That's one of my favorite novels - Brave New World by Aldous Huxley. It seems apt to something that a group of us are going through.
My chapter is entering a brave new world and I think I'll use this forum to post some observations about it. I'm thinking this might become a pamphlet that other chapters can use when they find themselves in a similar situation.
Today is July 10, 2009. On July 1, 2009, a new chapter president took office. Our new president was diagnosed with Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS), or what is commonly called Lou Gehrig's Disease, earlier this year. He is recieving treatments at the best hospital in the world, but unfortnately, the disease appears to me to be progressing rapidly. Last fall, we noticed a slurring of his speech. Folks asked me if he was intoxicated at our meetings. I assured them, as I was certain myself, that he was not. He had never been know to drink to excess and I sincerely doubted that had changed. In November, he confided in me that he was concerned about his speech loss and was seeking a diagnosis, but he too was certain it was ALS.
When the diagnosis came, chapter leaders as a whole were uncertain how to proceed. We didn't want to seem unkind or hurt his feelings in any way. If he wanted to serve, we were prepared to let him serve as president. I guess, we had to reassure each other first of that fact.
The little I know about ALS comes from the book Tuesdays with Morrie by Mitch Albom. Great book, I highly recommend it. In sinister thing about ALS it is takes your central nervous system away from you piece by piece while leaving your mind completely intact. Our dear president lost his speech very rapidly - after the initial noticing of difficulties in October or November of 2008, by March of 2009, he was unable to be understood at all. Chapter elections were held in March and he was elected president, after serving as 2nd VP and 1st VP. The Nominations Committee had several emails exchanges with him offering to let him out of his obligations. He declined each time, I suspect out of a sense of honor and out of a need for normalcy and aggression to beat this disease.
Unfortunately, he was not forthcoming with many people about his condition and tried to soldier on in as normal a fashion as possible. It was and continues to be extremely difficult. He continues to have difficulty with basic muscles motions, especially his facial muscles. Personally, I continue to be uncertain if I should inform people about his condition; I am concerned about invading his privacy. I never took the opportunity to discuss this with him and he never gave me permission to discuss his condition with others. As folks asked me about him, I rather sheepishly told them what was going on. As time goes by, I think that's what he wanted, but I wish I would have asked and then recieved permission to act as such.
His initial President's Message in our monthly newletter alerted membership to his condition. I felt better about the whole thing upon reading that message.
He attended our national convention in June but was a loner during it. I spent some time with him during our region caucus, but not much other time. I felt bad about that, but have been having trouble with my own feelings and inadequecies about his condition. I mean, my parents worked with disabled adults when I was young. I've been around folks with very serious physical and mental disabilities. I should know how to do this! I'm getting better; more comfortable. But its a struggle for me.
Thursday night was our first Board Meeting with our leader at the helm. He has a laptop with external speakers and software that he can type messages in and the computer speaks for him. Its a good, strong, confident voice. Our president is extremely intelligent and his grasp of the English language is on par with any professor or writer. It was reassuring to have even the computer voice speak words that we know come from his mind.
There were some lulls in the meeting business as he slowly typed on occasion. I think, though I'm not sure, he had some messages typed out before hand. We have a number of new folks on the board and there seemed to be some nervousness about things were going to work. After a rocky start, most present had not recieved the minutes of the previous board meeting and since we were meeting at the president's office, he went to make copies, we settled into the meeting.
When I was president, I let discussion move along, but was quick to have committee business stay in committee meetings, not in the board meetings. Our immediate past president had a similar style. Its difficult to run a board meeting if your only experience is running meetings at your work as an architect. Our current president is an architect, so I'm sure he struggled a bit with the ebb and flow of the meeting. Also, members were quick to fill the voids in conversation and at times, the meeting dragged. But, in general, we got through our business. We started about 5:40 PM, had pizza and beer in the middle, and finished at 7:35 PM.
As we got through Old Business and were heading to New Business, the battery on the president's laptop died. Our 1st VP was not in attendance as he was recovering from hip replacement surgery and our 2nd VP was further down the table than I, so the president wrote a note to me asking me to take over. I briskly worked us through the remaining agenda items, occassionally reading hand notes from the president.
I think the message here, after our first meeting with our new president, is patience and flexibility. And probably a heavy dose of "get rid of your nervousness!"
Friday, July 10, 2009
Sunday, February 15, 2009
Touch 'em All!
Since the New Year's Day post, some things about the cub scout pack have come into clear focus. I really like my den, even though 2 of the boys are sometimes hard to deal with! Its great spending an hour or so every other week with a group of boys trying to teach them something! The highlights of the year have been the night we built birdhouses, the night we learned knots and the night we did a little architecture by drawing the room we meet in.
The other parent leaders have continued to be a hassle and a disappointment. This past week, I was out of town on the evening of the monthly leaders Roundtable meeting for our district. I could not get a single other leader to attend in my absence. Of particular issue was our committe chair who was especially arrogant about it.
Due to issues with our son and with the school/parish administration, we are taking our son to a public school next year. We knew this was a possiblity in November of last year. We made the firm decision last month, though we are unsure which school. We applied to a magnet technology school, but won't know until March/April if he got in. If he doesn't get in there, he'll go to our local public school.
Since November, I have been trying to decide how to handle scouting. I don't want to make the same mistakes for my son that I made myself - sticking with a less than active troop and not earning Eagle in part because of it. I have been unable to get good parental involvement. I have not pulled out all the stops and have not gotten up in parent's faces, but our troop suffers from a lack of parental interest. I can't believe me getting up in people's faces will change this and I shouldn't have to do that.
So, do I pull my son out and resign as Cubmaster when he changes schools? After this week and lack of support by other parents, I think the answer to that is yes! I just need to do some research and decide which troop is good for him.
As for the CSI chapter, our incoming president with ALS is getting much worse, very quickly. At our February meeting, his speech was so slurred that we could not understand him. Our outgoing president is not interested in serving another year and our 2nd VP isn't ready to be president, he needs the year to prepare. Our outgoing president is worried about her job, so feels that she needs to focus on job and less on CSI. I can sympathise with that. The 2nd VP cold probably do it, he'll just need some help. Obviously, if the 1st VP moves up to president, he'll need a lot of help as well!
I sent an e-mail today to our retired chapter secretary and close personal adviser from when I was president. She relocated to Chicago about 6 months ago. I'll let you know what she thinks!
I suspect we'll need to find another chapter president. I don't see how his speech impediment will allow him to be president much less whatever other degradation occurs between now and June 30, 2010. I don't want to be mean or unsympathetic, but I'm trying to not diminish the gains we've made as a chapter in the past couple of years. We shall see....
The other parent leaders have continued to be a hassle and a disappointment. This past week, I was out of town on the evening of the monthly leaders Roundtable meeting for our district. I could not get a single other leader to attend in my absence. Of particular issue was our committe chair who was especially arrogant about it.
Due to issues with our son and with the school/parish administration, we are taking our son to a public school next year. We knew this was a possiblity in November of last year. We made the firm decision last month, though we are unsure which school. We applied to a magnet technology school, but won't know until March/April if he got in. If he doesn't get in there, he'll go to our local public school.
Since November, I have been trying to decide how to handle scouting. I don't want to make the same mistakes for my son that I made myself - sticking with a less than active troop and not earning Eagle in part because of it. I have been unable to get good parental involvement. I have not pulled out all the stops and have not gotten up in parent's faces, but our troop suffers from a lack of parental interest. I can't believe me getting up in people's faces will change this and I shouldn't have to do that.
So, do I pull my son out and resign as Cubmaster when he changes schools? After this week and lack of support by other parents, I think the answer to that is yes! I just need to do some research and decide which troop is good for him.
As for the CSI chapter, our incoming president with ALS is getting much worse, very quickly. At our February meeting, his speech was so slurred that we could not understand him. Our outgoing president is not interested in serving another year and our 2nd VP isn't ready to be president, he needs the year to prepare. Our outgoing president is worried about her job, so feels that she needs to focus on job and less on CSI. I can sympathise with that. The 2nd VP cold probably do it, he'll just need some help. Obviously, if the 1st VP moves up to president, he'll need a lot of help as well!
I sent an e-mail today to our retired chapter secretary and close personal adviser from when I was president. She relocated to Chicago about 6 months ago. I'll let you know what she thinks!
I suspect we'll need to find another chapter president. I don't see how his speech impediment will allow him to be president much less whatever other degradation occurs between now and June 30, 2010. I don't want to be mean or unsympathetic, but I'm trying to not diminish the gains we've made as a chapter in the past couple of years. We shall see....
