September 4, 2015
Dear Everyone:
Last weekend’s Planning Meeting for the
Mount Diablo Chapter of
ARMA
International went longer than intended (big surprise there), but it was
delightfully productive.
First, we had to vote to appoint “Godfrey” as the new Vice President.
When “Drusilla”, who we had just “promoted” from Membership
Director to Vice President, sent us a “Dear John” letter, dropping out
of ARMA altogether for the time being, our Regional Advisor, “Clancy”,
got all concerned. He
thought we couldn’t have a local Chapter without at least the top four
Board Members.
This is interesting. Last
year, when the presidency was dropped into my lap, it didn’t bother
“Clancy” in the slightest that we suddenly had no VP.
Now it was “CRITICAL”!!!
Only, not.
He checked with the Powers That Be at ARMA International and they
assured him that they would “only” put the Chapter on a “watch” to see
if we could survive for a year.
In the meantime, “Godfrey” volunteered.
So it was only a formality for the Board to vote to appoint
“Godfrey” to the position.
Took about two minutes, tops.
Then it was on to bigger things.
I asked if we wanted to have a Theme for this year.
A Theme is something Chapters do, or not, if they want to.
It’s usually a catchy slogan that “pulls the whole year
together”.
This always reminds me of a cartoon I used to have.
It showed the main character, dressed in a white suit, striking a
pose from the movie,
Saturday
Night Fever. The main
character was saying, “This is the Year we’re going to get it all
together!” The secondary
character was saying, “Of course, if we hadn’t let it all fall apart
last year, we wouldn’t have to bother.”
“Godfrey”, who has a lot of experience with these things, suggested that
we try planning out all the programs for the year and see if that
suggests a Theme, rather than starting with a Theme and then trying to
shoehorn the programs to fit it.
I figured, “Half of one; six dozen of the other.”
I did suggest that we look for things that were more practical, and
possibly useful, than some of the “preaching to the choir” that we had
last year. Almost before we
knew it, we had a list of nine programs, complete with potential
Speakers. And we had a
Theme:
“Roadmap to RIM Success”
(RIM = Records and Information Management)
Of course, anything can qualify as part of a “roadmap”.
And it turns out “Godfrey” and I will be the Speakers at a piece
about on-boarding and off-boarding because we have both survived
Mergers
and Acquisitions and can certainly talk about the pros and cons of
trying to hold onto your job, not to mention your RIM Program, while the
Corporate “Cost-Savings” Scythe swings past your head.
Besides, it isn’t actually scheduled until next June.
Love, as always,
Pete
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