[WARC] Interesting Numbers
Darlene
darlenet at luminet.net
Tue Jun 17 06:36:36 GMT 2008
Hello everyone,
This was one of my topics I wanted to change as president....I totally
agree our program nights should not have business at them other than
announcements. We started my term with an ad hoc committee to try to
change just that and came up with the idea of trying it and then making
the change permanent. Despite the doubling up of work for the
officers, we offered Exec. Board Meetings which were published and open
to all. We got a lot of business hashed out and yes, many
announcements, which shortened the business portion required. Many of
you fine individuals helped come up with a plan to that we stayed
within our constitution and bylaws, but with any group situation there
were those reluctant to change.
I/we saw a couple of disturbing trends...one was that we had a couple
elected officials not able to consistently take the time to come to the
meetings because of either other commitments or not totally on board
with the plan. They came to a few meetings here and there and could
not definitively make up their minds. Legitimately, there were a few
times when job commitments kept individuals from attending and with
scheduling those are excusable and unavoidable. So, some meetings had
decisions that did not have enough representation to make decisions, so
those topics were brought up on the Thursday program nights.
The other one was those club members and non-club members who like to
be included in decisionmaking/bantering making mountains out of
molehills and not taking the time to come to the Exec. Board meetings
to be heard. These are the most dangerous because of the
Hatfield/McCoy attitude that ensued on a couple of issues (we all know
the issues I am referring to).
Or the ones that promise to help and then decide because their way is
not the adopted decision, that they pull out of helping the club and
then complain about the club. This does the most harm because it turn
folks off from even helping!! Or not wanting to have anything to do
with the main reason of our club which is ALL aspects of Amateur Radio,
not just their view and mindset.
How about people who complain about initiative from other people? It
may not have been the "traditional" way of what the club had, but
doesn't a club that wants to grow try out new things? There seems to
be a lot of deep-seated anger in this club and you all need to get over
it and move on.
Taking your bat and ball and going home is no way to fix the club.
I suppose where the ball was dropped on this issue was when we did have
the system going and because of the whole idea of notification and
quorum. Which is also a whole area in our bylaws that is hard and
fast. But maybe someone else can talk more about that!!
Possible solutions anyone? Mine is to agree to disagree. Move the
business portion to an Executive Board situation, take the time to vote
in officers in which you trust their logic and let's just get out there
and enjoy ALL the different aspects of amateur radio. If everyone does
something or heads something in which your talents can shine, please
do. If you can't, get out of the way and keep quiet!
If you were a person looking for a club to join, would you join ours?
I would hope so as I consider each and every one of you good friends,
but sometimes that could also be a bit daunting from someone that
doesn't know any of us. How DO we make people feel welcome and want to
join us? How DO we get our current members to feel comfortable enough
to help? How DO we get past members to reconsider our club and take
notice?
I do have to comment that I think we do have interesting programming
past and present. There is a great foundation!
Now what?
Darlene--KC0CTH
On Jun 16, 2008, at 11:19 PM, Leslie Hittner wrote:
> Darlene did in fact have regularly scheduled exec meetings. Her
> goal was ultimately to stop having monthly membership
> "meetings." As I recall, we never really got to that point
> before she turned over control to her successor.
>
> I'm not sure I heard many people complain about not having a say
> at the monthly business meetings. It's a sure bet it wasn't the
> 60 or so hams who are non-members who were complaining! If you
> look at the minutes for than last year or so, you will see that
> very little "business" is conducted at the monthly membership
> "meetings." Most of the time is used up making "announcements"
> with very few motions.
>
>> From 7-8 has been very nice this year. Len has done a good job
> of putting together programs. In fact our programs have been
> pretty good for a couple of years. Unfortunately they have been
> limited by the "meeting" paradigm. If we can get rid of the
> meetings, we can do a lot more interesting things besides sit
> and listen to someone talk.
>
> The time after the program (from 8-9) is a waste of time.
>
> Len, you bet I will support discontinuing monthly meetings. I
> have been advocating that for three years now (I even proposed
> constitutional and by-law amendments to accomplish that. They
> didn't pass!)
>
> -Les
>
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Lance Tagliapietra" <lancetag at Luminet.net>
> To: <Litvan at acegroup.cc>; "Winona Amateur Radio Club general
> discussion" <warc at lists.w0ne.org>
> Sent: Thursday, June 12, 2008 09:46
> Subject: Re: [WARC] Interesting Numbers
>
>
>> Len,
>>
>> It is a great idea, and it has been tried before, with limited
> success,
>> becuase, even thought the membership complains about the
> meetings, you
>> get just as many complaints if "everyone doesn't get to
> contribute their
>> $0.02" to a decision at the meeting.
>>
>> When Darlene was WARC president, she held open meetings of the
> executive
>> board every month, with the goal of covering the material
> prior to the
>> meeting. The problem is, the decisions made at those meetings
> were then
>> re-hashed at the regular meeting, ultimately saving no time
> for anyone.
>>
>> I think what would make the biggest difference, is:
>> a) publish the agenda in the hamgram.
>> b) stick to the published agenda
>> c) any calls for 'new business' will be for items to add to
> next months
>> agenda, but not covered in the current meeting.
