June 22, 2021 BOD Meeting Quick Notes

 
Membership Requests to Address the Board:   None
 
Call to Order
Meeting was called to order at 6:00pm
 
Roll Call: 
Candy Weaver, Randy Bigler, David Qualls, Richard Fergola, David McAllister, Myron Berry, Chiles Cridlin, Rick Wagner, Ralph Williams, Nancy Goldsmith, Stan Dobosenski, Absent: Corey Linton (Excused)
KCBS Office:  Emily Detwiler
 
Board Pledge:
Recognizing barbeque as America’s cuisine, the mission of the Kansas City Barbeque Society is to celebrate, teach, preserve, and promote barbeque as a culinary technique, sport and art form.
I accept my duties as a KCBS director to further the KCBS mission so that truth, justice, excellence in barbeque and the American way of life may be strengthened and preserved forever.
 
Consent Agenda
            Notice concerning Committee Reports. Some committees do not meet monthly, if a report is presented, it will be included as attachments to the Agenda.
 

• Minutes of May 25, 2021, Meeting
• May 2021 Financial Report
• Finance Committee
• Contest Report
• Sanctioning Committee
• Judging Committee
• Contest Representative Committee
• Rules Committee
• Foundation Committee
• Nominating Committee

 
Discussion of any items removed from Consent Agenda
 
David Qualls- I Move to Approve the Consent Agenda.
Second- Dobosenski– Motion Passed Unanimously
 
Chief Executive Officer’s Report
 
 
Old Business  
NONE
 
New Business
 

• Discussion and Consideration of Revising Rule 15 Beginning with the 2022 Season (See Rules Committee Report)

David Qualls- I move to Adopt the amendment to Rule 15 as presented by the Rules Committee
Second- Cridlin– Motion Passed Unanimously                
 
Closed Session Agenda:
Legal, Financial, and Real Estate
Marketing and Promotions
Discussion of Contests
 
Nancy Goldsmith- I Move to Enter in to Closed Session
Second- Williams – Motion Passed Unanimously
 
Entered Closed Session at 06:20PM
 
Board Returned to Open Session at 7:07PM
 
After Closed Session:
The Board may take any necessary actions including Motions on any or all matters discussed in closed session
 
Adjourn or Suspend
Myron Berry- I Move to Adjourn
Second- Goldsmith– Motion Passed Unanimously
 
Meeting Adjourned at 7:08PM
 
Attachments and Reports
 
Chief Executive Officer’s Report
 
 
Contest Report
 

BOD Approval –	None
In-House Approval –
32nd Annual Jack Daniel's World Championship Invitational	10/8-9/2021	Lynchburg, TN
Smithfield Classic in Nashville	9/3-4/2021	Nashville, TN
Inaugural Hawg Harvest - Lindsay Fall Fest – One Meat Rib Contest	10/1/2021	Lindsay, OK
Bordertown BBQ Brawl - One Meat Rib Contest	7/16/2021	Sault Ste Marie, MI
KTD Smokin' Gobbler Cook-off - One Meat Rib Contest	7/16/2021	Worthington, MN
Destination Outlets Labor Day BBQ Championship	9/4-5/2021	Jeffersonville, OH
So.Bo.Co. BBQ Showdown (Backyard)	9/11/2021	Ashland, MO
Didsbury Lions BBQ	9/3-4/2021	Didsburly, Alberta, Canada
BBQ on the Bow	9/4-5/2021	Didsburly, Alberta, Canada
Bourbon Capital BBQ Challenge & Distillers' Row Invitational	6/10-11/2022	Bardstown, KY
Nor'Easter BBQ Showdown Day 1	9/24-25/2021	Southwick, MA
Nor'Easter BBQ Showdown Day 2	9/25-26/2021	Southwick, MA
Nor'Easter BBQ Showdown - One Meat Rib Contest Friday Night	9/24/2021	Southwick, MA
Nor'Easter BBQ Showdown - one Meat Rib Contest Saturday Night	9/25/2021	Southwick, MA
Que' For a Cause (Backyard)	10/1-2/2021	Tahlequah, OK
Silver Lake Sand Dunes BBQ Competition	9/10-11/2021	Mears, MI

 
 
 
Sanctioning Committee
JUNE 16, 2021
 
Members in attendance: Randy Bigler, Charlie Brinza, Karrin Murphy, Candy Weaver,
                                       Beth Salzl and Myron Berry
 
Meeting began at 12:02PM
 
We did not have any conflicts with contests as of today.
 
