Guidelines for Centre Chairs

1. Annual Cycle of Recommended Actions

a. Executive meetings:  You will need to hold regular executive meetings which could (but not necessarily) coincide with speaker meetings.  For continuity, etc., it is helpful to have a short set of minutes prepared and circulated.

b. Coordinates for your executive:  During summer you should send a list of your complete executive, with addresses, phone and fax numbers, and email addresses to the National Corresponding Secretary with cc to the CMOS Webmaster, so that correct listings and contact points will be available for your Centre.

c. Mailing lists:  Your membership and contact lists (paper mail and email) should be updated by your secretary or membership representative by late summer early fall.  Email lists are easy to maintain and cost nothing.  Finally, if not already received, you should request an up to date mailing list of CMOS members in your area from CMOS headquarters.  You should use this list as a starting point and to ensure no bona fide members are missed.

d. New members:  Ideally, your mailing lists should include as wide a coverage as possible to capture all persons and organizations in your area having an interest in meteorology or oceanography, whether or not they are CMOS members.  This can be accomplished by getting a contact persons in each office in your area to beat the bushes there (as Members-at-large on your executive) and to ensure some longtime member of your executive gets all the retired meteorological and oceanographic people on the list.  You should welcome all guests and work on getting them to join CMOS after they have been exposed to a few meetings.  Finally, during the year, you will receive periodic messages from the Corresponding Secretary about new members which have been approved.  These lists should be monitored closely for new members in your area and they should be contacted soon.

e. Financial:  In the fall, a funds subvention will be received from the National Executive.  The amount is based on the number of members in your area and can be used as prizes for science fairs or to contribute to holding of speaker meetings (postage, copying etc., or for small cost overruns).  This amount is small however, and you should plan most activities on a pay-as-you-go basis.

f. December holiday season:  Try to arrange a Christmas lunch or dinner type meeting with a slightly less technical speaker.  This gets out spouses, companions, etc. and can open doors socially amongst members, potential members and guests.

g. January / February - Nominations for CMOS prizes and awards:  The deadline for nominations for annual CMOS prizes and awards is February 15 (some later).  You should consider whether there are any members or non-members in your area who have made a recent significant contribution in the disciplines of meteorology or oceanography which would suggest a nomination.  General information on CMOS prizes and awards can be found under that heading on the CMOS web site.  The Secretary of the Prizes and Awards Committee receives the nominations and will have additional information.

h. February:  The Centre Annual Report to CMOS National Executive is due.  There will be a call letter (email from the Corresponding Secretary), but it is good to get this started early.  The report covers the previous calendar year and may include material from your predecessor.  A typical report is made up of a paragraph summarizing the talks given during the calendar year, a brief summary of science fair activity, if any and an attachment, prepared by your treasurer, showing financial summary.  Previous Annual Reviews contain examples of these reports.

i. March/April - Science Fairs:  Many Centres support local high school science fairs. Usually judges are appointed from the local membership to review projects for meteorological and or oceanographic content and prizes can be given.  Cash prizes, certificates and possibly a trophy are ways CMOS can recognize excellence of projects at the fairs.  Winners can also be invited to attend speaker meetings if convenient.

j. The CMOS Tour Speaker:  Tour speakers are normally arranged during the spring, but could be earlier.  You need to keep alert for messages from the Corresponding Secretary or Executive Director about this and plan to work the Tour Speaker into your annual cycle.  Once you know who it is and the approximate schedule for your area, it will be your responsibility to contact the tour speaker to finalize time and place for your meeting.

k. New executive:  Usually your last meeting will be in May or June.  At the final meeting of the season, the new executive should be elected.  During the spring, you or your nominating committee will need to get commitments from members of the current executive to continue, or get new executive members from your general membership.  Some continuity in the secretary and treasurer positions is desirable.

l. Executive positions:

A typical Centre executive may include the following positions:

Chairperson
Vice-Chairperson
Treasurer
Recording Secretary
Membership
Education Coordinator
Past-Chairperson
Local university representative
Student Representative
Member(s) at Large

