By Eric Schmidt, Chapter President 2007-2008

Here it is late May as I write what will be my final letter as President of the Triangle Chapter of the AMA for the 2007-08 year. Mark Doggett, our current President-Elect, will step into this role on July 1st. The chapter has experienced a very successful year on number of fronts:

• More people than ever before attended our monthly luncheons.
  
• We held seven social events, including several with new formats such as the Working Social, member-only Holiday party, and the go-kart social.
  
• We held a day and a half marketing bootcamp that sold out and a day-long social media workshop that 60 people attended.
  
• The chapter has initiated a partnership with the NC Center for Non-profits, allowing our members to offer their expertise to worthy non-profit groups.
  
• We are financially sound thanks to a record number of new sponsors, and membership is now in excess of 360 marketing professionals.

I’m happy to report that as our chapter has enjoyed a successful year and I’ve managed to learn a few things, which I’d like to share with you:

Number one: Be clear in communicating what you expect to achieve. Set your direction and goals. We have a chapter plan that was developed with the input of our board members. They knew when their term on the board started what needed to be done.

Number two: Don’t micromanage. Once people know what’s expected of them, let them do their job. Make sure they have the resources needed and have access to additional help when necessary.

Number three: Recruit good people. I have enjoyed the benefits of a GREAT board this year. Our chapter’s accomplishments wouldn’t have happened without this board.

Number four: Avoid petty politics. Nobody ever wins playing that game and it distracts from your objectives. I call those types of people Toxic Avengers.

Number five: Have a sense of humor. Laugh at yourself when you screw up. Enjoy a good laugh with others. If it’s a really bad day, go home and watch Caddyshack, Animal House, or Blazing Saddles.

Number six: Be nice. To everybody. Say thank you to that hostile grocery clerk and watch their expression change. On a volunteer board you don’t have the option of negative reinforcement. You can only be nice, nicer, or really really nice.

Number seven: Don’t stop trying. Not everything worked exactly the way we planned it this year, but we kept our focus and regrouped when something we tried wasn’t successful.

I have enjoyed the last year and would like to say thank you and congratulations to the board for all your hard work and success. I’ve made many new friends this year in the AMA and I look forward to being an active part of the organization for many years to come.