TBF of Michigan Meeting coming up November 1, 2008

[djkimmel]

We have a TBF of Michigan Meeting coming up November 1, 2008.

Location: Bass Pro Shops - Auburn Hills, Archery Room 2nd Floor
General Meeting Starts: Noon

Board Meeting Starts: 9 AM

We will announce the 2009 state championship details at that meeting. If you are interested in serving on the 2009 board of directors, please attend that meeting and let us know.

[djkimmel]

We'll schedule around them and other circuits when we can. I hope they avoid scheduling the same weekend as any BFL events since that has a significant impact on our schedule.

For 2009, we will already have our state championship scheduled by October 26th so it will be too late for us to find out on that date.

[MBell]

We'll schedule around them and other circuits when we can. I hope they avoid scheduling the same weekend as any BFL events since that has a significant impact on our schedule.

Exactly, MBCF scheduled their charlevoix classic series for some reason on the same weekend as the BFL Burt/Mullet if I remember correctly.  That alone kept me from fishing the classic series last year.  IMO, put the tournament when and where it's best for the TBF, too many tournaments to schedule around.  The dates in the past on the same weekend/lake as the BFL has made it very easy to attend.
-Matt

[djkimmel]

Last year, we had a number of challenges facing us until about that time and the other circumstances overrode working around the other federation, particularly considering they scheduled on the same weekend as a BFL. I've said for over 20 years that it makes no sense to knowingly schedule head to head against a bigger circuit. At our TBF meetings, we always consider partners first. Then we consider other significant circuits (significant meaning the number of average participants) next for our various activities. By that time, we are usually out of weekends.

I don't expect the qualifying the same year to change for 2009 unless a significant number of members come to the meeting to vote against it (1 vote per club). I personally expect the majority support is for qualifying and fishing the same year based on the feedback I get.

We don't have the board meeting scheduled yet, but I expect we will not announce our lake and date until the November 1 meeting. Until the members have their say, I don't think we will finalize it anyway.

I would just suggest it is likely it will be the same weekend as a BFL again. Any circuit would be wise to avoid those weekends out of pure smart business sense anyway.

[djkimmel]

Our official general membership meeting isn't until next April. That is when most changes and the elections occur. We can announce any nominations we know about at the Nov 1 meeting, but most likely any would come later and be emailed to the club presidents. Possibly printed and mailed to the club presidents too if we have very many invalid email addresses.

Minutes get emailed to the club presidents. We ask them to inform their clubs. We won't mail out printed copies to every member, but intend to have copies up on the web site after the meeting (after they are reviewed for accuracy). If you don't see them up about a week after the meeting, let me know and I'll check with the webmaster and secretary.

We will cover things like dues, when we need rosters, why we need them on time, when and where we would like to hold the 2009 state youth and adult championships at the November 1 meeting. We'll go over what we did in 2008 and where we stand financially. It's an informational meeting mostly for the clubs and members prior to roster/dues deadlines while the April meeting is where we would make things like by-law changes and do the election. Those types of things are voted on by the club presidents/official reps present at the meetings.

As far as the 09 adult state championship, we are still collecting information before we have a good idea what we want to do. Once we announce what we'd like to do, we'll see what the club reps and members seem to think. A significant majority of the members and board members that have talked to me have said they like qualifying the same year. I do not believe you have close to a majority on that since I've only had you and one other person tell me they want to qualify a year ahead, but that would again be up to the members through their club presidents/reps to tell us and the majority to vote for probably between the Nov 1 meeting and next April's official general meeting.

==
This is my personal feelings - I know I don't want to hold two state championships in one year and we would have to find people willing to do the work. We have no shortage of people telling us what to do. We have a real shortage of people offering to help. This is a volunteer member organization. It will only be as good as the volunteers who pitch in to help and actually do some work. I can't take on anymore. I won't speak for anyone else, but I don't see it very likely other board members will take on more either. I would not support qualifying two teams from one event. Been there. Done that. But I won't worry about it for now until I see a voting majority in favor of change that includes how we are going to do it realistically. If the members want something drastic like two events in one year, then we would need some of those members to step forward to help do it. I am extremely confident it will not happen otherwise. Because we are a volunteer member organization.

[djkimmel]

No one EVER said the board of directors does all the work in a volunteer member driven organization. Anyone who believes that is in for disappointment. Members have to pitch in. The organization is only as good as the amount of effort ALL the members put into it.