The committee discussed three topics:
 
NON CBJ's at contests – With COVID still having a small effect on CBJ's attending contests, several contests are still needing non CBJ's to fill their judges slots.  A suggestion was made to look at areas of the country to have additional CBJ classes where this is still an issue.
 
ONLINE SANCTIONING OF CONTESTS – Online Sanctioning of KCBS contests should be available for organizers in the next month or two. This will be a benefit not only for organizers but also will eliminate a lot of work and time for our KCBS office.
 
CHANGES IN 2022 APPLICATIONS – There should be minimal changes to be made for our 2022 applications as nearly all of our current applications were updated last fall.
 
Meeting adjourned at 12:35PM
 
Foundation Committee
BOD Report for June 2021
The Committee met on 6/8/21 at 7pm.  In attendance via Zoom: Dave Edyburn, Nancy Goldsmith (Chair), Mike Megyesi, Priscilla Smith, Beth Salzl; attendance via phone Charlene Ellis
 
New Business
 

1. Fundraising at World Invitational

• 50/50 Raffle will definitely happen
• Discussion of other fundraising options – will continue to explore
   

Continuing Business
 

2. Work continues on the development of strategic initiatives for Foundation.  Megyesi will submit a draft mission statement at the July meeting.
    
3. Rewrite essay questions for Scholarship Application (Dave E. is drafting)
    
4. Adjust Essay Scoring Rubric to expand scoring range (Priscilla S. is drafting)
    
5. Scholarship award letters were sent to the KCBS office for printing and mailing on 6/9/21. CEO (Emily) will do press releases for named scholarships.

 
Judging Committee
June 21^st 2021
Invitees: Chiles Cridlin, Emily Detwiler, Rick Wagner, Amy Acock, Dave Grousnick, Nancy Goldsmith, Jennifer Eggleton, Frank Gonzales,  George DeMartz, Kelly McIntosh, Bill Jones, Dave Druetzler, Paul Buob, Candy Weaver - Not in attendance –Rick Wagner, Amy Acock, Dave Grousnick, Jennifer Eggleton, George DeMartz,
New Agenda Items –

• Removed agenda item of the creation of a completely online CBJ class that would replace our traditional class.  Will discuss if this is to be revisited in the future.
• Review all feedback from where the Online JCUP (Judge Certification Update Program) or continuing education was presented and reviewed by all of the KCBS trainers.
  • Completed modules 1 through 6 on 6/21, will finalize modules 7, 8 and 9 on Monday, 6/28
• How to grow the list of teams willing to host a CBJ that needs to cook with a team for their CBJ Masters.
  • Bull Sheet and other communications requesting teams is not working
  • Estimated that we have gone from 100 teams down to 41.  No teams in Nebraska.
  • Request to have an announcement added during the cooks meeting.

Ongoing Agenda Items

•  Ongoing Goals for the 2021 CBJ Committee.

 

• Develop online or web based certification update training course (In progress)
  • Review of conceptual updates to the KCBS Scoring System (100%)
  • Define Objectives (This is a separate document 95%)
  • Determine content (Most common misconceptions as seen in the judging tent 95%)
  • Develop a story board (not started)
  • Build test bank questions (not started)
    • Start with the ones we have and review them first.
    • Create questions based on new content and objectives
  • Write script (25%)
  • Choose LMS Platform (KCBS.US website has the capability) (Not started)
  • Gather media needed (Not started) – Create RFP and send out by 7/15/2021
  • Assemble video or training program (Not started)
  • Beta testing, review and deploy (Not started)

 

• Update related documents
  • Review of current KCBS Judge training class material (Nancy Goldsmith, started)
  • CBJ Training manual (Not started)
  • Reps manual (Not started)
  • Rep Advisory manual and Redacted Rep Advisory Manual (handed off to Nancy Goldsmith) (100%)
  • Judging Tri-fold (part of the Rules pamphlet)
  • Judges MP3 (anticipated new release for June of 2021)
  • Determine if there are others

Contest Representative Committee
The KCBS Rep Committee meeting was called to order at 6:30 pm by Chair Ralph Williams.  Members present were Scott Grinstead, Steve Grinstead, Alan Rothrock, Julie Poe, Jeanne Titus, Mike Winter and Emily Detwiler. 
The meeting agenda was brief.  The main discussion centered around the new Reps in training in the New England area and the completion of Rep training for Reggie Bodnar.
Before new Reps complete their training, the Rep Committee will review their training reviews and help determine if they are ready to be assigned to an event or need an additional training session.
Emily reminded us of the current COVID rules, teams are not required to sanitize their turn-in boxes or wear gloves and masks at turn-in.  Additionally, sanitizing the tables in the judging areas should continue if plastic coverings are not utilized, judges will continue to wear gloves when removing samples from the team containers and may remove their gloves for sampling purposes. Wearing of masks will follow local, county or state regulations. 
The meeting was closed at 7:02 pm.
 
