Chair: Martin, welcomed attendees and opened meeting

 Item 1:  An Update on Loden Rinpoche (Michael)

 Recap of identification:

• Tibetan Buddhist Society (TBS) was left responsibility by Geshe Loden for the search for his reincarnation
• Loden Rinpoche was formally identified by His Holiness the Dalai Lama July 2023
• Geshe Penpa made 3 trips to Ladakh during the process of finding Loden Rinpoche. On his 4^th trip in Feb 2024, he accompanied Loden Rinpoche from Ladakh to Dharamsala for his hair cutting ceremony
• Geshe Penpa was formerly house manager of Geshe Loden’s house at Sera Je (now Loden Labrang). He is Rinpoche’s teacher and responsible for Rinpoche’s early education and care

 Schooling:

• March 2024 – Rinpoche started school at Sera Monastery. The school has official accreditation from the Department of Indian Education
• Teaches standard Indian primary and secondary education curriculum. Subjects include Tibetan, Hindi, English science, mathematics
• Loden Rinpoche now in Year 2 of school
• Rinpoche is 8 years old

Rinpoche will transition to Geshe training (not before Year 8 at earliest – possibly Year 10)

Recent Update:

• During the Losar holidays, Geshe Penpa took Rinpoche to Water and Snow Worlds in Mysore
• Geshe Penpa reports all going well with Rinpoche, his memorising is superior, and he is happy, well and settled
• Rinpoche’s English is progressing well
• A video of Rinpoche reciting from memory was shown

Other News:

• Loden Labrang was built 20 years ago by Geshe Loden to be the home for his reincarnation
• “Labrang” means presence, community, and the people living in that house
• TBS recently sponsored a second roof (due to a leak) for the house so that the open space is now completely covered. It keeps both the sun and monsoonal rain off the building 

Item 2: TBS Communications update (Anna, powerpoint)

 Overview:

• TBS promotes classes and events through wide range of digital and print channels – TBS website, social media, emails via Campaign Monitor, biannual e-newsletter, printed posters and postcards

 The website:

• TBS website is primary communication channel with other channels driving readers to it, 100 visits a day average.
• 22,500 active users in past 12 months
• Top 10 most visited pages; TBS calendar, various retreats, intro class, facility charge, White Tara empowerment, blog on Tulku system

 TBS email and mailing list:

• Currently 1010 subscribers – up from 870 in 2023
• 2-3 emails issued per week
• Standard template used (in Campaign Monitor) to maintain consistency and recognition
• Open rate of about 40%. This rate used to judge relative percentage of email openings across various campaigns but is not an accurate measure of the actual % of emails opened as some providers (eg Apple) have privacy restrictions meaning this data is not communicated back
• Two or three volunteers put the emails together mainly Anna and Martin
• a volunteer data specialist, Jill, does a great job maintaining the data set

Comments/suggestions:

• It was noted that the opening percentage trending toward 50% recently, which with the increasing number of subscribers, means up to a 100 extra people may now be opening TBS emails
• It was also noted that there are now several places on the website that encourage people to join the mailing list, eg where people complete facility charges online and on most retreat registration pages
• It was suggested that on the home Page of TBS website there could be a link to register for the mailing list (eg near calendar)

 Social Media:

• 10,700 followers on Facebook (FB)
• 1,215 followers on Instagram
• 720 on YouTube
• 12 LinkedIn (new account)
• Post 2-3 times a week on FB (20-30 reactions per post).
• boosts result in much higher numbers of reactions with up to 200- 400 responses
• boosts can target users via keyword interests (eg meditation) or different geographical areas eg around Yuroke for classes or all of Victoria for retreats.
• Boosts cost $20 to $30 per week for classes and $150 to $250 for retreats.
• Before boosting, the first post about the winter retreat received 30 likes which increased to 200 after a boost
• Social media boosts are extremely cost effective – ads in print media in the past have cost up to $1500 dollars

 Comments/ Suggestions:

• Suggested referring to Finance committee for increased funding to add further boosts to posts
• To attract a LinkedIn following, it may be useful to provide a link to a recent newsletter article on “Busy is a state of mind”
• The social media posts are currently mostly created by Deb and Anna and other people with interests and relevant skills who would like to help, would be welcomed.

