KCBS Board of Directors Regular Meeting Quick Notes For September 28, 2021

Kansas City Barbeque Society
Board of Directors’ Meeting Quick Notes
Tuesday September 28, 2021, 6:00pm

Membership Requests to Address the Board: None

Call to Order
Meeting was called to order at 6:00pm

Roll Call:
Randy Bigler, David Qualls, Richard Fergola, David McAllister, Myron Berry, Chiles Cridlin, Rick Wagner, Ralph Williams, Nancy Goldsmith, Stan Dobosenski, Corey Linton
KCBS Office: Emily Detwiler Absent- Candy Weaver

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 August 24, 2021, Meeting
August 2021 Financial Report
Finance Committee
Contest Report
Sanctioning Committee
Judging Committee
Contest Representative Committee
Rules Committee
Foundation Committee
Nominating Committee

Nancy Goldsmith - I Move to Approve the Consent Agenda with the Sanctioning Committee Report Removed
Second- Cridlin – Motion Passed Unanimously

Discussion of any items removed from Consent Agenda

Chief Executive Officer’s Report

Old Business
NONE

New Business

Discussion and Consideration of Sanctioning Committee report

Myron Berry - I move to Not to sanction Atlanta BBQ Store due to Conflicting radius
Second- Bigler – Motion Passed

Myron Berry - I move to Sanction Christmas on the River Dec 4, 2021
Second- Goldsmith – Motion Passed

Discussion and Consideration of updated scoring system to coincide with the JCUP Program

Stan Dobosenski - I move to adopt the Updated scoring as discussed and outlined in the Rules Committee Report with the substitution of through from Between in the second Bullet point concerning scored of 9 thru 5.
Second- Goldsmith – Motion Passed with Bigler Voting No.

Discussion and Consideration of Approving a revised Table Population Specifications for Judge Seating as approved by the Rep Committee

Ralph Williams - I move to Approve the Submitted Revised Table Population Specifications
Second- Linton – Motion Passed

Discussion and consideration of Pilot Geographical Recoupment Program to assist Organizers in re-establishing lost and failing contests for the 2022 season in areas of major decline.

Discussion Only

Discussion and Consideration of regionalization of the 150 mile sanctioning rule.

Discussion Only

Closed Session Agenda:
Legal, Financial, and Real Estate
Marketing and Promotions
Discussion of Rep’s and Rep’s in Training
Discussion of Contests

Nancy Goldsmith- I Move to Enter in to Closed Session
Second- Bigler – Motion Passed Unanimously

Entered Closed Session at 6:38PM

Board Returned to Open Session at 8:07PM

After Closed Session:
The Board may take any necessary actions including Motions on any or all matters discussed in closed session

Adjourn or Suspend
David Qualls- I Move to Adopt Resolution R-09-28-21-A Concerning Real Estate
Bigler– Motion Passed Unanimously

David Qualls- I Move to Proceed with Personnel Actions as Discussed in Closed Session
Bigler– Motion Passed Unanimously

David Qualls- I Move to Approve Brian Moore as a New Contest Representative
Bigler– Motion Passed Unanimously

