Hurry Up, and Wait

Any alumnus of HOBY Team Alumni could tell you our operations motto:  "Hurry up, and wait."  It's funny how true that is as the calendar year renews that feeling.  From the quiet and lack of activity of December, January is now back at us in full swing.  The expression speaks to how as a Team Alumni you often are faced with about a dozen things that all need to be done at once intermixed with periods of relative quiet and relaxation.

This past weekend we had our Winter Alumni reunion.  A group of alumni gathered in Phoenix, MD to meet for some social time and to spend some time with a major disabilities advocate, Dave Ward.  Mr. Ward has a high spinal cord injury, that he's lived with for 35 years, and yet still works tirelessly on behalf of those with disabilities.  His talk with us was inspirational and motivating.

By today, Team Alumni applications are to be in the mail.  I'm always amused at the bit of procrastination that I know goes into these.  So many ambassadors from last year tell me they want to be on TA, and then the actual application time comes and they wait to the last minute.  If nothing else, I find it's a good exercise in prioritization as these same young people will be applying to colleges soon enough and they'll need this experience of managing their deadlines.

On a more personal note, Thursday I'll be travelling to Dallas, TX to meet in person with the Strategic Planning Committee.  The SPC will be reporting in the work of our various sub-committees and hopefully hashing out the details of the actual strategic plan.  There are tons of good ideas coming in from the field and from our volunteers and alumni, and I see good things in our future.  At very least, I have been pleased with the receptiveness by International to the improvements my subcommittee and I have been suggesting, and as my subcommittee is technology, we have been able to already start putting many of these ideas into action.  Progress is not always immediate, but it does happen.

Then, in but a short two weeks, the Maryland Seminar Committee will be meeting once again to discuss where we are in planning for the May seminar.  Details will come to light with program, arranged speakers, and areas where we still need help.

And then, in perhaps what has been the most exciting big piece of news this year, we have recently come to agreement with Mount St. Mary's University for our increased partnership.  While I'll continue to play coy and not speak to specifics until I reveal them to the committee, let me just say the Mount is definitely doing plenty within its power to show it's full support of the HOBY program.  Between campus resources, facilities, and general institutional support, The Mount is certainly trying to make us feel more welcome and part of campus. I'm excited for what the year will bring.

Like I said, "Hurry up and wait."   May will be here before we know it.

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From "Not Working" to Networking

I've mentioned briefly that in addition to my LSC duties, this year I'm working on HOBY International's Strategic Planning Committee (SPC) looking at putting in a new strategic plan beginning in 2011.  So first, a bit of very abbreviated background.

Since the late 90's I always felt like HOBY MD's own web presence was sparse.  In turn, I got involved more heavily with Maryland by working with that year's seminar chair to start creating a website.   As things have evolved, and as I have always been tech savvy, I have always felt like HOBY was behind the curve when it came to technology.  While I have not been able to necessarily influence International, I made sure I did my best to keep Maryland up with the times.  This has most recently included building a Facebook Fan Page and Twitter account.

At Training Institute this past summer, due to circumstances that don't need to be recounted, it became apparent to the powers that be at International that I had significant background in this arena.  Unbeknownst to me at that time the SPC was just being formed, and it was there that I was formally invited to join it.

My immediate response was to draft a list of possibilities in the technology and social media arena that HOBY could and in most cases should be pursuing.  Amongst these was the development of the International Facebook and Twitter presence.

I began to work behind the scenes attempting to get a hold of someone at Facebook.  Try it for yourself: it's extremely difficult.  There are no phone numbers you can call, no emails to write to.  Only forms that can potentially be filled out regarding concerns.  I tried this approach for more than two months with little headway.  At the same time I began working with International to try and figure out who would be the right people to work with on this project.

In a bit of serendipity, last night I should happen to have a private scheduled call with the head of the SPC. Almost at the same time that began, I got an email back from International tracking down my potential leads on assistance.  One person happened to work at Facebook.  No sooner did I email her than within two minutes got a response phone call, passionate to assist.  From more than 2 months to 2 minutes, immediately making an impact.  Imagine.

