PREPARING FOR AN EFFECTIVE MEETING

According to the Council’s bylaws, the Council of Presidents is required to meet annually in order to conduct the organization’s business. Rally 2006 will take place during the period October 25-28 in Sacramento.

This year we will encounter one another and determine the Council’s future. How do we prepare for such a meeting?

We start by looking back. We should investigate and trace the Council’s history from the CAL-TROA days to the CAL-MOAA days of the present, and in particular note how the organization has been faithful accepting new challenges and solving contemporary problems. In the recent past many gathered at Lake Tahoe in late 2004 to participate in a major National MOAA symposium and at the same time conduct the annual meeting; out of that meeting came a revised bylaws document as well as motivation to move forward with energy. Last November the meeting at San Luis Obispo attracted an interested and motivated group of people who listened to briefings and reports and obtained a lot of very valuable information useful to chapter governance. We take pride in the organization’s past.

We look ahead. We are moving into the early years of the 21st Century with its promise of opportunity and new ways to serve the military community. CDR John Sammons, USPHS (RET), and CAL-MOAA Vice President, has written and presented for approval a draft strategic plan as well as a draft revision of the bylaws, all to make possible planned change and a new and exciting future. We are moving out of a familiar past, potentially abandoning the status quo, and taking the early steps into a time of creativity and innovation, rebirth and revitalization, with a clear vision and mission, with intent to be the prominent military professional association in California.

We look around and commit to the Council community; this is a time for an uptick in commitment. We all need to respond together. It’s important for EXCOM members to attend the Rally and annual meetings, or arrange for interested, motivated, and capable representatives/proxies designated in writing and fully prepared to cast responsible votes on the issues. We need to read the bylaws, review the items posted to the weblog, or otherwise come to understand the opportunities and problems faced by the organization, then move forward with full participation. In advance of Sacramento, we need to connect and begin sharing our thinking, and two ways to do that are use of e-mail and posting to the weblog, both articles and comments. We probably had a less effective meeting at Oakland, wasted a lot of time, and came away with business only partially completed, because many arrived with little or no knowledge of either process or content.

We look within. It’s important to arrive at Sacramento in a proper frame of mind, spiritually upbeat, with a positive attitude. We need to prepare on the inside. Sacramento is going to be quite an encounter, with so much to do, so little time, and yet with such high stakes. Prior to late October we all need to set aside time to get ready, to make an inventory of our motives and expectations, and think hard about how to approach the meetings, the kind of contributions to be made, how we personally can move the organization forward, how we personally can make a difference.

We look up. Perhaps it’s time to start operating within the context of greatly expanded expectations. Look at the past, the present, and where we’re going, and focus on the array of opportunities we face. Get excited. Start thinking about what CAL-MOAA can do for the military community working through the affiliated chapters. It’s time to dream dreams, to get out of the ordinary, restore our identity, anticipate one great and profitable time in Sacramento.

Rally 2006 is going to be quite an encounter. Keep you eyes on our purposes, respond to the leadership, get motivated, move into and through a spiritual transformation, participate fully and help the Council with development and growth, seek ways the Council can reach out to the military community, and work hard within the Council community to accomplish the mission.

The encounter in Sacramento will be wildly successful if we will prepare ahead of time and then particpate fully in the Council’s affairs. This is no time to stay at a distance.

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