Fellow GSBOR Members:

In the beginning of the year, one of our greatest goals was to launch a comprehensive change to our association committee structure – an initiative we called O_3. It stands for Outreach, Output (you’ll find these two in the state association’s O₂ committee structure) and an additional “O” for Openness.

As most of you know, the GSBOR committee process was one in which a member filled out a form once a year with their preferences for committee membership and participation, and then the committee chairs selected the members of their committee based on those submissions. I, for one, felt this process was antiquated and limited the participation by some members who wanted to do so, but whom were not chosen for whatever committee. We asked ourselves why, if a member wanted to participate in a certain area of the association, would they not be open to join? Furthermore, the gifts of technology have allowed all of us to participate in ways that would not have been dreamt possible just a few years ago. So, in approving the O₃ committee system, the Board of Directors put forth the following goals in creating openness and transparency in our association’s governance:

1. If you notify the association of your desire to participate on a given committee, with the exception of the Executive, Finance and Nominating Committees, you are allowed to participate in the meetings and functions of that committee.
2. An online system would be utilized to facilitate between-the-meeting communications between committee members, and to allow discussion by members who could not or cannot attend a regular face-to-face meeting.
3. To use available technologies to facilitate live broadcast of face-to-face committee meetings so that members wanting to do so can participate from anywhere they have the connectivity to do so. In other words, if you want to attend a scheduled committee meeting but you’re out of town, you can join in the meeting online from generally anywhere you have the connection to do so.

In the process of putting this system in place, it was found that, while our existing membership system Abila could facilitate communication, we were essentially attempting to reinvent the wheel already existing with Facebook, and that most all members were already on Facebook and there would be minimal training needed to get those committee groups up and running. Furthermore, Facebook now allows live broadcasts within it, so it looks at this time as though it will function for the accomplishment of this future goal, too.

That’s why you find yourself a member of a Facebook group for your committee group. If you’re not on Facebook, we encourage you to do so, if for no other reason than the purpose herein described. And if you would like to join a particular group, just fill out the online form and join that particular committee, or multiple committees. We look forward to these groups serving as the communication portal for the future REALTOR® association we all want.

Sincerely,
Jeff Kester
2016 GSBOR President