August 28, 2015
Dear Everyone:
Ever so busy today, what with getting ready for tomorrow’s big
ARMA
meeting.
No, this is not the usual Thursday evening monthly meeting.
The BIG meeting is to plan all the monthly meetings in advance.
This is when the Board, complete with our almost-Vice President,
will meet to agree on whether or not we’ll have a Theme for the
2015-2016 year. And, more
importantly, when in the month we will be meeting.
For the past few years, we’ve met on the fourth Thursday of each month,
more or less. This allows us
to get the reservations in with the restaurant that we usually use well
in advance of anyone else who might want to use it the same night.
And our members can put it on their calendars so they have less
of an excuse to avoid coming.
Once the date is set, it’s on to brainstorming possible Speakers.
This will probably take the most time as we collectively rack our
brains to try and think up nine topics that could be of any interest to
our members, and anyone else who might come.
One thing we’ll use is a list garnered from last month’s Regional
Leadership Conference. Every
year the people in charge try to think up another way to collect answers
to the age-old question:
“What do the members want in the way of topics?”
Each year, they randomly assign numbers to each table, then tell
everyone to change tables, give answers to a question (there were 15
this year) and somehow document the answers.
And then report back to the rest of the group.
Imagine, if you will, a hotel meeting room with a dozen tables, just
like they set up for a wedding reception, complete with rubber-chicken
dinners. Imagine that the
father of the groom stands up and, instead of making a toast, orders all
the people at even-numbered tables to change to odd-numbered tables.
Talk with the people at the “new” table for five minutes.
Now change again. And
again. Not unlike speed
dating.
It’s like musical chairs with very little room to maneuver and a very
good chance of losing your meal by the time you finally get back to your
original table. And remember
to take paper and pencils so you can write down all the answers.
Nevertheless, sometimes you hear a really good idea from one of the
other attendees. I remember
one year when one of the questions had to do with meetings for the
Chapter Board. I said that
we usually had a fairly brief meeting each month following the regular
chapter meeting. One person
sat up straight and exclaimed, “That’s a GREAT idea!”
I guess his chapter had never thought of it.
So tomorrow, the Board will meet across the street in my community’s
clubhouse. It doesn’t cost
anything, and it’s clean and quiet.
I’ve already tracked down how to turn the air-conditioning on
(and off again) and confirmed that the projector and screen that I now
have will work with my laptop and the furniture in the room.
And I’ll make Grandmother’s Almond Pastry tonight for us to nibble on
throughout the meeting. It
can’t hurt.
Love, as always,
Pete
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