BQPA/PIONEERS

Barbershop Quartet Preservation Association

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Job Description – BQPA/Pioneers President

· Preside over the semi-annual meetings of the Board of Directors

· Appoint officers / members of the Board of Directors

· Appoint advisors and chairs of standing offices and positions

· Monitor and oversee activities of all officers and chairs between gatherings

· Ensure actions mandated by the Board of Directors are carried out

· Ensure that communications, both internally and externally, use the combination identifier: “BQPA/Pioneers”

· Delegate activities or jobs to others when it is infeasible to act or to handle an obligation

· Draw up a draft agenda for each Board of Directors meeting and distribute in advance for comments, amendments and additions

o Maintain a list of actions taken between gatherings, for inclusion in the final agenda

· Finalize the agenda for each meeting of the Board of Directors

o Print or otherwise duplicate the agenda for all meeting attendees

· Draw up a draft agenda for the Membership Meeting held at each festival

o Print enough copies for the Board of Directors attending

o Add items to the agenda as required, representing new business or reports on actions taken at the Board of Directors meeting

· Maintain a list of “Missing Voices”, identifying BQPA/Pioneers members and others of note who have passed on since our last gathering

· Follow up with the respective chairs of our eastern and western gatherings, in respect to negotiations with venues and the contracts that result

· Act as “Owner” of the BQPA’s Google Group, or delegate that ownership to another member of the Board of Directors

· Act as the official spokesman to the public for the organization

o Elements of this activity may be delegated to the Public Relations chair or committee

o Releases must be reviewed and approved by the President

· Follow up on the Public Relations committee’s action of sending releases to the editors of various barbershop publications well in advance of each gathering

o Releases should go to the BHS Harmonizer, the SAI Pitchpipe and the HI Keynote perhaps 3 to 4 months prior to each Festival

o Releases to BHS District bulletins, SAI Regional bulletins and HI Area publication about 2 to 3 months prior to each Festival

o Releases should go to BHS, SAI and HI chapters local to our Festival about a month before each Festival

· Follow up on the Public Relations committee’s actions of sending out blasts detailing our gatherings to our Google Group, our Facebook Page and Group, and the Harmonet

· Follow up with the Registrar to ensure

o Volunteer staff are recruited for the Registration table

o Required materials will be on hand at our festival site

o Registration statistics are in hand

o Badge holders are turned in after each festival for reuse

· Follow up with festival chair prior to each gathering, to ensure

o Medals (and, for Chicago gathering, plaques) for the pick-up contest have been engraved and are ready for presentation

o Sound systems will be transported to festival venue

o Banners will be transported to festival venue

· Follow up with the Membership Chairman, to ensure that the roster and name badges will be available for the registration process at each festival

· If Secretary has not sent Minutes of previous meeting just prior to each gathering, send them out to BOD, Advisors and Chairs

· Ensure that our corporate officers are reported annually to the State of Nevada, in which state we are incorporated

o Currently (2018), this is done (in early summer) by our member and Registered Agent, Stu Willcox

· Ensure that we pay the required ASCAP fees for our two annual free shows

o Currently (2018), this is done (after our spring gathering) by our Western Talent Chair, Paul Ludwig

· To ensure their security, exchange flash drives (“thumb drives”) containing backups of our membership database and our website with respective chairs at each gathering, and secure in a safety deposit box or other secure location

· Ensure that we maintain a prudent stock of quartet medals and of membership pins

o Currently (2017), our medals and ribbons are ordered by eastern festival chair, Gerry Carroll, and approximately equal tranches are stored by our eastern and western festival chairs

o Currently (2017), our pins are ordered by treasurer Jim Gallagher

§ Stocks of pins are split between the Assistant to the Membership Chair (Ed Simons) and the Registration Chair (June Noble)

· Ensure the storage and transport to festival site of our BQPA banners

o Currently (2017), the banner for our western gatherings is in Bernie Esberner’s hands

o Currently (2017), the banner for our eastern gatherings is in Gerry Carroll’s hands

· Ensure we have enough Second Place (red) and Third Place (white) ribbons on hand for each festival, and bring 4 each to each festival for presentation

o Obtain through Trophy Central (www.trophycentral.com) in lots of 25 each

o This task can be delegated to the Registrar

· Follow up with our respective Talent Chairs before each gathering, to be sure that quartets will be available to perform at our Saturday evening Quartet Parade

· Follow up with our respective Festival Chairs, prior to each gathering, in regard to the Judging arrangements for our Pick-up Contest

Thoughts from Jack Martin, Immediate Past President, June 2012

Hi Tom,

Thanks for the shout! A president’s job description I do not send, but maybe you can develop a beginning from the below.

One of my main endeavors was to keep a copy of our board meeting minutes handy and referred to them often to see that we did in fact address/accomplish what we agreed to at all meetings. Through the dedication of our other board members not very much fell thru the crack, if any at all.

I took it upon myself to write press releases to send out to the BQPA Google group and the Harmonet promoting our Festivals and any other things that needed to be broadcast. We had all agreed earlier that the President was to be the public spokesman for the BQPA/Pioneers. We adhered to this about 99.4 % of the time. This turned out to be a very important aspect of our success.

About 6 weeks prior to our board meeting, with the help of Rex I developed an agenda for discussion at our meetings. I sent this out to the board and committee folks for add-ons or comments. With some exception, I got a response from everyone which added to having a productive meeting. The agenda addressed the important things that needed some discussion and resolution.