What is somewhat ironic about this situation is that a few of my HOBY friends already knew the alum working at Facebook, and knew she worked there.  However,  I did not know this, although I actually might have met her at Training Institute 2009.  Go figure.  In my mind it speaks to the need for what we are doing itself.  That we will need this technology to help us bridge these gaps between volunteers, alumni, and all around.

After an hour long discussion that was filled with good conversation, agreement, and positive messages, we were and are very clearly moving forward with momentum.  We are now in the midst of trying to link up all the various affiliate web presences, Facebook and otherwise.   It will be a unique undertaking for our volunteers, but hopefully will also be a huge leap forward.  It makes me very excited for the weeks and months ahead.

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Recruitment

Recruitment is arguably one of the two biggest challenges HOBY faces as an organization (next to perhaps only fundraising).  It comes with it's own incentive based goals, and in many ways can set the structure for everything else we do.

For the last two years, and in all likelihood this year, our goal for recruitment has been to get 201 sophomores to the seminar in May.  Two years ago, we met this goal "unofficially" by at least getting that many students to sign up, but were disappointed when about 10 percent of those students didn't actually show.  Last year, the number who signed up was much closer to the number who showed, however, in some ways, this is arguably no better for us.

In every element we plan from dormitories on the campus, to facilitation groups, to busses for transportation the size of the group can have a dramatic impact.  It is no wonder that this is even true in fundraising:  for every student registered, we get a small piece of their registration fee, and there are financial incentives to add to that should we meet our recruitment goal.  Unfortunately however, we do not set our goal all by ourselves. It is determined in conjunction with HOBY International and in large part is actually set for us.

The challenges of the recruitment task can be many.  First, making phone calls, and to some degree even sending emails during the day is difficult.  Most of our volunteers have serious day jobs that prevent them from participating in such a task.  How are we to get a hold of the schools if we cannot call them during their working hours?  Second, it is surprising every year as we face either new school staffs, or simply existing ones, who have not yet latched onto the HOBY message and still are not enthusiastic about sending a student.  They complain about how no student is interested in signing up or that they are unsure what they are getting for their investment.  What they fail to realize is that in all likelihood, those members of the sophomore class have never heard of HOBY, and so they have no incentive to sign up, or write an essay, or attempt to get involved.  If the school plays no role in promoting HOBY as something positive for a student's future, what student would sign up blindly?  Every year I must convince schools to do this hard work as I cannot be in the school to do it myself.  These challenges speak nothing to the students and then families who then do sign up, only for us to make sure the registered participant completes their forms and does show up in May.

This year, we are currently without an official Director of Registration, and are certainly looking.  However, as much as anything, what is needed is a  few bodies to make just a few phone calls.  If every volunteer we work with during the year took on just 5 schools to call, this would mean we'd be working on calling around 300 schools.  It doesn't take much -- just a bit of commitment.

I'd love to have a few more people to help me with recruitment.   Imagine the difference you'd be making to get that one student to attend in May and the "life-changing" experience they would encounter.

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Why a blog?

I've tried personal blogs before.  I never have found them extremely successful because the personal things I might want to write down were exactly that:  personal.  At the same time, you want people to read and give you feedback.  This is a difficult line to tow between both agendas.  I also have attempted at such times to write because it felt relevant and necessary, but this state of emotion only lasts for so long.  Continuing a blog beyond that often falls out of habit.

Instead, I look at what HOBY represents as an organization and within my own life, and I see this as an opportunity for insight and transparency.  There is nothing that I would necessarily hide, and yet, even long time volunteers with our organization are not necessarily aware of all the details that go into making the HOBY seminar happen each year.  It is time consuming and requires lots of energy.  Some years it feels like a miracle the event happens at all.  I hope to give people insight into the magic and hard work that is the Maryland Leadership Seminar.

Lastly, in a topic I'm sure I'll discuss more in future entries, this year I'm participating on HOBY International's Strategic Planning Committee.  In part, I was asked to this committee to look at technology and social networking.  I figure that I'll be better able to represent and discuss these issues if I'm using the technologies myself.  A blog is one more opportunity to explore.

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