Message

We must be very specific and very realistic about what is in it for the ARRL to have a National Convention ... at Dayton or anywhere. When we had the National at Dayton before, several people came to the booth and asked me, "So, how is this Dayton any different from other Daytons?" The answer I could give them, "There are more ARRL-related forums than in other years," didn't impress them much. It didn't impress me much, either, come to think of it. The allure of getting to go to Dayton at no personal expense should not distract us from asking hard questions about what the League will gain in concrete, measurable benefits from having a National.

It's true that travel expenses for Directors and Officers come from their existing budgets. However, if you spend Division budget money going to a National, that's money you don't have available to spend on membership contact within your Division. This presents a choice to Directors: go to a National where you may not be interacting with many of your members, or skip the National and do your customary in-Division travel, or do it all and over-spend your budget. Any of these choices has down-sides for the organization. If we have so much money allocated to Governance that Divisions can absorb a Director's trip to a National without cutting back on other activity that year, then that raises interesting questions, doesn't it?

I believe the Board needs to develop guidelines for the Director's Workbook suggesting what Directors and Officers should do at Nationals that we attend. Otherwise, it seems to me like we are getting to go to Dayton -- or wherever -- on the membership's nickel to shop, shmoose with our friends, and enjoy ourselves without being expected to do any particular work on behalf of the League. Walking around all day with a red badge on and stopping by the booth for 15 or 20 minutes doesn't fill the bill for me. Now I am not saying we should have to fill out some kind of dumb-ass time cards saying how many hours we did this and how many times we did that. I am suggesting, however, that as a body the volunteer members of the Board should come to an agreement about what work we expect ourselves to do for the League in return for the privilege of attending a National Convention at the membership's expense. Then we put it in the Director's Workbook and leave it to the honor and conscience of individuals to live up to the guidelines we've set for ourselves.