[ SHOWGSD-L ] Musings of a Board member - Long
- From: DaniaKarloff@xxxxxxx
- To: showgsd-l@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Mon, 25 Apr 2005 15:27:32 EDT
I started preparing for this board meeting a couple of weeks ago. I bought
my plane ticket and as instructed by our club secretary, I contacted the
transport service in Ogden and made arrangements for them to pick me up at
the
Salt Lake City Airport. I prepared my Membership Committee quarterly report
and printed copies the day before the trip â?? enough to pass around to
visiting GSDCA members in Utah and enough to give to board members that
forgot to
print the e-mail version I sent. I had everything under controlâ?¦.. I
thought.
The trip started in earnest at 5:00am on Friday. I got up, showered,
recorded a new voice message for my office to tell all I was unavailable on
Friday
and packed my suitcase. I was proud of myself when my light packing yielded
only one small carry on suitcase which had clean clothes, toiletries, printed
reports and some reading material to entertain myself on the long trip â??
even
my laptop fitted inside suitcase. I got hubby to take me to the airport at
7:00am and after some morning traffic, got there in time to have a cup of
coffee before going through security. We boarded the plane and it was a
completely full flight â?? there were no empty bins for my carry on. The
Flight
Attendant took my small suitcase and said she would put it in the luggage
compartment â?? Mistake #1.
I got to Detroit and only had 45 minutes for the connection to Salt Lake
City. I arrived on Gate 74 and was departing at Gate 7 â??a good mile and a
half
away. I decided this was good exercise and briskly walked to the other end
to board my plane. Hellâ?¦. I was exhausted when I got there.
Both flights were uneventful and we arrived to Salt Lake City at the
scheduled 1:45pm time. I was happy to see Leon Breault waiting for his
luggage,
together with the transport service person. No sight of my carry-on in the
baggage carousel. I went to the Northwest counter â?? long wait there â?? no
luggage. The transport service had several board members waiting already and
they
did not want to miss the scheduled 3:30pm trip to view the potential national
show site in Ogden. The driver reassured me, they would have someone pick
me up in 30 minutes. I waitedâ?¦. I finally got to talk to the Northwest
rep
who informed me my suitcase was still in Detroit â?? it seemed that the Flight
Attendant in Norfolk mis-marked my luggage and printed STL for St Louis
instead of SLC for Salt Lake City. However, they reassured me they expected a
flight from Detroit early that evening and they would get it to me by 7:00pm
at the latest. It was then 2:30pm and I was starving â?? paid $3 for a
vending machine large pretzel and it was frozen solid â?? I threw it away. I
was
still starving.
Mistake #2 - The transport services to the proposed Ogden National show site
did not pick me up until 4:00pm and I got to it when the rest of the board
members were already leaving. I went with the group back to the hotel where
we had 45 minutes before the meeting was to start â?? I was still starving and
had but a few minutes to shove down whatever they had in their restaurant.
Meeting ended somewhere around 9:30pm and still no suitcase, no clothes, no
make up and no computer. I went to bed.
After that, it all went downhill â?? my suitcase traveled all over the Midwest
and did not make it back to Ogden until Sunday at 6:00am, just in time for
me to change into clean clothes and go back to the airport. I wore the same
clothes for three days and my clothes were a bit ripe and crumpled after 3
days â?? never mind that I wore no make up and hair was a bit on the wild
side.
All in all, it was a good meeting. In my area of Membership Committee, we
had a lively discussion about ways to retain members, particularly new members
that join and leave after one single year of membership. My committee and I
have decided to personally contact each new member to establish some kind of
rapport, offer mentorship and a friendly contact that will help them find
whatever resources or areas of interest theyâ??d seek. We discussed what
benefits are currently available to members and the possibility of offering
reduced
prices â?? for members only â?? in show entries, dinners, products, etc.
There
are many logistics to be investigated but I was happy to see the whole board
providing some very good ideas and thinking of ways to promote our Club I
am also very fortunate to have a great committee that is very â??membershipâ??
focused and willing to work â?? it will take significant time to personally
contact each new member and establish that initial rapport we are seeking.
While I was unable to see the proposed national show site in Utah, I heard
some very positive comments regarding the arena. Many members of the Salt L
ake City GSDC were present at the meeting - it is always rewarding to see the
local club well represented. Ed Hill, aka Flower Boy, was there supporting a
Salt Lake City National â?? Ed and I ended up at the same table for the
Saturday dinner and I think we got carried away telling old stories of when we
were
young and crazy. Mistake #3. I am afraid I talked too much and he may try
to black-mail me. So... no matter what you hear from himâ?¦. It is not
trueâ?¦
.. Hehehehhehehehee
I wrote all of the above while I sat at the Detroit airport waiting for my
flight home. The original four hour lay over in Detroit (coming from Salt
Lake City) got extended to six and a half hours because of snow. I got home
at 1:30am. It was a 17 hours travel day. UGHHHHHH
I am back at work today and thinking that I should have stayed home to rest
from my Board Meeting adventuresâ?¦.. It is a good thing we only have four of
these meetings per year â?? I donâ??t think I could afford more than that.
Dania â?? A very Tired Board Member
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