The view from your desk

I recently was watching the movie Dead Poets Society and remembered that I watched the movie over ten years ago in my Honors English class at Mercyhurst Prep. In the movie, Professor John Keating has his students stand on his desk. His rationale for this activity was because "we must remind ourselves to constantly look at things in a different way."

Why do I mention this story?

I think that part of yep!'s overall mission is to look at Erie in a different way. Are the policies of the past and present the best for our future? Or do we need to look at things from a different perspective?

We have made tremendous progress in the last few years and many people are looking to yep! to help shape the region's future. yep! is not a poltical organization - nor should it be. However, what decisions or developments can we - or more importantly - should we be involved with?

yep!'s mission is to make Erie a better place to live, work, and play. In order fulfill our mission, we (as an organization) need to determine the best route to make our mission become reality. Feel free to post your ideas here or send me an e-mail.

It's all about you.

For the last few years, the yep! leadership team has worked to develop an organization that would be sustainable and last for years to come. The creation of a formal Board of Directors, a set of bylaws, and the instiution of membership dues were all part of an overall strategy to build a stronger organization.

In a little over 18 months, yep! has surpassed the 250 member mark. When dues were implemented in June of 2007, we had no idea if anyone would be willing to pay $30.00 to be part of yep!. Thankfully the support from our members has been strong and we are grateful to everyone that has become more involved in our growth and development.

As we start 2009, one of my main goals is to increase the overall value of being a paid yep! member. The yep! value proposition needs to be clear and will certainly be different for each member. For some, they see the value in the relationships that have been created and strengthened through their association with yep!. Others might point to the access that they now have to connect with community leaders and their ability to more easily find events that interest them.

The leadership team has started to devlelop a list of new programming ideas that we are starting to explore for 2009. Therefore, as my blog post title suggests - 2009 is all about you - and we need your help to create events that you are intersted in.

Some ideas are listed in the poll on this page and are detailed below. But what events or initiatives do you want to see in 2009? You can let us know by completing the poll on this page of by filling out the yep! membership survey.

2009 yep! Events and Initiatives

Scheduled

• yep! Ski Trip (February 7th, 2009)
• Generation E Leadership Awards (April 24th, 2009)
• Monthly Happy Hours
• Kickball Tournament
• yep! Membership / Preferred Vendor Card (February / March 2009)

New Events (In Development)

• Financial Planning Seminar (February 2009)
• Human Resources Seminar
• yep! Annual Meeting (April / May 2009)
• yep! President's Cup (Team / Individual Competition)
• yep! Brig Niagara Day Sail
• yep! Bachelor/Bachelorette Auction
• yep! New Year's Eve
• yep! Trivia Night
• yep! Non-Profit Board Night

If you want to be part of the planning and development of these - or have an idea for an event - send me an e-mail or leave a post on this page.

2009 yep! Goals and Objectives

As a member of yep! for several years, I have witnessed the tremendous growth that the organization has experienced. Many of our members have commented that they would like to learn more about what the organization is working on and what opportunities exist to become more involved in yep!.

One of my main goals as President is to increase the adoption of technology so we can reach a wider audience. With a limited budget and time (since the entire organization is comprised of volunteers), technology will enable us to increase our value to our members and impact in the community. This blog, our Facebook group, and other Web 2.0 technologies will help us broaden our lines of communication.

The strategy of this blog will be to accomplish a few different things.

1. Provide updates about upcoming yep! events and programs.
   
2. Create a constant feedback loop for our members and the community to engage our leadership team.
3. Comment on events in the community that impact our age demographic.

A responsibility of each incoming yep! President is to compose a "state of yep!" letter at the beginning of their term. Sort of our version of the State of the Union speech - but on a slightly smaller scale.

You can read the complete letter by clicking here.

Thank you in advance for reading and please comment if you have any ideas or suggestions.