Thursday, January 01, 2009
Took a year off!
Clearly, I took a year off from this blog. I'll try to do better in 2009!
I'm actually in a slightly different leadership role - I'm mentoring the current chapter president, about to mentor the next chapter president (who was recently diagnosed with ALS) and I've accepted a position on the national Strategic Planning Task Team. Oh, and I'm also the Cubmaster for my sons Cub Scout Pack! I suspect much of what gets posted here will be about the pack, not as much about CSI!
I took over from a very nice lady whose youngest son bridged over to boy scouts. She was highly disorganized, but had been involved in scouting long enough where she just did things sort of on her own. Part of that was also due to the unruly personality of some of the other moms involved in the pack. Some of these are the same moms who have caused problems with my wife and with me to a certain extent through soccer, girl scouts and various other activities. I suspect I was picked because my oldest son is in scouting and I have a younger son, meaning stability in the job of cubmaster for a number of years - at least 8! Yikes!
Anyway, I've had very little instruction, but have attempted to seek training best I can. The biggest issue is the lack of parental involvement in the pack. That's my goal for this spring - get more parents involved. Right now, the pack is run essentially by 4 people - not enough! Especially when 2 of them will leave next year when their sons bridge to boy scouts. Once I have a larger committee, I can work on getting an assistant cubmaster!
I need to get my thoughts organized on where this post is going, so until then....
I'm actually in a slightly different leadership role - I'm mentoring the current chapter president, about to mentor the next chapter president (who was recently diagnosed with ALS) and I've accepted a position on the national Strategic Planning Task Team. Oh, and I'm also the Cubmaster for my sons Cub Scout Pack! I suspect much of what gets posted here will be about the pack, not as much about CSI!
I took over from a very nice lady whose youngest son bridged over to boy scouts. She was highly disorganized, but had been involved in scouting long enough where she just did things sort of on her own. Part of that was also due to the unruly personality of some of the other moms involved in the pack. Some of these are the same moms who have caused problems with my wife and with me to a certain extent through soccer, girl scouts and various other activities. I suspect I was picked because my oldest son is in scouting and I have a younger son, meaning stability in the job of cubmaster for a number of years - at least 8! Yikes!
Anyway, I've had very little instruction, but have attempted to seek training best I can. The biggest issue is the lack of parental involvement in the pack. That's my goal for this spring - get more parents involved. Right now, the pack is run essentially by 4 people - not enough! Especially when 2 of them will leave next year when their sons bridge to boy scouts. Once I have a larger committee, I can work on getting an assistant cubmaster!
I need to get my thoughts organized on where this post is going, so until then....
Saturday, January 12, 2008
President's Guide Part 2
Its been 3 months almost to the day since I wrote the last post. I am now within sight of the end of my Presidency. I just presided over my 15th membership meeting and I have 4 to go. These last 5 should be great - tour of a construction site, something on whole building modeling, tour of a window factory, a college professor speaking on entreprenuership and the use of databases in CA activities.
I'm thinking this morning of the structure of the President's guide. It should almost mirror the Institute's Administrative Resources - Chapter leadership, Region leadership, Institute leadership. Two weeks ago, I attended a meeting of the Nominations Committee. My follow up work was to ask two people the committee designated to volunteer to be Chapter Directors. I was surprised at how little they both knew of how our chapter is governed. Between that & compiling our chapter's nomination packet for Outstanding Chapter Commendation, I feel some sort of Board orientation is in order.
As I mentioned in my last post, I do worry about our chapter's future leadership. I feel strongly that our president's should serve the two consecutive terms allowed by our by-laws. If you've been reading this blog, you're aware that my predecessor took over from an absent president. He agreed to fulfill that person's term, but no more because he was planning to retire. His plans have since changed, but that's another story. When I agreed to step in and follow him as president, I made it clear to the Board that I expected their support for 2 years in office. They agreed. At that committee meeting, I asked our 1st VP if she were going to serve 1 or 2 terms. She emphatically said 1 term. I think that's a shame, but so be it.
Anyway, I think I'll start the president's guide by listing your duties to the chapter, region and Institute. We'll see where it goes from there.
I'm thinking this morning of the structure of the President's guide. It should almost mirror the Institute's Administrative Resources - Chapter leadership, Region leadership, Institute leadership. Two weeks ago, I attended a meeting of the Nominations Committee. My follow up work was to ask two people the committee designated to volunteer to be Chapter Directors. I was surprised at how little they both knew of how our chapter is governed. Between that & compiling our chapter's nomination packet for Outstanding Chapter Commendation, I feel some sort of Board orientation is in order.
As I mentioned in my last post, I do worry about our chapter's future leadership. I feel strongly that our president's should serve the two consecutive terms allowed by our by-laws. If you've been reading this blog, you're aware that my predecessor took over from an absent president. He agreed to fulfill that person's term, but no more because he was planning to retire. His plans have since changed, but that's another story. When I agreed to step in and follow him as president, I made it clear to the Board that I expected their support for 2 years in office. They agreed. At that committee meeting, I asked our 1st VP if she were going to serve 1 or 2 terms. She emphatically said 1 term. I think that's a shame, but so be it.
Anyway, I think I'll start the president's guide by listing your duties to the chapter, region and Institute. We'll see where it goes from there.
Wednesday, October 10, 2007
President's Guide
Out Chapter is thin on passing information from one leader to the next. I think its partly the fact that we have some relatively young leaders & the old guard either aren't around anymore or don't care to help. I think in the old days, like the 1990's, when new leaders took over, one of the old guys would take he or she out to lunch & talk about what had to be done. No on has the time for that anymore.
I recently recieved an e-mail from the Institute's Director of Membership or some such title. It was directed to all Chapter President's. She's putting together a Chapter President's Guide & asked if any chapters currently have one they would like to share. She then asked if any of us had ideas to include in her guide. Here's what I wrote in return:
"We do not have a President’s Guide in the Baltimore Chapter, but what I did receive from our Chapter Secretary shortly after taking office is an interesting collection of information. First, she has taken it upon herself to codify various Chapter policies that were discussed at length by the Chapter’s Board of Directors & finally agreed upon, but not necessarily written down. There were I believe 15 in the packet ranging from our Chapter financial status to membership levels & dues to reservations at our monthly meetings. The packet also included information on Robert’s Rules of Order, non-profit management, non-profit status in the eyes of the IRS and information on professional writing. I have found this information invaluable.
President’s need to have, have read & understand their Chapter’s by-laws. This is particularly important when the phone call comes that an Industry member has left his/her job & is no longer in the construction industry. This happened to me twice during my first term – 1 a Director & 1 our Treasurer. Its also important to understand what you can & cannot do as President, what requires board approval, etc.
President’s also need to understand how their office effects their standing within the Region. I think this may vary from Region to Region, but in the Middle Atlantic Region, each Chapter President is also a Region Director, so attendance at LOS & Region Conference is a necessity. This is why ever since taking office, I have tried to have my 1st VP attend each of these events with me so that she knows what to do when she assumes the presidency.
I feel it is the duty of each President to prepare his/her predecessor for taking the office. I came in fairly cold & my predecessor came in practically frozen. This has made some things very difficult. I think it is also why our 1st VP was not ready to be president when needed. I have made sure that she is ready when the time comes. Its little things like writing the President’s Message for the newsletter or putting an agenda together for the summer planning meetings; writing announcements for the monthly membership meetings & getting correspondence from the Institute. She needs to be aware of all of this.
Finally, the President needs to know that his/her performance dramatically affects the membership at large. We just went through FY 05 & 06 with lackadaisical presidents & our monthly attendance showed. If there is perceived instability at the top or worse, harsh or brusque personality at the top, the chapter will suffer. If there is inability to act or disorganization in the presidency, worse things can happen than low attendance. The president should have a vision of where the Chapter needs to go, not necessarily a plan of action to get there. The other leaders can help formulate the plan based on a collective agreement of the vision."
So then I got to thinking maybe we should put together a President's Guide for our Chapter. I could do the leg work & then let several past presidents review it. What should go into it besides what I listed above?