 
Rules Committee
The rules committee meeting was held via zoom on 6/15, and started at 6pm CST.
Foreign object rule edits as developed by Chile Cridlin and committee in 2020 was agreed upon, and will be brought to the board for review. (See attached)
Discussion of 2022 rule 10 edits for greater clarity, simplification, and realistic enforceability took place as well. That discussion was to be continued.
Bill G., Steph F., Charlie B., and Joel F. were present. Other committee members weighed in via email in lieu of attending the zoom meeting. 
Meeting adjourned at 6:46 p.m.
Suggested Rule Change – Rule 15
 
I propose the change to the foreign object rule for unintentional and difficult to see small objects found in a box.  I think the penalty may be too strict for some occasions and propose the change below to cover these situations.
Current Rule:
The container shall not be marked in any way so as to make the container unique or identifiable. Aluminum foil, toothpicks, skewers, foreign material, and/or stuffing are prohibited in the container. Marked entries or containers with the above listed material will receive a one (1) in all criteria from all Judges and disqualified.
Proposed new Rule:
The container shall not be marked in any way so as to make the container unique or identifiable. Aluminum foil, toothpicks, skewers, foreign material, and/or stuffing are prohibited in the container. Marked entries or containers with the above listed material will receive a one (1) in all criteria from all Judges and disqualified. Exception to this rule are small items that are NOT seen at the time of appearance scoring and are inside, underneath, or attached to one judge’s sample.  For example, a small piece of foil that may be the result of a thermal probe and be in a piece of meat. In this situation, the judge receiving the sample with the foreign object will score the entry with a one (1) in all categories.  All other judges will score the entry as though there was no object in the box.
Reasons for the requested change:

• As this is not seen at appearance so not all judges see the object, this is not an attempt to purposely mark a box to gain the attention of a judge(s).
• This piece would result in a negative reaction from a judge rather than positive, so a team would not intentionally do this.
• No other judge is affected, and the team would probably not see this in a normal preparation of a box to remove it.
• There is still a penalty in that that judge will score all ones (1’s) but not so much as to eliminate the team from that category and overall competition.

Your consideration of this or a similar change to accomplish a fair treatment of a small error is appreciated.

Chief Executive Officer’s Report
 
KCBS World Invitational:

• Registration is on pace to go live as planned for August 9^th as stated.
• Continue to sign up for hotels at hotels at negotiated KCBS rates:
• Visit website www.kcbsinvitational.com with updated info and dates.

 
 

• Membership Updates – Working to proactively drive membership renewals and convert both lapsed and guests.   For June, the focus was on the wrapping up on our National BBQ Promotion -- along with a focus on retention and reinstatements. 
  • Currently total active paid members for June  is 15,353.
    • New members - Thus far for June, we have 191 new members. 

 

• Renewals members - For the month of June we started out with approximately 1,000 members that needed to renew.  60% have renewed for the month – a strong retention months.

 

• Lifetime members - we exceeded our goal for May.  We e finished the promotion with 321. Lifetime members packets have started to go out and will continue for another 2-4 weeks, until complete.  Our total KCBS Lifetime Membership is now over 3,000.

 

• Membership renewal plan
  • We continue to hold a monthly renewal drawing for members, to encourage members to renew.   For June, we will be giving away a KCBS Solo Stove to a member that is for a member that has  upgraded to lifetime membership, plus we are giving away KCBS Prize Package to renewal

 

• Dropped Member Come-Back Program
  • This remains a critical focus as too many people aren’t realizing they have lapsed or need to renew.  We are sending out emails two months in advance, then at the 30 day mark, then two during the month of their renewal.  Then we send out a final notice at the 45 post expiration when they drop.  From there, they move into the lapse email que that goes out monthly.
  • On June 16th (45 day mark for those set for renewal in April) we dropped nearly 500 members due to non-payment.  They were sent several reminders, including an email again on June 18th to re-engage them and remind them they were being dropped.  Our hope is that we can continue to re-engage them and others that have dropped due to non-payment to get them current again.  We still get many emails and phone calls from people stating “I thought I was in good standing or I forgot to pay my membership”

 

• International Membership
  • This month for International membership as they are currently at 1460 (this includes lifetime members). We currently have 35 countries represented in the KCBS database.

