservation training for school districts.

Towanda, Kansas School Board Meeting

Today I will represent Greenbush at the Towanda school board meeting. They are installing FieldTurf under the Atlas Track & Tennis AEPA contract.

Circle School District and KansasBio Partnership Plan

I'll be traveling to Circle school district's board of education meeting on Monday, April 9, as they are using Atlas Track & Tennis, an AEPA vendor, for their track/field turf project.

A draft partnership plan is complete for the KansasBio-Kansas Farm Bureau-Greenbush partnership for K-12 bioscience education. We will have a working meeting on Friday, April 6, to further that mission.

Later,
Brad

Partnership in K-12 Bioscience Education

I've been working on a partnership plan for K-12 bioscience education all week. KansasBio, Kansas Farm Bureau, and Greenbush are the players.

Exciting times loom on the horizon for students and teachers in Kansas!