|
|
||
|
Last Update 03/21/07 |
May 13, 2004 Executive Board Meeting Summary: Each member present was given the opportunity to present their ideas as to what the chapter did and did not do well last year. The general consensus was that the chapter did well organizing meetings, finding speakers, working with the national AMS and holding a banquet, but could improve upon advertising of chapter functions, holding additional social events, better visibility of the outreach program, and better involvement within the professional and general communities. A roundtable discussion on ideas for chapter events ensued, flowing from one topic to another, bringing many ideas for the chapter over the next year to the forefront. Some of these ideas include new methods of dues payment, expansion of our outreach efforts, speakers for 2004 meetings and the chapter banquet in early 2005, ways to better involve the general community as well as professors and NWS employees, redesigning the chapter’s website and chapter sponsorships (both private and professional). Chris will release his full Strategic Policy Directive, complete with one-, two- and five-year chapter plans, sometime within the next week. Complete Report:The meeting opened with Chris asking Richie about his feelings with regards to the chapter’s strengths and weaknesses from within the past year. Richie made the observations that dues needed to be handled better, encouraging everyone to pay on time and make it worth something; that the Banquet to close the year was an excellent idea; that chapter business at some meetings ran too long, while not enough time was given to the speakers; holding a couple of social events each semester was beneficial; the outreach program should be expanded, with perhaps better visibility for the programs; the work with the department and national AMS to send chapter members out to Seattle for the annual AMS conference was fantastic and should be continued; and that the chapter needs better advertising, both internally and externally, to bring about more community, faculty and NWS involvement. Discussion on these points ensued, with both Chris and Clark adding in comments where appropriate. Clark noted that with regards to dues, the officers last year had thought about making the dues a revolving, pay for a calendar year as opposed to just a chapter year, method, but left the final decision to the new executive board. Chris asked Richie what he felt about the prices on dues, specifically in comparison to those in Kansas City, where he had previously been a member of their local chapter. Richie noted that dues there were $12 in 2001 and $10 in 1992, making our dues relatively cheap, particularly for students. Clark then suggested an idea to have student members pay $5 for the forthcoming chapter year in August, then pay $20 in January, $15 of which would be used towards establishing or renewing membership in the national AMS and $5 of which would be used towards the remainder of chapter dues for the year. From then on, dues would be payable at the start of each calendar year at a set rate of $25, again including national and local chapter membership. A cheaper, $10 option would be available for those desiring not to join the national AMS. No action was taken on dues at the meeting, however. Chris, with input from Richie and Geoff, suggested having faculty and NWS subcommittees, designed to involve them with chapter activities in an effort to broaden our membership base and to enhance our programs and activities. This could involve one of our speakers from the NWS last year, T.J. Turnage or Paul Duval, in addition to some member-at-large from the FSU Meteorology department faculty. Further efforts to draw their participation were discussed later in the meeting and include an Open House in conjunction with the department and NWS office in the Love Building, having members of the general chapter membership and Executive Board briefly speak to each of the meteorology department’s classes, have all department professors place a blurb about the chapter in their syllabi at the start of each semester, perform outreach to the introductory level meteorology classes, inquire about a chapter mailbox and/or box for suggestions in the main department office, and expand upon previous ties with regards to involvement with the annual AMS conference and procuring a speaker for the chapter’s banquet in early 2005. Clark suggested that he and Chris should meet with Dr. Ellingson, chair of the FSU Dept. of Meteorology, within the next couple of weeks in order to hammer out some issues regarding departmental involvement with the 2005 AMS conference. Briefly, Clark brought up the idea of a Networking seminar, designed to teach members the ropes about networking at conferences, at chapter meetings and functions, and at various points within their academic and professional careers. Concerns were expressed by the other members that it should not be a talk about “namedropping” and instead should be a talk about genuinely meeting people whose work you are interested in about finding more information. This could be something forthcoming over the summer, or not at all. After these brief discussions, the floor was turned over the Geoff for some comments. Geoff noted that outreach should be the focus of the forthcoming chapter year, building upon the successes late in the previous chapter year. He did note, however, that the programs should be more accessible to those who want to get involved. To that extent, he later mentioned the Weathercasting group as such a group who would be interested in getting involved with the chapter (aside from mentioning that their show could be an outlet to spread word about chapter meetings to the community as well as the basis for a broadcast subcommittee designed to help out aspiring weathercasters with preparing for real-world jobs) in terms of outreach. Geoff also noted that he had some ideas for expanding upon social events, including a potential mixer in late August just before classes are starting up once again. With Geoff’s comments complete, the remainder of the meeting turned to a roundtable discussion of free-flowing ideas, oftentimes following off of what another person had said immediately beforehand. Clark noted that a way to get more chapter members involved socially would be to enhance the spotlight of the city league softball team in which a few meteorology students are involved (though not just limited to students). Chris noted that he wants to have the banquet speaker, venue and price range set down by the end of November, in preparation for a mailing to all chapter members and interested individuals within the region detailing banquet information and costs. Along those lines, Chris wants to have a mailing prepared and sent out with a newsletter, business card and contact information to all AMS members within the Tallahassee NWS office’s forecast area, spanning parts of three states. This will be done this summer. With