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Agenda for Meeting

Posted: Wed 2008-05-07, 03:58:50
by jslagle
Draft agenda:

NWOGEO Organizational Meeting
May 14, 2008 6:30PM
Sylvania Library

Topics:

* Introductions - 10m - jslagle
* History of NWOGEO - how we came to be where we are - 10m - jslagle + others
* Current issues we face - 10m - jslagle + others
* Proposed solutions - 20-30m - jslagle, Stumpy (Can you talk about your thing), others
- This includes the voting options, the informal options, how to handle events, etc.
* Discussion/QA on solutions - 30-60m, depending on how discussion goes
* Adjurn - 5m - jslagle

I'm trying to make this formal/informal. Do we want it more formal? I will moderate and give some of the history I know. Can someone take good notes so we can post them here?

Jason

Re: Agenda for Meeting

Posted: Wed 2008-05-07, 05:37:30
by yogi57
Maybe moving Findlay's M&E to Lima for a better draw.

Re: Agenda for Meeting

Posted: Wed 2008-05-07, 13:23:16
by GoodDog
Decide at the meeting (assuming there are enough people):

>501c ?
>Stumpy's idea of an Ohio non profit only?
>Keep it a loose knit organization, as we have currently?
>Keep it a loose knit organization, as we have currently, but set up
..at least an annual BUSINESS meeting.
> Adopt the LoCo/NEO model and just do meet and eats and have individuals do everything else?
.
.
.
>SC to continue or not?
>If SC, take nominations
>If no SC, what loose structure ? Committees only?
....>Spring fling
.....> Christmas
.....> CITO's
.....> GC 101


>If no structure, fold and just run the web site?

> If we are having a Christmas party, get a committee started and GET A SITE NOW.

Re: Agenda for Meeting

Posted: Wed 2008-05-07, 13:35:08
by GoodDog
I would also suggest, once the agenda is published, that if you can't make the meeting, you email your replies to an individual, who will be present, for him/her to present for you. Pick someone whom you feel will present an accurate portrayal of your views.

Of course a personal appearance is much preferred.
Even if you are new to geocaching you may have a lot of life experience that will be useful.

If someone would take notes, that would be great. We could post them here later.

Re: Agenda for Meeting

Posted: Wed 2008-05-07, 13:35:40
by TheBearclaws
Seems a prority item would be to present information and then discuss different versions of becoming a non profit, including the pros and cons.

Good Dog and I posted at the same time but I'll leave this here anyway. He said a lot more than I did but I was thinking what he was thinking.

Re: Agenda for Meeting

Posted: Wed 2008-05-07, 21:53:52
by Stumpy75
I have to agree with most of the things Mike said, with the exception of it ain't my idea on an Ohio non-profit. I just mentioned in one post or another that you could be an Ohio non-profit without being a 501(c)3 corp.

Actually, we do need to decide whether we want a corporation with officers, etc, or keep it loose with some sort of a steering comittee (or maybe not...).

I'll reserve my opinions for the meeting, as e-mail just don't get it for trying to get ideas across.

Hope to see everyone there!

Re: Agenda for Meeting

Posted: Wed 2008-05-07, 23:52:36
by GoodDog
Stumpy75 wrote:I have to agree with most of the things Mike said, with the exception of it ain't my idea on an Ohio non-profit. I just mentioned in one post or another that you could be an Ohio non-profit without being a 501(c)3 corp.
!
Sorry Chris, I didn't phrase that well.

Re: Agenda for Meeting

Posted: Thu 2008-05-08, 00:23:57
by Stumpy75
No problem at all there! Much easier to talk in person than to type(at least for me) and maybe too many things seem different when typed instead of face to face. :computer: :crazy2:

Anyway, hope we get a good group next Wednesday!

Sorry, no :popcorn: allowed at the library! :P (Having fun with the Emoticons tonight...)!


:trex:

Re: Agenda for Meeting

Posted: Thu 2008-05-08, 02:38:35
by Mighty_Mo
That is a great list for an agenda. I wonder if we are going to accomplish all that in one two hour meeting? If we get a decent turnout of like 15-20 or more and everyone have valuable input, I suspect this meeting might be the first of a couple.

I am not familiar with the inner workings of NWOGEO but it sounds like the SC doesn't have much to steer at this point. Did they ever have "worker bees"? If so where did they go and why are they not around now? If there weren't "worker bees" then what and who did the SC steer?