Paying dues, attending meetings and sharing ideas only is not enough and won't make any all volunteer organization very successful. I've been heavily involved with many organizations for my entire adult life. I have seen what thrives and what dies, and why. The purpose of TBF of Michigan is to promote bass fishing and protect the outdoors through youth and conservation. That takes a lot more than 9 people who also want to fish a lot, and have jobs and families.

[djkimmel]

I'm just saying how things need to work in a member volunteer organization. I didn't say anything about what you or anyone else specifically has or hasn't done. I also did not single you out when I said anyone who wants a better federation needs to pitch in and help make it a better federation. That statement goes for everyone who is a member of TBF of Michigan (or any other volunteer member organization). A lot of people read posts on here. I'm talking to everyone who reads. I always remember that no 'conversation' on these forums is between only two persons.

The board is made up of unpaid volunteers who are willing to do more. Some members want to treat us as employees who are required to do whatever they want. We are not employees. We are members just like you. We may make decisions based on what we think is best for TBF of Michigan and even what we think the members want if enough of them let us know by attending meetings/voting and stating through other communication means. The board is also there because some decisions have to be made in away or timeframe that does not allow members or even club presidents to be polled every time. Less active members means more decisions will be made by the board as best they can.

There is nothing in our purpose that says we also do all the work or make everything happen. You can't run this type of an organization with 9 people doing all or most of the work. If we bass anglers really understand and want to protect our sport, then we need to be knowledgeable and involved. Specifically, we need people to help work the booths at shows and partner events. We definitely need boater and nonboater volunteers at our youth activities. We need clubs to have a youth director, local youth activities, a conservation director and local conservation activities.

There is nothing there that says activities have to be real time-consuming or complex. Just do something including being aware of issues and involved when necessary. I'm not saying everyone has to do something either. Or every club has to do things, just the more the better. If only 9 people are expected to do everything or almost everything, then not a whole lot will get done. The states I've seen most successful in the past had involved members who, in good numbers, understood what it meant to be part of a volunteer organization and helped out to make sure the key functions were successful. We just had a member come forward who said, "I want to be on the board or committee, whatever, so I can help more directly with youth." That's what we need more of.

It is always easy to come to a meeting or otherwise publicly say what the board should be doing to 'fix' things, or to criticize them. The hard part is rolling up the sleeves and pitching in. That will always make a bigger difference than 'holding the board accountable for their actions and decisions.'

I don't need any more members who are concentrating on things that frustrate board members and cause them to lose focus and desire. I've seen where that pattern leads, and that is the board members will just say something like, 'screw this - I don't need this nonsense' and then there won't be a board or a TBF. I've seen a number of potentially good groups fail because too many wanted too few to figure out and do everything. It makes it very hard to attract new and quality persons to help keep things going if they just think they are going to get hammered much of the time.

One of my challenges as someone who has been on various boards for over twenty years is to keep board members' spirits high and try to keep them focused on the goal and not the bad side of making the decision to volunteer to do more for an organization. I can't let them get frustrated by negativity, complaints and criticism. It is a waste of limited energy and often not a true representation of the overall health of an organization anyway.

The first thing the board has to do it figure out what the real average member is and what that member wants. That can be hard to do since we don't hear from the real average member too much just like the government doesn't hear from the average voter much. We do hear from some special interests just like the governement does. It can be a big mistake to say, 'well, all I'm hearing from is the special interests, so I'll just do what they want' as much as it is to say 'well, since I'm not hearing from anyone hardly, I'll just do whatever.' I don't know that I've ever been on a board where everyone was happy with what we do. I do know the most successful ones were able to make the most members happy most often. I truly believe that if the volunteer organization does not thrive, every single member is equally responsible for the failure because we are all equal 'owners' of the organization.

These are my own personal views and not the policy or position of TBF of Michigan.

[djkimmel]

If you think there are capable members who would step forward, I'd sure like to know who they are right now. We need more help now whether board members retire or not, and whether they are 'dedicated to the challenges' or not. Nine people can't and won't do all the work. There may be board members who want to be able to do more fishing too. Personally, I think the fact that they have volunteered to take the jobs in the first place demonstrates that they are dedicated more than the average person. I'm way more concerned about keeping than happy than I am keeping persons happy who have not taken the steps and risks that they have. Without them, there is no federation for 'many' members to be frustrated about. You're either part of the solution or part of the problem. We don't need talk, we need volunteers.

[cameraguy]

Okay, I'm going to chime in here and I am a member of the TBF.  The simple fact is that actions are louder than words. 

