Wednesday May 6 General Meeting at BROADWAY PIZZA

Our meeting location has changed! After more than a decade, the MN chapter of ALOA is returning to: 

Broadway Pizza, 2025 West River Rd N, Minneapolis, MN 55411

Social Hour from 5:30 pm until 7:00 pm
General Meeting from 7:00 pm - 7:40 pm (approximately - meetings run +/- 15 minutes depending on material that needs to be covered)

Education immediately following the meeting; our speaker will be Susan Biggers of Napco Security Technologies

Dinner will be available in the meeting rooms, terms tbd (I bet it will be pizza). 

Come early, come late, leave early - you do not have to be a member to attend up to 2 meetings a year.

April General Meeting Highlights, Board Meeting Wednesday April 15th

First and foremost thanks to Mark Schrantz for a great presentation on Detex products. Detex has a great commitment to tried and true exit alarms and they are also no strangers to innovation. In addition to the workhorses you know and love they also have: exit hardware in several architectural finishes and lever styles, multipoint (more than 3 with a la carte hinge-side bolts!) latching devices for hard-to-secure openings, electronic access-control and plastic templates with every product for a perfect installation every time. (Plus a lot more, go to their website and look at all their products.)

New business of note:

Grumpy's is a great space, but their minimum is something like $300 (or more) and that's just a bit outside what the chapter spends every month. Even with the quarterly meeting proposal on the table, there are up to 6 more meetings scheduled for 2015 and it may well be worth moving to another, more affordable, location.  Broadway Pizza in Minneapolis and the Roasted Pear in Brooklyn Park are proposed locations which have a lower minimum purchase than Grumpy's.

In treasury news, kudos to Phil Babcock: the accounts have finally been transferred and the backlog of checks received over the past couple of months has been deposited. If you have any questions about your membership status or if you sent a check that hasn't cleared yet, contact Phil (phil@babcockandson.com).

Board meeting Wednesday April 15, 6:00 pm at the Roasted Pear, 

9690 Colorado Lane, Brooklyn Park, MN.

The agenda will feature but not be limited to:

-Quarterly meetings details

-Communication improvements made plus future targets

-New location for remaining 2015 general meetings? 

The board meeting is open for paid members in good standing to attend and observe. This is a dinner meeting (the meeting proper probably won't be convened until about 6:30 pm after folks have a chance to order).

Our next general meeting will be May 6 at Grumpy's.  If the location change somehow goes through before then, it will be published here, to the mailing list, they'll probably call everyone...

Doorknob of the Day - Suprise!

Why so worried, pretty kitty?

Board Meeting recap and April General Meeting reminder

March 18, 2015 Board meeting summary:

It was discussed that chapter meetings would become quarterly starting in 2016 and that the meetings would be the first weekends of February, May, August, and November. Board meetings could be held once or twice between general meetings, dependant upon the Board's ability to improve communication. The Board voted to procede with the intention to have a proposal for a member vote at the May meeting. 

The details are a work in progress. There was a suggestion to make the meetings weekend based was so that there could be more thorough classes. IDN Hoffman’s Tim Mathewson has offered to host at their warehouse, and Molly from Doyle will check in to whether they can host also.

Dana proposed that the February meeting would be the education weekend event also. There will be extra emphasis placed on securing instructors, and raising awareness. Input for class requests can be brought to the board, or Dana Lee.

Phil intends to complete a full treasurers report before the next meeting. Any inquiry of dues or memberships renewal can be addressed to Phil Babcock or Jim Elmwood.

Thanks to Molly, who attended the board meeting, for providing the recap info.

The next general meeting is Wednesday, April 1st at Grumpy's Roseville. Dinner and social hour in the meeting room from 5:30 until 7, meeting at 7 pm and education following the meeting.

Our speaker will be Mark Schrantz from Detex

2015 Dues are Due!

If you haven't renewed your membership for 2015, due it now!

There is a membership renewal form which you can download and print by clicking the tab "Membership Renewal Form" above.

If you have any questions about how to submit your payment, please contact our treasurer, Phil Babcock, phil(at)babcockandson.com.

April 1, 2015 Meeting, No Fooling!

April 2015 Meeting

Our next regular meeting is Wednesday, April 1 at Grumpy's Roseville, 2801 Snelling Avenue, 

Roseville, MN 55113, (651) 379-1180.

Dinner/social hour in the meeting room from 6:00 - 7:00 pm, with the general meeting at 7 and education following the meeting - come for all or part, everyone welcome.

Our speaker will be Mark Schrantz.

Are quarterly meetings right for the Minnesota Chapter of ALOA?

The question has been raised whether the membership of MNALOA would be better served by fewer meetings.

The quarterly, weekend meeting has clear merit for members outside the metro area who would prefer not to be driving two, three or more hours home after a Wednesday meeting that routinely gets out at 9 pm.

Neighboring chapter Fox Valley has quarterly, Saturday meetings and Iowa is on a less-set schedule than that, frequently incorporating their meetings into education events. It works well for them: the meetings are longer, often on weekends, and the education programming is generally more substantial than we are able to offer in the monthly, mid-week meeting format.

In favor of the monthly meeting: it's great to have a regular pattern that everyone remembers.  First Wednesday of the month? Synonymous with MN locksmiths (except in July and August). High frequency mid-week meetings offer a natural bookend on a work day and a casual, consistent networking opportunity.

It is also relatively easy to get a variety of free educational speakers for short presentations during the week. The targeted greater substance of Saturday programming would potentially come at a cost which would need to be accounted for.

It will undoubtably be a point of discussion at the next board meeting, scheduled for Wednesday, March 18th, 6pm at the Golden Gate Cafe located in the Midway Shopping Center, 1464 University Avenue West, St Paul, MN 55104. And, of course, at regular monthly meetings which will continue at Grumpy's until further notice (details under "Minnesota Chapter Meetings" tab above).