Autumn has always been a busy time for BATW, and it’s even more so this year. For decades, board elections and the annual membership renewal process dominated the fall season. They still do, but in 2015 those two major events are vying for attention with the first annual re-credentialing and the first-ever Volunteer Appreciation Party (both to be held in November).
But before I discuss all of that, I want to give a big shoutout to my partner in the presidency, Laurie McAndish King, for the tremendous work she’s done creating our new website. She took the site offline and went to work on Monday, October 19.
As I write this only a few days later, most of the major work—which was expected to take weeks—has been done. Laurie is now chasing down bugs, and minor aesthetic/technical adjustments will continue to be made over the short term. By the time you read this, you’ll have seen our elegant new WordPress theme. The site should now be fully functional, scalable for small screens (phones, tablets), and modernized in a way that allows us to build it up and out into the future. Thank you, Laurie!
Now on to those greedy attention-hogs of autumn:
- Re-Credentialing: The first batch of members to receive a credential two years ago (and new members who joined around that time) are now due for credential renewal. That process will begin in the second week of November, and we’ll send information around that time. Janet Wilson and Kris Carber will be doing the heavy lifting on this, with assistance from me and Tom Wilmer.
- Board Elections: After the candidate ballot is put on the website during the first week in November, we’ll open up voting and send you a link so that you can vote.
- Membership Renewal: This year, our new Treasurer, Wendy VanHatten, will be in charge of renewals, which begin early in November. Many thanks to Donna Peck for handling the technical behind-the-scenes work involved with the website vis-à-vis elections and renewals (and to Marc Longwood for showing her the ropes).
- Volunteer Appreciation Party: Invitations went out in mid-October to the November 4 party in San Francisco. If you volunteered during 2015 but didn’t receive an invitation, please let us know (president@batw.org). We’re looking forward to a good time…
As always, feel free to contact me with questions, concerns and offers to volunteer.
Best wishes,
Suzie Rodriguez
Co-President, Bay Area Travel Writers