Randy Bigler- I Move to Adjourn
Dobosenski– Motion Passed Unanimously

Meeting Adjourned at 8:09PM

Attachments and Reports

Contest Report

BOD Approval –	None
In-House Approval –
Boo-B-Que - Day 1	10/29-30/2021	Unity Village, MO
Boo-B-Que - Day 2	10/30-31/2021	Unity Village, MO
Boo-B-Que - One Meat Rib Contest	10/30/2021	Unity Village, MO
The Cache Smokeout at the American West Heritage Center	7/8-9/2022	Logan, UT
Foley BBQ & Blues Cook Off (Backyard Only)	3/12-13/2022	Foley, AL
Sip & Swine BBQ Festival	3/4-5/2022	Lawrenceville, GA
River Bar Smoke Out	12/11-12/2021	Goldsboro, NC
B-Dale BBQ Contest (Backyard Only)	8/5-6/2022	Roseville, MN
Fire at the Foothills (Backyard Only)	4/2-3/2022	Chelsea, AL
Barbecue With a View (Backyard Only)	11/12-13/2021	Vicksburg, MS
Wines, Brews & BBQ	4/29-30/2022	Lubbock, TX
Smokin' on the Buffalo BBQ Brawl - Day 1	5/20-21/2022	Mannington, WV
Smokin' on the Buffalo BBQ Brawl - Day 2	5/21-22/2022	Mannington, WV
Bring'n Home the Bacon - Day 1	6/10-11/2022	West Salem, WI
Bring'n Home the Bacon - Day 2	6/11-12/2022	West Salem, WI
Bring'n Home the Bacon (Backyard Only)	6/10-11/2022	West Salem, WI
Gruenenwalds BBQ Battle	10/2-3/2021	Bremen, Germany
BBQ Gives Back - Day 1	3/25-26/2022	Urbanna, VA
BBQ Gives Back - Day 2	3/26-27/2022	Urbanna, VA
Bourbon, Brews & BBQ (Backyard Only)	7/15-16/2022	Bancroft, IA
Happy Basset 2nd Annual BBQ Competition	7/1-2/2022	Topeka, KS
Smokin on the Route	7/29-30/2022	Miami, OK
Marietta River City BBQ	4/29-30/2022	Marietta, OH
40th Annual Kennett Jaycees Show Me State BBQ Cook Off	5/6-7/2022	Kennett, MO
Pending-	None

Sanctioning Committee

SANCTIONING COMMITTEE SEPT 22, 2021

In attendance: Charlie Brinza, Debbie Yopp, Corey Linton, Sherry Byler, Emily
Detwiler, Beth Salzl and Myron Berry

Meeting began at 12:02pm

Contest conflict with an application for a new contest from Atlanta, Ga that is on the same weekend of a sanctioned contest in Gadsden, Al. The committee believes that
sanctioning of this contest would create a loss of teams from the sanctioned contest in Gadsden, Al as they are 120 miles apart. The sanctioned contest in Gadsden has been held annually for over 10 years.

Contest conflict with a contest who wishes to move their dates to Aug 12-13, 2022.
There is an existing contest that had this date of Aug 13-14, 2021 that is within 100 miles of the contest that wishes to move their date. The committee discussed this matter and tabled the discussion until we are able to talk with the organizers.

Discussion of close proximately of contests in KC/MIssouri area regarding the 90 mile guidelines. The committee recommends that density of teams be considered when sanctioning contests and looking at close proximately contests that have co-existed in the past.

Discussion of the Dec 1 yearly guideline for returning contests to sanction in order to hold the same date for the next year. No recommendation was made to change this at this time.

Meeting adjourned at 12:52pm

Myron Berry, Chair

Judging Committee
KCBS CBJ Committee Meeting Notes
September 21^st 2021
Invitees: - Chiles Cridlin, Emily Detwiler, Rick Wagner, Amy Acock, Julie Poe, Nancy Goldsmith, Frank Gonzales, George DeMartz, Kelly McIntosh, Bill Jones, Dave Druetzler, Paul Buob, Candy Weaver
Not in attendance – This was a special meeting to review the JCUP Story Board modules, not everyone was required to be in attendance. July Poe, Nancy Goldsmith, Frank Gonzales and Paul Buob were in attendance.
New Agenda Items –

JCUP RFP’s.
- The KCBS Office has chosen the video company to create the JCUP and JSSP training videos.

Request to shorten the Judges MP3.
- The new shortened MP3 was passed by the BOD.
  - A correction that it was “Mike Robison” and not “Mike Robinson” that submitted the suggestion for the new MP3.
  - We are still looking for a new “voice” for the MP3’s, however the Reps have been reading the new shortened version at contests and have been receiving standing ovations. This needs to be escalated.

Ongoing Agenda Items

We have slowly been receiving recommendations for 2021 Judge Recognition. Considering a social media request asking for more before the deadline.

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 100%)
  - Determine content (100%)
  - Develop a story board (Start after August 1st) (75% complete).
  - Build test bank questions (Start after August 1st) 50% complete
  - Choose LMS Platform (KCBS.US website has the capability) (100%)
  - Gather media needed (25% complete)
  - Create RFP and send out by 7/30/2021 (sent out 8/2/2021) (100%)
  - 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 update (Not started)
- Reps manual update (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 (100%)

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.
  - The office has completed a three year review as to teams that have hosted judges.
  - Possibility of creating new way of tracking teams that host and having an award or recognition for the team that hosts the most in any given TOY year.
  - Use social media to highlight the teams and judges (picture submission, quick judge write up, etc.).

Closing – Any additional questions or concerns that are provided.