I recently recieved an e-mail from the Institute's Director of Membership or some such title. It was directed to all Chapter President's. She's putting together a Chapter President's Guide & asked if any chapters currently have one they would like to share. She then asked if any of us had ideas to include in her guide. Here's what I wrote in return:
"We do not have a President’s Guide in the Baltimore Chapter, but what I did receive from our Chapter Secretary shortly after taking office is an interesting collection of information. First, she has taken it upon herself to codify various Chapter policies that were discussed at length by the Chapter’s Board of Directors & finally agreed upon, but not necessarily written down. There were I believe 15 in the packet ranging from our Chapter financial status to membership levels & dues to reservations at our monthly meetings. The packet also included information on Robert’s Rules of Order, non-profit management, non-profit status in the eyes of the IRS and information on professional writing. I have found this information invaluable.
President’s need to have, have read & understand their Chapter’s by-laws. This is particularly important when the phone call comes that an Industry member has left his/her job & is no longer in the construction industry. This happened to me twice during my first term – 1 a Director & 1 our Treasurer. Its also important to understand what you can & cannot do as President, what requires board approval, etc.
President’s also need to understand how their office effects their standing within the Region. I think this may vary from Region to Region, but in the Middle Atlantic Region, each Chapter President is also a Region Director, so attendance at LOS & Region Conference is a necessity. This is why ever since taking office, I have tried to have my 1st VP attend each of these events with me so that she knows what to do when she assumes the presidency.
I feel it is the duty of each President to prepare his/her predecessor for taking the office. I came in fairly cold & my predecessor came in practically frozen. This has made some things very difficult. I think it is also why our 1st VP was not ready to be president when needed. I have made sure that she is ready when the time comes. Its little things like writing the President’s Message for the newsletter or putting an agenda together for the summer planning meetings; writing announcements for the monthly membership meetings & getting correspondence from the Institute. She needs to be aware of all of this.
Finally, the President needs to know that his/her performance dramatically affects the membership at large. We just went through FY 05 & 06 with lackadaisical presidents & our monthly attendance showed. If there is perceived instability at the top or worse, harsh or brusque personality at the top, the chapter will suffer. If there is inability to act or disorganization in the presidency, worse things can happen than low attendance. The president should have a vision of where the Chapter needs to go, not necessarily a plan of action to get there. The other leaders can help formulate the plan based on a collective agreement of the vision."
So then I got to thinking maybe we should put together a President's Guide for our Chapter. I could do the leg work & then let several past presidents review it. What should go into it besides what I listed above?
Tuesday, September 25, 2007
Awards
When I was young, my parents were in Jaycees & Jaycettes - the Junior Chamber of Commerce. This was the 1970's when it was acceptable to have 2 different organizations - 1 for men & 1 for women. I was in the Jaycees in the mid-1990's before I was married - all 1 organization, not gender separate. I can remember when dad was Chapter President him making plaques to give away as awards. I also remember the plaques he received hanging on his office walls. Awards are very important to volunteer organizations.
In September, our Chapter gave out its FY 2007 awards. We normally do this in June, but since we hosted the National Convention in June, we didn't have a monthly meetings.
I'm not sure how other Chapters do this, but Baltimore history tells me that the President sets the awards. We give out Letters of Appreciation to organizations that donated things to us or hosted our events. We give out Certificates of Appreciation to all members who went over just being a member - either being an officer, director or committee chair or helping out with any of our activities.
The President then sets up what I call the "Special Awards." Click on "Handbook" at www.csibaltimore.org to read more about our awards. Anyway, this is how I did awards this year.
There are a few folks who are good friends of mine in this organization. Many of them have been close advisors to me throughout this past year. One of them, not so much. She's been a friend, but not a confidant or advisor. She did not get an award. She did, however, have too much to drink & say something to me about it later. Clearly, it was the booze talking, but that didn't make me any less uneasy.
My wife proceeded to brow-beat me by saying from an outsiders perspective, it appears that all of my friends recieved awards except this one lady. I told my wife it may appear that way, but that's incorrect.
So, what is the line between friendship & hardwork & dedication to the cause? Should one be rewarded & the other not? I think I'm right, but I'm not sure others do.
Incidentally, this lady called me the next day & apologized, sort of, in a voicemail. She said she was wondering what happened to the Certificate of Appreciation that she earned. She was out of the room when I announced that the certificates were on a sideboard & could be picked up. Her's was still in the stack, so I have to believe her.
In September, our Chapter gave out its FY 2007 awards. We normally do this in June, but since we hosted the National Convention in June, we didn't have a monthly meetings.
I'm not sure how other Chapters do this, but Baltimore history tells me that the President sets the awards. We give out Letters of Appreciation to organizations that donated things to us or hosted our events. We give out Certificates of Appreciation to all members who went over just being a member - either being an officer, director or committee chair or helping out with any of our activities.
The President then sets up what I call the "Special Awards." Click on "Handbook" at www.csibaltimore.org to read more about our awards. Anyway, this is how I did awards this year.
There are a few folks who are good friends of mine in this organization. Many of them have been close advisors to me throughout this past year. One of them, not so much. She's been a friend, but not a confidant or advisor. She did not get an award. She did, however, have too much to drink & say something to me about it later. Clearly, it was the booze talking, but that didn't make me any less uneasy.
My wife proceeded to brow-beat me by saying from an outsiders perspective, it appears that all of my friends recieved awards except this one lady. I told my wife it may appear that way, but that's incorrect.
So, what is the line between friendship & hardwork & dedication to the cause? Should one be rewarded & the other not? I think I'm right, but I'm not sure others do.
Incidentally, this lady called me the next day & apologized, sort of, in a voicemail. She said she was wondering what happened to the Certificate of Appreciation that she earned. She was out of the room when I announced that the certificates were on a sideboard & could be picked up. Her's was still in the stack, so I have to believe her.
Saturday, August 25, 2007
Thinking about the recent past....
What has happened in our Chapter since I joined in 2000?
We used to meet at Club 4100 in Brooklyn, MD, immediately south of downtown Baltimore. A very blue collar part of town & an equally blue collar venue. Probably too blue collar for a professional organization, but it somehow suited us. The food was always great - meat & potatoes stuff. Usually some sort of steak, prime rib or chicken, salad, vegetables, cheap drinks. I think a can of Budweiser was $2 & a mixed drink was $2.50. Cost to the chapter was less than $25 per plate. We charged membership $25 a head.
The problems with the place were several. To get to the meeting room, you had to walk through the crowded & smokey bar. There was no good place for the Board to meet. We would meet in a room wedged in between the kitchen & large meeting room. It was cramped & noisy with HVAC sound. Plus, as the meeting room & hors d'oeuvers were set up, there was constant movement through the room. As members began to arrive, the house chair would set up in the same room to take money & hand out name tags.
The men's bathroom was atrocious. It had 1 toilet stall, 1 urinal & 1 sink in the space where only a toilet & sink should be. You could not realistically have more than 2 people in the room at a time. The whole venue was old, dirty & not kept very well.
However, Manny & Dino, the brothers who owned the place, treated us well & would go out of there way to help us. I remember one member who is Eastern Orthodox requesting a special plate during Lent. They fixed him a beautiful vegetarian plate without advanced notice or extra cost.
I was elected as a Chapter Director in 2002 & served for fiscal years 2003 & 2004. That whole time, a certain faction of Chapter leadership tried to get us to leave Club 4100 for a better venue. With my wife being in event planning, I knew a change would mean an increase in cost. Our Industry members who frequented other chapters talked of $45-50 meetings. As a relatively young person with a family of 4, I could barely afford the $25 each month. I very vocally expressed this concern that I would not be able to attend each month should the cost go above $35 or so.
A somewhat vocal battle commenced over how companies should either support their professional organizations or not. The firm I was with at the time, paid my AIA & CSI dues, but the rest was on me. The proponent that firms should foot the entire cost was a person who eventually would be elected President, but would not renew his membership & would have to be replaced as President.
Looking back, I joined Baltimore CSI at a time of tremendous change. We had good, strong leaders, BG, BL and others. We also had some people who were backing out of leadership - PG, CN, DL, BB, PB. Some of these guys, like Paul & Don, were still around, but letting others take over running the Chapter. Don's unfortunate stroke left a major hole in the old guard whom the Chapter needed to help. Certain other defections, J. Green most notably, left the Chapter vulnerable.
There was faction of people who sought to press new, eager members into immediate leadership service, rather than trying to fill the holes in other ways while letting new members learn. I was fortunate that I was smart enough to be a Director & not immediately jump into more advanced leadership. The Chapter suffered through the early 2000's with people who probably were not ready to lead holding the Presidency. Without being too harsh, I would say before Rod A. took over when Eric M. basically abdicated the Presidency, we had 2 years of folks who weren't not prepared to adequately lead the Chapter. That meant the gains made by BL & BG during their 3 years as President were lost. The travesty that became the fall of 2004, with Eric M's debacle, brought this issue into specific light. Rod realized that we need to bring in new blood to the Board & committee chairs & train new leaders.
