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Open Water Communications can work with your organization to develop crisis or contingency plans, risk management plans, association self-audits, board orientation programs and other types of programs.  Here are some examples of my work.

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Surprise! Teri Saylor's house is snowed under

Snow Catches NCPA Unprepared

 

When the staff of the North Carolina Press Association woke up to a foot-and-a-half-of snow the day a major convention was scheduled to begin, we realized too late that we had been in denial our whole careers.  Even though this convention was scheduled in January, we had never been snowed out, and simply never wanted to visit the stress and horror of what would happen if snow DID hamper our plans.  After all, we live in Raleigh, NC, where major snowfalls are few and far between, even in the dead of winter.

We were unprepared, but managed to cancel the convention, stopping nearly 600 people from trying to attend (the snowfall was isolated to the middle part of the state), and working out the details with all of the associated venues so we did not suffer a financial catastrophe in the process of canceling.  We actually found a later date, and postponed the event.

 

    

Lessons Learned From a Year of Leadership

By Teri Saylor, CAE

 

A year as president of the Association Executives of North Carolina

has come and gone. 

Association Executives of North Carolina (AENC)

is a professional society of which I, along with nearly 600 other association

managers, staff, hospitality industry executives and others, am a member.

Perched on the back end of this experience, the benefits feel rich profound.

It is not clear whether being an association executive helps one be

a better volunteer leader or if being a volunteer leader helps me be

a better executive director. I hope it has worked both ways for me.

Here are a few lessons I have learned that may help anyone interested in, or about to embark on the adventure of volunteer leadership.

 

Click here for entire article

What Should Go in a Board Manual?

The fundamentals of service, from basic documents to sophisticated background.

By Teri Saylor, CAE

 

   At some point, every brand-new board member wonders, “How did I get here, and what is my role now?”

   The answers can be found in a good orientation supplemented by a resource every governing board should provide: a manual of helpful information.

   To be helpful, a board manual doesn’t have to be fancy or expensive, but it does need to serve specific purposes and cover the essentials. Here is a tried-but-true cliché: Getting everyone to sing out of the same hymnbook is key to a harmonious board. Directors’ jobs are part time, temporary, and voluntary. If all directors have the same information in the same format, they will be more effective and better organized. Putting all their association information in one place will enhance their performance.

           

Click here for entire article

Get more information about these and other topics or schedule your workshop or conference presentation now

Contact

Open Water Communications  P.O. Box 31932  Raleigh, NC   27612  919-781-9284
terisaylor@openwatercommunications.com

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