From the President, May 2002
In The News...

A couple of weeks ago, while reading one of our newsletters, I noticed the following names: Doug Lingren, Alana Griffith, Pete Norum, Gerald DeZelar, Bob Saumur, Audrey Brucker, Ken Kline, and Dick Bastyr. "Nothing unusual," you might say, "those are committees members, chapter officers, or Region officers." And you would be right.

The interesting thing is that I was reading not the current issue, or last month's, or the one before - but one that was published in 1987, the year I became a member. Looking ahead only a few issues, I added these names: Marthe Sandvik, Joe Edwards, Rod Erickson (two of those), George White, Dick Phillips, Mike Spence, Brian Mahin, Jim Kellett, John Griffith, Jon Papke, Dan'l Burns, Mike O'Hara, Harold Kiewel, and others. Once again, you will notice that these are the people who have served our chapter the last few years.

the good ol' boys

Over the years I have occasionally heard disparaging comments about our organization, referring to the chapter leaders as a "good ol' boys club". Looking at the names above, it certainly might appear that way. A relatively small number of people running the whole show, turning over jobs within the group, keeping the outsiders on the outside.

The truth is much less sinister. Each year the board of directors struggles to find qualified people who want to serve; each year the committees plead for new members.

In theory, committees offer an opportunity for all members to take an active part in chapter activities. As they gain experience, they are able to take on leadership of those committees, serving as chairs or co-chairs. As people move through these positions, we generate a pool of people from which to draw Board members with a wide range of experience, from working in the trenches to leading a committee.

But when we don't have volunteers for committees, we have to recycle committee chairs, and when we don't have a new source of experienced committee people, we have to recycle Board members - and we end up with the good ol' boys club.

During the time I served as vice president, I noticed that many of our members serve on more than one committee. Most of the technical committee members served not only on other committees, but on the board of directors as well.

if this goes on…

At this point, it would be easy to predict the end of our chapter. Obviously this won't happen, as the current situation has existed for at least fifteen years. So, things can continue on as they are.

But think how much better we could be if we had even a few more members to share the load carried by the committees. A couple of months ago I wrote about the Board's decision to raise dues. Among the reasons were the expectations of the members and the cost of our professional administrative assistant.

Producing the program schedule that we now enjoy doesn't cost money, but it takes hundreds of hours of time. And administration of an organization as large as ours takes more hundreds of hours. A chapter of fifty members, or even a hundred, can be run entirely on volunteer effort from a few people. But running a chapter of our size takes far more time than those same few people have to offer - they also have commitments to jobs and families, which should be a higher priority.

Another interesting thing I've noticed in the last few years is that the chair of the annual product fair frequently disappears right after the show. Organizing this event is one of the most demanding, intense commitments a member can make; it is simply too much for a single person to handle. The result? They burn out and leave. Some do come back after a while, but others are lost. Does that make sense? Should we lose people who are able put a product show together and make it work? What a loss!

We definitely need help to make the chapter work. We can do it through volunteer effort; we can use our professional administrative service more - which will cost more money; or we can continue on as we have, picking up one or two new committee members each year, and burning out a couple of the old farts along the way.

If committee work looks overwhelming, it's because it is done by only a few people. Many tasks can be done in a short time; a lot of them don't even require attendance at committee meetings. It is quite likely that you - yes, you! - can make a meaningful contribution to our chapter. Look at the newsletter, or the web site, to see what our committees do. Then pick up the phone and call one of the committee chairs.

Maybe we'll see some new names in the newsletter.

Sheldon Wolfe, President
Minneapolis-St. Paul Chapter, CSI
swolfe@bwbr.com