Okay ... pick up your shoes because here comes the BS. Why B.S.? Well, because I refuse to back it up. I'm in Keyboard Warrior Mode .. lol. I'm rambling hypothetically. I refuse to run for the position unless I put 100% into it and .. that ain't gonna' happen for many years. I travel too much. Still work my primary job. Love to Play Hard still. Don't have the focus. I found that out when I accepted PRO (I didn't run for it btw .. someone else stepped down, I stepped in) and then resigned less than a year later. Hell, was it even six months? Didn't want to deal with B.S. But .. I digress.
IF I was Chapter Commander, what would I do? This shit is easy from the sidelines of course. I don't have to deal with dozens of Type A Alpha Males bumping heads. Don't have to deal with folks that barely participate. Don't have to deal with folks that don't show up. But still .. ... what would I do.....differently? Maybe the same ... Maybe similar to past years? Well, since you asked ... :)
1. Meetings would be more than just that. I'd want folks to mingle more before and after. Have a really good time. Hell, most of the time these are held at Bar Grills or VFW/American Legions where we have plenty of ... adult refreshments. Now, you don't want to mix it up too much ... but damned... have a good time. Folks take this shit too seriously sometimes.......
2. Length of Meetings. I've been in 2.5 hour meetings before. Fucking Brutal. Been in way too many that stretch past 1 hour. Almost always, unnecessary. They rarely need to be that long. People lose interest. People causing the delays like to hear themselves talk too much. Shit that doesn't need to be discussed, is... rambled on about over .. and over. I'd shoot for 30-45 min minutes; tops. Most of what is discussed is.... I don't know.... lets just say .. not necessary? IMHO at least. I'm a get to the point guy. Want to do a fund raiser? Get some ideas, appoint a POC .. move on. Want to discuss a new subject? Bring it up, discuss it with no BS... move on. Patch someone in? Do it professionally and that means NOT handing a sheet of paper between multiple CEB members that seem to be reading it for the first time. Get the required stuff done, pull out that gavel and.. BAM! Meeting adjourned. Like I said.. folks take this shit too seriously .. but .. I repeat myself .. lol
3. Identify 1-3 fund raisers for the year and .... get folks to lead the charge and hold them responsible. Simple as that. Let them hold their own damned meetings and give a short update at the chapter meeting. Get some input if necessary .. then .. move on. Gun Raffle, Golf Tourney, Poker Runs... whatever. Me personally, I prefer the Poker Runs. More specifically I prefer actual RIDES where all 50-200 bikes rollout together. Lets go do 50+ miles... stop for a stretch/cold ones/grub , then hop back on for another 50 and do some 'fund raising' at the destination. Done! Gun Raffles no friggn brainer; trick is to get buy in from chapter members to actually commit to selling some damned tickets! Golf Tourney .. well.. I cringe on this one... most people in the chapter don't seem to give a shit. Have to admit; I don't. Folks take this s.... never mind :)
4. Chapter Ride(s). Why is this so difficult? Lets go do 100 -150 miles as a chapter. We ARE a motorcycle association, right? I've been a member going on five years .... and have only been on a couple of smaller rides. Here's an idea/concept. Lets ride .. an actual ride... .to a chapter meeting! Keep that meeting ultra short, and have a great time. I can't emphasize this enough. We all have motorcycles, ride on 2 or 3 wheels..... so ..........lets RIDE! Why don't we have several of these a year... as a minimum?
That's it ... maybe I'll come back and update as time goes on with more ideas. Maybe 3-5 years from now I'll put up/shut up, get elected and run a Chapter as Commander (CC). For now, I just want to ride throughout the week with my Brothers and Sisters; a few have become good friends. Attend events throughout the State .... Region(s). And I want the time we all spend together to be as painless as possible (ex. shorter more efficient meetings!) I simply want to enjoy the 'ride'... meaning .. everything.
Is there more to it that all this? Of course. Fund Raising allows us to help others Vets. Other Sisters and Brothers. But, this shit ain't work. We need to enjoy it... .. all of it.
Update 4 OCT: We have multiple chapters surrounding us. We've got 23-26, 23-14 and 23-29. Why not ride in to one of their meetings? Join them for a ride? Actively share schedules? Just .... thinking out loud.
Shit.. I remember being on the board for upwards of two years via appointed positions. First one, they continually asked me to join the pre montly zoom meetings, but I was like ..'why??' .... Well, we I got appointed to the second position, it actually made a little more sense but then I found myself often thinking "wtf?" from some of the crap I was hearing. Hell, we'd have a meeting before the meeting. I often wondered what the point of the meeting with the rest was for since everything had basically been discussed and decided in the pre-meetings? And I got to see some of the personalities at their ... worst. Good news is... few of the problem children are gone. Few left, but ... we've got something we can work with now..
ReplyDeleteWell ... crap ... 11.5 months later I've been nominated. Time to put up or shut up ..... so .. which is it?
ReplyDeleteBeen awhile since I'd reviewed this. Back in October, voted into the position. Know what? I fucking love it. We had our high stress event in April, succeeded, now ... we enjoy the ride a notch. Folks seem to be happier now that we've turned a corner of sorts. Good Days ahead. When I wrote this originally, had no idea I'd be in the CC position this soon. My outlook/attitude has changed a lot since I wrote this. I might... maybe .. had been a lil .. frustrated? :)
ReplyDelete