Brothers and Sisters,

Welcome to the new year and yet another fresh start for us all. At last year's Convention, held in York Beach, Maine, it was made clear that the membership wants to have more communications from the Executive Board. We are in the process of establishing a schedule and developing a format that local Chapter Presidents, or their designated representative, can use for an on-line meeting.

After the Seattle, Washington, Convention, the current Executive Board of FOOLS International found that having a meeting over the phone was just not going to work. With the board members located in various parts of the country, we needed to find a cost effective alternative. After doing some searching, we found a free voice-over internet program called Skye. The Executive Board has been using this program for the past year and half for meetings with great results.

In preparation for the upcoming meetings, we are asking all Chapter Presidents to visit http://skype.com/ and download and install the latest version of this program. Once you have completed this process you will be asked to provide your real name, create a Skype name and a password. During this process it may take several minutes for your information to be verified by the Skype system, so please be patient. Before you can take advantage of this system there are some basic requirements you must have. First, you must have a microphone that is connected to your computer's sound card. You can locate this port on most desktops in the rear of the tower. It should be a pink-colored receptacle. Next is a set of computer speakers connected to your PC.

After you have added these, we need to know what your newly-created screen name is so that we may add you to our account. If you would like to add our account to your list of contacts please use the screen name of: fools.meeting.

During the scheduled meeting for your area we ask that you have your computer connected to the internet and the Skype program running 30 minutes prior to the start of the meeting. You should plan on receiving an incoming call approximately five to ten minutes prior to the start of the meeting from our account. Once you have accepted the call, it may take us several minutes to make sure that all of the Chapters scheduled to be at the meeting are on the call, so please bear with us during this time.

Once the meeting has been called to order by a FOOLS Executive Board member we ask that you keep the background noise and open conversations to a minimum – remember, everything you say can be heard by all the others on the conference call. During the meeting, an agenda will be followed to keep them productive and to make sure we're not keeping people up until all hours. Remember, some people on the call may be across the country in another time zone. We plan on making every effort to find a time that works for the majority of the people attending.

Included in the Skype program is a chat window that functions in two very different ways. There is a person-to-person chat, along with a call chat. To keep people in attendance from not being heard, we plan on using the call chat. During the meeting if you would like a turn to speak about the current topic simply type in the call chat box that you have a question or type in “RH” for raising hand. The meeting moderator will answer calls in the order that they were received.

If you have any questions about the installation process and use of Skype, please contact Andy “Sippy” Biron at Sippy@foolsinternational.com.