 

• Business Affiliate Updates
  • Currently at 32 listings in just four-months after the launch of the program.  Restaurants and BBQ supply stores making up the majority of the mix.  We will amp up efforts  in June.
  • As BOD members, please continue to reach out to members you know with businesses; driving them to https://www.kcbs.us/kcbs_business_affiliate_progra.php to learn more and sign up.
  • Working on 2022 planning for this program to maximize exposure and benefits for existing and potential participants.

 
35th Anniversary

• Have gotten positive social media comments on our 35th Anniversary features.  Still have a few slots left for the year.  PLEASE SHARE YOUR STORIES, sending to kcbs35@kcbs.us .
• We currently have weekly social posts that are going out featuring members, along with them being included in the BullSheet and on our website in the photo gallery.  We have had some great stories from members from around the world that share their stories of how KCBS and barbeque have made an impact on their lives.

 

• CBJ Processes:
  • For June,  we had two (2) classes on the schedule. We are continuing to add classes and getting requests for 2022. 
  • We are also hosting two classes in June at companies for their employees and key staff
  • Continue to see more and more CBJ’s asking to have their membership and status to be reinstated.

 
Partnership Discussions

• Continue to go well for KCBS World Invitational with some opportunities available
• Beginning planning for 2022

 
 

• PR/Earned Media: June (as of 6/21/2021)
  • 19 news articles mentioned KCBS; Potential Reach of 93 million
  • Total Advertising Value Equivalency (AVE) - $865K (up 25% over last month)
  • Social Media: 169 mentions for KCBS. A few call outs:
    • Twitter performed very well for us again
    • Big lift from teams tagging KCBS in posts – Teams, please continue to tag @kansascitybarbequesociety

 
Social Media: June Updates 

• Continue to use social media to drive member conversion, promote KCBS brand, showcase our sponsors, events and provide value to our members through fun and educational content. 
• In June, social media was focused around key holidays and the Giant National Capital BBQ Battle with the virtual contest.  In addition, we focused on promoting our partnerships and 700/180 and Chase results.
• Total Audience for June
• As of 6/16: 66,107 FB (KCBS-only) followers, 18,992 Twitter followers, 18,752 Instagram followers, 1,949 YouTube subscribers
• All of our social media stats improved this month over last month.  The biggest call outs:
  • New likes on FB - up 207, New followers - up 152, New Twitter followers - up 37
  • 40.3K impressions on Twitter in past 28 days
  • 12.1K impressions on YouTube, up 103% from May and 1.3K views, up 156% since May
  • Reached 12,242 accounts on Instagram, up 22.9% from May

 
CONTEST and EVENT UPDATES:  
○   Projected # of Events for 2021:
■      329 Contests currently scheduled for 2021
■      29 contests have already postponed: with no new date
■      28 have cancelled
■      64 contests already rolled over to 2022
■      19 CBJ, 4 TC of Classes scheduled for 2021
■      From November 1-June 20 -120 contests have happened (12 have been One Meats)
 
○   The American Royal is back. Working with the BBQ Planning team on bi-weekly meetings. Ralph to notify Reps.
●       2021 ToY Program
●      Chase 1 has ended. Chase 1 medals and stickers have been mailed out.
●      Chase 2 is in full swing.
COMMUNICATIONS:
●      BullSheet June–  35.19% Open rate among 15,541 members who received BullSheet
●   Meat Sheet mid-month newsletter 32.44% open rate
○   22 clicks on KCBS social media links
○   193 clicks to lawsuit
○   28 clicks to emergency procedures
○   608 clicks to view the June BullSheet (pdf version)
○   31 clicks to Invitational
○   38 clicks to KCBS Gear Store
 
SCHOLARSHIP PROGRAM UPDATE  

• All applicants have been notified via letter. Letters went out on June 9th.
• Will work on press release about winners

 
WELLS AWARDS - 

• Wells Awards have been published in the June BullSheet and links in the June MeatSheet. Please visit www.kcbs.us to nominate a member for outstanding Sportsmanship and Ambassadorship.