PRSA is going through a gut-wrenching by-laws debate (get a glimpse here). At issue is the current requirement of holding the APR credential to serve on the national board. The proposed amendment would make the APR credential an optional qualifier for board service.

Last week we had an office full of volunteers. The mission was to check-in and validate entries for the awards program. Two volunteers arrived early. Another joined very soon after. Three volunteers arrived late. One sent a last minute email apology. Another - well just didn't. The job got done.

This is not an unusual situation. We all face this at the chapter level.  The question then is - can you call this successful?

Dean Rieck wrote a great post on Six Ways to Get People To Say Yes  over at Copy Blogger
that’s a must read for anyone who’s ever asked "how do I get volunteers?".

I am constantly amazed at how what is going on all around us has applicability to associations. Check out this article from Sunday's Parade Magazine on Should Congress Stop Rewarding Seniority?

Basically it asks if Senate protocol to award committee chairmanship to the longest-serving members is still valid. It's the same question we should be asking in our associations ... that is if we want to engage new thinking, new communication channels and new faces (not to mention the new generation). What do you think?

John Scalzi announced himself as a write-in candidate for president of the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America in his blog on March 17, 2007 citing disagreement with the only ballot-listed candidate's vision for the future of the organization. Today is US election day and there are many options for us - but not so in association elections?

There are many lessons from our elections and one may well be classified as a great aha for national associations and their geographic components.

Kim Fernandez does a great job as covering the positives, negatives and questions related to chapter-national relationship in Chapter/National Relations: Pulling Together or Pulling Apart (Associations Now, October 2008). I should certainly say that since she’s quoted me, but that’s not my motivation. What is my motivation is to keep the dialog about components in the “open space.”

Kevin Holland hits the nail on the head: "A committee should not exist solely because it existed last year." That's unspoken truth #7 ... check the rest out here.