Contest Representative Committee

KCBS Rep Committee Meeting
September 13, 2021 7:00 pm

Members present: Ralph Williams, Scott Grinstead, Steve Grinstead, Mike Winter, Julie Poe, Dave Druetzler, Phil Morrow, Emily Detwiler.
Discussion centered around the Table Population Chart that KCBS Reps are to follow when seating judges at a Master Series event. The Committee agreed with the chart, adding the statement at the top that there is NOT to be any 3 tables seating situations at a Master Series event. New form is attached. If approved, this document should be sent to all organizers, encouraging them to help them determine the correct number of judged needed for their event. This chart should be placed in the Organizers portal and the Rep portal. Reps often must make “on site” adjustments to make an event run smoothly. In the event an adjustment is made, following the event, the contest Rep should send an email to the Rep Chairman explaining the need for the adjustment. It was also suggested a line be added to the Rep Critique Form stating the number of tables seated and any issues that were dealt with at the event.
The Committee also agreed we should adopt something similar to the “3 strike rule” that is used in the CBJ Committee. Those statements are to be developed.
Ralph Williams, presented for consideration, a new Rep from Colorado, Brian Moore. Brian’s reviews have excellent ratings. Each set of training Reps feel he is ready for installation as a new Rep.
Covid policies were reviewed and Reps are reminded judges need to continue to wear both gloves when handling boxes containing entry meats. Gloves should be removed during sampling. Turn-in workers and table captains should also wear two gloves. The number changer is exempt due to the labels sticking to the gloves. KCBS is following local guidelines concerning the wearing of a mask.
Ralph Williams is asking for the re-instatement of the “Master Level” to become a contest Rep. Discussion followed that suggested the Rep Committee re-examine our current requirements as they felt we are possibly overlooking potential Reps that would qualify in different ways. Example: may have judged, organized, cooked and volunteered at 30 or more events.
Scott Grinstead asked KCBS to look into the review forms currently being used to be modified allowing form completion and submission without making additional printed copies thus saving time and resources.
Emily Detwiler stated she has new KCBS banners for Reps to display. Those will be dispersed to the Reps.
Meeting was adjourned at 7:50 pm.

Rules Committee
On 9.21.21 the rules committee met via zoom at 6pm CST.
In attendance were Joel F., Bill G., Jim F., Steph F., Charlie B., Mike W., Emily D., and CBJ committee chair Chiles Cridlin.
Lengthy productive discussion was had regarding the formulation of a motion for updated scoring for 2022 TOY. A consensus was reached about the wording details that were discussed. Post meeting there was continued discussion and analysis that also involved the cbj committee via email.
All of this discussion and refinement resulted in the motion that is attached. I will be bringing forth this attached motion at the board meeting 9.28.21
The committee also discussed a member inquiry requesting clarification of separation of cooking spaces at KCBS contests. A response was sent to the inquiring member post meeting.
The zoom meeting was closed at 7:30 pm
Respectfully submitted,
Stan Dobosenski
KCBS Rules Committee Chairman

Foundation Committee
KCBS Foundation Committee Meeting
BOD Report for Sept 2021
The Committee met on 7/13/21 at 7pm.
New Business

A new member, Matt Greer, with expertise in financial planning and endowment development joined the Committee. This expertise will be helpful as we continue to develop needed policies and procedures for managing funds.

Continuing Business

Work continued on the development of a mission statement and a giving statement. Both are needed to guide future fundraising and money management efforts.

Fundraising at World Invitational:
- There will be a 50-50 Raffle. Committee members will be wearing burgundy aprons and yellow pins identifying themselves as sellers.
- In addition, many competition teams have agreed to donate their rubs and sauces which will be sold as an additional fundraiser.

NOTICE TO MEMBERSHIP

Scholarship eligibility in 2022 and beyond will be limited to high school seniors. The committee felt that this was the best use of the limited funds available. If and when funding can be increased to higher and sustainable levels, this decision can be revisited.

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Chief Executive Officer’s Report
Tech:

Experiencing significant issues with email bouncing/blocking. Working with Website Provider on scrubbing email list, identifying issues and clearing blocks with the various email providers (i.e. Yahoo, AOL, SBC/ATT, etc.). Please check your SPAM or Junk folders for emails from KCBS that may accidentally be going to the wrong place.

