Posts

Program Handbook Editing Offer

August 23, 2019 email HAS Board, The only reason I have been doing the Financial Reports for nine years, editing the Program Handbook for five years, and working with Membership for seven years is that no one else has been found to do the work. This note concerns the editing of the Program Handbook. We have a new process that is in need of an editor. Process 1, the last five years: I was presented with a situation in April 2015 where we had no editor for the Program Handbook and were considering alternate ways to communicate with members. Being a big fan of the Program booklet, I decided the alternatives were deplorable and offered to edit the Program booklet provided I was protected from confrontations by the first attachment. That worked well for four years but the confrontations became intolerable this year and I will not make an offer in this form again. Process 2, the current process: Sarah has an...
Post a Comment
Read more

Micro management

Sarah, The three emails I attached to this email are an exercise in micro management that exceeds anything I want to be involved with. Therefore, I have a problem that I will solve by exiting my participation in the Program Handbook, Financial Reports and Membership functions of Hartford Audubon. Here are the conditions or dates I will be finished with the three functions: Program Handbook - August 2019 Financial Reports - May 2021 or earlier if Roberta stops being Treasurer Membership - At the same time the new Membership system is operational and replaces the current Membership file, but no later than September 2021 Documents or work to be done between now and the above dates: Program Handbook - Deliver a PDF of the Program Handbook and HAS Directory to you on July 31. Deliver the Events in Word format to Mona and Doug between Aug 1 and Aug 4. You wi...
1 comment
Read more

Data in the Program Handbook Member section

The HAS membership data has several type of member data: name(s), street address, town, state, zip code, phone number and email address. It has a codes for the Program Handbook that indicate permission to print the phone number, the wifi address, and nothing except for the name(s). Also underway in beginning in March 2019 new codes will indicate the phone is a cell phone and if the members prefer for people to text them rather call them. When the 2018-2019 Program Handbook was published members did not have online access to the contact information in the Program Handbook. In March 2019 the data used in the Program Handbook was made available online. The need for all contact information in the membership database to be published in the Program Handbook has been reduced. It can be included in the Program Handbook but it has costs in ease of use, readability, enjoyment and the number of required pages. Perhaps the Program Handbook can be improved by reducing the amount of contact inform...
Post a Comment
Read more

An unseemly email

The offending email: Thanks Tom -- you are a good, sound voice for reason.  I agree that the logic of the three-tier system is good and would support asking our membership to select which list, perhaps among several, they'd like to be on.  However, that's not how it is done now.  Unfortunately the devil is in the details: 1) Fred's latest email stated that he is no longer adding new members to HartfordAudubon since Maggie sent out emails that were not just the CREST.  Fred disagrees with anything but the CREST being emailed and so won't add more people to that list. This is a new change.  I strongly believe that there are times when we want to contact all the members.  I strongly believe that when someone joins an organization it is not just to get two newsletters a year.  For example, info on the Annual Meeting, on Bylaws changes/votes, on program cancelations due to weather are all appropriate emails to send to every membe...
Post a Comment
Read more

The History of HASnotes

Subject: Hartford Audubon notes introduction Date: Sat, 04 Aug 2007 13:34:27 -0400 From: Hartford Audubon notes <hasnotes@gmail.com> To: Fred Nowak <FredNowak@comcast.net> HAS birders, From time to time Hartford Audubon has a need to quickly get out a message. The most likely need is for the status of a trip but we have also canceled meetings because of snow. Sometimes there is an event to publicize. I am establishing an e-mail list to be of help. Members, especially trip leaders, can send me an e-mail and I will forward it to the HAS notes distribution. My role is simply to provide a central e-mail account with a distribution list and to forward messages. I will not be editing the e-mails I receive. The HAS notes distri...
Post a Comment
Read more

The Yellow Box and the Elephant

Image
Maggie Peretto has asked Tom Robben to investigate the creation of a new computer system for HAS. Tom prepared the diagram above and is currently working the yellow box. The plan is to consider resources when Tom’s investigation is finished. This top down approach can work but there is, in my opinion, a substantial risk that HAS will not have the resources to implement the resulting system design. The people resources in question are the "Elephant in the Room" for HAS. There is no great long term harm from a failure to implement this system. The cost would be the delay before work could start on a new system and possibly a reduction in enthusiasm for a new system. I believe that HAS would be better served by what might be much quicker bottoms up approach that begins with understanding the elephant. This is even more important if the elephant turns out to be a mammoth.
Post a Comment
Read more

Looking Toward the Hartford Audubon Future: Ideas to Consider, Revise and Expand

Posted on HASnotes in May 2016 I recently heard someone say we need to develop a plan for disposing of our sanctuaries because if we cannot get someone to be president next year we will be forced to shut down Hartford Audubon. That comment has led me to think about what can be done to make HAS a stronger organization by increasing the pool of people willing to serve as vice president. This is important because traditionally the vice president moves up to president after two years. There are two broad areas we can address: ·        Reduce the vice president’s work load, ·        Increase the number of active participating members. When I was asked to be vice president in February 2007, the first thing I asked is what would I have to do. Since the only thing I knew about the vice president was that they introduced speakers at the meetings, I was bit shocked to hear that I would also have to obtain the speakers, make the r...
Post a Comment
Read more

Bylaws Suggestions

Posted on HASnotes in January 2016 One of the consequences of going on overnight trips is they give people time to try to talk you into something. I had resolved to not be any part of the bylaws revision, but Sarah Faulkner, on the Long Island trip, and Fran D'Amico, on the Cape Ann trip, tried really hard to get me to read and comment on the latest bylaws revision. Against my better judgment I made the attachment. I started with version Sarah sent out two days ago. I then marked up things in red, green and orange. The red are parts I want to delete. The green are parts I want to add or are a comment. The orange are things I want to take out or really revise. The problem with the current bylaws is that they are too hard to read and therefore do not get read. The problem has carried over to the current revision. Sarah has recently replaced a good bit of the legalize with language most of us like much more. This was good start. However, there is much more to do. The by...
Post a Comment
Read more

Awards Banquet in April, Annual Meeting in May

Posted on HASnotes in May 2015 Written to the Board  in May 2013 I propose that we split our current May meeting into two parts: an Awards Banquet in April and an Annual Meeting in May. The Awards Meeting would be everything we have have been doing in May except for the financial reporting and elections required by the bylaws to be in a May Annual Meeting. It would also have the Nominating Committee report required for April by the bylaws. In addition to the financial reporting and elections the Annual Meeting would have a free hour or so for the Officers, other Board Members and Members to work together to improve Hartford Audubon. My goal is for this session to go far beyond a general discussion of complaints and suggestions. Ideas can and should be developed and staffing requirements planned. My great hope is that people who come to feel strongly about the need for some activity will feel compelled to be part of the solution. Every topic does not need to be disc...
Post a Comment
Read more

Further Answers to Questions Raised at the 2013 Annual Meeting

Posted on HASnotes in May 2013 There were a number of questions asked at the Banquet that deserve deeper answers than were given in the time available: 1.        Is our membership going up or down? 2.        How many properties do we own? 3.        What is our strategy to determine spending levels? 4.        What is our strategy to determine the securities we invest in? 5.        Is our endowment too big? I will try to answer these questions without driving everyone batty. All of my answers are based on documents contained on the HASmember web site. Most have also been distributed on HASnotes at one time or the other. My answers use information current as of today. 1.        HASmember has membership counts from all of the programs books in the archives. Years with missing data do not have me...
Post a Comment
Read more