Hello,

A reminder that our annual meeting is coming up on Thursday, September 20, 2012 – 4:00pm-6:00pm. This is a longer meeting where we will be electing officers for the next year, as well as conducting a strategic planning session. I hope that all of you are able to make it.

Below please find links to two surveys: one for feedback on the recent West Bank Music Festival, another an opportunity for you to give feedback on the long-term plans for our organization. This survey will be helpful whether or not you are able to join us for the next member meeting. Both surveys are brief and we appreciate your feedback and participation.

Also below is the agenda for the strategic planning session.  Looking forward to seeing you next week!

Best,

-Jamie

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Survey 1 – West Bank Music Festival

The support of all businesses on the West Bank helped us bring in thousands of people to celebrate and patronize our neighborhood. This is the 3rd year the West Bank Business Association organized the festival and we are very interested in your feedback to help us make an even better 4th year–whether or not you were an active participant in the festival.

https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/TLMZH98

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Survey 2 – Strategic Planning

This survey, in addition to our upcoming annual meeting, will help us create the first long-term Strategic Plan for the organization. Our goal is for this document to be a solid 5-year plan for our nonprofit, one that will help give the organization guidance, direction, and protection from change that can occur through staff turnover and annual shifts in board leadership. We want all West Bank businesses to be involved as we plan and establish long-term goals for the Business Association; thank you again for your participation.

https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/TLQFDNL

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West Bank Business Association

Monthly Member meeting

SEPTEMBER STRATEGIC PLANNING SESSION AND OFFICER VOTING

4:00pm Thursday September 20, 2012  – At Augsburg’s Oren Gateway Center

Agenda
4pm – Call to order

I. Welcome/Introductions (10 mins)
– Strategic planning goals: creating a roadmap for the organization

II. Business (5 mins)
– Approve August minutes

III. Officer Elections (10 mins)
– Nominees/Candidates
– Voting

IV. West Bank Business Association

S.W.O.T. Analysis (30 mins)
Brainstorm together:
– Strengths  (what are our strongest areas?)
– Weaknesses (where could we grow, internally?)
– Opportunities (what types of opportunities are out there for us?)
– Threats (what are our external threats – ie, funding changes, competition?)

V. Goal-setting and Priority-setting session (30 mins)
This is the fun part. Using our S.W.O.T. analysis and feedback from participants, let’s talk about the goals we have for 2012 and beyond. What areas do we want to concentrate on improving the most? Where should we focus? Using pieces of paper on the wall, we’ll brainstorm / prioritize goals using this process:
– Write down two goals and/or hopes you have for Business Association in the next 1-5 years (should be an action, and not to use the words ‘and/or’).
– Next steps: Write down what we need to complete these actions. (Resources, tools, etc.)
– Pick 2 mission/ 3 goals / all potential actions

Note that we should also be thinking about “big picture” things, not necessarily the small items, though they could come up conversationally. For example,
– “better training for 2013” coming out of the comment “volunteers seemed unsure”
– “accounting training” coming out of the comment “i don’t understand how wristband sales work”

VI. Review/Recap (15 mins)

5:45pm – Adjourn

Next Meeting
4:00pm Thursday October 18, 2012