The annual meeting was held at 10 a.m. on the second day of the festival. 43 members ultimately showed up to share concerns and questions.
The meeting with chairman Braidy Brown expressing thanks to board members that were finishing their terms: Sam Kilbourn (who was unable to attend the fest), Perry Rubenfeld, and Bud Markowitz. He also thanked Steve Salberg, who had resigned a few months before but still was working on the web site (and was replaced on the board by Paul Richmond by appointment), and Walt Szeezil, who resigned a few weeks before and was replaced by former CAO "Nearly Normal" Norman Schneiderman.
Braidy remembered a few members that had passed away during the last year. Eddie Johnson's widow donated some props and memorabilia to the IJA, a company donated 2500 balls to sell as a fundraiser, and the organization also received a donation of a package of letters and pictures from Harry Lind.
Perry expressed his thanks to the board.
Bud discussed his work with the Special Olympics. He's given away 5300 sets of juggling balls to kids in this group, and he encourages other jugglers to get involved.
Art Jennings gave a short but heartfelt speech, talking about him and Lou Meyer starting the IJA 54 years ago because of the decline of vaudeville in the wake of movies: "There was no networking, no teaching... jugglers had to learn by themselves. It was difficult to convince other jugglers to join and share information, even Bobby May didn't want to join at first. But then the IJA grew through picnics and local events. It was a different world, where people were protective of tricks and techniques, but it still grew into the IJA of today. Controversy has almost brought the organization to a standstill, but nobody knows how I feel to look into that gym and see how it's grown. Stick with it, open your mouth, and help out where you can."
Paul Richmond introduced himself and expressed his hope to help energize the organization.
Norman announced that longtime registrar Bob Mahler had been hired as the new Chief Administrative Officer (CAO). He said that he wanted to bring members' views to the board and information back to the membership. He read over some figures from the 1999 financial statement.
Richard Dingman, the IJA's Secretary/Treasurer, reported on some new equipment for the IJA office and projects he was working on.
Three candidates for the board of directors spoke briefly: Katje Sabin, Ben Schoenberg, and Martin Frost.
Stan Allen and Alan Howard from JUGGLE magazine were introduced.
Richard announced that the election would take place later this afternoon and asked for volunteers to help tabulate.
Walter Szeezil gave a detailed account of how the board came to its decision regarding the Life Member Program.
Many members had comments regarding both the process and the decision itself. Many suggestions were made and volunteers offered their time to help solve the dilemma. The new policy on family membership, the web forum, and member communications were also discussed in detail.
Braidy thanked everyone and closed the meeting.