KCBS BOD Quick Notes - August 2019

 

• First Club Marketing Report for KCBS Marketing/Social Media KCBS July 2019

 
(Web Stats for 7/1/19 – 7/31/19)

• Total page views for Dates: 173,051 (June)     140,087 (July)
• Total Unique Users for Dates: 39,924 (June)    34,413 (July)

 
Time per Visit: 4m-21s
 
Great American Cookout Tour
2019 Schedule is much larger reach than in any previous years. In 2018 the event reach was roughly 1.7m event attendees, 2019 is a projected 2.9m. The first 12 stops are completed with 8 remaining
 
The National Turkey Federation's Turkey Smoke
The first two of the five events have been completed and received a great reception by the BBQ teams. The next three will be coming up on 8-9-19 in Mason City, IA at the 16th Annual UP IN SMOKE BBQ Bash, 8-23-19 in Alberta Lea, MN at the Big Island BBQ and the final round for 2019 will be in Salisbury, NC on 9-20-19 at the Tilley Harley- Davidson Biker Blues BBQ Rally and BBQ Classic
 
Cabo Wabo Tequila, CABORITA
We have completed 7 of the 26 rounds and all have gone very smoothly with fabulous response and support
 
Print Media Potential Reach for KCBS 27,119,864 32,364,917 5,245,053 19.3%+
 
As of 6-28-19 As of 7-27-19 Difference
 

Twitter Followers:	17,070	17,372	136	1.8%+
Twitter Impressions:	75,474	61,208	26,299	18.9%-
Twitter Potential Reach	507,339	508.114	6,098	.2%+
Instagram Followers:	10,714	11,523	809	7.6%+
Instagram Impressions	83,398	139,988	56,590	50.8%+
Facebook total Likes:	85,383	85,666	273	.3%+
Total Audience:	113,303	114,561	1,438	1.2%+
Facebook Impressions:	345,943	368,800	22,857	6.6%+
Facebook Post Clicks:	1,786	2,243	457	25.6%+
Facebook Reactions:	3,102	2,680	-422	13.6%-
Facebook Engagements	4,017	3,559	-458	11.4%-

 
Comparison of FCM Social media Plan to previous provider (annual #’s)
 
As of 7-31-18 As of 7-31-19 Difference
 

Twitter Followers:	15,909	17,372	1,463	9.2%+
Twitter Impressions:	253,279	654,754	401,475	158.5%-
Twitter Potential Reach	2,937,273	6,300,617	3,363,344	114.5%+
Instagram Followers:	4,010	11,523	87,413	205.5%+
Instagram Impressions	N/A	139,988	N/A	N/A
Facebook total Likes:	81,429	85,665	4,416	3.9%+
Total Audience:	101,808	114,561	12,753	12.2%+
Facebook Impressions:	345,943	368,800	22,857	6.6%+
Facebook Post Clicks:	5,824	29,184	23,360	401.1%+
Facebook Reactions:	24,298	52,066	27,768	114.3%+
Facebook Engagements	34,609	71,714	37,105	107.2%+

 
 
Social Media / Member Liaison Committee: *Note- This Committee is charged with communication, education, marketing and membership issues. 
Report to the board from the committees meeting Aug 5th conference call:  SM-MScommittee@kcbs.us Aug 5th 2019 chat, Monday, at 4:00 pm Kansas City time Richard Fergola, Jennifer Eggleston, Randall Bowman, Carolyn Wells, Alan Sellers,
Notes for our committee discussion:

1. The committee instructed Randall to move forward with get our YouTube channel moving forward.
2. Taking KCBS’s You-Tube channel and developing the structure to provide a pathway to our market.

 

3. Jennifer Eggleston is our new Ambassador coordinator in Ohio Spreading the word one event at a time. One on One communication at the field level where people are listening the most.

 

4. We are working on developing a budget for the Ambassador program. Randall is searching for some supplier and sponsors that are will to send give away items.  The past Week end the City of Belair, Maryland, the state of Maryland, the downtown business alliance gave the Ambassador program several handouts that produced a steady flow of people willing to hear the story of KCBS.

