December, 2017 | Presidents Message
President's Message
My fellow TLOMA members:
Only a week remains until Christmas and the days of this administration are numbered. Now, this is the kind of breaking news one hopes to hear on CNN. Alas, this administration is my presidency and, although the mood is sombre, we will have to take it in stride. “Why do all good things have to come to an end”, I remember a song from a long time ago, “and only the Sun shines eternal”. It’s true, as with life itself, in fact all things, good or bad, have to come to an end. I am not going anywhere for a while, though, but will have to relinquish the limelight and work quietly in the wings. It shouldn’t be difficult to do.
And now it is time for the State of the TLOMA Union Address.
If you remember, a year ago we promised you change. So we took the many strengths of this wonderful TLOMA organization, which so many people have worked to build over the years, and worked to make it even stronger and better aligned with today’s realities. The guiding principal was “Flexibility through Standards”. So, here is the short version of how I remember the year:
TLOMA CONFERENCE
The annual TLOMA conference is our flagship event which is favoured by members and partners alike. It is also the largest revenue generator for the Association and as such is vital to its survival.
Determined to make the Conference a continued success, the Conference Committee puts a lot of effort into organizing it every year. The Committee managed to do it successfully year after year, as evidenced by the Conference attendees’ feedback. However, the number of people (up to nine) involved and the massive time commitment required had gradually proved unsustainable. Not surprisingly, we were having trouble recruiting volunteers to serve on the Conference Committee.
After a thorough consideration of the situation, the Board decided to outsource the bulk of the 2017 Conference organization to Intuitive Conferences & Events Inc. (ICE), professional events planners, while keeping the Marketing and Business Partner Liaison functions to ourselves. ICE and a much smaller Conference Committee (three volunteers and two administrative staff) did a magnificent job this year. The results of the 2017 post-conference survey were overwhelmingly positive and ICE is coming back to help organize the 2018 TLOMA Conference next year. Thank you again Bernard, Debbie, Helen, Liz, Karen, Shannon and Dave!
BOARD OF DIRECTORS AND EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE
Both of these administrative structures have undergone changes in the past couple of years.
Over the years we had received feedback that being a BOD member was of little value to the SIG Leaders and wasted a lot of time that could be used elsewhere. Two years ago, after consulting with all SIG Leaders, we started a process to relieve the SIG leaders of their BOD responsibilities. At the same time, we introduced a new role to the Board, the Educational Coordinator (“EC”), whose job is to liaise between the SIG Leaders, the PD event organizer and the Conference Committee Chair on all things educational. The current EC, Angela Kirkpatrick is doing an excellent job working with the SIG Leaders and some educational sessions have already been posted for 2018.
Several years ago when the Board of Directors’ membership became quite numerous and its work increasingly unyielding, a decision was made to create an Executive Committee (“EC”). The EC, consisting of a smaller subset of Board members (President, Past President, VP, Treasurer and DA (non-voting) has a mandate to deal with the day-to-day trivialities of running TLOMA and, having done its homework and the running around, bring the big picture ideas and solutions to the Board to vote on. Well, historically there have been fewer and fewer of the of the latter and more and more of the former tasks, creating an imbalance in the work of the EC and the Board and a much bigger time commitment on the part of the EC members. That, coupled with the fact that the Board is now consisting of only 7 members of which 5 are also members of the EC, causing an imbalance in the voting structure, led us to make the following decision at the last Strategic Meeting:
Effective January 1st 2018 the TLOMA Executive Committee will cease to exist and all of its functions and responsibilities are being transferred back to the TLOMA Board of Directors.
EDUCATIONAL PROGRAMMING
Two types of educational events, besides the annual Conference, make up the structure of TLOMA’s educational programming – Special Interest Group (SIG) sessions and Professional Development (PD) sessions.
Each SIG Leader is responsible for putting together a minimum of four educational sessions annually for a total of twenty sessions across all SIGs. We have worked very hard to overcome the challenges associated with organizing these sessions by simplifying and standardizing our approach to securing the venues (using the same venue for the same SIG where possible), using the same technology (Pragmatic Conferencing) at all venues, etc. Standard, repeatable processes can be used across all disciplines, thus reducing the workload and time commitment of volunteers and staff, which, in turn, promotes more participation.
Our SIG and PD events can be sponsored now - an initiative which promotes our Business Partners in a non-intrusive way and pays some of the costs associated with these sessions.
NETWORKING EVENTS
Providing networking opportunities for our members is one of the reasons TLOMA exists. Add education to networking and you get professional development.
Recognizing the importance of networking, the Board voted to create TLOMAFest, a free-to-members fall networking event. It proved so popular that the Board decided to create a spring version, the Spring Fling. Our members seem to enjoy these types of events very much and get a lot of value out of them. They are here to stay.
OPERATIONAL EFFICIENCY
Improved operational efficiency is the cornerstone of every successful organization. TLOMA is no different. We don’t make a profit but we strive to provide the best service that we can to our members. That way not only do we ensure that they get the most value out of their membership but also make it easier and more compelling for them to volunteer. Whether through the enhanced use of technology to automate the repetitive processes or through process change to reduce the mundane tasks, we have tried to make things better and, ultimately, cheaper for the association.
Like any organization of its kind, TLOMA relies on collecting and analyzing data to successfully navigate the current legal landscape. This also helps guide where our more focused efforts should go in, say, growing the Association. Over the years, however, the data has been collected in increasingly disparate systems which today causes a bit of consternation every time an event registration process, for example, is initiated. It is manageable but not ideal, by a long shot.
As a result, at the beginning of the year, we undertook a massive project to consolidate all sources of information into a single specialized repository/solution, MEMBER 365. The conversion work continues and we are very close to completion. Once in place, M365, as it shall lovingly be known henceforth, is going to make event registration and data administration much easier for all involved. Expect the new registration user interface in the near future.
POSTSCRIPTUM
So, you see, things were happening while I was regaling you with tales from the brotherhood of my traveling pants (and coat), for example, and, despite my best efforts, some stuff was actually accomplished, TLOMA is in great financial shape and the future looks bright.
I think we agreed that change is the only constant in life. As such, more changes are coming to TLOMA so stay tuned. In the meantime….
HAPPY HOLIDAYS TO ALL AND WONDERFUL NEW YEAR!!!