- Mahatma Gandhi
Good Day EWI!
My apologies for writing this a day late everyone! After a wonderful trip last weekend to my families cottages, I returned to a week of technical madness which was not resolved until last night, with just a few more wrinkles to iron out next week. Not being one for dipping my toe into things, I went all out and moved to a new Android phone along with a new Ultrabook laptop with all the latest programs on it....touchscreen via Windows 8, Office 2013, etc. Shaking it up completely!
You see, the reason I had this mess to deal with and had no choice but to jump into a new learning curve, is that I was clinging to the past with Office 2003. Un-beknownst to me, 2003 is not compatible with Office 365, our companies new server system. Not a fun experience when you suddenly have 14K emails trying to download into your inbox! I was so adamant when I got my last laptop with Vista to hold on to my "old and familiar" Excel and Word. Now that I have the new versions, I am not sure what I was so scared of, other than the change itself?
Amidst all this chaos this week, I was SO heartened to receive an email back from the Chapter President we had a board to board call with last week. As I reported last week, they are struggling with <25 firms and were looking for suggestions and strategies of how to get back on track.
In her email to us this week, she shared that her board had a special meeting and implemented many new changes. They hit the proverbial "Go" button with strategies laid out to:
- Use some of their reserve funds to invest in their Chapter's future by sending a second representative to LCAM.
- Eliminated their Fundraising Director role and voted to just proceed with two long standing initiatives; poinsettia and spring flower sales which is handled by one of their member firms. Reps just need to place their orders. Combined this raises about $2K for them which they will use for their scholarships. Simple and effective!
- Increase their membership by 50% next year through improvements to their website and social media presence, targeting new businesses from the list that Corporate forwarded for their area, involving their Executives through Connect interviews, meeting attendance, guest speaker engagements, etc. They are also going to revamp their Connect to meet the current standards and most importantly, ensure their monthly programming focuses on one of our 3 C's.
- A move to accept credit cards for meeting fees.
Talk about change! Kudos to her and her board for making the decision to refocus their efforts, simplify and move forward! I cannot wait to see the outcomes!
We also had another change to deal with this week in one of our LCAM speakers, LeVar Burton having to cancel. He unfortunately has to be on set for filming that day now. However, being a firm believer that everything happens for a reason, I am SO happy that we have been able to confirm Mark Shriver as the replacement! Mark, like all the Shrivers and Kennedys, is very focused on giving back. He acts as a VP for Save the Children U.S. and will speaking to us on domestic literacy issues. Very exciting!
Next week is a busy EWI one for me. Monday we have our Chapter's annual Charity Connect Classic golf tournament which is always a fun day. Tuesday is the call with Delegates to review the proposed Bylaw amendments and Operating Budget for 2013-2014. If you are a delegate and unable to make the call, or have any questions about any of the materials for Annual Meeting, pleas do not hesitate to reach out to any of the board members or staff. We are more than happy to hear from any member that has any questions! Wednesday is our board meeting, so as I said, a very busy EWI week ahead.
In closing, I encourage you to embrace change and hit the "Go" button in your world too!
Have a great weekend!
K
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