Sarah C to her credit, was not ready to move up to the Presidency despite serving as 1st VP & being next in line when Eric abdicated. Rod stepped up as President & left 2nd VP open, which I assumed with the understanding that I would leap-frog Sarah to serve as President before her.
It was a trying & troubling time in the Chapter history. We also were dealing with basically an absentee treasurer in Jerry W. & a non-existent Newsletter editor in Jerry's wife. Through 2004, our attendance at monthly membership meetings dropped dramatically because our newsletter was not getting out regularly, our Programs chair took a new job & went AWOL while travelling all over the country to train for his new job, so the quality of our programs suffered. We had also recently changed our meeting location from Club 4100 to Admiral Fell Inn in Fells Point, which angered many older members. They felt like Ken H, President when the change was made, did it for self-serving reasons as his office was literally 2 blocks down from Admiral Fell. There was also sticker shock - meeting cost went to $35, you had to either plug a meter or pay to park in a garage, drinks went to $5-6 each, depending on what you got.
Out of this came a core group of people who genuinely like each other & were dedicated to the cause. They include, Ken H, Liz S, Scott S, Sarah C, Rod A, Susan R, Edna H, Jason V, Steve E, Rob F, Todd G & myself. Of that group were recent Presidents Ken & Liz, past presidents Edna & Todd & the future leaders of Rod, Sarah, Rob & myself - the next 4 presidents who will lead us into the future.
We used to meet at Club 4100 in Brooklyn, MD, immediately south of downtown Baltimore. A very blue collar part of town & an equally blue collar venue. Probably too blue collar for a professional organization, but it somehow suited us. The food was always great - meat & potatoes stuff. Usually some sort of steak, prime rib or chicken, salad, vegetables, cheap drinks. I think a can of Budweiser was $2 & a mixed drink was $2.50. Cost to the chapter was less than $25 per plate. We charged membership $25 a head.
The problems with the place were several. To get to the meeting room, you had to walk through the crowded & smokey bar. There was no good place for the Board to meet. We would meet in a room wedged in between the kitchen & large meeting room. It was cramped & noisy with HVAC sound. Plus, as the meeting room & hors d'oeuvers were set up, there was constant movement through the room. As members began to arrive, the house chair would set up in the same room to take money & hand out name tags.
The men's bathroom was atrocious. It had 1 toilet stall, 1 urinal & 1 sink in the space where only a toilet & sink should be. You could not realistically have more than 2 people in the room at a time. The whole venue was old, dirty & not kept very well.
However, Manny & Dino, the brothers who owned the place, treated us well & would go out of there way to help us. I remember one member who is Eastern Orthodox requesting a special plate during Lent. They fixed him a beautiful vegetarian plate without advanced notice or extra cost.
I was elected as a Chapter Director in 2002 & served for fiscal years 2003 & 2004. That whole time, a certain faction of Chapter leadership tried to get us to leave Club 4100 for a better venue. With my wife being in event planning, I knew a change would mean an increase in cost. Our Industry members who frequented other chapters talked of $45-50 meetings. As a relatively young person with a family of 4, I could barely afford the $25 each month. I very vocally expressed this concern that I would not be able to attend each month should the cost go above $35 or so.
A somewhat vocal battle commenced over how companies should either support their professional organizations or not. The firm I was with at the time, paid my AIA & CSI dues, but the rest was on me. The proponent that firms should foot the entire cost was a person who eventually would be elected President, but would not renew his membership & would have to be replaced as President.
Looking back, I joined Baltimore CSI at a time of tremendous change. We had good, strong leaders, BG, BL and others. We also had some people who were backing out of leadership - PG, CN, DL, BB, PB. Some of these guys, like Paul & Don, were still around, but letting others take over running the Chapter. Don's unfortunate stroke left a major hole in the old guard whom the Chapter needed to help. Certain other defections, J. Green most notably, left the Chapter vulnerable.
There was faction of people who sought to press new, eager members into immediate leadership service, rather than trying to fill the holes in other ways while letting new members learn. I was fortunate that I was smart enough to be a Director & not immediately jump into more advanced leadership. The Chapter suffered through the early 2000's with people who probably were not ready to lead holding the Presidency. Without being too harsh, I would say before Rod A. took over when Eric M. basically abdicated the Presidency, we had 2 years of folks who weren't not prepared to adequately lead the Chapter. That meant the gains made by BL & BG during their 3 years as President were lost. The travesty that became the fall of 2004, with Eric M's debacle, brought this issue into specific light. Rod realized that we need to bring in new blood to the Board & committee chairs & train new leaders.
Sarah C to her credit, was not ready to move up to the Presidency despite serving as 1st VP & being next in line when Eric abdicated. Rod stepped up as President & left 2nd VP open, which I assumed with the understanding that I would leap-frog Sarah to serve as President before her.
It was a trying & troubling time in the Chapter history. We also were dealing with basically an absentee treasurer in Jerry W. & a non-existent Newsletter editor in Jerry's wife. Through 2004, our attendance at monthly membership meetings dropped dramatically because our newsletter was not getting out regularly, our Programs chair took a new job & went AWOL while travelling all over the country to train for his new job, so the quality of our programs suffered. We had also recently changed our meeting location from Club 4100 to Admiral Fell Inn in Fells Point, which angered many older members. They felt like Ken H, President when the change was made, did it for self-serving reasons as his office was literally 2 blocks down from Admiral Fell. There was also sticker shock - meeting cost went to $35, you had to either plug a meter or pay to park in a garage, drinks went to $5-6 each, depending on what you got.
Out of this came a core group of people who genuinely like each other & were dedicated to the cause. They include, Ken H, Liz S, Scott S, Sarah C, Rod A, Susan R, Edna H, Jason V, Steve E, Rob F, Todd G & myself. Of that group were recent Presidents Ken & Liz, past presidents Edna & Todd & the future leaders of Rod, Sarah, Rob & myself - the next 4 presidents who will lead us into the future.
50th Anniversary
I haven't posted in a while, but have some issues that might need to be worked out here.
In 2009, our CSI Chapter will celebrate its 50th Anniversary. In 1984 for the 25th Anniversary, the Chapter published a paperback book of its history. A digital copy lives on our web site at www.csibaltimore.org under "Chapter Handbook" tab. I would like to replicate this effort for the last 25 years, but my involvement is limited to only the last 6 years. I've been a member since 2000, but didn't attend meetings until 2001. Many of the past presidents of the '80's & '90's are inactive or in the case of Bill Grabowski, passed away.
It seems that we should embark on a quest to interview these past presidents.
In 2009, our CSI Chapter will celebrate its 50th Anniversary. In 1984 for the 25th Anniversary, the Chapter published a paperback book of its history. A digital copy lives on our web site at www.csibaltimore.org under "Chapter Handbook" tab. I would like to replicate this effort for the last 25 years, but my involvement is limited to only the last 6 years. I've been a member since 2000, but didn't attend meetings until 2001. Many of the past presidents of the '80's & '90's are inactive or in the case of Bill Grabowski, passed away.
It seems that we should embark on a quest to interview these past presidents.
Monday, February 19, 2007
Personalities
I think I've said this before - I am blessed with a leadership team that genuinely likes each other. I've spoken with people from other chapters who say things like, "we hate our President" or "our board meetings often are shouting matches!" I find this troubling for an organization made up of volunteers.
I wear everything out on my sleeves - my emotions, my family life, my religion, everything. My board knows things about me that maybe they shouldn't, but that's just who I am. I find today, that there are people on my board whom I know very little about.
I got an e-mail today from a co-worker of our Chapter Secretary. She has had a "medical emergency," his words, and will be out of commission for 3-4 weeks. I immediately called him & asked for more information; he doesn't have any more than that & the fact that this lady's son & daughter are in town helping her. He speculated that she may have slipped & fallen on some ice. We had a terrible ice storm last week that have left much of our fair city treacherously slick.
I mentioned to this gentleman how private a person the Secretary is & he agreed. I doubt we have any more information from her than we have now until she returns to action. But should we? I mean, our personal lives are our own, right? She has the right to keep information from us, but I sure wish she wouldn't! Maybe I'm being too nosy, but I'd like to help her if I can, but I can't if I don't know what's going on!
I wear everything out on my sleeves - my emotions, my family life, my religion, everything. My board knows things about me that maybe they shouldn't, but that's just who I am. I find today, that there are people on my board whom I know very little about.
