The Hand You're Dealt 2

Spoke to the current Chapter President yesterday about the nominations process. Typically, we do not have more than 1 person run for a vacant office or board position. When I ran for reelection to the board after my first term, we almost had 4 people for 3 spots, but 1 guy dropped out. If memory serves, that guy is now our Chapter president.

I have volunteered to run for President, the 1st VP has volunteered to remain 1st VP and the Secretary & Treasurer have done the same. According to the Prez, we have 3 board members whose terms are up. 1 of them has volunteered to serve as 2nd VP. 1 of the others is serving out the last months of my term as I stepped up to 2nd VP & is indifferent about remaining on the board or not. He's House Chair & is remaining in that capacity. The 3rd is our Membership Chair & is very active. The Prez feels like we need some new blood on the Board. I agree, but hate to see the Membership Chair rotate off the Board. The Prez believes he has 3 new board members lined up & some other folks he's ready to ask to take a more active role in Chapter management & leadership. The wild card is we have 1 remaining board director who rarely attends meetings or really does anything with the chapter. This person is very well liked by all, including me, but has some things working against him/her. (I don't want to give too much info here) This person has small children at home, lives probably 45 miles away from Baltimore, and has a very demanding travel schedule with work. The Prez has not decided if we should ask this person to resign or not. I can't decide either. The Prez wants to ensure we have a fighting chance at a quorum each month & with this person, we know we will almost always be 1 person short.

All that to say, I think I've found my solution to what does the 2nd VP do to help the Chapter. To recap, the 1st VP will be charged with membership recruitment, retention, etc. The guy whose stepping up to 2nd VP is currently the Programs Chair. He may or may not want to continue with that, I need to ask him at the meeting tonight. However, I think the key to growing not only members but meeting attendees lies in the programs & general tenor of the monthly meetings. I think the 2nd VP should work closely with the Programs & House committees to make sure all runs smoothly with the meetings, new members are recognized, visitors are introduced & the meetings are fun, informative & well attended. With a 1-2 tandem of hard hitting membership recruitment & retention working closely with making our meetings better, it should be a winning combination. Throw in the wild card of hosting the National Convention in 2007, & it should be a good year!