ReConnection: Goal IV

More face-to-face contact between AAUW NC board members and branch members

Members: Bobbie Edmisten, Pat Abell, Marty Folsom - all from Statesville

Meeting: July 1, 2003

We have been trying to come up with an idea to create more face-to-face encounters between state officers/board members and branch members. As a result of brainstorming during the ride to Raleigh in March, we came up with the idea of developing a presentation and recruiting former and present board members to be ambassadors. We will actually offer the 30-minute presentation at the Summer Leadership Conference, which includes a PowerPoint presentation (visual/rhythm)), verbal presentation, handouts, and group interaction. Great care has been given to make the presentation touch on as many multiple intelligences possible - visual, audio, touch, rhythm, interaction. There are others, but this is what we have managed.

The presentation will celebrate the women of AAUW. It is fun and informative. It will tell who AAUW NC is, where we are, and where we are going. It will also plug the history book. It will mention the 21st century program in a meaningful way, and show and tell what women get for the dues they pay. And most importantly, it will state some of our AAUW NC goals - better attendance at state events, increased membership, more participation by members, and the importance of clusters as a dynamic in our organization. Most important of all, though, is the interaction time, to give the ambassadors and branch members time to talk. We will have some "canned" questions for the ambassadors to use to get the ball rolling, such as "What can AAUW NC do for you?" and at this time, Bobbie and Pat are brainstorming to come up with other questions.

Our goal is to recruit two board members - past or present - at the summer conference for each cluster.

The ambassadors would be charged with visiting each branch within their cluster during the 2003-2004 fiscal year. If a cluster has a lot of branches, we may ask for more than two ambassadors for that cluster. The ambassadors would be given copies of the CD with the PowerPoint presentation and handouts. They would be responsible for contacting their branches to set up a time to give the program. After the program, they would report the response they got from each branch, along with input from the discussion sessions.

We also talked about expense. The PowerPoint presentation, including the CD's, are being donated by me. We need to find an economical way to produce simple, but effective handouts - I can design them - they will contact info about the website and listservs, more info about what they get for their dues, and an invitation to continue giving us feedback - with contact information. We might consider adding an invitation to the 2004 convention. Not sure how we can pay for them at this point - suggestions at and after the conference in Jacksonville would be welcome, along, perhaps other Reconnection groups will have ideas. As far as mileage for the ambassadors, since we have already set our budget, this will have to be a goodwill thing.

At one point in our discussion, Bobbie said, "The clusters need to function." We talked about this at length, and suggest since the state no longer has a winter board meeting, why not ask clusters to meet once in the winter in that approximate time slot and a second time of their choosing. We think clusters can be a true dynamic link all the way across the board. It should be a time when branches can share what works - and doesn't work for them - we see potential!

Hope this jives what others are thinking and provides meaningful face-to-face contact between the state and the branches.

Marty Folsom
Statesville Branch