I got an e-mail today from a co-worker of our Chapter Secretary. She has had a "medical emergency," his words, and will be out of commission for 3-4 weeks. I immediately called him & asked for more information; he doesn't have any more than that & the fact that this lady's son & daughter are in town helping her. He speculated that she may have slipped & fallen on some ice. We had a terrible ice storm last week that have left much of our fair city treacherously slick.
I mentioned to this gentleman how private a person the Secretary is & he agreed. I doubt we have any more information from her than we have now until she returns to action. But should we? I mean, our personal lives are our own, right? She has the right to keep information from us, but I sure wish she wouldn't! Maybe I'm being too nosy, but I'd like to help her if I can, but I can't if I don't know what's going on!
Tuesday, November 07, 2006
Diversity Part 2
What should the message about diversity be? I mean, we need to recruit some leaders, because we currently have basically myself & the 1st VP & then a bunch of Board members who don't want to step up into VP & Presidency, or have already done so. A quick look indicates we have 4 Board members whose terms expire with this fiscal year. One cannot be renewed because her job prevents her from attending ANY meetings. Another is a past president, but I wouldn't mind seeing him replaced. The other 2 should be reupped without discussion.
We have 2 committee chairs with Board experience. One filled my seat when I stepped up to 2nd VP last year. The other is doing great work with her committee. She might be considered officer material, but some would resist that & I suspect she will as well. We have to find someone to step up to 2nd VP because I doubt the person in that office now will continue into next FY.
Enough on that, although there should be a plug for leadership opportunities in the message somewhere. I joined CSI for 2 reasons - meet product reps & learn more about construction. I've done both. The exciting thing about Baltimore CSI, as opposed to some other chapters, is we are roughly equal in industry & professional members who regularly attend. By percentage of membership, we are heavily weighted to professional members - 136 to 48. That is a huge statistic to recruit new industry members. However, we seem to be missing the constructor boat. I can't think of many contractors that are members who regularly attend. Statistically, we have a dozen or so members that list their occupation as something like CM, contractor or subcontractor. That's way too small.
Maybe, we've conquered the age diversity, gender diversity & to a certain extent race & religion diversity. Let's target occupational diversity. Call a contractor, developer or CM & invite them to a meeting.
We have 2 committee chairs with Board experience. One filled my seat when I stepped up to 2nd VP last year. The other is doing great work with her committee. She might be considered officer material, but some would resist that & I suspect she will as well. We have to find someone to step up to 2nd VP because I doubt the person in that office now will continue into next FY.
Enough on that, although there should be a plug for leadership opportunities in the message somewhere. I joined CSI for 2 reasons - meet product reps & learn more about construction. I've done both. The exciting thing about Baltimore CSI, as opposed to some other chapters, is we are roughly equal in industry & professional members who regularly attend. By percentage of membership, we are heavily weighted to professional members - 136 to 48. That is a huge statistic to recruit new industry members. However, we seem to be missing the constructor boat. I can't think of many contractors that are members who regularly attend. Statistically, we have a dozen or so members that list their occupation as something like CM, contractor or subcontractor. That's way too small.
Maybe, we've conquered the age diversity, gender diversity & to a certain extent race & religion diversity. Let's target occupational diversity. Call a contractor, developer or CM & invite them to a meeting.
Thursday, November 02, 2006
Head Start on Dec
My presidency has been marked by a mad dash to make the "President's Message" shoot out quickly so the newsletter can be sent out before the next meeting. I'm trying to break that by getting a head start this month.
Had a couple of conversations with various people at Region Conference that centered around diversity. One person bemoaned the amount of "gray hair" that attends most of the Region & Institute events. I told her its most likely because its very expensive to travel & younger people have neither the time (away from families) or the money to do it. She wasn't buying. To her, CSI is an aging organization. I pointed out to her that I am Chapter President at 36 & our Board has several members around that same age.
Another presenter of 1 thing or another talked about the diversity in CSI membership & how the richness of our organization grows out of that diversity. We have many types of diversity at work - gender, age (old & young), race, backgrounds (education, trades, skills, areas of our country), type of work we do (design, engineering, building, sales) and religion (our chapter has Catholics, Protestants, Jews).
There's a President's Message there somewhere! I need to keep it down to one page this month!
Had a couple of conversations with various people at Region Conference that centered around diversity. One person bemoaned the amount of "gray hair" that attends most of the Region & Institute events. I told her its most likely because its very expensive to travel & younger people have neither the time (away from families) or the money to do it. She wasn't buying. To her, CSI is an aging organization. I pointed out to her that I am Chapter President at 36 & our Board has several members around that same age.
Another presenter of 1 thing or another talked about the diversity in CSI membership & how the richness of our organization grows out of that diversity. We have many types of diversity at work - gender, age (old & young), race, backgrounds (education, trades, skills, areas of our country), type of work we do (design, engineering, building, sales) and religion (our chapter has Catholics, Protestants, Jews).
There's a President's Message there somewhere! I need to keep it down to one page this month!
Monday, October 30, 2006
Inputs & Outputs #3
Here's #3:
At the recent Middle Atlantic Region Conference, our junior Institute Director, recommended a book for us to read. It helped him to understand governance issues associated with a non-profit such as CSI. The book was written by Jim Collins, a former professor at the Stanford University Graduate School of Business. Mr. Collins currently operates his own management research laboratory in Boulder, CO. He wrote Good To Great about what makes a good business become great. He adapted that business model into a smaller pamphlet called "Good To Great and the Social Sectors." I've been reading it & find it fascinating.
Social sectors are defined as entities that serve a purpose other than making money. Police departments, hospitals, museums, orchestras, non-profits all fit this definition. Mr. Collins chose to look into social sectors out of his observations that success in business is not automatically translated into success in the social sectors. Many corporate CEO's leave their positions to pursue work in the social sectors & many do not succeed. There are a number of reasons for this that the pamphlet touches on.
One of the first lessons involves the idea of inputs versus outputs. In business, capital goes into the business as an input and the outputs can be easily measured as revenue generated per dollar invested. In the social sectors, the inputs are usually easily identified but the outputs are not as easily quantified. An example is the NYC Police Department. In 1995, William J. Bratton took over as commissioner & wanted the department returned to police work, not just report taking. Under the old model, the department assessed itself based on input variables such as arrests made, cases closed, reports taken, budgets met rather than the output variable of reducing crime. Bratton set huge goals to reduce crime by double digits & replaced division commanders until he found a group who could meet the goal, not just provide the input variables.
This caused me to begin to think about my first 5 months as President of Baltimore CSI. I have been more focused on the inputs of what it takes to make the measured outputs be more members, more members in attendance at our meetings, etc. Mr. Collins is causing me to re-think this stance. What are our output variables? I think if we re-think what we want our outputs to be, the result will be more members and more active members.
In other words, what does Baltimore Chapter CSI do best? Back in the summer, I put a similar question to our Board. Many came back with education. Looking back on my years in this chapter, education is clearly something that we do well. How can we do this better? Scott Sider & our Education Committee do a fantastic job with the Winter Seminars to prepare candidates for the Certification Exams in the spring. Our Programs Committee is working hard to bring good educational opportunities to our monthly meetings. What can we do better? Your ideas are always appreciated.
As a Chapter, what should we be doing better? Are there things that our members need from the Chapter that we aren't providing? Your ideas here are also appreciated.
At the recent Middle Atlantic Region Conference, our junior Institute Director, recommended a book for us to read. It helped him to understand governance issues associated with a non-profit such as CSI. The book was written by Jim Collins, a former professor at the Stanford University Graduate School of Business. Mr. Collins currently operates his own management research laboratory in Boulder, CO. He wrote Good To Great about what makes a good business become great. He adapted that business model into a smaller pamphlet called "Good To Great and the Social Sectors." I've been reading it & find it fascinating.
Social sectors are defined as entities that serve a purpose other than making money. Police departments, hospitals, museums, orchestras, non-profits all fit this definition. Mr. Collins chose to look into social sectors out of his observations that success in business is not automatically translated into success in the social sectors. Many corporate CEO's leave their positions to pursue work in the social sectors & many do not succeed. There are a number of reasons for this that the pamphlet touches on.
