If you were unaware, the NEOC AGM was yesterday, complete with election of half of the NEOC Board. Incumbents Peter Frykman, Jeff Saeger, and Tim Parson were reelected, and newcomers Sylvie Guichard and Tim Booth, both from the UK, were elected to two-year terms. (Directors Pete Lane, Jim Paschetto, Jim Crawford, and Joanne Sankus are in the middle of the terms.) Thanks to Mika and Aims, who are stepping down at the conclusion of their terms. I'm very excited about Tim's and Sylvie's contribution to the NEOC leadership.
The primary function of the Board is to oversee the continued operation of NEOC. While the officers - especially the webmaster, the clerk, the treasurer, and the various vice presidents - execute the day-to-day operation, the Board has the important role of oversight, putting out fires, addressing problems, and occasionally undertaking new initiatives like the modified "season pass" membership. Much of the Board's function involves finding people to execute tasks rather than executing it themselves, and generally many of the officers are also on the Board.
If you made a list of all the actions taken by the Board over the course of a year at the six bimonthly meetings, the list would consist of many mundane but necessary tasks - approving minutes, voting on budgets, creating committees or task forces to investigate some issue, allocating travel stipends, and a small handful of actually controversial items, like whether and how to start a schools program. It is important for the Board to do this, and failing to do so would be a disaster for the club.
I don't think the Board is that well suited to execution of a particular tasks. For A-meets, for instance, there exists a group of seven people in NEOC who care about the highest levels of competition who meet to make plans for the next 2-5 years. There is a small mapping committee who oversees the budget the Board allocates it each year for mapping projects. Finally, for any particular meet, there is an organizing crew that makes that particular meet happen. These are narrow issues about which the Board should be appraised, but over which it has little influence.
However, by what metric can a leadership group be judged as successful? Speaking as a NEOC member, a former board member, and an active part of the current NEOC leadership, I would like the board to set some goals, to try to achieve some target for the coming year. I want the Board to set a 5-year plan and take steps to achieve it. I believe that the Board is capable of accomplishing more. What broad goals could the Board achieve? Some ideas:
- Membership goal: reach some number N of members or active members (active = attending 3+ meets per year), or some number of starts per year. Implement a program to achieve this with advertising to interested groups, hosting meets at prominent events like the Worcester Start on the Street, and encouraging club members to participate.
- Implement a schools program with a CSU Park-O-esque format
- Implement an orienteering training program, with a handful of training camps at all levels throughout the year
- Start a campaign to inform the NEOC membership about what the club actually does, since I doubt they are aware
- Encourage NEOC attendance at A-meets outside of New England, e.g. by coordinating transportation or offering subsidies.
- Implement a ride-sharing program to make it easier for NEOC members without cars to attend meets and reduce carbon impact. Consider subsidizing drivers who offer rides to encourage participation.
While it's true that the Board isn't really in a position to execute these tasks in isolation - in general, the Board would begin by designating personnel to lead these initiatives, the Board is capable of initiating these projects. The Board's greatest resources are money and the NEOC publicity apparatus - communicating with the membership, posting on the website, and giving an official capacity to a program.