2. Holding Speaker Meetings

Early in your term (may be August or September), you need to brainstorm with your executive to identify all potential speakers for the year.

a. Getting speaker names:  Ask each member of your executive, or any contacts you have, well in advance to come up with three names.

b. Deciding on speakers:  Trim the list down to who's available now and later, who's in your area and who's from outside (be careful with having too many outside speakers as their travel plans can change at last moment, leaving you stuck).  Note that Centre finances are usually not sufficient to pay travel costs for outside speakers (except Tour Speaker).

c. Frequency of meetings:  Depending upon the availability of speakers and the activity of your particular Centre, your plan should include the normal number of meetings held in your area.  This number can vary widely, but the National Executive would like each active Centre to attempt to hold at least four meetings annually.

d. Venue and time:  Ensure reservations for your meeting location (s) are made well in advance. Having a location that is flexible on scheduling is important as speakers often can arrive on dates different from your draft plan (but because if it is convenient for their travel plans they normally will not request travel cost assistance from your Centre).  Depending on your membership mix, travel times, etc. meetings can be held in the work day (luncheons); after work or in the evenings.
 

3. What to do for Each Speaker Meeting

a. 5-6 weeks ahead:  Ask the speaker's sponsor to check with the speaker to confirm the date for his talk and provide an email address and phone number.

b. 4-5 weeks ahead:  You should contact the speaker directly and ask for four things (quite often the speakers provide everything at once):

- a title for the talk

- a short abstract of about 4-5 sentences long (two paragraphs maximum - your meeting notices should be no longer than one page)

- any special audiovisual requirements (e.g. computer projector, overhead or 35 mm. projector)

- some brief biographical notes (CV) in the week before the event for use in introducing the speaker

c. 3-4 weeks ahead:  You should receive title and abstract from speaker.  Meeting notices can now be prepared and distributed.  Translation may be appropriate for some Centres.  Three methods of distribution are possible: local paper mail; local email and posting on the local web site if there is one and / or the CMOS web site (send in any format to the CMOS Webmaster at webmaster@cmos.ca)

d. 1 week ahead:  Remind speaker to provide intro (CV) notes and confirm his requirements for presentation, including any requirement for transportation if not covered earlier.

e. Day of meeting:  Ensure speaker is picked up (if necessary), audio visual aids are at the site and tested prior to the talk, introducers and thankers are confirmed and, if possible, have available a small token of appreciation for presentation to the speaker (eg. a CMOS pin or small gift certificate).
 

4. CMOS Congresses & National Involvement

a. Council:  As Centre Chair, you are part of the CMOS Council.  A few meetings are held during the year, usually by teleconference.  Attending the Council meetings keeps you up to date with CMOS national activities.

b. Centre Chairs meeting:  At every CMOS Congress there is a meeting of the Centre Chairpersons. You should attend this meeting if you are at the Congress, or try to send a representative in your place if you are not attending Congress.

c. Congresses in your local area:  From time to time (usually no more frequently than every decade) you may be asked to host the CMOS Annual Congress. Separate guidelines exist for this.  Hosting a Congress can be a good way to involve many of your members in the Society and can also supplement your financial coffers.

d) All Other Congresses:  If the Chairperson is unable to attend, it is very important that someone be designated to speak for the Centre at the following meetings: Membership Committee, Council and Annual General where the agenda for such meetings always calls for a report from Centres. From time to time there may be other meetings held during Congresses which have representation from all Centres where this designate may be the appropriate person to attend.
 

Draft 1.5 / Bob Jones, Ottawa Centre
Original Draft: 22 February 1999

Updates:
# 1: 15 June 1999
# 2: para. 4d added, 26 May 2002
# 3: all references to "Chapters" removed, 5 June 2004
# 4: section 1g, amended the deadline for P&A nominations to 15 February. Amendment date: March 2006
# 5: summer 2007: minor typos fixed and new section 1-l added.
 
 

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