 
Membership report: these are our July numbers.
Total Current Members                      20,066 Maybe getting adjusted +313 from last month
New members:                                     301                         +46
Renewed:                                              809                         -255
Non-renewals:                                      506                         -31
Lifetime:                                               1,891                      +15
International:                                       2,249                      +129
Total countries:                                    40 (No change from last month
 
International Committee:
Wayne Lohman: The IO team has had a really busy summer so far…
Last May brought us to Hermosillo, Sonora, Mexico for a two-day cooking and CBJ class. We traveled four hours south of Tucson through the agricultural center of northern Mexico to arrive at Hermosillo, the fifth largest city in Mexico. Many of the students for this class traveled 9 1/2 hours on their chartered bus from Mexicali.
The class site was a beautiful old hacienda that had been renovated to accommodate events.
It was a perfect setting for our class and easily accommodated our 24 students. These guys…mostly all experienced competitive BBQ team members rocked this class! We expect to see great things from them in the future!
It was great exchanging BBQ ideas with our new friends south of the border. Starting in the fall, look for several new contests from this part of the world. Big thanks to Guillermo and Daniel Olaz Silva for such a detailed, team friendly great job!
June brought part of the team traveling to Finland for this country’s first contest and CBJ class. This event was held along the river in Tampere. It was a beautiful spot containing a soccer stadium where we held a typical KCBS CBJ class. At this class, we welcomed 31 new members to the KCBS Family.
Directly after the class we held the team meeting where we also welcomed 23 teams from 5 countries to the competition. We think this was the first KCBS contest where a mobile sauna was brought in for relaxation for the teams!  Entries included the four KCBS meats, dessert and vegan. The winners in each category were: Chicken: Hot Scandanavian BBQ Boys; Ribs: Northern Lights BBQ; Pork: Rokende Regahs; Brisket: Rokende Regahs; Reserve Grand Champion: Broken Ribs BBQ and Grand Champions: Rokende Regahs. Poppamies Challenge: With a 180---Smoked Pioneers BBQ Team: Vegan: Envorin Savujullit BBQ
The busy weekend was flawlessly executed under the leadership of Riku Niscali. With special thanks to Miko Lyly for his patience and guidance.
Another part of the team spent the first few weeks of July back in Costa Rica.
We were asked by the US Ambassador to Costa Rica, Sharon Day, to cook for her personal Fourth of July celebration. Ambassador Day, who hails from Texas, wanted to have a celebration that reflected a Texas State Fair, which included BBQed chicken and ribs. Other “fair foods” included fried Snickers, fried mac and cheese and fried Oreos. The guest list of 785 invitees included ambassadors from other countries and top diplomats from throughout South America, including the Vice President of Costa Rica.
Four days of special, private KCBS style cooking classes preceded the ambassador’s event. These were for experienced teams and new competition teams. A special class was even held on the embassy’s ground for the embassy marine guards.
During the time in Costa Rica, representatives from all over the world truly got a taste of KCBS US style low and slow cooking.
International Southern Hot Wings activity has increased with discussions with Memphis Convention Bureau, Memphis Tourism Bureau and IHeartMedia.  The organizers purpose of making this an International Sanction Contest under NGS is to promote the Ronald McDonald House Charities that could involve some of the 384 Ronald McDonald Houses worldwide.  There could be other event possibilities with the introduction of a Memphis cultural heritage, music.
International Class and Contest activity for 2019 has reached close to 90 events.  Discussions are ongoing with Israel, Thailand, Russia and Panama.  The Russian event would be held in St. Petersburg which is only two hours from Helsinki, Finland.  Team competition from Poland, Estonia and Finland would support the event.  The IBOM is checking with the US Embassy in Russia on how to apply for the proper VISA and other requirements for a sanctioned BBQ Contest.
Our proposed contest date in Japan is the week of New Year’s Eve for the affiliation of the Japanese – South Korea BBQ Alliance.  This would be a two-day event comparing American Style and Asian Style of Cooking.  There is also the possibility that Taiwan could participate in this event.
Our first sanctioned contest in Panama is tentatively scheduled for Super Bowl weekend in Panama City, Panama that may be the foundation for 3 events in 2020.
 
CBJ Committee Report:
Dennis Polson:     KCBS CBJ Committee Meeting Minutes July 29, 2019    7:30 pm CDT
Present: Dennis Polson, Chair; Linda Polson, Recording Secretary; Jon Amedei, Marge Plummer, Brian DeCoud, Frank Gonzales, Maxine Kilgore, Becky Johnson, Ralph Williams, KCBS BOD, and Carolyn Wells, KCBS Executive Director.
Dennis opened the meeting and Frank gave a report on cooks volunteering to work with MCBJ candidates; there were no new applicants during the past month so registered cooks stands at 86.
The committee members made several suggestions of incentives and rewards for CBJs for attendance at the KCBS annual meeting & banquet. Also discussed were ideas for educational offerings such as IT update, Table Captain Class, etc. Dennis & Carolyn will do some research about resources and the topic will be discussed further at the next meeting.
The committee discussed a recent concern voiced by a CBJ about not receiving timely notification by an organizer regarding acceptance to judge a contest.
The Master Table Captain Certification Program proposal was discussed.
The meeting adjourned at 8:45 pm. The next meeting will be August 26^th at 7:30 pm CDT.
 
