Re: 2013 AIS Convention
Executive Director-----
I -- Janet Smith -- am a wildlife rehabilitator- fully trained.
National Wildlife Rehab Assn. hired an executive director - fully
qualified (Masters Degree) - energetic - hard working gal with lots
of ideas! She also had lots of bosses - BOD who twisted her every
which way but loose. Members who gave her fits and ---- in two years
she left. Frustrated, angry, all her hard work demolished. Though a
nice idea, you are asking someone qualified to volunteer --- by all
the reading of AISDiscuss subjects - we can't get anything done now
-- how will one more person change that???????
Back to the corner.
---- Original Message ----
From: aistreas@earthlink.net
To: aisdiscuss@aisboard.org
Subject: Re: [AISdiscuss] 2013 AIS Convention
Date: Fri, 26 Mar 2010 11:09:16 -0700 (GMT-07:00)
><HEAD>
><STYLE>body{font-family:
>Geneva,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;font-size:10pt;font-family:arial,sa
>ns-serif;background-color:#ffffff;color:black;}p{margin:0px}</STYLE>
>
><META name=GENERATOR content="MSHTML 8.00.6001.18876"></HEAD>
><BODY id=compText>
><P>Or we go to a shorter Convention where we only have garden tours
>for say one day...One large garden with guests. One day for the
>Board Mtg. One day for Section mtgs, and one day for garden
>tours. One banquet at the end for the Awards Dinner. In a
>way more people might come and participate in the Board and Section
>mtgs this way who otherwise would just come for the three days of
>garden tours...Obviously this would be less expensive and less
>work. There could be JT training and the Silent Auction on the
>first evening, the Geek Dinner on the second evening, the Awards
>Dinner on the third. Four nights hotel for Board
>members/Committee Chairs/RVPs instead of as many as 7.
>Doing a smaller scale National might encourage Clubs/regions to host
>one who now feel overwhelmed at the thought of a Full
>Convention. </P>
><P> </P>
><P>I think there would be fewer people coming to a Convention if it
>is just meetings. There would be fewer RVPs and Section
>officials and this is the only time of year when we get more people
>together which supports discussion and interaction. Some
>Regions don't do a Region garden tour every year either and some
>judges don't live in areas where other iris gardens are convenient to
>visit. If nothing else I think we need one meeting time/place a
>year for judges to see plants. </P>
><P> </P>
><P>As for the idea of an Executive Director....having a central
>coordinator working full time to keep track of all of AIS areas of
>operation could be tremendously helpful...if we could get someone
>with background and knowledge of AIS operations to do it full time
>with no pay??? The contract fees we currently pay for the
>Managing Editor, Editor, Design & Layout Position,
>Registrar/Recorder, Webmaster, and MemSec add up to around $29,000
>per year as it is.</P>
><P> </P>
><P>Jill </P>
><P> </P>
><P> </P>
><P> </P>
><P>Then on even numbered years we could plan the week long Full
>convention like we have now with all meetings, JT and guest
>gardens. <BR><BR><BR></P>
><BLOCKQUOTE style="BORDER-LEFT: #0000ff 2px solid; PADDING-LEFT: 5px;
>MARGIN-LEFT: 0px">-----Original Message----- <BR>From:
>MORRISJE1@aol.com <BR>Sent: Mar 26, 2010 10:22 AM <BR>To:
>aisdiscuss@aisboard.org <BR>Subject: Re: [AISdiscuss] 2013 AIS
>Convention <BR><BR><ZZZHTML><ZZZHEAD><ZZZMETA content="text/html;
>charset=US-ASCII" http-equiv="Content-Type"><ZZZMETA content="MSHTML
>6.00.2900.3660" name="GENERATOR"></ZZZHEAD><ZZZBODY
>style="FONT-FAMILY: Arial; COLOR: #000000; FONT-SIZE: 10pt"
>id=role_body rightMargin="7" topMargin="7" leftMargin="7"
>bottomMargin="7"><FONT id=role_document color=#000000 size=2
>face=Arial>
><DIV>
><DIV>In a message dated 3/26/2010 6:52:13 A.M. Central Standard Time,
>hager@aredee.com writes:</DIV>
><BLOCKQUOTE style="BORDER-LEFT: blue 2px solid; PADDING-LEFT: 5px;
>MARGIN-LEFT: 5px"><FONT style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: transparent"
>color=#000000 size=2 face=Arial>Paul,<BR>As the "organizational
>gadfly", I believe the difficulty in finding a <BR>location for the
>AIS convention is structural. Except for your expertise in <BR>lining
>up conventions and assisting the host organization, the input from
><BR>the AIS is minimal. Putting a convention, regional or "mini"
>convention <BR>together is a monumental task with a very steep
>learning curve. Each step is <BR>critical and requires the
>participation of able and willing volunteers. Add <BR>to that all the
>fiefdoms that exist with the AIS and the sponsoring <BR>organization.
