…would be a slightly misleading title to this post. After all, there are at least five states with a town or city named ‘Hollywood’, so how do you know where I will be? Well, I’ll tell you, that’s how.
Starting Monday morning I will be in Hollywood, Florida, for a meeting of the PASS Board of Directors. Not everyone pictured will be able to attend this time around, which is unfortunate but it is hard to get everyone together each and every time we meet. I am arriving on Sunday, which also happens to be my daughter’s seventh birthday, so I never want to hear someone question my loyalty to the position I hold. However, you are well within your right to question my judgment in this matter (we are going to celebrate her birthday the day before anyway).
I’ll arrive on Sunday in the late afternoon and hope to meet up with some of the other board members. We may or may not have dinner together that night. I am trying to find the best bacon martini in town right now but have not had much luck so far. We have our board meeting schedule from 9AM-6PM on Monday, and then a board dinner at 7PM. I am going to do my best to get a jog along the beach at sunset so I will either leave the meeting a few minutes early or be a few minutes late for dinner. No way I am passing up the chance to run along a beach in Florida during Spring Break.
On Tuesday we will be in session from 9AM-4PM, and my flight home leaves at 6:45, getting me home after midnight (and yes, I am expected to be in the office the very next day). Attending these meetings is something done on my own time, so I am not going to take an extra vacation day if I can avoid doing so.
We have a lot to talk about in those sixteen hours. The current agenda has such riveting items like budgets, financial projections, membership goals, community building, bylaw changes, and even the issue of transparency. I’m not sure we have enough time to discuss every topic unless we come prepared, so I have spent some extra time this week taking notes on each of the agenda items in an effort to streamline my part in the discussions.
Another part of the discussion at some point will be about the specific portfolios each director manages. Right now, I am assigned a ‘Special Projects’ portfolio. This is probably due to the fact that they don’t know what to do with me, but it is also partly due to the shift in how the directors are going to be utilized. Instead of being assigned some specific tasks, like we have done in the past, the idea is to allow the directors to drive forward with strategic thinking and planning. In my case, that has resulted in my participating in three projects for the year. Two of them I do not want to discuss at this time, as I need a few more things to fall into place before I make an announcement. The third, however, is something I do want to discuss with you. Right now. Ready?
PASS needs a ‘customer advisory board’ of sorts. We need our own focus group, made up of PASS members, that is dedicated to helping provide valuable feedback for the directors when they need to bounce some ideas around. Right now I call this group “PASS Insiders”, but we can certainly come up with a different name once we decide on our secret handshake.
Got questions? I know you do. So do I. My first question to you is: how far off target am I with this idea? You can leave your comments below or drop me an email to tell me more about your thoughts on the matter.
I am thinking that such a group would be good to pull together when you, say, need to review a survey before it goes live to all members. Or when we need you to review the overall election process. Or when we have ideas for community events. Or when we want to think about adding functionality to the sqlpass.org website. We need a group of people that we can trust (and we can pass around an NDA to sign if necessary) to help provide feedback.
For now, I want to start small and see how it grows. My first thought is to create a private group on LinkedIn and use that as a way to moderate some discussions. I haven’t figure out who to invite yet, and I could use some feedback on that process. My initial thought was to run it just like the way an MVP program is run; you have to be nominated and your candidacy gets reviewed. I am not looking to limit the number of members, and you shouldn’t expect to be flown somewhere exotic for a face-to-face meeting.
I don’t have all the answers yet, but I want to get us moving in the right direction. Let me know which direction that should be.
If you are interested in serving, let me know that as well. No guarantees on anything, but I do favor applications that are scented in bacon.
Feel free to reach out to Heather for tips on how to put together an advisory board. She did a ton of research for us, and attended a conference. I’d love to see some vendor (other than MS) on the board. I think it’s a great idea.
that’s a great idea, thanks for the help (again)!
I think the CAB is a great idea, as long as it doesn’t turn everything into a popularity contest. This is probably mitigated in large part by your selection process for who is included on the CAB. It definitely should include representation from around the globe. But beware of it becoming a collection of just the most outspoken bloggers because you risk it becoming an echo chamber, or pandering to the loudest minority. Along those lines it should probably also include some people who volunteer in other areas for PASS, and some who don’t. Remember, the majority of PASS members are not currently volunteers serving the organization.
that’s some great feedback, thanks. i do have a lot to keep in mind here.