Rep Committee
Randy Bigler:  The Rep Committee met on Aug 6^th members present were Bill and Debby Gage, Lynda Voth, Haymo Gutweniger, Mike Winter and Randy Bigler. We discussed the addition of 3 new contest reps who have just finished their 4 probationary contest and a motion was made to except those 3 people as full contest reps. Motion passed from committee and will be brought before the BOD for approval.
A new person was recommended to become a rep for the Kansas City area and the committee felt that no additional reps are needed at this time in that part of the country.
The committee feels that the BOD needs to come out with a statement reminding the Cook Teams and judges that the Contest Reps are in charge at a contest. We do not think that our members are reading the rules of the organization. Even though we have rule number one that says:
The decision and interpretations of the KCBS Rules and Regulations are at the discretion of the KCBS Contest Representatives at the contest. Their decisions and interpretations are final to the extent consistent with the rules.
The committee discussed KCBScore, Seating Program and the KCBS website and although there are some small issues all 3 of them are coming along and we appreciate all of the work that has been spent on them.
 
Technology Committee
David Qualls: The Technology Contractors have been busy with the following projects;
 
Completed rollout of Judge Management 2.0 including overview video for end users 
Rolled out training videos for organizers and judge coordinators of Judge Management System 2.0 
Continued Cyber Security Awareness Training for KCBS staff and email account holders. 
Completed KCBScore updates- Released final BETA version to field testing teams
Continued Rep KCBScore Rep training
Completed build of online self-paced Rep Training for KCBScore - Released to BETA testing group for feedback
Motion to Implement will be discussed in New Business
Developed prototype mockup of enhanced map search User Interface 
Developed prototype mockup of new home page layout for KCBS.us with the help of Committee Members David McAllister, and George Mullins.
Started requirements gathering of KCBS Mobile App
 
I ask that you accept this report.

Event Committee:  *Note: Event Committee is charged with Banquet, Invitational, Team of Year, and Great American Cookout  
Randy Bigler: The Event Committee met on 24 July. Member’s present were Myron Berry, Richard Fergola, Sandy Fulton, David Qualls, Candy Weaver, Carolyn Wells and Randy Bigler.
The KCBS Banquet will be held at the Argosy Casino/Hotel in Kansas City the weekend of January 17-18, 2020. Richard Fergola has agreed to repeat the demo that he offered at the banquet last year.
If you have any ideas for classes, demos that you would like to see at the banquet please let one of the committee members know.
The date and location for the KCBS Invitational is still being determined for 2020. The Grand Champion and the Reserve Grand Champion of each KCBS contest will be invited, also if you are one of the top 125 teams at the end of the year you will be invited to the KCBS Invitational.  I recently visited the Carbarrus Arena close to Charlotte, NC to see if this would be a location that KCBS could use for the Banquet and Invitational.  I am waiting for more information.
The sponsors for the KCBS TOY are Smart Chicken, Smithfield and TITOs. An updated trophy for TOY is being looked at.
 
Rules Committee
Candy Weaver:  Meeting was at 7 pm on August 6. 2019.  Present were Charlie Brinza, Theresa Bell, Barry Johnson, Mike Wozniak and Candy Weaver.  Also present were Carolyn Wells, Kim Collier, Randy Bigler and Lynda Voth.
Topic was Steak rules for OBR events.  Two sets of rules have been developed.  Randy has conducted 2 Friday night steak events under 2017 guidelines.  It was decided to use these guidelines as the base for updated rules.  The 2018 list will be used to develop rules for 2020.
2017 Guidelines were updated and sent to meeting attendees for their input.
1.  Standard KCBS weighted system will be used.
 
