April Board meeting?

[oiuyt]

Originally Posted by KD5MDK

No more word on any of this, taken from the September meeting report by Brad, I presume.

None.

Are you saying you haven't noticed the new online membership system (well, not that new, it went live 5 months ago), or online entry into NACs (more than 3 months ago, per the clarification -- soon, according to the printed timeline)?

:)

-B

[KD5MDK]

Well, I browsed a bit, but didn't see anything. Maybe I should email Michael Massik and ask him to send me the link.


I sure wish my company's contracting agencies had the USFA's attitude towards deliverables and SLAs.

[campb1pr]

Originally Posted by oiuyt

Regarding the multiple roles that Board members play, it has been expressed as a positve thing. We should encourage/enable those who are actually involved with the sport to be on the Board and responsible for the governance. While, clearly, another solution would be to pack the Board with people who AREN'T conflicted at tournaments, it's hard to believe that solution isn't worse than the current problem. Whether moving Board meetings away from National tournaments will encourage greater participation of those involved on a daily basis with the sport is considerably more questionable, in my opinion.

-B

This is probably another suggestion that has already been discussed, but do you think that you would have more or less conflicts by scheduling the meeting either the day before or the day after the tournament starts or ends? Especially at SN, no day in the midst of the week is best, I would imagine, so would asking people to travel early or stay late make too much difference? It would be one more day for people to take off of their work or other lives, but if it guaranteed more time, in a less stressed environment?

Or, even more radical, for SN, how about scheduling a day in the middle of the week that does not have any competitions on it. A break for refs, BC, competitors, etc. Schedule other events on that day - Board Meeting, Congress, vendor fair, public demonstrations, cultural event, Hall of Fame induction ceremony, hot dog eating contest, whatever... If we are going to promote our sport, why not take one day at our largest event of the year to go all out and try and get the public from whatever metropolitan area we are in to participate - definitely some better local or regional media coverage if you do a fun day that everyone can get into. Just a thought.

[oso97]

Originally Posted by campb1pr

Or, even more radical, for SN, how about scheduling a day in the middle of the week that does not have any competitions on it. A break for refs, BC, competitors, etc. Schedule other events on that day - Board Meeting, Congress, vendor fair, public demonstrations, cultural event, Hall of Fame induction ceremony, hot dog eating contest, whatever... If we are going to promote our sport, why not take one day at our largest event of the year to go all out and try and get the public from whatever metropolitan area we are in to participate - definitely some better local or regional media coverage if you do a fun day that everyone can get into. Just a thought.

And you're not the only one to have this thought. I understand its something under serious consideration.

[oiuyt]

Originally Posted by campb1pr

<Suggestions to have the meetings either tacked onto one end of fencing competitions or a break day in the middle of SN>

Both of those suggestions are part of the current conversations. Realize that many people on the Board have full-time jobs (not to mention families and other responsibities) that may not allow for additional days off.

Adding the extra day for 2 of the three meetings (typically JO's and SN) is two more days away from those real-world responsibilities. I'm fortunate in that an extra day at SN isn't going to be a big deal for my job, but an extra weekday in February WOULD be very difficult for me. There are others on the Board where neither would be a significant issue (some additional cost, but doable). There are those on the Board who absolutely could not add either extra day.

-B

[arc]

I have mixed feelings about a lot of this -- I think having the Board much more actively engaged in governance of the Association would be an extraordinarily good thing, while at the same time, since I get 10 days of vacation a year and spend almost all of them on fencing, to the annoyance of my wife, I am highly sympathetic to the strains that being involved at a high level places on the individual, particularly when the individual is trying to fulfill several roles at the same time.

Also, while I suspect that, say, monthly conference calls at a set time would greatly increase the effectiveness of the Board, there's also something to be said for public meetings where others not on the Board are allowed to observe and, to the degree allowable, participate. Good government is transparent, with information freely available, which is something the USFA has been sorely lacking in previous years. To that end, meetings coinciding with national tournaments have a much higher likelihood of involvement by those not actually on the board.

I think in the long run there's going to have to be some form of hybrid -- preferably an online system of consultation (which would be available for any member to read, although likely not to respond directly) combined with the retention of meetings at national tournaments. A system like that, properly managed, would allow the physical meetings to be streamlined by (hopefully) dealing with a majority of the debate in a much more convenient (but still public) forum ...

As with any organization of national scope, the biggest problem is communication and information flow. As a side note, I don't think enough people give public credit to Brad & some of the others who have been going to great lengths to make information regarding the Board & governance more freely available to members at large, and to that end, those individuals have my personal thanks.

[nahouw]

Originally Posted by arc

Also, while I suspect that, say, monthly conference calls at a set time would greatly increase the effectiveness of the Board, there's also something to be said for public meetings where others not on the Board are allowed to observe and, to the degree allowable, participate. Good government is transparent, with information freely available, which is something the USFA has been sorely lacking in previous years. To that end, meetings coinciding with national tournaments have a much higher likelihood of involvement by those not actually on the board.

I think that monthly conference calls would be great for the USFA board to institute. I work for a large global company, and many of my colleagues are in London and Tokyo. Face-to-face meetings are obviously hard to hold. We have many weekly conference calls (somedays are hard because the calls are not on a NY-centric time, so they are of the 6AM and 7PM variety), and perhaps, depending upon the project, face-to-face meetings happen perhaps once a quarter or semi-annually. We have one person on our team who manages off-site resources and she has a webcam for her conference calls. We rely alot on our internal instant messaging system and Sharepoint for document sharing. I think that the USFA could probbaly rely on a message board for day-to-day communication and perhaps monthly or bi-monthly conference calls, and then by the time that a meeting at an USFA event where the public is also invited would run much more efficiently.

[KD5MDK]

But would the public also know enough about what was going on to understand the contents of the face to face meeting?

ie, unless all the other stuff is public as well, expect a meeting where you come in, sit down and hear:
"Ok, Motion 1 has been on the Board internal website for 3 months, you've all seen it. You've seen my arguements in favor and Mr. Soter's opposed. All in favor? All opposed? Ok, motion passes."

And you think "What the hell was Motion 1 and what did each side say?"

Unless Brad keeps leaking the publicly "available" documents, I guess.

[oiuyt]

Originally Posted by KD5MDK

Unless Brad keeps leaking the publicly "available" documents, I guess.

Hey now, don't make it sound like a bad thing. I'm just seeking input from my constituency (and random assorted non-USFA members that happen to get caught in my net... :) ).

-B