KCBS National Steak Championships:

Visit www.kcbssteakchamps.com to learn more about the KCBS National Steak Championships.
Kelly Wertz of 4 Legs Up BBQ is serving as the Manager of the National Steak Championships program
Links to ordering product from our steak purveyor partners Creekstone Farms and Double R Ranch are available on www.kcbssteakchamps.com.
We are working with the CBJ Committee and Rules Committee to finalize the Certified Steak Judging program; which will be finalized before the end of the year.
Video from first Organizer roundtable will be placed in the Organizer portal. Great receptivity to the program.
Sanctioning applications are available on www.kcbssteakchamps.com

World Invitational:

Click https://mms.kcbs.us/members/evr/eventreg_login.php?mid=194346559&evid=43847483&md=& to register for the KCBS World Invitational.
Reminder to teams that you can choose which events you can participate in; including an OPEN, Master Series Invitational and Backyard Series Invitational. Backyard Teams are able to cook in the OPEN without putting Backyard status
Prize Purse:
- OPEN $25,000
- MASTER INVITATIONAL $30,000
- BACKYARD INVITATIONAL $6,500
Judge confirmation is beginning to happen and will be based upon team registration.

Membership Updates:

Currently total active paid members for September is 15,470
Our YTD retention rate is currently 74.8%. Hopefully, we will get it to 80%, once we get email communication back up and running more efficiently and effectively

Currently 3,087 lifetime members
Renewals: We will be sending both emails and postcards for remaining Sept. and October renewals.
International membership is at 1604. With contests returning we have seen a lift in membership.

35th Anniversary

We are wrapping up our 35th anniversary celebration. We have about 12 weeks remaining in the promotion of recognizing 35 KCBS members. Thank you to our sponsors Oklahoma Joe’s, Westlake Ace Hardware and Holladay Distillery for their help on this project.

CBJ Processes:

For September, we have two (2) classes -- North Carolina & Kansas City
We currently have two (2) more classes scheduled for September-December.
Starting to receive applications from organizers to host 2022 CBJ/CTC Classes. We recently pushed out a social media post and got several inquiries and zoom meeting set up with possible organizers in Montana, Texas, New Jersey.
Currently, working on a plan to pitch to businesses as a team building exercise built from the CBJ class.
Working on efficiencies and processes for the CBJ program to help organizers, instructors and office.

Partnerships:

We are on track to finalize all 2021 partnership deliverables
We are working on securing 2022 partnerships
Organizers should apply for Turkey Smoke applications for 2022 by 9/30, even if they’ve hosted Turkey Smoke before. Apply online: https://mms.kcbs.us/members/form_edit.php?org_id=KCBA&fid=2883599

PR/Earned Media

448 news articles mentioned KCBS (up 8860% over this time last year); Potential Reach of 424 million with highest reach coming from Smithfield BBQ Classic in Nashville, Twin Smoke in Lithuania, The American Royal, and The 360 KC Barbeque Flavored Vodka nationwide release.
Total Advertising Value Equivalency (AVE) - $4.1 million (Source: Meltwater)

Social Media
Social Media: September 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 September, social media focus included the 2021 KCBSWI, promoting our partnerships, Chase 3, and a strong presence at the American Royal.
Total Audience for September as of 9/24/2021
- 71,794 Facebook (KCBS-only) Followers
- 19,234 Twitter Followers
- 19,423 Instagram followers
- 2,074 YouTube subscribers

§ Increased viewership on all social media platforms with the biggest increases coming from Facebook and Instagram. The social media presence at the American Royal increased reach and engagements across all channels.

Several social media stats improved this month over last month.
- Gained over 500 followers across all platforms in September.
- Facebook - 15.9k post engagements (+63%), page reach 85.3k (+27%)
- 4.6K minutes viewed on Facebook videos (+70%)
- Twitter - 136.6k impressions (+239%)
- Instagram - 16.8k accounts reached (+15%) and 112k impressions (+44%)
- Video continues to perform very well; will be posting more as we approach 2021 KCBSWI.

