Hello NM Chapter Members,
I hope that the New Year has been prosperous for all of you. I am looking forward to the 2020 State Conference and Annual Meeting next month. This will be my 8th State Conference and I find that I continue to get just as excited each year as I did the first year. We have lined up a fantastic roster of educators, who are going to present a great slate of courses to you. I had a hard time choosing which class to take myself. Participating in the planning for the last several years this is always my trouble, I want to be in every session. While I love the classes we offer and always learn something new, my favorite part of State Conference is seeing members from across the state, many of whom I only see at State Conference. We have a spread out Board of Directors so it will be wonderful to have us all in one room together. Our team is fantastic representing the entire state which is amazing but means we have not had as much face to face time as boards in the past. However having their input and perspective has been priceless. We have learned a lot from this dynamic.
As a result of our change in dynamic as a board we began talking about ways that we can more effectively incorporate the rest of our beautiful state and nearly 700 members across it. We have come up with many great options. One of the options provided to us by AMTA National Bylaws is Online Elections. In doing research with other chapters that have moved to this type of election format and discussing how this might impact our chapter we came to the conclusion that this was something that we wanted
YOU
our members to consider. While considering Online Elections some of the metrics we considered are the number of members who do not have email addresses listed as part of their membership, open rate of our emails, and percentage of members attending our in person events. At this time of nearly 700 members (697) there are 5 members who do not have an email address listed as part of their membership information. Our open rate for emails is consistently 25-50% on the higher end when the email involves announcements and not just Chapter Updates. We average 65-70 participants at our State Conference, not all of whom are members, even if the entire attendance is members that is roughly 10% of our membership.
When talking to my counterparts in other states who have switched to Online Elections some of the positives they have seen are; more involvement from across their states, higher percentage of voting, fresh volunteers, and more member engagement with elections. In addition their Annual Meetings are streamlined because rather than conducting in person elections they are announcing the newly elected Board and Delegates.
Our sincere hope with switching to Online Elections is that we will see more engagement from across the state because running for election of a Board or Delegate position will not mean in person involvement. At this time you do not need to appear in person, you can submit your application and intent whether you can attend the Annual Meeting in person or not. However we know that this is a common misconception. We hope that it will open up the option to participate in the Board or be a Delegate to more members across the state. We hope that with the application process it will help those who choose to run for an elected position to understand the position and duties before taking them on.
Please review the documents linked above and feel to email me with any questions you may have.
We look forward to discussing this at the
Annual Meeting April 4, 2020
.
I look forward to seeing you at the
2020 State Conference and Annual Meeting April 2-4, 2020
in Albuquerque at the Nativo Lodge. Don't forget to register before spaces fill up.
With peace and love,
BreAnne