>>
>> and one change was already suggested, and implemented, and
> that is to
>> make the program first, and those who are interested can stick
> around
>> for the business meeting. That didn't seem to significantly
> impact
>> attendance.
>>
>> And, unlike Jim's comment, I don't enjoy a good debate, so I'd
> rather
>> see the issues dealt with elsewhere, but as I said, that has
> been tried.
>>
>> Lastly, even when the club had 95 members, we still had about
> the same
>> number of 'active' folks, so I don't see the impact in
> workload (but
>> yes, there is an impact in the club treasury).
>>
>> --Lance
>>
>> On Wed, Jun 11, 2008 at 05:16:55PM -0500, Len Litvan wrote:
>>> Les,
>>>
>>> Yes, the Directors should "take care of business" for the
> club and bring
>>> only big issues to the general membership at regular monthly
> meetings if
>>> necessary. I envision full business meetings being part of
> the general
>>> club meetings only in June and December (election months).
>>>
>>> The Directors can communicate their decisions and
> conclusions via the
>>> reflector, the Hamgram, and a handout at regular meetings.
> Same with
>>> monthly Treasurer's reports and Secretary's reports.
>>>
>>> That's what I plan to do if I am elected President next
> year. Will you
>>> support me?
>>>
>>> 73,
>>> Len
>>>
>>> Leslie Hittner wrote:
>>>> ELIMINATE THE BUSINESS MEETINGS! Do the club's business a
>>>> different way. Concentrate on activities. If people are
>>>> concerned about the "long" meetings, why look
>>>> for a place that allows even longer meetings? A time from
> 7-9 is
>>>> long enough - especially if you want young people to
> attend.
>>>>
>>>> The "business meeting" answer has been staring us in the
> face
>>>> for years. Let's deal with it. People who "love" business
>>>> meetings can come to the board meetings. Keep the rest of
> the
>>>> time to ham radio.
>>>>
>>>> -Les, K0BAD
>>>>
>>>> ----- Original Message -----
>>>> From: "James Jefferson Jarvis" <jj at aprsworld.com>
>>>> To: "Winona Amateur Radio Club general discussion"
>>>> <warc at lists.w0ne.org>
>>>> Sent: Wednesday, June 11, 2008 10:11
>>>> Subject: Re: [WARC] Interesting Numbers
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>> On Wednesday 11 June 2008, Dick Lindner wrote:
>>>>>
>>>>>> I respond to Len's comments and second his comment on
>>>>>>
>>>> meetings. There
>>>>
>>>>>> also needs to be variety in the meetings - some
> historical,
>>>>>>
>>>> some "show
>>>>
>>>>>> and tell" for newcomers, and some programs that perhaps
> have
>>>>>>
>>>> nothing to
>>>>
>>>>>> do with ham radio - the weather center visit was
> certainly a
>>>>>>
>>>> good step.
>>>>
>>>>> I'd love to do more show and tell at the meetings. I've
>>>>>
>>>> brought a few things
>>>>
>>>>> this year, but haven't been able to show them. With the
> lights
>>>>>
>>>> going while
>>>>
>>>>> the business meeting is still going, it doesn't make it
> very
>>>>>
>>>> easy to do that.
>>>>
>>>>>> The "old days" also had hamshack visits. It would be
>>>>>>
>>>> unwieldy to have
>>>>
>>>>>> all of the meeting attendees show up at someone's house
> at
>>>>>>
>>>> the same
>>>>
>>>>>> time. But perhaps, if there were 3 or 4 people willing
> to
>>>>>>
>>>> open their
>>>>
>>>>>> shacks, and someone willing to coordinate the "round
> robin"
>>>>>>
>>>> on the
>>>>
>>>>>> meeting night by clock time, then the groups could be
> small
>>>>>>
>>>> enough and
>>>>
>>>>>> everyone could visit all 3 or 4 shacks. What a kick that
>>>>>>
>>>> would be!
>>>>
>>>>> I would be happy to volunteer a "shack" visit to my work.
>>>>>
>>>> Electronics R&D,
>>>>
>>>>> machine shop, and tiny amateur radio installation. And a
>>>>>
>>>> meeting run and
>>>>
>>>>> facilities to host a meeting as well.
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>>> I have hopes for new hams to attend Field Day. Perhaps
> if
>>>>>>
>>>> we had a list
>>>>
>>>>>> of names and telephone numbers, some members of the club
>>>>>>
>>>> could make a
>>>>
>>>>>> personal call to remind/invite the new hams to Field Day.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> HF and VHF contests used to be run by those interested
> with
>>>>>>
>>>> a couple of
>>>>
>>>>>> other hams showing up at a designated "contest station".
>>>>>>
>>>> WB0HAD and
>>>>
>>>>>> WB0PRK and I think N0BUI and myself did this a few times
> and
>>>>>>
>>>> had a good
>>>>
>>>>>> time. I'm not sure we ever sent in the contest results,
> but
>>>>>>
>>>> the whole
>>>>
>>>>>> thing was a good time.
>>>>>>
>>>>> Good ideas, Dick!
>>>>>
>>>>> -Jim KB0THN
>>>>> _______________________________________________
>>>>> WARC mailing list
>>>>> WARC at lists.w0ne.org
>>>>> http://lists.w0ne.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/warc
>>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>
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