?      CONTEST and EVENT UPDATES:
?   Projected # of Events for 2021:
?   319 Contests currently scheduled for 2021
?   37 contests have already postponed; with no new date
?   40 have cancelled
?   108 contests scheduled 2022

?   22 CBJ, 4 CTC of Classes scheduled for 2021

COMMUNICATIONS:
?      Bullsheet September–  31.89% Open rate among 15,744 members who received Bullsheet
?    Meat Sheet mid-month newsletter 34.01% open rate
?  27 clicks on KCBS social media links
?   98 clicks to lawsuit
?   500 clicks to view the September BullSheet(pdf version)
?   7 clicks to Invitational
?  32 clicks to KCBS Gear Store

97 clicks to kcbssteakchamps.com

WELLS and CBJ AWARDS -
?       Wells Awards nominations have been published in the July BullSheet and links in the July MeatSheet. Be sure to nominate potential recipients by clicking https://www.kcbs.us/gary_and_carolyn_wells_awards.php

?       Please be sure to nominate outstanding CBJ’s:  https://www.kcbs.us/outstanding_judge_award_2021.php
?       All nominations received by October 1st of a given year will be sent to the CBJ Chairperson. When applications are sent to the CBJ Committee, ALL IDENTIFYING INFORMATION will be removed as the nominations will be judged strictly on the information presented (names, cities, event names, dates, etc. will be removed prior to distribution for review). Please email the nomination form to ccridlin@kcbs.us by October 1.
?       NOMINATION REQUIREMENTS:
?       Nominee must be a KCBS member in good standing.
?       Nominee must have been a KCBS member for a minimum of 5 consecutive years.
?       If International, Nominee must have been a KCBS member for 3 consecutive years.
?       Individuals cannot be self-nominated.
?       Couples ARE NOT to be nominated on the same form. Each nominee will judged on own merits.
?       One nomination per KCBS Member (i.e., a member may not submit multiple names).
?       CBJ Master level certification and/or Table Captain certification is NOT required.
?       Must demonstrate the characteristics of friendliness, willingness to work any assigned task.
?       Must demonstrate their Ambassadorship about KCBS within and outside the event area.
?       Current members of the KCBS BOD and the CBJ Committee are not eligible for nomination.

International:

During the Smithfield BBQ Classic in Nashville, the KCBS International Outreach team (Wayne & Maria Lohman, Jim & Becky Johnson, and Bill & Debby Gage) partnered with KCBS Members Bradley and Christian Ball to plan and execute a Military Salute with the Tennessee National Guard. We fed over 300 military and family members from the Tennessee National Guard on September 3rd in Nashville as part of the Military Salute initiative. KCBS CEO Emily Detwiler also joined in to lend her support!
Continued outreach with Rep Corps by region to provide updates on processes in engaging with I/O team and KCBS Office, as well as to get updates on COVID restrictions and activities in their countries.
Engagement with teams, organizers and judges from Canada and Costa Rica during the American Royal World Series of Barbecue.

Rules Committee Report and Recommendation of Score Changes

The KCBS Certified Judge committee has been working on a solution to narrow the judging scale to remove seldom used scores and eliminate the description of “average.” Our goal is to make judging more consistent from contest to contest, coast to coast, and worldwide. KCBS does not want to become a “7-8-9 scoring” organization. We will have an updated scoring system that removes scores that are seldom used and better define the remaining scoring numbers for judging use. This outline is our plan to achieve this goal.

Eliminate the use of the scoring numbers 3 and 4. Research has validated that these numbers are used so little that they are simply not needed. Data from 2014 to 2021 was pulled and an initial analysis shows the combined total of 3’s and 4’s never exceeded .0025 (.25%) of all individual scores given in a single year. Using 5 through 9 narrows the "band" of usable numbers and provides a center of the scale at 7.

The new scoring system will read: The scoring system is from 9 to 5; all whole numbers nine (9) through five (5) may be used to score an entry: 9 is Excellent, 8 is Very Good, 7 is Good, 6 is Fair, 5 is Poor, and 2 is Inedible.

As always, a score of 1 is a penalty or disqualification and requires the approval of the Contest Representative.

Consider using the Academic system of grading (A, B, C, etc.), as an analogy or teaching tool to show how we intend judges to use the new 9 through 5 scale. In this analogy, 9 would be an A, 8 would be a B, and so on. The new score card will read as follows:

9 - Excellent
8 - Very Good
7 - Good
6 - Fair
5 - Poor
2 - Inedible (e.g., raw chicken)
1 - Disqualification or Penalty (requires Rep approval)

The CBJ committee is urging removal of the word "Average" all together because it seems no one can agree on what “average” is and it also alludes to comparative scoring which is something that KCBS does not do.