Projects for 2010-11

This is a public list of projects that we have identified for 2010-11. It doesn't hurt to start them early, though, as we ramp up for the next fiscal year. The list will change from time to time as projects are completed and new projects are identified.

Most projects are short-term projects with clear deliverables and definite dates. For many tasks, this works better than giving someone a "chair" title for the year and asking them to figure out what to do.

Your suggestions are welcome. If you have a great idea that you would like to implement this year, contact dawson_dennis@emc.com and let's talk about it. If you have a great idea for someone else to do...well, send it along, you never know...but generally people can think up their own ideas for cool stuff to do. We're more in need of leaders and doers than thinkers and idee-ars. :-)

• Web Site Projects
• General Projects

If you would like to volunteer to help with the site, the way it will work is this. First, send an email message to dawson_dennis@emc.com and let me know that you would like to edit a section of the web site. Download the template and/or seed information provided, and put together the web page. Send back the updated page as a zip file, and I will post it to the web site. What I hope to find are people who are able to make updates consistent with the look and feel of the site, can operate autonomously, send clean copy (no spelling or grammatical errors), and make regular periodic updates to the section under their control.

We will start with small projects of short duration. People who are able to complete the projects with minimal assistance within the time guidelines set will have additional opportunities to contribute. Over time, I would like for these small projects to turn into Editor roles, where individuals are responsible for expanding and improving sections of the web site, recruiting additional contributors, etc.

Somewhere in the process, it would be terrific if we could identify a new web master from our crack team of editors, and s/he were able to take the reins.

Here are some pages that I would like to see recreated, based on information we had online last year:

• Page template (useful for all projects): template.zip 83K
• Coaching: coaching.zip 1,223K
• Contests: Done!
• Meetings: meetings.zip 389K
• Membership: membership.zip 5,939K
• New club: newclub.zip 3,406K
• Scrapbook: Solicit and/or take pictures of contests, training, conferences, etc., arrange them nicely, ideally with captions, so that we can post a scrapbook page on the site. You can send a page about one particular event, or take on the task of managing the scrapbook (ideally, this would have many contributors so that the job wouldn't fall to any one person).

If you would like to take the content provided above and create a page to post on the web site, please contact dawson_dennis@emc.com and wait for a response so that you will not collide with another contributor who is already preparing the page. Each of these is less than an hour's work. However, it would be grand if you could research and augment the pages with additional useful material.

When Tanya Jansen took on the role of Conference Chair for the Spring Conference, she was given two banker's boxes full of binders. At this point, the information is redundant and not necessarily reliable or up to date. Rather than a resource, the binders are more of a burden. We need someone to intelligently go through the binders, consolidate the information, and convert it to electronic form so that the important information is preserved in a way that makes it readily available, not subject to water damage, etc. If you would like to help out with this effort, please contact dawson_dennis@emc.com, and we will see about hooking you up.

Trained Trainers

We need to train teams of four to roll out the one-room training modeled in the winter for future earlybird and make-up training cycles. We will have a training session and "dry runs" for potential session leaders to prepare them for effectively training our members.

Treasurer Training Enhancements

We need to do a better job of making the Treasurer role "sexy." It is an important role that has not been done consistently in most clubs. We need to provide better tools, sample budgets, guidelines for dues collection and disbursement, and myriad other small helps that add up to not only more club success but also a learning opportunity for Treasurers who want to do the job well.

College Campus Clubs

We have many clubs on college campuses now. These clubs face unique challenges, particularly that we know that members are likely to move away after 2 to 4 years at the longest. How can we keep the clubs strong and maintain experienced leadership over the long haul? We have mulled this topic in the past, but we haven't engaged students themselves to help us address this issue. I would like to see a student-led task force think through the issues, come up with some solutions, try them to see how they work, and create a living document to keep track of what works.