Eric, if you don't like what's going on, then offer to help or run for the board.  Suggestions are nice but you seem to be saying that the board members aren't doing enough while not offering any real help.  Do something other than tell other members (the board) what they should be doing.  You seem to have some ideas about what could be on the TBF website.  Maybe you could assist in expanding the website if you have experience in that area.  It all takes TIME.  I, for one, appreciate all the time and effort our board members put in to keep the TBF of Michigan going. 

As far as some of your other points, there are several other tournament organizations in this area.  You can't schedule around all of them.  There aren't enough weekends in our season.  It doesn't matter to me whether any of our events conflict with MBCF of Michigan events.  I couldn't care less.  If you can find enough other members to agree with you, then bring it up at the meeting, but I don't think that you are making a very good case for it by taking to task one of the hardest working board members on his own forum.   

Even though I haven't fished the State Championship in a couple of years because of work scheduling conflicts, I like that the tournament and Divisional is held in the same year.  It seems goofy to me that one has to wait over a year in most cases to advance to the next tournament. 

And...the by-laws, minutes, etc.  That info should probably be on the website, but time is probably an issue with our board, as it is with me.  If you have time, then maybe you can offer to help pitch in instead of criticizing those who you think aren't doing enough.

Lastly, Eric you write, "I believe capable members would step forward and welcome the opportunity to lead the TBF if for some reason existing leaders are no longer dedicated to the challenges we face."  Huh?  Any member is allowed to run for the board.  Is there a big backlog of those wanting to become a board member?  Participation is the issue.  It always has been.

[djkimmel]

Our date and place was tentatively decided at our board meeting last week after preplanning and research had been done. It will be announced at the November 1 meeting and we will most likely go with it unless a significant majority of members don't want it, or something else causes us to have to change. Based on what we know so far, that doesn't look like it will happen.

Here is the priority of how we schedule our tournament:
1. Making sure it meets our needs of timeliness in relation to that year's TBF Northern Divisional
2. Cooperating with our major partners when possible so we can all be more successful, share resources, etc.
3. Picking a location and date that does not create an unreasonable hardship on the majority of the TBF members who want to have a shot at one of our member benefits
4. Working around major circuits/events when we can, either national/regional events that reasonable people expect to attract good participation, or events in the same area that attract large numbers of boats, say over 50 at least, or a major event that a significant number our members would probably be interested in attending, again over 50 would be reasonable/significant
5. Working around other events if possible, but with our short season and the above priorities, we will rarely be able to schedule around non-major circuits by the time we meet the important priorities, particularly 1, 2 and 3

Every organization will and should do what is best for their overall organization, membership and priorities. There will always be some schedule conflict in Michigan, particularly when it comes to trying to take advantage of dates that reasonable persons know in advance will be targeted by other organizations. Any circuit that picks one of these dates should expect other tournaments on the same dates. Anglers will always have to pick the tournaments they think are their best options and meet their own personal priorities.

I think the majority of members will accept and be satisfied with our choice, but we'll find out for sure November 1. For further details for TBF of Michigan members, please attend the November 1 meeting.

We will also be announcing our tentative 2009 Jr state championship date and location at the November 1 meeting.

[djkimmel]

We got quite a bit of input before, during and after last year's state championship. We are confident a respectable majority supports the way we are doing the state championship at this time. And we have a clear and consistent consensus from members through direct feedback around last year's event, email and phone calls that a strong majority wants to qualify and compete in the same year. Of all the persons who have contacted me directly over the last year, only 3 did not want to qualify and fish in the same year. Most members tell us they like qualifying and fishing in the same year.

I appreciate any and all feedback, but will always do my best to go by the majority unless we cannot for some reason we can't control.

The following is only my personal opinion as a life member of BASS and FLW Outdoors and having been on boards for both BASS Federation Nation (prior to the renaming) and TBF of Michigan. I do not know how many members the other federation still has, but for quite a few years now, most have not participated in their open series. It was that way already while I was still on their board.

I would do my best to not bump heads with their state championship and I would expect the same courtesy from them. Based on our pattern of scheduling our state championship since we became an organization and who our major partner is, I question the thoughtfulness in picking the first date they did regardless of their history, but since they did not make it their state championship, it is not a significant issue for me. If that is what they think is best for them, then that is what they should do. We will do the same. Their open series is not an important core activity to them and hasn't been for quite some time including while I was still on that board.

Scheduling around any open series anyone puts on except our major partners/contractual agreements is our lowest priority and has to be considering the short season we have along with our other priorities. Anglers have always had to make choices and they will still have to in the forseeable future. I'm satisfied with the number of boats we have drawn the past two seasons. I expect that to stay the same or improve as we grow based on the overall feedback we get from other members.