Wil Antonides, ALP NALS of West Michigan

 Meetings – Board Meetings vs Bored Meetings  Marketing – Your Role  Momentum – What is it and how do you keep it?  Management – You and your team

Board Meetings – NOT Bored Meetings

 YOU control what is discussed, when, for how long, and why  Decisions, decisions, DECISIONS!  Board Meetings are NOT the time to discuss reports that should have already been read – UNLESS there is a decision/action point  Agendas are not grocery lists or left-overs from last month’s meeting

 The Black Hole of non-profit organizations  You DON’T get what you pay for  “Spray and Pray”  Have some long-term investments:  Web site  Drive visitors  Use for members  Logo  Brochure  What works best in your community

 With members  As often as possible by any means necessary  Social media  Constant Contact – blasts  Need to Know basis  Accentuate the Positive - sincerity

 With media  Press release  Cultivate ALL media outlets  With “market”  Cultivate relationship with Bar Association (local and state)  Watch the “legal” lingo we use.

 WHATever you communicate…  WHENever you communicate…  To WHOMever you communicate… KNOW YOUR TARGET & HAVE A MESSAGE  Considering Branding  Consistent logo  “Elevator pitch” in writing

 Examine Board and Chapter Structure  Look at the Sacred Cows  Standing Rules  Students  Committee Structure  Don’t appoint any committees  See what needs attention – then appoint people who are interested and/or talented  If it bleeds, it leads

 Reasonable expectations of volunteers  The Buck Stops with You – Give yourself permission to stop the buck  You don’t have to do everything  You CAN’T do everything  Some very good ideas and well-intentioned things might have to go by the wayside  Cutting room floor

 Start BEFORE Day 1  What are your priorities?  Think about it….what do you REALLY want to do this term?  Raise membership  Consider quality and not quantity  Expand education  Increase certification  Be seen as a partner/resource in the legal community  Meet with you Board  Retreat – not surrender  Communicate your “vision”  START PLANNING!

 No whining is tolerated without solutions  “If a problem has no solution, it may not be a problem, but a fact - not to be solved but to be coped with over time.”  Shimon Peres ( )

 “You can set the table but you can’t make them eat. Some may go hungry.”  Carolyn Field, PP  If you make some changes, members may leave  Quality over quantity.  Leaving a Legacy  Success to me looks like ___________.

 Leadership Resources (samples, articles, copies of social media instructions, available at the NALS Professional Development website  Slides from this presentation will be posted later today  Questions?