One of the first lessons involves the idea of inputs versus outputs. In business, capital goes into the business as an input and the outputs can be easily measured as revenue generated per dollar invested. In the social sectors, the inputs are usually easily identified but the outputs are not as easily quantified. An example is the NYC Police Department. In 1995, William J. Bratton took over as commissioner & wanted the department returned to police work, not just report taking. Under the old model, the department assessed itself based on input variables such as arrests made, cases closed, reports taken, budgets met rather than the output variable of reducing crime. Bratton set huge goals to reduce crime by double digits & replaced division commanders until he found a group who could meet the goal, not just provide the input variables.
This caused me to begin to think about my first 5 months as President of Baltimore CSI. I have been more focused on the inputs of what it takes to make the measured outputs be more members, more members in attendance at our meetings, etc. Mr. Collins is causing me to re-think this stance. What are our output variables? I think if we re-think what we want our outputs to be, the result will be more members and more active members.
In other words, what does Baltimore Chapter CSI do best? Back in the summer, I put a similar question to our Board. Many came back with education. Looking back on my years in this chapter, education is clearly something that we do well. How can we do this better? Scott Sider & our Education Committee do a fantastic job with the Winter Seminars to prepare candidates for the Certification Exams in the spring. Our Programs Committee is working hard to bring good educational opportunities to our monthly meetings. What can we do better? Your ideas are always appreciated.
As a Chapter, what should we be doing better? Are there things that our members need from the Chapter that we aren't providing? Your ideas here are also appreciated.
Thursday, October 26, 2006
Inputs & Outputs No. 2
Here's part 2:
At the recent Middle Atlantic Region Conference, our junior Institute Director, recommended a book for us to read. It helped him to understand governance issues associated with a non-profit such as CSI. The book was written by Jim Collins, a former professor at the Stanford University Graduate School of Business. Mr. Collins currently operates his own management research laboratory in Boulder, CO. He wrote Good To Great about what makes a good business become great. He adapted that thinking into a smaller pamphlet called "Good To Great and the Social Sectors." I've been reading it & find it fascinating.
Social sectors are defined as entities that serve a purpose other than making money. Police departments, hospitals, museums, orchestras, non-profits all fit this definition. Mr. Collins chose to look into social sectors out of his observations that success in business is not automatically translated into success in the social sectors. Many corporate CEO's leave their positions to pursue work in the social sectors & many do not succeed. There are a number of reasons for this that the pamphlet touches on.
One of the first lessons involves the idea of inputs versus outputs. In business, capital goes into the business as an input and the outputs can be easily measured as revenue generated per dollar invested. In the social sectors, the inputs are usually easily identified but the outputs are not usually as easily quantified. An example is the NYC Police Department. A new commissioner took over & wanted the department returned to police work, not just report taking. Under the old model, the inputs were arrests made, cases closed, reports taken, etc. These lead the measured outputs to be other than the stated goal of reduction in crime. (EXPAND THIS PP)
This caused me to begin to think about my first 5 months as President of Baltimore CSI. I have been more focused on the inputs of what it takes to make the measured outputs be more members, more members in attendance at our meetings, etc. Mr. Collins is causing me to re-think this stance. What should our outputs be? I think if we re-think what we want our outputs to be, the result will be more members and more active members.
Something like that - I still need to expand the one paragraph, but that means more reading!
At the recent Middle Atlantic Region Conference, our junior Institute Director, recommended a book for us to read. It helped him to understand governance issues associated with a non-profit such as CSI. The book was written by Jim Collins, a former professor at the Stanford University Graduate School of Business. Mr. Collins currently operates his own management research laboratory in Boulder, CO. He wrote Good To Great about what makes a good business become great. He adapted that thinking into a smaller pamphlet called "Good To Great and the Social Sectors." I've been reading it & find it fascinating.
Social sectors are defined as entities that serve a purpose other than making money. Police departments, hospitals, museums, orchestras, non-profits all fit this definition. Mr. Collins chose to look into social sectors out of his observations that success in business is not automatically translated into success in the social sectors. Many corporate CEO's leave their positions to pursue work in the social sectors & many do not succeed. There are a number of reasons for this that the pamphlet touches on.
One of the first lessons involves the idea of inputs versus outputs. In business, capital goes into the business as an input and the outputs can be easily measured as revenue generated per dollar invested. In the social sectors, the inputs are usually easily identified but the outputs are not usually as easily quantified. An example is the NYC Police Department. A new commissioner took over & wanted the department returned to police work, not just report taking. Under the old model, the inputs were arrests made, cases closed, reports taken, etc. These lead the measured outputs to be other than the stated goal of reduction in crime. (EXPAND THIS PP)
This caused me to begin to think about my first 5 months as President of Baltimore CSI. I have been more focused on the inputs of what it takes to make the measured outputs be more members, more members in attendance at our meetings, etc. Mr. Collins is causing me to re-think this stance. What should our outputs be? I think if we re-think what we want our outputs to be, the result will be more members and more active members.
Something like that - I still need to expand the one paragraph, but that means more reading!
Monday, October 23, 2006
Inputs & Outputs
I'm working up a President's Message for the month. Its past due, so I've got to get on it. My canned one had to be used last month. I need to stay ahead of the curve, but its hard to come up with something good to say, that's worth reading. Maybe I need to read more....
Jim Collins is a former professor at the Stanford University Graduate School of Business & currently owns his own management research laboratory in Boulder, CO. He wrote Good To Great about what makes a good business become great. He adapted that thinking into a smaller pamphlet called "Good To Great and the Social Sectors." This was recommended to us at Region Conference by our esteemed junior Region Director. I've been reading it & find it fascinating.
Social sectors are defined as entities that serve a purpose other than making money. Police departments, hospitals, museums, orchestras, non-profits all fit this definition. Mr. Collins chose to look into social sectors out of his observations that success in business is not automatically translated into the social sectors. Many CEO's leave their corporations to pursue work in the social sectors & many do not succeed. There are a number of reasons for this that the pamphlet touches on.
One of the first lessons involves the idea of inputs versus outputs. In business, capital goes into the business as an input and the outputs can be easily measured as revenue generated per dollar invested. In the social sectors, the inputs are usually easily identified but the outputs are not usually as easily quantified. An example is the NYC Police Department. A new commissioner took over & wanted the department returned to police work, not just report taking. Under the old model, the inputs were arrests made, cases closed, reports taken, etc. These lead the measured outputs to be other than the stated goal of reduction in crime. (EXPAND THIS PP)
This caused me to begin to think about my first 5 months as President of Baltimore CSI. I have been more focused on the inputs of what it takes to make the measured outputs be more members, more members in attendance at our meetings, etc. Mr. Collins is causing me to re-think this stance. What should our outputs be? I think if we re-think what we want our outputs to be, the result will be more members and more active members.
This is a rough start for now.
Jim Collins is a former professor at the Stanford University Graduate School of Business & currently owns his own management research laboratory in Boulder, CO. He wrote Good To Great about what makes a good business become great. He adapted that thinking into a smaller pamphlet called "Good To Great and the Social Sectors." This was recommended to us at Region Conference by our esteemed junior Region Director. I've been reading it & find it fascinating.
Social sectors are defined as entities that serve a purpose other than making money. Police departments, hospitals, museums, orchestras, non-profits all fit this definition. Mr. Collins chose to look into social sectors out of his observations that success in business is not automatically translated into the social sectors. Many CEO's leave their corporations to pursue work in the social sectors & many do not succeed. There are a number of reasons for this that the pamphlet touches on.
One of the first lessons involves the idea of inputs versus outputs. In business, capital goes into the business as an input and the outputs can be easily measured as revenue generated per dollar invested. In the social sectors, the inputs are usually easily identified but the outputs are not usually as easily quantified. An example is the NYC Police Department. A new commissioner took over & wanted the department returned to police work, not just report taking. Under the old model, the inputs were arrests made, cases closed, reports taken, etc. These lead the measured outputs to be other than the stated goal of reduction in crime. (EXPAND THIS PP)
This caused me to begin to think about my first 5 months as President of Baltimore CSI. I have been more focused on the inputs of what it takes to make the measured outputs be more members, more members in attendance at our meetings, etc. Mr. Collins is causing me to re-think this stance. What should our outputs be? I think if we re-think what we want our outputs to be, the result will be more members and more active members.
This is a rough start for now.
Sunday, October 01, 2006
Back from Region Conference
This fical year's Middle Atlantic Region Conference was a bi-region conference with South East Region & was Building Diplomacy 2006 in Washington DC. Arlington, VA actually, but who's counting. Had a great time & brought back much for the chapter & our Board.