time, beginning with this chapter year, Chris hopes to expand the chapter’s reach geographically. Having done some research, he found that the Jacksonville chapter appears to be inactive, that there are no chapters in Georgia south of Atlanta, and that the closest chapters in Alabama are either meteorology clubs at a university (Mobile) or located far away (Huntsville, Tuscaloosa) from Tallahassee. In a gradual process, Chris wants to establish regional centers for the chapter, designed to help entrench the chapter within those communities and enhance the activities of the chapter as a whole by reaching out to the entire region. The first such region will be in Panama City, FL, home to Eglin Air Force Base and a fairly sizeable core of meteorologists. Other such regions may include Dothan, AL, Valdosta, GA, and Pensacola, FL, with future expansion towards Jacksonville, FL and even points further north in Georgia possible. Much of this will be outlined in his strategic policy directive, forthcoming over the next week. Speakers and events for two months, August and November, were discussed. Following off of Chris and Clark’s talk on Tuesday, Clark noted that for August, as a way to promote the chapter and take care of an event we had thought about for that month, we could have Jeb Bush as our meeting speaker. Chris and Geoff both noted that they had contacts that could possibly be able to help bring him in to speak at that meeting; Chris also noted that it’d be more a question of if he is around to speak as opposed to him actually wanting to speak. With everyone returning to town around that time and the 12th anniversary of Hurricane Andrew’s landfall in Florida shortly thereafter, as Clark noted, it would be an ideal time to have him speak about weather and emergency management within Florida and to present him with honorary membership, highlighting his efforts in those fields over the past six years as governor, at the end of the meeting. Such a chapter meeting would like be held at the state’s Emergency Operations Center near Southwood, as Chris noted, with honorary membership to be bestowed upon inaugural banquet speaker Craig Fugate at that time as well. Along the same vein, Chris noted that Mr. Fugate has been gracious enough to provide, at no cost, the opportunity to teleconference – potentially for the November chapter meeting and potentially as a warp up of the 2004 Atlantic hurricane season – with Max Mayfield, director of the National Hurricane Center. More details on all of this to come over the next few months. Various other items dotted the remainder of the meeting. Geoff noted that holding more afternoon activities, such as tours of local television stations, may be a way to draw in additional membership. Chris asked Clark how many mail accounts are available on the web server for use, as a precursor to potentially offering northflams.org e-mail addresses to all chapter members. That maximum number is 50, though the site’s hosting plan can always be increased if need be to meet the needs of the chapter. Clark noted that he hopes to re-design the chapter’s website to make it look more professional sometime over the summer, searching for a professional designer to help with the aesthetics and dynamic content if needed. Chris and Geoff noted that there are additional features they wouldn’t mind seeing on the site, such as a mailing list (already in development), a suggestions e-mail box (now available at northflams@gmail.com), dynamic content such as a daily Tallahassee forecast, or even the ability to donate to the chapter or pay dues online. Chris briefly unveiled plans for member incentives to make paying chapter dues worthwhile; these incentives, beyond voting and advisory positions already inherent to paying chapter dues, could include member of the month awards, a chapter newsletter and exclusive rights to some chapter tours and functions. He also noted that he would like to make available sponsorships, both professional and personal, to those interested in making donations to the chapter. Personal donations would be on a tiered structure, offering up a plaque, recognition at the chapter’s banquet and in the chapter’s newsletter, and varying degrees of distinction based upon the amount donated. Along those lines, Chris noted that he and Treasurer Cerese Albers will be looking into non-profit status for the chapter, complete with bi-weekly or monthly ledger reports available for the entire executive board as well as a yearly audit (required or not) of the chapter’s books. Clark brought to light a project he is working on with Geoff Stano and Shane Young, two current (or future) graduate students at FSU. Owing to the lack of forecasting involved within the Meteorology Dept. as well as no real way for those interested in the weather within the community at-large to actually get hands-on with it, Clark, Geoff and Shane are establishing a forecasting program that may eventually be incorporated within the chapter (potentially as a subcommittee) designed to help those interested in weather forecasting gain experience by actually forecasting. Clark noted that the primary region of interest would likely be the Tallahassee NWS office’s county warning area and that ties will be explored within the NWS office to allow for interaction with forecast experts and their tools, such as the AWIPS software. It would not be limited to students, as anyone within the community would be welcome to join the program. Emphasis would be placed on verification of forecasts – i.e., where did a forecast go wrong or where was it right and why did that happen. This program would be extremely beneficial to those looking at forecasting for a living and another way for the chapter to be involved within the community and the FSU meteorology department. More details will be forthcoming over the coming months. Three final elements highlighted the meeting. The first is that Clark will be contacting everyone to arrange for a common time to create headshots for the professional biographies of all Executive Board members on the chapter’s website within the coming weeks. The second is that Chris noted that, all in all, there may be close to a dozen subcommittees, designed to make more efficient various aspects of chapter business. An example of one of these subcommittees will be to handle external press relations, such as press releases; other examples are dotted throughout this report, such as the broadcast subcommittee. Finally, Chris noted a desire to hold a social event sometime in late June or early July, potentially involving deep sea fishing off of the coast of Panama City. Clark also noted the potential to form groups or lists of interested people to go storm or hurricane chasing if the opportunity presented itself at some point during the summer. The meeting wrapped up near 10:00pm with a discussion of good restaurants within the Birmingham, AL and Kansas City, MO regions. For More Information: Chris Bennett, northflams@gmail.com |
|||
|
