The VP of Business Affairs acts as the club Secretary.
The main job of the VP of Business Affairs is to take the board meeting minutes and publish them. In addition, this position can involve finding sponsors and advertisers for the club.
The IT Specialist
You may be looking at the size of this manual and thinking “Oh, no! What have I gotten myself into”? Don’t worry. It’s really not that hard, and you have help.
The goal of the IT Specialist is to make your job as easy as possible. If you hate computers or are too busy to deal with all of this stuff, the IT Specialist can do almost everything for you. If you like computers, the IT Specialist can help make your job easier.
One thing to keep in mind is that the IT Specialist is not a mind reader. You need to ask for things, not just assume they will happen just because the IT Specialist is a busybody obsessed with everything moving smoothly.
Task Calendar
Besides dealing with the meeting agendas and minutes, there are several tasks that need to be handled throughout the year. These are described in the manual sections, but here is a quick reference.
- January
- If you are the new VP Business, get set up with the proper account
- Update the committee table after the first board meeting
- Verify that the previous VP Business updated the events for the board meetings and updated the river trips table
- May
- Audit the ads in the Waterlog
- November
- Schedule the board meetings for the following year
- Update the river trips table – Note: It is important to wait until after the November board meeting to do this because there should be follow-ups on October events
Web Site Access
There are several tasks that involve using the web site administration tools. You will need an account on wrrr.org and it needs to be set up with the proper role (IT Specialist needs to define this) to allow you to edit the meeting agenda templates and related data, create and edit events, and create and edit posts.
Agenda
The meeting agenda is created as a draft post on the web site on the 5th of each month.
Publishing the Agenda on the Web Site
Editor: Need to add section on publishing agenda on the web site
Printing Agendas for Live Meetings
Editor: Need to add section on printing the minutes for in-person meetings
Taking the Minutes for Phone Meetings
The following are the steps for taking the minutes for phone meetings:
- Before the board meeting, go to the web site and Clone the meeting agenda post
- Change the title of the post so that instead of “Agenda” it says “Minutes”
- Change the link so that it ends in “minutes” instead of “agenda”
- During or after the meeting, edit the minutes post
- Change the categories for the post to “News”, “WRRR Board”, and “Meeting Minutes”
- Publish the post
- Move the Agenda post to the trash
- Edit the previous month’s minutes and remove it from the “News” category
- Go to wrrr.org and verify that the new minutes are there and the old agenda and minutes are no longer on the front page
Taking the Minutes for Live Meetings
Editor: Need to add section on entering minutes for in person meetings
Publishing the Meeting Minutes
Managing the Automatic Agenda Maker
Editor: Need a section on managing the automatic agenda maker system. This should include how to update the templates and how to edit the list of events that generate the River Ops section.
Sponsors and Advertisers
The VP of Business Affairs may attempt to find sponsors and advertisers. This has tended to be optional, but some VPs have been able to get some good deals for the club members.
Standard sponsorship memberships cost $100 per year, which can be in the form of money or merchandise. For merchandise, we prefer a donation of products, but it is acceptable to obtain a substantial discount on desirable products. For example, first aid kits obtained at a 50% discount off retail would qualify if the club could use more than $200 retail value of these to use as raffle/poker run prizes. The budget for these discounted items comes from the River Ops prize budget or the Safety and Education budget if applicable, and should therefore be cleared by the VP River Ops.
A standard sponsorship membership receives a Household club membership, a small ad in the Waterlog, and a sponsor link on the web page. The VP of Business Affairs will work with the VP Finance, Waterlog editor and the club IT Specialist to set these up.
Most advertisers are sponsors, but companies that provide a discount for a product or service that benefits club members can also have an ad in the Waterlog and a link on the web site. This is a less formal arrangement that does not involve a club membership, and the ads are subject to available space in the Waterlog. Currently, the only ad like this is OS Systems (15% discount for all members).
In May, make sure that you audit the ads in the Waterlog and make sure they are paid for or are special discounts (like OS Systems).