1. Institute has commissioned a study to look at the hiring of the new executive director, branding & governance. The Institute Board is looking at how to make governance more efficient. According to our esteemed junior Region Director, our Institute Board is 20 with an ex-comm of 9. Most similar organizations govern with a 6-8 member board.
2. There is a search firm & nominations committee attempting to bring 2 candidates for executive director to the November Institute Board Meeting.
3. The Board signed an agreement with Arcom over royalties on Masterspec. For new licensees, mention you are a member & the Institute will get the royalties.
4. The Chapter Leaders form is due to the Institute on 4/30/2007. This means we need to do nominations in February & hold elections in March so that we can announce the new Board & officers at the April meeting.
5. The Insitute is starting a database of architecture, engineering & construction management programs around the country to assist in Chapters in contacting schools for possible student chapters.
6. The student events at the National Convention need sponsors, mentors & other help.
7. Apparently, there is new "technical stuff" coming down the pike & the Region is without Technical Chair or committee. We're without committee as well.
a. www.masterformat.com is up & running.
b. Omniclass v1.0 is about to be released.
c. National Building Information Model Standard (NBIMS)
d. Section & Page Formats are being updated
e. National CAD Standard v4 is in the works.
f. We have a grant from NCEMBT to write standard terminology for Construction Documents.
g. There is a Sustainable Facilities Task Team developing GreenFormat.
h. A former Institute President & member of our chapter is heading the Uniformat Update Task Team.
8. LOS will be 4/20 & 4/21/2007 at the brand new hotel in Gettysburg. Its only about 20 miles further north from Frederick & apparently a MUCH nicer venue. Hopefully, we can increase our attendance. I hope some folks like SC, TC & JH had fun this weekend & will go to LOS & get some others to go as well.
9. Our junior Institute Director made a big deal about the Institute's Education Foundation. The Institute is hoping to hire a grant writer, but the first thing potential grant funding organizations ask is the level of support this foundation gets from membership. Its low right now. Our chapter should probably step up & give some money to it.
10. Our convention seems to be titled Engineering the Future of Design & Construction. The dates are 6/20 thru 6/22/2007. Currently, the show is 85% sold. They'll be including a leadership track in the education programs as a way to fold CSIUniversity into the convention.
11. Webinars are being held every Tuesday from 2:00 PM to 3:30 PM. Our chapter should probably look at hosting a couple of them.
12. Membership campaign has some cool prizes.
13. Pittsburgh budgets a pot of money for travel events & then divides the pot evenly amongst all the members who attend & ARE NOT reimbursed by their companies. However, they take roll at the Region Business Meeting to ensure that only those who attend that meeting get the money.
14. Our Institute Directors may be calling for help with inactive chapters. I saw our Region President after the banquet & offered some assistance with Delaware.
15. I offered manpower to the Chair of the FY2008 Bi-Region Conference.
That's pretty much it. I'll need to type something up for SS to put in our newsletter.
1. Institute has commissioned a study to look at the hiring of the new executive director, branding & governance. The Institute Board is looking at how to make governance more efficient. According to our esteemed junior Region Director, our Institute Board is 20 with an ex-comm of 9. Most similar organizations govern with a 6-8 member board.
2. There is a search firm & nominations committee attempting to bring 2 candidates for executive director to the November Institute Board Meeting.
3. The Board signed an agreement with Arcom over royalties on Masterspec. For new licensees, mention you are a member & the Institute will get the royalties.
4. The Chapter Leaders form is due to the Institute on 4/30/2007. This means we need to do nominations in February & hold elections in March so that we can announce the new Board & officers at the April meeting.
5. The Insitute is starting a database of architecture, engineering & construction management programs around the country to assist in Chapters in contacting schools for possible student chapters.
6. The student events at the National Convention need sponsors, mentors & other help.
7. Apparently, there is new "technical stuff" coming down the pike & the Region is without Technical Chair or committee. We're without committee as well.
a. www.masterformat.com is up & running.
b. Omniclass v1.0 is about to be released.
c. National Building Information Model Standard (NBIMS)
d. Section & Page Formats are being updated
e. National CAD Standard v4 is in the works.
f. We have a grant from NCEMBT to write standard terminology for Construction Documents.
g. There is a Sustainable Facilities Task Team developing GreenFormat.
h. A former Institute President & member of our chapter is heading the Uniformat Update Task Team.
8. LOS will be 4/20 & 4/21/2007 at the brand new hotel in Gettysburg. Its only about 20 miles further north from Frederick & apparently a MUCH nicer venue. Hopefully, we can increase our attendance. I hope some folks like SC, TC & JH had fun this weekend & will go to LOS & get some others to go as well.
9. Our junior Institute Director made a big deal about the Institute's Education Foundation. The Institute is hoping to hire a grant writer, but the first thing potential grant funding organizations ask is the level of support this foundation gets from membership. Its low right now. Our chapter should probably step up & give some money to it.
10. Our convention seems to be titled Engineering the Future of Design & Construction. The dates are 6/20 thru 6/22/2007. Currently, the show is 85% sold. They'll be including a leadership track in the education programs as a way to fold CSIUniversity into the convention.
11. Webinars are being held every Tuesday from 2:00 PM to 3:30 PM. Our chapter should probably look at hosting a couple of them.
12. Membership campaign has some cool prizes.
13. Pittsburgh budgets a pot of money for travel events & then divides the pot evenly amongst all the members who attend & ARE NOT reimbursed by their companies. However, they take roll at the Region Business Meeting to ensure that only those who attend that meeting get the money.
14. Our Institute Directors may be calling for help with inactive chapters. I saw our Region President after the banquet & offered some assistance with Delaware.
15. I offered manpower to the Chair of the FY2008 Bi-Region Conference.
That's pretty much it. I'll need to type something up for SS to put in our newsletter.
Friday, July 14, 2006
First Meeting 7/13
Its been a long time since I posted here, but its been a little busy around the house.
Anyway, last night, 7/13, we held our first Board Meeting of FY07. It was probably 30 mins-1 hour too long, but I feel good that we got some things accomplished. We had 15 people of a possible 17 invited - 13 Board members & 4 committee chairs. We were missing 1 Director & 2 committee chairs, but we had a member show up to help. He immediately jumped into the fray when discussing our monthly programs, so he's now helping our Programs Committee!
We deferred some discussions til the next meeting on 7/27 & there are some things that I intentionally left til the 7/27 meeting. But, reviewing the Blog, there are some other things that need to be said.
1. I need to outline my plan for how the VP's & Board help.
2. We need to discuss a by-laws change to add Chapter Advisors.
That's all I got for now.
Anyway, last night, 7/13, we held our first Board Meeting of FY07. It was probably 30 mins-1 hour too long, but I feel good that we got some things accomplished. We had 15 people of a possible 17 invited - 13 Board members & 4 committee chairs. We were missing 1 Director & 2 committee chairs, but we had a member show up to help. He immediately jumped into the fray when discussing our monthly programs, so he's now helping our Programs Committee!
We deferred some discussions til the next meeting on 7/27 & there are some things that I intentionally left til the 7/27 meeting. But, reviewing the Blog, there are some other things that need to be said.
1. I need to outline my plan for how the VP's & Board help.
2. We need to discuss a by-laws change to add Chapter Advisors.
That's all I got for now.
Tuesday, April 25, 2006
Random Thoughts No. 2
These are random thoughts following LOS last weekend & lunch with a past president yesterday:
Awards - we need to acknowledge our newsletter editor for the fine work he's done taking our newsletter from utter disgrace & shambles to the publication it is today.
Awards - we need to be up for as many Region awards as we can. We need to also put ourselves up for an Institute chapter award. We also need to find a nomination for fellow.
Programs - I've got so many ideas, where do I start? The business side - entreprenuership, confrontation management, selling & marketing. The fun side - dining etiquette, picnics, ball games. The industry side - panel discussion on CM's with Owners, Architects, Engineers, CM's.
We need to change our by-laws to create Chapter Advisors - past presidents who serve a number of years in an advisory role.
Past-Prez' idea of sending a letter to membership asking them to come to the August meeting. Make the program worth attending.
Make personal calls to recent active members & officers who have dropped of the earth.
Make the membership committee call each new member each month & ask them to attend & get involve.
Maybe do a "welcome wagon" committee of 3-4 people to go take new members out to lunch & get them active in committees.
Make sure our committees are committees & they meet each month.
Awards - we need to acknowledge our newsletter editor for the fine work he's done taking our newsletter from utter disgrace & shambles to the publication it is today.
Awards - we need to be up for as many Region awards as we can. We need to also put ourselves up for an Institute chapter award. We also need to find a nomination for fellow.
