Procedures for the Events Committee and the Semi-Annual Chapter Meetings

 

Modified 12/4/2005

 

The chair of the Events Committee, as is the case with other committee chairs, is appointed each year by the newly elected vice president. Since this is a committee, the Events Committee chair is encouraged to invite others to serve on the committee. While granting this committee a certain amount of leeway to perform its duties, the board of directors should have oversight and input into its activities, particularly with the semi-annual chapter meetings.

Chapter Meetings
The meetings should be self-sufficient financially, and prices should be set to cover all expenses. The prices should be set in advance and publicized.

A notice should be sent to the SABR office as soon as the date is set. Additional information, such as location and featured speakers, should be sent as it becomes available. The information should contain the name, phone number, and e-mail address of a contact person.

An agenda should be available with the order of events, names and titles of research presenters, along with other information, such as featured guests, lunch, breaks, business meeting, and additional features, such as trivia contests. A separate schedule should include this information with times noted for each event. Research presenters should be informed in advance of the time of their presentation and how much time is allotted for it. Research presenters should include time in their presentations for questions from the audience.

Advance publicity for the meeting should include the starting time for registration, starting time for the meeting, and the approximate end time. The Events Committee chair must ensure that the treasurer (or someone designated by the treasurer) is on hand during registration to get people signed in, collect money, and distribute the agenda and name tags. The committee chair must also make sure that the chapter’s video equipment is at the meeting so the research presentations, featured guests, and other events are recorded. Someone must also be designated to do the recording. An evaluation form should also be considered.

The Events Committee chair or someone designated by the chair should be the overall moderator for the meeting. All presentations (both research presentations and featured guests) should be moderated to be kept on schedule. Also, the moderator should be ready to intercede in other ways, such as keeping discussion civil and on track, if necessary. The moderator does not have to be the same person introducing the speaker; however, it must be someone who is comfortable performing the duties outlined above.

Reimbursements for expenses of chapter meetings are available from SABR. The Events Committee chair, in conjunction with the chapter treasurer, should submit receipts and a list of other costs to SABR for reimbursements.

The Events Committee chair or someone designated by the chair is responsible for securing tickets if an evening baseball game is to be part of the spring meeting. The amount of the tickets and the deadline for submitting money for them should be publicized in advance. If the chapter has members with mobility limitations, an effort should be made to get seat locations that will work for them while keeping the group together. (Note: The cost of the tickets should not be considered a meeting expense for the purpose of reimbursements from SABR.)

Mailing
Reimbursements are available from SABR for mailings to publicize chapter meetings. The chapter is encouraged to take advantage of this opportunity. A flyer regarding the meeting can be sent to all members without e-mail and can include those with e-mail addresses who have chosen to pay the annual fee to receive a hard copy of the newsletters. The newsletter can be sent with this mailing, thus saving money on the newsletter mailing.

Business Meeting
The president will chair the business meeting and should have an agenda for the meeting. To save time during the business meeting, committee chairs and others with reports should be encouraged to submit a written report in advance. This can be typed up and distributed as a consent agenda.

The spring business meeting will include the election of directors to two-year terms. Four new directors will be elected in odd-numbered years and three new directors in odd-numbered years. Before the new, holdover, and outgoing directors leave for the day, a time and place should be set for the next board meeting, which should be before July 1. At this meeting the holdover and outgoing members will be electing, from among themselves, a president, vice president, secretary, and treasurer for a one-year term beginning July 1. The new vice president will appoint committee chairs for the coming year. These appointments do not have to be made at the board meeting, but they should be made before July 1.

Facilities
All chapter meetings must be held in locations that are accessible to people with disabilities. With regard to other chapter events (those organized by the chapter and/or publicized in the chapter newsletter and/or on its web site), discretion should be used with regard to meeting facilities. If the chapter has members with mobility limitations, a strong effort should be made to hold these events in locations accessible to all members.

The committee may want to consider advance registration as a means of determining how many people may attend, which can be helpful in determining how many meals to order or how much food to purchase. A discounted fee for early registration may be used.

Research Presentations
The Halsey Hall Chapter Research Committee will solicit and set the schedule for research presentations and inform the Events Committee of the schedule two weeks prior to the chapter meeting.

The SABR Research Library requests transcripts and handouts from the presenters. These should be requested from each presenter and sent to Len Levin, 282 Doyle Avenue, Providence, Rhode Island 02906-3355.

Guests
The committee should attempt to secure at least one featured guest for chapter meetings. These guests should be people who have personally distinguished themselves in some manner in baseball. Any current or former major-league player or manager fits this category as could coaches, broadcasters, or front-office staff.

Advocacy guests are those who come to discuss a certain topic of interest to members. They may be scheduled if the topic if timely and relevant.

The scheduling should be flexible to accommodate the guests; however, there is nothing wrong with having a tentative agenda that could place the guests at a certain time, such as after lunch, with the schedule being modified if the guest can appear only at another time.

With regard to overall schedule, an attempt should be made to fit all events within an eight-hour time frame, not counting after-hours events, such as a trip to a baseball game or an off-site get-together time to watch a game on television. The featured guest(s), business meeting, and research presentations should be given priority and other events, such as trivia, held for the end.

The Events Committee chair should submit a report on its progress to the board before each bi-monthly board meeting and is encouraged to attend the board meetings. The board of directors has the overall responsibility for ensuring that the duties of the committee are carried out.

Other Events
The Events Committee oversees other events held during the year, such as the winter Hot Stove League meeting. Road trips and other outings may be scheduled by this committee or by others. The book club, bi-monthly breakfast get-together, and vintage base ball events are not within the purview of the Events Committee.

Chapter Meeting Checklist

ADVANCE

____ Set date
____ Inform SABR, publicize in chapter newsletter and e-list (and update as more information becomes available)
____ Secure location
____ Solicit research presenatations
____ Purchase ballgame tickets (spring only)
____ Line up featured guests
____ Set schedule, assign duties, and inform presenters
____ Set assignments and responsibilities

MEETING

Supplies
Responsibility: ______________________________
____ Sign-in sheet and pencils/pens
____ Agendas
____ Name tags
____ Video Equipment
____ Evaluation forms (if used)

Food (morning coffee and rolls and lunch)
Responsibility: ______________________________

Staffing of registration table, Responsibility: ______________________________

Overall moderator for meeting, Responsibility: ______________________________

POST-MEETING

____ Submit receipts and lists of expenses to SABR for reimbursement
____ Send materials for research presentations to Len Levin

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