—by Garrett Dittfurth

I suppose that's not the most entertaining headline I could write. To be honest this isn't the most exciting content matter either. I've been asked to write just a bit about the time requirements of a 107ist board member since we're now accepting applications for the 2012 elections.

If you choose to run and are elected by the membership you are making a three year commitment to the membership that voted for you. This is truly one of the most rewarding volunteer jobs you could ever do but there is a significant weekly time commitment involved. Every month the board meets at least once. Usually these meetings take place on a Sunday at a location of our choosing that does change every once in a while. These board meetings are usually written into the agenda to take about 2 hours but often run over into a 3rd hour. This board meeting is required and if you can't make it there needs to be notice given and a reason why. If a board member neglects their position it is at the board's discretion to dismiss a board member for neglect. Thankfully it's never come to that but I wanted to make it clear how important these monthly meetings are.

Past the required monthly meeting there are sometimes emergency meetings called. These are usually called on short notice and typically take about an hour to get through. As the "emergency" part suggest these are unpredictable but not common. Typically a board member will also be on a committee. I serve on the communications committee and we usually have a meeting every other month or so to talk about initiatives we want to have some outreach to the press about. We have a travel committee, community service committee, etc. Each of these meets once in a while to discuss topics relevant to their group.

The main time suck is email. A lot of the day to day discussion is done by email. If you're not able to access your email for days at a time expect A LOT of email to build up. The more you're on it the easier it is sort through. There are also certain events that the board is recommended to go to. Those are pretty typical of what you would expect and board members aren't required to be in attendance. A few good examples of these types of events would be the recent field dedication at James John Elementary by AC Portland that many 107ists worked on and our regular Third Saturday meet ups.

I want to reiterate to everyone that although this may sound like a lot for me it's an acceptable amount of time for the rewarding experience I get serving the membership on the board.