Programs - I've got so many ideas, where do I start? The business side - entreprenuership, confrontation management, selling & marketing. The fun side - dining etiquette, picnics, ball games. The industry side - panel discussion on CM's with Owners, Architects, Engineers, CM's.
We need to change our by-laws to create Chapter Advisors - past presidents who serve a number of years in an advisory role.
Past-Prez' idea of sending a letter to membership asking them to come to the August meeting. Make the program worth attending.
Make personal calls to recent active members & officers who have dropped of the earth.
Make the membership committee call each new member each month & ask them to attend & get involve.
Maybe do a "welcome wagon" committee of 3-4 people to go take new members out to lunch & get them active in committees.
Make sure our committees are committees & they meet each month.
Tuesday, April 18, 2006
National Convention - the next step
Last week, 3 ladies from the national Institute attended our Board Meeting to discuss the preparations for the 2007 National Convention in Baltimore. It was an interesting experience. I think the role of the host chapter is evolving as we speak. When the decision was made to rotate between Vegas and Chicago, the Institute took a ton of the heavy planning work off the chapter's shoulders for fairness & continuity reasons. Now that we are back to rotating between all chapters and in the June timeframe, they are trying to figure out what exactly the host chapter should be doing. I think they also learned some lessons from this past national convention & Vegas' shortcomings as a host chapter.
The next steps seem to be:
A. Brainstorm a list of technical, historical and other tours for attendees.
B. Branstorm a list of guest/spouse/family activities
C. Decide on an entertainment event that the chapter will plan & execute without the Institute
D. Begin to get manpower for the week of the event
E. Keep in touch with the Institute regarding publication dates
F. Brainstorm &/or contact speakers of local interest for Call for Topics - deadline is June 30, 2006
The lists of tours & guest/spouse/family activities will be given to a professional destination firm for execution. The entertainment event is all on us, but we need the publication deadlines in order to use the Institute to help us promote it. The Call for Topics is an effort to give the convention a local feel. The Institute Convention Director said there have been some very successful presentors in the past that had local color.
The next steps seem to be:
A. Brainstorm a list of technical, historical and other tours for attendees.
B. Branstorm a list of guest/spouse/family activities
C. Decide on an entertainment event that the chapter will plan & execute without the Institute
D. Begin to get manpower for the week of the event
E. Keep in touch with the Institute regarding publication dates
F. Brainstorm &/or contact speakers of local interest for Call for Topics - deadline is June 30, 2006
The lists of tours & guest/spouse/family activities will be given to a professional destination firm for execution. The entertainment event is all on us, but we need the publication deadlines in order to use the Institute to help us promote it. The Call for Topics is an effort to give the convention a local feel. The Institute Convention Director said there have been some very successful presentors in the past that had local color.
Monday, April 17, 2006
Random Thoughts
Chatted with my wife on the way to her mother's Saturday night about our Chapter. Here are some things that came out of it.
Programs:
1. A new VP at my wife's college is an expert in entreprenuership
2. A business professor my wife knows at a different college could come & talk about business topics, management, etc.
3. A communication arts person could speak about communicating in business
4. Someone could present on professional writing - might turn off the hard core specifiers
5. Something from the Constructive Confrontations book
We've got to think outside of the box & appeal to all - architects, specifiers, engineers, manufacturer's reps, contractors, owner's reps.
Maybe I could put together a presentation on communications from the Lean Construction thing at the Convention & the Constructive Confrontations book.
We need to collect data - total attendance each month for as many years as we can go back. Then, match the attendance each month to the program topic & see what topics bring in the largest crowds.
I also need to plan out the summer planning/board meetings. I need agendas, duration times, etc. I want to be organized & keep the meetings moving. Perhaps put 20-30 minutes on the end for brainstorming/open discussion/personal intentions of attendees. Should probably hit programs & membership retention at the first meeting.
We could also divide the regions & chapters up amongst a few of us to do internet research. Go to chapter's web sites & pick off the best sounding program ideas.
Programs:
1. A new VP at my wife's college is an expert in entreprenuership
2. A business professor my wife knows at a different college could come & talk about business topics, management, etc.
3. A communication arts person could speak about communicating in business
4. Someone could present on professional writing - might turn off the hard core specifiers
5. Something from the Constructive Confrontations book
We've got to think outside of the box & appeal to all - architects, specifiers, engineers, manufacturer's reps, contractors, owner's reps.
Maybe I could put together a presentation on communications from the Lean Construction thing at the Convention & the Constructive Confrontations book.
We need to collect data - total attendance each month for as many years as we can go back. Then, match the attendance each month to the program topic & see what topics bring in the largest crowds.
I also need to plan out the summer planning/board meetings. I need agendas, duration times, etc. I want to be organized & keep the meetings moving. Perhaps put 20-30 minutes on the end for brainstorming/open discussion/personal intentions of attendees. Should probably hit programs & membership retention at the first meeting.
We could also divide the regions & chapters up amongst a few of us to do internet research. Go to chapter's web sites & pick off the best sounding program ideas.
Monday, April 03, 2006
Back from Convention
Back from the National Convention - its was a lot of fun, although the kids had issues that pulled my wife back early. See my other blog for more on that.
Met several people from the Vegas chapter. They promised me some lessons learned info in the coming weeks. I'll probably not hound them until the end of April. But, couple of things:
1. Always have back-up speakers for the tours. Several dropped out at the last minute in Vegas.
2. DO NOT give your cell number out unless you want people calling you at all hours all week.
3. Make sure the Institute DOES NOT give out your cell number.
4. We are responsible for staffing the Delegates booth at registration, or at least Vegas was & no one told them.
5. Should probably staff the chapter booth at all times ANYTHING is going on near the booth. This year, the show, continuing ed, bookstore, etc. were all together so basically, from 7:15 AM to 4:30 PM, there were people.
6. Need to have a raffle &/or give aways at the booth. Vegas did the HUGE hottub, but that's not a good idea. They wish they had done DVD players & cameras like we did.
7. Need to have some maps & brochures of attractions & knowledgeable people at the booth.
8. Who does the chapter pins? Vegas didn't do them, but the Institute did - & they're ugly!
9. Might consider doing & selling chapter shirts & hats - either tees or golf shirts. Balto 1998 had a great looking golf shirt - some dude wore his & showed us.
10. Golf outing is getting small or else it was in Vegas. Chris said they had 4 sponsors & 70 golfers. That's not a lot of money to be made.
11. Ask for forgiveness from the Institute, not permission - I can tell you how many people asked for a pin or button from Baltimore. We should have just been giving the things out without asking!
We need a close accounting of what we spent for Vegas so we can know what we need to make up later. It looks like Vegas may have over estimated the revenues from the golf outing. What else can we do to make money? We might be able to make a little of the shirts & hats, but no where near what we spent on Vegas or will spend on Balto.
Met several people from the Vegas chapter. They promised me some lessons learned info in the coming weeks. I'll probably not hound them until the end of April. But, couple of things:
1. Always have back-up speakers for the tours. Several dropped out at the last minute in Vegas.
2. DO NOT give your cell number out unless you want people calling you at all hours all week.
3. Make sure the Institute DOES NOT give out your cell number.
4. We are responsible for staffing the Delegates booth at registration, or at least Vegas was & no one told them.
5. Should probably staff the chapter booth at all times ANYTHING is going on near the booth. This year, the show, continuing ed, bookstore, etc. were all together so basically, from 7:15 AM to 4:30 PM, there were people.
6. Need to have a raffle &/or give aways at the booth. Vegas did the HUGE hottub, but that's not a good idea. They wish they had done DVD players & cameras like we did.
7. Need to have some maps & brochures of attractions & knowledgeable people at the booth.
8. Who does the chapter pins? Vegas didn't do them, but the Institute did - & they're ugly!
9. Might consider doing & selling chapter shirts & hats - either tees or golf shirts. Balto 1998 had a great looking golf shirt - some dude wore his & showed us.
10. Golf outing is getting small or else it was in Vegas. Chris said they had 4 sponsors & 70 golfers. That's not a lot of money to be made.
11. Ask for forgiveness from the Institute, not permission - I can tell you how many people asked for a pin or button from Baltimore. We should have just been giving the things out without asking!
We need a close accounting of what we spent for Vegas so we can know what we need to make up later. It looks like Vegas may have over estimated the revenues from the golf outing. What else can we do to make money? We might be able to make a little of the shirts & hats, but no where near what we spent on Vegas or will spend on Balto.
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