I didn’t post an update last month, but I did do something more important: I elicited your feedback on a question the Board needs to act on.

Here’s what I’ve been up to.

First, based on your feedback (thanks) and conversations that I’ve had with members of the Board, I’m putting together recommendations for how we deal with payment and PASS-branded (but not PASS run, that’s already covered in the By-Laws) events. I’ll be presenting that in June at the in-person Board meeting. Speaking of the Board meeting, I’ve also been soliciting topics (although really, my priceless partner at PASS HQ, Vicki, is doing all the real work). We’re also preparing the budget for FY 2017 (again, the real work is being led by an equally priceless Sandy at HQ). Beyond a series of meetings with each of the portfolio owners, that hasn’t been too much work for me… yet. It’s coming up and will involve quite a lot of time to have everything ready for the June meeting.

…And spreadsheets (BLECH!).

I attended the Business Analytics Conference. While I was there, instead of going to sessions (and there were a couple on R that I really wanted to attend), I sat in on Focus Group meetings with various sets of attendees in order to understand how PASS can best serve the BA community. These meetings are an excellent way to gather a ton of information from people; good feedback on how we’re doing. I’m advocating for doing them at the Summit this year too. While I was there I got to have my first in-person meeting with the rest of the Executive Committee. We talk on the phone, through Skype, and over email very regularly, but nothing beats face-to-face.

Something special I got to do, thanks again to other peoples work (in this case Annette Allen (b|t), one of the PASS Regional Mentors over in the UK) was sit down with the user group, chapter, and community leaders during SQLBits (I was over there to present a session). We talked about a whole bunch of things, but focused around how PASS, as an organization, can better serve, especially locally, like in the UK and Europe. It was a really constructive meeting and quite positive. I can share a few things from it. Based on those conversations, I’ve already set up a Slack channel that Ryan can experiment with to help improve communication between the chapters and PASS as well as the chapters with each other. I think you may also see some other changes in communication in and around chapters in the near future. We’re also going to look into ways to get more swag to Chapters (but not shipping from Canada, as international shipping is costly and efficient for PASS or organizers).

That’s about it. My involvement with the Board continues to be educational and rewarding. I won’t lie. It’s a time commitment. It is however, one I’m very happy to have the opportunity to make. If you’re considering running for the board, talk to me. I’ll tell you all the good things it brings.

The post PASS Board 2016: Update #3 appeared first on Home Of The Scary DBA.