Second Meeting of the 2018 Austin Chinese-American Network (ACAN) Board of Directors

Austin, TX, October 5, 2018: The Austin Chinese American Network (ACAN) held its second board meeting of 2018 on October 5. ACAN President Mr. Peter Chao and three Vice Presidents, Mr. Charles Qiu, Mr. Darda Chang, and Ms. Caijiao Zhao spoke at the meeting, respectively. As members of the leadership team, they emphasized the significance of ACAN’s core mission: “Serve our community; Foster our heritage”, and expressed confidence in ACAN’s future work. Led by Mr. Peter Chao, the meeting focused on the discussion and approval of the following 4 proposals:

1. To add a standing Publication Committee, and the possibility of adding a

Commercial/Food committee in the future;

2. Each board director to be responsible for a specific project in preparation for the “2019

Chinese Culture Festival” (herein referred to as Festival);

3. To find new board members for the new Board of Directors starting March 2019; new

board candidates to participate in board activities as soon as possible;

4. The current President and the next President-elect shall have a one-year overlap period;

the president-elect shall be elected one year before the incumbent’s term ends.

The meeting highlighted ACAN’s multiple achievements in the past year, and called for continuing to improve ACAN’s community services in coming months, and taking the opportunity of the Festival to improve and to broaden ACAN’s community service initiatives.

The meeting discussed and approved the following preparation projects and teams for the Festival, and assigned respective responsibilities:

• Advertisement, led by Mr. Charles Qiu, and assisted by Mr. Bin Zhong and Mr. Yong Zhao. The Advertisement team will complete the production of 4 promotional videos shortly, and market the Festival together with other media channels.
• Commercial sponsorship and advertisements, led by Ms. Jean Shaw, and assisted by Ms. Cathy Liu. Its focus is the promotion of commercial sponsorship for the Festival. At the same time, it will work to draw up advertising rates and to fill advertisement spots in the program pamphlet of the Festival.
•  Admission ticket design and pre-sale, led by Ms. Xiaoying Huang, and assisted by Mr. Hailong Sun and Ms. Helen Gu. They are responsible for the design, printing, and pre-sales of tickets for the Festival, as well as the ticket sale process.
• Food retail stalls, led by Ms. Debbie Wei, and assisted by Ms. Anita Luo and Mr. Hugh Li. In addition to marketing and on-site management of these stalls as part of the Festival, the team will organize a food tasting events later this year and draft related work process.
• Chinese culture exhibit booths, led by Mr. Yongbo Wang, and assisted by Mr. Yuan Chen. The team will determine the types of items to be placed in the exhibit booths and the sales of these items on the day of the event.
• Chinese talent show (Showcase), led by Ms. Huali Bao, and assisted by Mr. Peter Chao. The team is responsible for contacting relevant groups, and the organization and coordination of the Chinese talent show.
• The promotion of Chinese culture in local high schools will be led by Ms. CJ Zhao, and assisted by Mr. Wei Liu. Targeted activities will include Chinese craft training among high schoolers, the assessment of the effectiveness of such trainings, and organizing Chinese craft demos during the Festival.
• The main performance show in the evening, led by Mr. Darda Chang and assisted by Ms. Zhongping Tang. The team is responsible for the approval and organization of the main program of the Festival, including the management of stage audio and lighting equipment.
• Promotional leaflet and program pamphlet design, led by Mr. Yong Zhao and assisted by Ms. Xinmiao Zhao. It is responsible for the design and printing of the Festival’s promotional leaflet and program pamphlet.
• Purchasing group, led by Ms. Huixia Luo, and assisted by Ms. Vivi Li. It is responsible for purchasing necessary items for events on the day of the Festival.
• Volunteer service, led by Ms. Angela Qian, and assisted by Ms. Huimin Zhao. The main tasks are to recruit volunteers and to make assignments for the Festival.

The meeting made it clear that promotional write-ups in Chinese and English should aim to expand their reach, and utilize a variety of Chinese and English media channels. ACAN’s website master will work closely with Chinese and English article writers to update and publish promotional content on the homepage in a timely manner.

The meeting attached great importance to the Festival. Because ACAN is a purely volunteer organization, it is an enormous challenge to organize this Festival with an anticipated audience in the thousands. The meeting stressed early preparation and planning of all above tasks with collected and coordinated volunteer support, and to communicate with a 2-week interval among the task forces to ensure proper progress of all activities.

Finally, Ms. Wendy Wei, ACAN’s CFO, reported to the Board ACAN’s incomes and expenses in the period, and its overall balance sheet.

Board directors in attendance:

Ms. Angela Qian, Ms. Jean Shaw, Mr. Yongbo Wang, Ms. Huali Bao, Ms. Wendy Wei, Ms. Xiaoying Huang, Ms. Mingqin Jin, Ms. Luping Liu, Ms. CJ Zhao, Mr. Peter Chao, Mr. Darda Chang, Ms. Viv Li, Mr. Wei Liu. Mr. Bin Zhong, Mr. Charles Qiu, Mr. Yong Zhao, Mr. Yuan Chen.

Board member who voted in absence: Mr. Hailong Sun