     Appearance: .5600 (14.00% of total score)
     Taste:  2.2972 (57.43% of total score)
     Tenderness/Texture: 1.1428 (28.57% of total score)
Teams will receive a sheet that shows their scores after the awards.
2.  Cook teams must use charcoal and/or wood or wood pellets in an appropriate cooking device, no open fires on ground or in pit in ground.
3.  Contest will provide Beef Rib Eye Steaks, 2 for each team.  Teams are to keep steaks at 40 degrees F or less and cook to a safe temperature and held at 140 degrees or higher.
4.  Steaks must be cooked to have a warm, pink center.
5.  No other steaks will be present at the cook team’s site.  If any other steaks are found, the team will be disqualified from steak judging.
6.  All steaks are to be handled in a sanitary manner.  Disposable gloves are to be used to handle steaks.
7.  Cook teams provide all seasoning and other ingredients.  Do not pool sauce in the turn-in container.  Each cook team is responsible for the setup of their team site.  Every site will be left clean when the contest is over.
8.  A fire extinguisher must be present at each team site.
9.  Steaks may not be removed from the team’s site.  All seasoning and cooking of the steak must be done at the team’s site.  Any violation will result in team disqualification from steak judging.
10.  Each team will turn in one steak in the numbered container provided by the contest rep.  
11.  No garnish is to be used in the turn-in container.  A foil circle will be provided with the container for the placement of the steak in the box.
12.  Teams will draw a numbered, colored chip at the cooks meeting to determine place in line to choose steaks.  The color will designate the turn in time.  There will be a turn-in window, 5 minutes before to 5 minutes after the designated time.  Teams must turn in during their designated turn-in time. The turn-in times will be determined by the contest organizer and contest rep. Your turn-in time will be given at the time you choose your steaks by the contest rep.

Nominating Committee
Dennis Polson:  An article asking for nominations to the Board was in the August BullSheet.

Philanthropy Committee Report
Myron Berry:       PHILANTHROPY COMMITTEE
The Gary Wells Sportsman Award and the Carolyn Wells Ambassador Award applications are available online at kcbs.us under the Philanthropy Tab. Deadline to file applications is December 1, 2019. The awards will be presented at the January KCBS banquet.

Audit Committee Report
Myron Berry:       Audit is still in Progress.

Bylaws Committee Report
David Qualls: No Report this month.   
                          
Building Committee
David Qualls: I have requested an update from the realtor but haven’t received a response as time for posting.

Old Business   None

New Business
Board Confirmation of a Strategic Planning Committee and its Chairman Haymo Gutweniger, which shall be responsible for exploration of new methods, techniques and ideas that further the KCBS mission.

Randy Bigler: I move to committee as Presented
Second-Berry - Motion Passed Unanimously

Board Confirmation of Ralph Williams as Co-Chair of the CBJ Committee
Dennis Polson: I move to accept the June Monthly Financial Report
Second-Gutweniger - Motion Passed Unanimously

Discussion and Possible Motions:  
For the implementation and rollout of the Rep Proficiency Testing beginning August 19, 2019.
This training is online self-paced and is a re-usable asset, one time investment, KCBS can leverage to get current reps up to speed with the new process, provide continuing education and refreshers for Reps, and help train new Reps. Once this is implemented, in concert with the final version of KCBScore, the support costs and training KCBS is providing to Reps will drop significantly.
 
The Parameters of this Proficiency Testing will include and require:

• The test consists of 8 chapters, with training videos, and test questions after each chapter
• Provide Reps 30 days to complete the training, in order to maintain current eligibility status. If not completed, upon completion of the training, the online system will restore their Rep credentials.
• Passing % is 100%
• Missed questions will be emailed to the Reps
• The test can be retaken as many times as necessary to complete.

David Qualls: I move to implement and rollout the Rep Proficiency Testing beginning August 19, 2019.
Second-Polson - Motion Passed Unanimously

TOY points for KCBS Backyard teams.
David Qualls: I move to have the C/E/O do a feasibility study and report back to the Board in the November 2019 meeting on recommendations for a backyard Team of the Year Program
Second-Polson - Motion Passed Unanimously
Sanctioning of a PRO/AM division of KCBS BBQ Contest - NO ACTION TAKEN
 
Closed Session Agenda:
Chief Executive Officer & Executive Director Reports
Discussion of Marketing Report with First Club
Discussion of Financial Reports
Discussion of adding New Reps.
Discussion of Contest representative actions at a contest.
Discussion of Member Incident at Contest in June.
Additional Subject: Discussion of a Suspended Member
Haymo Gutweniger: I move to enter into Closed Session
Second-Polson - Motion Passed Unanimously
Entered Closed Session at 9:36pm
Returned to Open Session at 11:08pm

After Closed Session:
The Board may take any necessary actions including Motions on any or all matters discussed in closed session
Dennis Polson: I move to terminate the previous suspension of a head cook and invoke a one year probation pursuant to becoming a member in good standing.

Second-Berry - Motion Passed Unanimously

Adjourn or Suspend
Ralph Williams: I move to adjourn
Second-Sellers - Motion Passed Unanimously

Meeting Adjourned at 11:09pm