 Print Media:

• Print media dropped off almost completely during COVID
• Some sources being reintroduced this year – eg posters re term updates and retreats.
• eg an A3 poster and bundles of handouts sent to Tara institute, Atisha centre and others before recent White Tara Empowerment which attracted 160 people
• New ideas are very welcome though to do much more we would need more hands on-deck to make it happen
• Communications team also very grateful to a long-term student Rob who has being responsible for the graphic design of the recent print and some of the social media campaigns

 General comments and suggestions re other TBS communications and promotion:

 Volunteer Hub

• It was noted that another recent promotion of the centre has been the development of the volunteer hub via CST (esp Rosie, Jen) with other assistance from Anna and Michael. Thanks were offered to those involved in that project.
• Without active promotion the volunteer hub has already resulted in a small number of people joining the volunteer community
• It is planned to actively promote the volunteer hub in the latter part of this year

 Biannual Newsletter

• It was noted that the biannual e-newsletter is attracting more readers and includes excellent quality Dharma articles as well as TBS community news. Congrats were offered to the newsletter team (Anna, Chris, Jen)
• The last edition was also promoted via the website’s latest news and on social media for the first time, and a link to the recently established newsletter archive is now being added at the bottom of some of the TBS general emails

 Tushita books

• It was suggested that a card or bookmark with information about the TBS and possibly a QR code be inserted in each book purchased
• It was also asked whether a QR code could be included on bookmarks currently being designed for sale in the Enjoyment Shop

 Other

• A question was raised re how membership was publicised and made an attractive option on the website
• It was noted that membership not increasing unlike mailing list subscriptions
• It was suggested that a review of what is offered in the membership package is probably well overdue possibly along with a review of the information on the website
• An email campaign or newsletter article re membership and its benefits to self and to the centre, might also be worth considering
• It was also noted, however, that TBS has a conscious policy to avoid proselytizing in any promotional material and avoids making prominent requests for donations on the website
• Finally, it was noted that the way forward with social media is likely to involve short videos. A brief discussion ensued about the popularity of two recent videos on Instagram that were made by two young women about the centre

 Item 3: His Eminence (HE) Ling Rinpoche Australian Tour (Martin)

 Event details: at Tibetan Buddhist Society on 9^th and 10^th August. 

Program:        

Sat: Bodhicitta and Buddha Potential (available online to registered, participants), 2 sessions each 2hrs

Sun: Medicine Buddha initiation (in-person only)

 HE Ling Rinpoche is a highly respected Lama of Gelugpa tradition, he is now in his early 40s and is the reincarnation of the senior tutor to His Holiness the 14^th Dalai Lama

• His monastery is Drepung, based in Southern India
• HE Ling Rinpoche sponsored a yearly series of Lam Rim teachings for the monasteries of southern India at which HHDL taught. A number of these were attended by Mani and Cath
• He was due to visit Aus and NZ in 2000 but was cancelled due to COVID
• 4-5 weeks ago, Michael received confirmation of HE Ling Rinpoche Australian tour
• HE Ling Rinpoche speaks English fluently though teaches in Tibetan and will have English translator and 2 attendants with him staying for 1 week at TBS
• Plan when he arrives to have a line in along driveway and temple entrance to present flowers and khataks to show appreciation and respect
• A general call out is made to volunteers to help for this amazing event, and a planning steering group has been formed
• Initial save the date email has gone out, currently looking at registration email / pricing / catering / how we get place looking fantastic / Tonina stocking up the enjoyment shop

 Comments/suggestions:

• His Eminence is very close to the Tibetan community, suggested contact Tibetan community to be involved eg with the khatak welcome
• There is a history of connection between HE Ling Rinpoche’s college and Geshe-la’s Denma college as both are for monks from Kham region in Tibet – TBS students have been offered cordial hospitality in past
• It was noted we have available a lovely, framed picture of HE’s previous incarnation that may be useful to display during the visit
• Temple maximum capacity 300 (250 on floor and 50 for sangha on platform). (note also will be online option for Saturday)
• Potentially could have big screen in refreshment hall and/or people watching in from balconies on either side of temple
• Marquees were mentioned, but also mentioned were very expensive to hire.
• It was suggested that priority be offered to TBS members and volunteers for in-person registration prior to email going out to general mailing list and wider communication
• Volunteers will have reserved seating, so they are not disadvantaged

Martin: closed meeting