by Beber's Ghost | Feb 15, 2007 | Members
I’ve been following the “Not On My Watch” Facebook forum, and came to realize that in all the arguments, there’s one aspect of the policy discussion that has not come up at all – and as a result certain assumptions are being accepted that may not be true. This is a side of policy that is not “supposed” to be raised with the members at all (advisors I’ve spoken to have been told not to bring it up). And it’s true, in an ideal world this issue should not be of concern to members. However, since it does impact members and chapters, it’s only fair that members be aware of it. And who better than a ghost to do so?
Many of the comments on the Facebook forum have been, how shall I put it, a bit “rebellious”. Members and alumni have talked about how we shouldn’t stress over bad policies because they can just be ignored or broken as they have in the past. And they are right – a lot of regions and chapters have played pretty fast and loose with policy for a very long time. But that does not mean this will continue. A recent post by a chapter S’gan hinted at this, as he described the difficulty he’s had getting people to sign up for a local convention because of the enforcement of driving policy and the requirement to register on B-Linked.
So today let me bring you to other side of policy – how it’s seen by advisors (and in many cases regional staff) – and why rules that were “breakable” in the past, may not be so flexible in the future.
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by Shane's Ghost | Feb 14, 2007 | Members
My current understanding of how the International Board is elected is as follows: Candidates caucus at International Convention, and are given limited time to have a “Meet the Candidates†and give speeches and answer questions. Regions are then allowed to vote. Votes are allocated to regions based on their size, and ballots given to the regions. The region then votes, choosing 5 delegates. The 5 delegates are chosen with Regional Board going first, then Chapter Godols, then Regional Chairmen, then other attendees. Yes ladies and gentlemen, 5 people from your region are allowed to vote on the candidates for I-Board, and those 5 candidates alone. I will not even go into the philosophical argument of a Trustee voter vs. a Delegate voter, for you do not even need to think that hard to begin realizing the flaws of this system.
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by Beber's Ghost | Feb 13, 2007 | Members
With IC coming up, I suppose it’s not surprising that BBYO members and alumni are again turning their attention to the mysterious evolution of BBYO policy and the role of youth leadership (or lack thereof) in discussing it ahead of implementation.
What is surprising is where the discussion has moved to – it seems to have made its way to Facebook where a remarkable 80+ members from across the country have joined in a single day.
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by Beber's Ghost | Jan 31, 2007 | Members
Sometimes lawmakers, in their focus to solve a problem, end up writing laws that to outsiders seem ridiculous – laws that quickly end up as fodder for comedy central. While we can’t predict whether any of the forthcoming BBYO policies will be entertaining in that way, we can certainly speculate.
For example, imagine if we had access to the super top-secret proposed policy draft – the one presented at Staff conference. You know, the one that every staff member was sworn on a pile of blue books not to reveal to mere members or advisors on pain of torture. If we had a copy, we might find a number of humorous proposals…
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by Beber's Ghost | Jan 29, 2007 | General, Members
18,000 – That’s this year’s membership target for BBYO. May not sound like much until you consider the Jewish teen population in the U.S. is estimated at between 200 and 250 thousand. Reaching 7% of that number would certainly be an impressive accomplishment. But is it enough?
Or specifically – is it enough to satisfy the community leaders, foundations and donors who provide BBYO with its financial support? Certainly not.
You all know that even with the increase in membership fees, BBYO comes nowhere close to being supported by those fees, right? So BBYO must satisfy those donors.
That means an increase in membership is necessary.
How can this be accomplished?
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by Beber's Ghost | Jan 22, 2007 | Members
With the increased focus on engagement, recruitment and numbers, it makes sense to consider for a moment what is the best size for a chapter. Not that there is any one right answer. Rather, it’s important to consider the tradeoffs of various chapter sizes. To understand these tradeoffs, let’s consider two chapters, one with about 20 members, another with about 50.
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