Chapter Committee Report for 10/07 Board Meeting

The Chapter Chair Huddle on September 17 had a new first-time attendee, Stacy Oliva, who is the new chair of the Portsmouth Chapter.  She has a great enthusiasm and will bring some new energy into her chapter for which they are considering a name change to reflect their larger New England region.  Our hope is that she will become a regular attendee of these meetings.

Steve DiGiovanni from the Western NC chapter attended this meeting but other chairs were notably absent.  In the monthly Chapter Coordinator Huddle, we discussed this lack of attendance and are going to make it a goal to get all the chapter chairs (or their vice chairs) to attend the monthly meetings.

Before the October Chapter Chair Huddle, Steve M. is going to craft an email to all chairs regarding the necessity to have consistent attendance of our leadership meetings.  In his email he will explain that the AIBD Book of Rules is under review and that includes sections pertaining to chapter leadership.  As other parts of the long established rules are being freshly reviewed, each chapter's communication with the larger organization is crucial so that everyone is doing things consistently and according to the rules.  We are hoping that more chairs attend as a result of Steve's upcoming email.

On a personal note, I am optimistic that Garrett's new social component to the AIBD website will naturally create a heightened sense of community, and that member engagement from the forums and groups will evolve into more members exploring the benefits of belonging to a chapter.

The Eastern Shore Chapter will be touring a unique example of biophilic design on 10/24, followed by a luncheon.  We are encouraging all chapter chairs to have face to face meetings at least 3 times a year.  Stacy in Portsmouth said that her chapter does meet a few times a year already for a house tour and a meal.  Steve DiGiovanni as a new chair has been meeting biweekly with former chapter chair Oscar, and Steve did create a new spreadsheet for chapters that have more than one meeting a month, so that they can all be documented -- his initiative was another bright spot in the meeting.

This concludes my report.