News From David Grindle, USITT Executive Director
Listening and Moving Forward
How do you eat a 94 ounce steak? One bite at a time.
I've said this over and over to myself and others since coming to this position. There are so many great ideas put forward for programming, member benefits, and other things, where do you start?
Our recent member survey, done just prior to the Annual Conference, showed that our members are generally happy with the service they get and are willing to say where things aren’t as great. The latter was probably the best part of what we got from the responses.
Since we returned from Long Beach, a group of members has been working to distill the comments into action. Happily, we can say there are things that are already coming to a reality. Our web upgrades are due to launch this month giving members many of the online resources they said they wanted.
Cost for members to attend the 2013 Annual Conference in Milwaukee is the same as it was in Long Beach for all categories. Hotels in Milwaukee cost less. All of these are things the membership commented upon that were already in the works.
It doesn’t stop here. The Strategic Planning Committee, chaired by Immediate Past President Joe Aldridge, is using the results of that survey along with other member feedback, to help lay a plan for the next five years. This is extremely important as it helps us articulate which of the areas to focus on and tackle. We are back to the steak analogy. Without a plan, we will never achieve the seemingly impossible task.
USITT is an amazing organization that produces incredible results. The leadership, staff, and membership are not content to rest upon success but to build upon it. But that takes time and a plan. That plan takes comments, feedback, and input. For two years as President, Joe Aldridge openly called upon the membership to contact him if they had questions, comments, or concerns. I too have that same policy. As the Strategic Planning Committee works to bring a document forward to the membership, don’t hesitate to contact either of us.
If you filled out the survey, that voice has been added to the mix. But if other ideas have come to mind or you didn’t get to the survey, reach out and let your thoughts be heard. This plan will do its best to chart a course for the Institute that goes where the members need it to go. We all know it won’t be perfect, and it won’t address every concern or meet everyone’s expectation. But it will be a plan made by the membership, with input from the membership, for the membership. Without it, we will just stare and wonder how to eat the whole steak.
We'd like to hear your comments on this story.
Please e-mail David at david@office.usitt.org.
Follow me on Twitter — #USITTExec