It is real easy for people to identify things that we should be doing, but who are the "we"? If it is always the SC then the result is burn out. That seems to be what is happening at this point.

How many real members do we have? As I type this it says 475. Where are they? I suspect there are less than 100 "real members". By that I mean people that are active. How many were at the "Spring Event"? How about the "Holiday Shindig"? If people won't go to a party to have fun, they sure aren't going to go to work for the organization.

I don't mean to come across negative and judgmental. I am only trying to get questions on the table so the people that are in authority can have some time to think about them. All the items for the agenda are pertaining to what direction shall the group go in? These questions are pertaining to what is the group? Once we understand what the group is, then the direction to proceed may be much more clear.

Sometimes we need to step back and look at the situation for what it is.

Re: Agenda for Meeting

Posted: Mon 2008-05-12, 17:20:50
by TheBearclaws
NEOGeocachers Home Page

Good Dog mentioned the group to our east so I thought I would post a link to the homepage of the Northeast Ohio Geocachers for those who may have never seen it.

Re: Agenda for Meeting

Posted: Mon 2008-05-12, 18:21:59
by BlackBrownDog
MightyMo wrote: but who are the "we"?
MightyMo wrote: what is the group?
These questions have been questions for at least a year. Unfortunately, the conversation to attempt to answer them is usually smothered by the work of planning a "cachetastic" event.

We have poked at having a "mission statement" for a while. A group can serve a lot of purposes. In the past NWOGEO has: provided a webforum for communication about geocaching, held events for socialization (meet and eats, Spring and Holiday Shindigs), events for service (CITOs and educational presentations), been an advocate for geocaching in dealing with parks/gov't entities. I probably forgot some. Do we want to do all these? Do we want some? Do we need others? We need to figure out what we can realistically support with the people we have.

Due to the fact that you need to join in order to post or read the forums, we have a lot of web "members." The steering committee (SC) has waxed and waned in membership from 3 to 16? (depending on what the definition was i.e. do spouses/kids count, etc.). When geocaching was less popular, there were less and smaller events, with about everyone who came and volunteered to the majority of events being asked to the SC.

Also we each have our strengths. For instance web stuff has always fallen to jslagle and Gizmo). I personally enjoy giving the "educational" sessions at the parks (which I can't do without help). Some may have other likes of strengths...just something to think about.

We had a gradual attrition, with no way identified to recruit new SC members, although SC had discussed this last fall. I can say that a number of the people posting here were mentioned as likely candidates. (If you've recently volunteered a lot, you can assume that's you). Although, some people want to volunteer and not be on SC, and that's understandable too, and I don't want to exclude those people from being a part of planning events.

Another issue if the variety of geography in the "NWOGEO area." We have been quite Toledo centric, and attempted not to be by the variety in our meeting places recently.

A concern that I have is that past geocaching groups have come to blows over 2 things: money/supplies and interaction with parks. In fact the latter I'm going to leave sit right there, but about the former...

It's hard to plan events without money, and it's not fair to ask an individual to care for it and assume the responsibilities that go with it. Also, while we have a current "Banker" we can trust, that may not always be the case (not saying GoodDog will become evil, but if someone else were to take over...) I want to try to learn from other groups mistakes, so that NWOGEO can grow and not have the issues that have been the downfall of other Ohio groups.

I also think we need a secretary to record the events Wednesday, hopefully to type them up so we can review them...

Re: Agenda for Meeting

Posted: Mon 2008-05-12, 22:15:21
by Mighty_Mo
BlackBrownDog wrote:
MightyMo wrote: but who are the "we"?
MightyMo wrote: what is the group?
These questions have been questions for at least a year. Unfortunately, the conversation to attempt to answer them is usually smothered by the work of planning a "cachetastic" event.
Sounds like the Agenda and someone to keep the meeting "on track" is definitely needed.

Re: Agenda for Meeting

Posted: Tue 2008-05-13, 03:12:34
by jslagle
I've posted a draft agenda up top. Is there more?

Jason

Re: Agenda for Meeting

Posted: Tue 2008-05-13, 11:46:16
by TheBearclaws
Jason> The original idea was for the meeting to begin at 6:30 because of some peoples schedules. I reserved the room from 6:00 to 8:30.

Re: Agenda for Meeting

Posted: Tue 2008-05-13, 12:12:23
by jslagle
Updated.