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.
Tuesday, April 25, 2006
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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