CHAIR'S CORNER
2004-2005 Business of the House
Our Mid-year meeting last month in Dallas went extremely well, largely due to maximum participation including representation from each standing and ad hoc committee, all of the officers of the House, the President and President-Elect of AAPG, our Executive Director Rick Fritz, and officer candidates of the House. During the day-long meeting we were able to evaluate recommendations emerging from committees and propose ways to function either easier or more effectively. Thanks to all of you for your contributions. The reports from those committees are printed elsewhere in this newsletter. If you have a strong opinion about any of the issues reported, be sure to let the Chairs of those committees, or me, or one of the other officers of the House have it.
Committee work is what we do. The responsibilities of serving on a committee are to participate, communicate, execute; and to follow through on assigned or selected tasks. We've all served on committees where the Chair was an independent or hard working chap, and did all the work himself -- or not, and we never heard from him. I've heard that remark echoed from many sources. Well don't we have some responsibility here also? Don't be idle -- if your Chair doesn't call on you, contact him and make sure he knows you're eager. We've also had committee members move, change companies, change phone numbers, email addresses, names, and never hear from them. And there are folks who write, or call, and say, I changed providers -- hope I didn't miss anything important, here's my new address, So, if you don't hear from your Chair, or fellow members -- tap them on the shoulder and say hey, what's up, I agreed to participate!
Humorist Milton Berle cynically described a committee as a group that keeps minutes and loses hours. We've got precious few to lose! So if you're on a committee, pitch in! If you're a committee chair, pull in your colleagues. If you're neither, call Chair-Elect Don Clarke and see how you can become more involved next year.
Speaking of involvement, we have an endemic scarcity of officer candidates throughout all of our professional organizations. Fortunately, we have a strong group of candidates for consideration this year in the House and for AAPG office, but it is a demanding job asking folks to commit their time and efforts to the organization for long hours and low (no) pay. We're all working smarter and harder, so it is increasingly challenging to put aside time for volunteer activities, but the future of our organization depends on us. Please step up when asked -- the rewards are immeasurable. Now, let's get down to work and find some grease.