Invited Guest: Ken Robertson, Board Designated Liason to Sterling Workplace Awards Committee

Minutes February 2013 Board Meeting

Present: Greg Moyer, Missie Murdock, Pam Cavedo, Rick Albee, Ron Carey, Dorene McKelvy, Jack Harsh, Gretchen Flynn Morris, Christina Haase, Debbie Slayden,Jakeeta Plumley, John Swirchak

Absent:Vivian Addotey, Tammy Cummings, Marisa Keegan, Todd Noebel.

Sterling Awards update: Ken began by stating that the judging process was going well. Forty seven (47) companies had applied, and four had withdrawn. It was recommended that there be personal contact with each company that had withdrawn to get feedback about the process. He also reported that the 60% required response rate was proving difficult for Large and Mega organizations to achieve, so the decision was made to allow Radford University to determine what represented a statistically valid sample for those categories and contact each company effected. Dorene asked if we had included a question about any EEO claims against the companies applying. Discussion followed about including such a question since there were obvious issues in doing so (i.e. no company is guilty when accused). Ken would check into this further. Regarding the new Executive Partnership Award, he reported that the HR Strategist of the Year award may be combined with the Executive Partnership award next year. He concluded by saying we needed sponsorships and promotions for the event in May.

Minutes: Motion to approve January 2013 minutes, Christina Haase. Second Ron Carey. Motion carried unanimous.

Financials: The January 2013 financial reports were briefly reviewed. While there was a monthly deficit of $11,000, Jeannie explained that there were accounts receivables in the amount of approximately $55,000 from committed Sponsorships. Missie recommended that we include a monthly budget breakout to more carefully monitor our financial position. Jeannie said we could have that by the next Board Meeting. Motion to approve the January 2013 financials, Jack Harsh. Second,Ron Carey. Motion carriedunanimous.

Member Engagement: Rick began by reporting on his committee’s work centered around the question “What engages our members?” A major factor is the quality of the website and our communications. Additionally, members want good events as reported in the SIR member suvery. Rick’s team proposes conducting a short member survey specifically addressing member needs (not as detailed as the one done by John Martin in 2011). The committee is working on some specific tactics to help member engagement: different color badges at meetings for members and guests, a streamlined process for connecting volunteers with chapter needs, recognition of volunteer and new members. He stated the need for metrics to guide the process. One key metric to start with is the specific increase in membership we want. Dorene mentioned that she felt one goal should be to increase minority membership. John felt a membership drive was a good idea. Debbie mentioned live polling as a possible way to get more members to take the survey.

Christina then began a discussion about SIG’s by posing the question her group is addressing “Who comprises a SIG?” Some members may feel that they can be a part of the SIG without being a separate entity. Linked in Groups may make up a SIG, as well as groups aligned around recruiting or OD. R-SHRM should explore ways to encourage participation in SIGs using the website.

Professional Development: Ron stressed the need to set metrics for his area such as how many programs should we have each year and what participation goals we want. He is waiting for staff to get more data to him. Most of the programs are set for 2013 and the remaining items would be finalized within two to four weeks. The promotion plan for events was next topic of discussion. Since we have not published a newsletter this year, that may be hurting attendance. Pam asked if we really needed a newsletter if we had a robust website. Ron said that they were different in approach, with one being an active search and the other a passive one. Missie expressed that feedback from her staff revealed there is still a place for the workshops that appealed to the HR generalist. Rick highlighted that we need for our programs to be relevant. Ron stated that since we have different audiences in our membership, we need to decide who we really target. Greg said that the monthly program should be relevant to all HR professionals but Missie pointed out that if money was an issue, members would choose programs other than First Chair. Jack felt there was real benefit to expanding our programs by bringing something like the Symphony experience to members. If we go beyond just HR with broad programming we would make more money.

Next, Debbie reported that this year’s conference is on October 10 and the Convention Center is booked and Tracie Evans, chair, is working on getting the RFP for speakers out. There are thress certification study groups with a total of 16 members. Kristy Pratt is heading up that committee and is happy that the chapter is purchasing the study materials.

Communications: John shared the initial design for the new website. The goals were that it be easy to navigate, vibrant and edgy with a clear rationale for why we show what we show. The top tab was changed to include those aspects most relevant using language everyone could relate to. Events/Resources/Membership/Jobs/Volunteer/Sponsor. He and his team deleted those elements that were not relevant such as Richmond@Work, and the poll question. He suggested that if we don’t have someone working the social media aspect, not to include those feeds. Other changes were to use the video spot for member testimonials and compelling membership topics. And to have one web sponsor who would have the homepage space. John explained that he and his team would design the tier 1, 2 and 3 pages but they could not do content. We would need a production group to put the content there. Also, he explained that they were looking at the back end functionality (now Affiniscape) to determine the best approach for that. One option was to consider freelancers rather than having Affiniscape host the site. We would continue to need someone to do general site maintenance (Meg’s role.)

The next steps would be to find writers for the content. Greg stated the Snagajob has a copyright person who would most likely help. He recommended using one writer. Greg and Jeannie were charged with the task of mapping out who would be responsible for each part or the site. John stated that the first tier was done i.e. looking at what is there now. The full first edition revision would be ready by end of summer.

Greg concluded the meeting by thanking everyone for their work on the Goals for 2013.