I also keep a close watch on getting someone to develop and provide me the email addresses of all the 17 district bulletin editors. Pat Lanphier did this and has this info I believe. At the appropriate time, maybe 8-10 weeks before a function, I would write a very cordial message to them asking for them to feature our festival in their District Bulletins. We were successful in the FWD district, the IL district, and the RMD. Of course you need to send them all the dates, time frames and what kind of function, etc. It would be good to create a friendly relationship with these guys.

Also I prepared a press release of our functions and sent it to Lorin May, the BHS Harmonizer editor. Lorin has been very good about giving us some space in the Harmonizer. It would be good to send him a note about our next Chicago festival and explain that there is a new BQPA/Pioneers Sheriff in town as well. In fact I will send him a note soon about my resignation and that you are now the President to kinda grease the skids.

Lorin needs about 3 months lead to include us in the Harmonizer

I addressed our board members and committee chairman on the same level. Although the committee folks did not vote on issues they provided very important input to all our endeavors. I cannot say enough about the dedication of our BQPA/Pioneers Team. I think it's most important to acknowledge their contributions and lavish them with the credit they deserve when appropriate. Speaking of credit, I must acknowledge Herb and Lona Langthorp as great friends. Herb served as our BQPA/Pioneers treasurer in the earlier years.

I am a believer in the "'KISS" (keep it simple, stupid) method and "If it ain't broke don't fix it." However, there were times when it was appropriate to "Tweak" successful things a bit. With the changes in BHS/BQPA status we struggled with development of our bylaws. but I believe we finally got it right after about 4 years. (thanks to Shel and Rex)

I tried to keep a finger on the pulse of the important things to make our festivals successful. I didn't have to be too concerned about what Rex Touslee and Gerry Carroll were doing but I did touch base with them often. Same goes for Rosie and Shell in regard to registration. They function like a greased bearing most of the time. Shel provided legal advice which I always listened too, however, not always did I move in the direction he may have suggested. I used Rex as a sounding board most always in this area.

I always worked closely with Jim Milner in keeping the web site in good order. Jim is very responsive to the necessary changes from time to time. I reviewed it quite often to see that things did not get out of whack. Jim is a great guy to work with.

I suggest you work closely with Rex, Jim Milner and Frank Fliszar since Jim and Frank are new. There is no doubt they can handle things but we do not want to stray too far from what we have been doing. (If it ain't broke, don't fix it!)

I have great faith in Jim Gallagher. Jim is honest, loyal, and very stable. Do not hesitate to call on him in tricky situations. Also Ed Simons is a very dedicated man. He is kinda quiet but he has a lot to offer and will do most any thing you need, if possible. It would be good to touch base with him now and then to let him know he is doing an important function in accepting new members. As he commented in Tempe, "He is not just a pretty face!" Paul Ludwig down in Tucson is another good man who is stable and effective. Joe Salz is good supporter also. Keep him involved in our judging of the quartet contest. Tom Neal wants to judge by the 5 old categories but we do not have qualified men to do this. I don't feel our membership wants this either.

What our Board members and general membership are looking for, Tom, is a leader. I suggest you develop a vision for our organization, confide in those you trust and make adjustments as time passes. I think our organization will continue to gain members as the younger and more progressive guys continue to take over the BHS. However, our membership will also suffer loss due to death as well. We need to encourage our membership to bring a youngster along with them to our functions. We can teach them what barbershopping is all about. (Good agenda item for Chicago)

I don't see any problem with the growth of the BQPA , as some do! There are only going to be a select bunch of die-hards that will attend our festivals. I believe we could handle twice as many attendees with no problems. Wouldn't that be great!

The most important thing I believe you need to keep up front is that our membership, the guys that attend our festivals and especially the ones that attend our general meetings is our only reason for existences. Without them we are nothing! Treat and respect them accordingly!

There are a few more guys that I haven't mentioned who are good men who have helped on many occasions. The men in the AZQC for example do a lot to help our organization, not only in Tempe but Chicago as well. The Las Vegas guys also have assisted, John Waugh especially.

The “links” page of our website carries much significance for me, and the BQPA/Pioneers. These are the folks that essentially are doing what we do and they are supporters of the BQPA/Pioneers. I made it a point to touch base with them occasionally, letting them know we appreciate them and offering any assistance if they needed any.

Tom, I think it is very important to keep outside organizations from influencing our activities and/or our actions. We are not part of the BHS although some of our members are BHS members. We are eons apart from the AHSOW, even though we engage in similar activities at times We are not part of HI or SAI although women are allowed to share harmony with us.

We have tried to entice some of the mixed quartets to attend but not been very successful. Not sure just what kind of an organization they have, however I do not think they are interested in preservation as the BQPA /Pioneers are.

I have taken the liberty to Blind CC many of those I have mentioned as I want them to know how important they have been to my success as an early leader and subsequently becoming the President of what I consider a great organization.

I call your attention to the use of “BQPA/Pioneers” in this correspondence. Some time ago our board of Directors determined we should not allow the "Pioneers" name to fade away into the past. I guess one could say, "We are really the 'Pioneers' doing business as BQPA" :-) We are now 30 years old being founded in 1982 by Tom Neal.

Tom, I hope this helps you to some degree. Maybe you can make something of it. If I can be of any additional assistance feel free to call on me.

Jack