>It doesn't take long to figure out that when we ask a Region <BR>or
>Club to host a convention, we are asking someone to walk through a
><BR>minefield blindfolded.<BR><BR></FONT></BLOCKQUOTE></DIV>
><DIV></DIV>
><DIV> </DIV>
><DIV>Dennis, (and all)</DIV>
><DIV> </DIV>
><DIV>You make some good points as a gadfly. It is a huge task
>to chair and run a Convention for AIS. Been there, done
>that. It does take willing volunteers -- several of them in the
>hosting affiliate/region. And the length of the conventions has
>become expensive, both in time and cost to the attendees.</DIV>
><DIV> </DIV>
><DIV>Of the "successful" organizations you mention, how many are
>non-profit? Or non-career, non-professional
>organizations? I know lots of successful for profit,
>professional career related organizations. I once ran a
>one-week long professional career convention in Chicago with
>attendance of 8,000 people. The hook was professional career
>and the potential to improve your self in your profession.
>People will pay for that. Will iris people pay for flower
>conventions? I understand that Wisconsin's goal is 400
>attendees (about 10%). The largest AIS Convention attendance I
>have discovered was 827 in 1959 in Oklahoma City when our membership
>was 8,000, so that was again about 10%.</DIV>
><DIV> </DIV>
><DIV>I have always been optimistic about AIS and guess I don't see
>the "fiefdoms" you are referencing. Unless you are referring to
>the Sections and Co-operating Societies who do have their special
>focuses and agendas.</DIV>
><DIV> </DIV>
><DIV>AIS does need to do more Strategic Planning and make the changes
>to adapt to the modern world. Talking about it is important but
>we need some sort of action plan for the future. And the
>consideration of an Executive Director as suggested by Jerry Coates
>is something that DID work for a while when AIS had 8,000
>members. The AIS Executive Offices were administered out of
>Memphis, TN by two or three people in the early 1950s, then from
>1957-1977 with one full-time paid person in St. Louis. It ended
>with AIS almost going bankrupt as the membership started a long term
>decline in numbers. We are now at 4,000 members and I don't
>believe we have anyway near the funding to consider a full-time paid
>director.</DIV>
><DIV> </DIV>
><DIV>However, in the short-term I would like others' opinions about
>an Educational Convention, no guest planting, possible optional tours
>to existing gardens, or not, and a shortened length of time for the
>convention. We have this short-term problem that needs a
>solution first. I await comments. Please don't get hung
>up on a paid director for now. </DIV>
><DIV> </DIV>
><DIV>Jim M.</DIV></FONT></ZZZBODY></ZZZHTML></BLOCKQUOTE></BODY>
>
>---------------------------------------------------------------------
>To sign-off this list, send email to the AIS Secretary
><aissecretary@irises.org>
>The archives for AISDiscuss are at:
>http://www.aisboard.org/lists/aisdiscuss/
>
---------------------------------------------------------------------
To sign-off this list, send email to the AIS Secretary
<aissecretary@irises.org>
The archives for AISDiscuss are at:
http://www.aisboard.org/lists/aisdiscuss/
Other Mailing lists |
Author Index |
Date Index |
Subject Index |
Thread Index