KCBS Board of Directors' meeting Quick Notes May 8, 2023

Kansas City Barbeque Society
Board of Directors’ Meeting QUICK NOTES       
Monday May 8, 2023. 6:00pm CT
 
Membership Requests to Address the Board:   None
 
Call to Order at 6:01
 
Roll Call: 
Stan Dobosenski, Joel Fleetwood, Chiles Cridlin, Cliff Davis, Nancy Goldsmith, Corey Linton, Jeanne Titus, Ralph Williams, Charlie Brinza, Randy Todd
KCBS Office:  Rod Gray
            Absent: None
 
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 an attachment to the Agenda.
 
  • Minutes of previous BOD meeting
  • Contest Report
  • Financial Report
  • Judging Committee
  • Foundation Committee
  • Finance Committee
  • Nominating Committee
  • Organizers Workgroup
Motion to approve – Goldsmith, second – Fleetwood - passed
 
Discussion of any items removed from Consent Agenda:
  • Sanctioning Committee
    • Nashville Speedway Competitor series, Lebanon, TN., on 6/23-24 approved
    • Magic City Summer Fest, Birmingham, AL, one-meat contest on 7/2 approved
    • Allowing automatic sanctioning up to 45 days out if it is an existing contest, with existing organizers for at least 2 years
      • Motion - Brinza, second - Cridlin - passed
 
  • Rules Committee
    • Removal of “The purpose is to ensure a level playing field in the cooking competition. The Cook Team cannot have been compensated as a Pro BBQ Restaurantor Caterer” from the definition of a Backyard team in the rules.
      • This was originally approved by the BOD in December of 2020 for the 2022 competition year but was not removed from the Rules.
      • A Rep Advisory will be issued to reflect this change immediately
      • Motion Brinza, second Cridlin – passed
  • Contest Representative Committee
    • Revised Cook’s meeting agenda presented by Titus
      • Motion to approve – Brinza, second – Fleetwood – passed
    • Brinza requested the current table seating guide determining the number of judging tables used at a competition be revised
      • BOD recommends adding flexibility for Rep discretion, especially in the case of team withdrawals
      • Contest Rep committee will review and present to BOD
 
 
Chief Executive Officer’s Report:
 
  • CEO Report attached
 
Old Business:
 
  • Backyard series workgroup status – to be included in Sanctioning report
 
New Business:
 
  • Sanctioning (Fleetwood): Covered in Committee activity discussion removed from Consent agenda
    • New Competitor Series contest under 90 days
    • Change to 90-days sanctioning approval process
 
Closed Session Agenda:
Discussion of Legal, Financial, and Real Estate
  • Foundation Committee matter (Goldsmith)
  • Personnel follow-up (Titus)
  • Marketing question (Fleetwood)
  • Legal question (Brinza)
  • Motion to move to Closed session at 6:56 - Goldsmith, second – Brinza - passed
 
After Closed Session: Resumed at 7:37
The Board may take any necessary actions including Motions on any or all matters discussed in closed session
  • Motion to approve stopping the printing of the Score Summary Sheets (talley sheets) as these are now published on the KCBS website with the contest results.  (Team details still printed and distributed).
    • Motion – Titus, second – Goldsmith - passed
 
Adjourn at 7:43
  • Motion – Fleetwood, second – Titus - passed
 
 
 
Attachments and Reports
Contest Report
 
In-house Approval                                        
                                               		    
Fire in the Foothills BBQ Festival 9/2-3/2023 King, NC
UMB's Smokin' Vault (COMPETITOR SERIES) 5/12-13/2023 Kansas City, MO
Best Dam BBQ 5/25-27/2023 Boulder City, NV
IBEW So Cal BBQ & Chili Cook-Off (COMPETITOR SERIES) 5/19-20/2023 San Diego CA
GMG NorUt State BBQ Championship 6/9-10/2023 Ogden, UT
Indio BBQ State Championship 11/10-11/2023 Indio, CA
Roaring Camp BBQ Cook-Off 5/26-27/2023 Felton, CA
Frog Alley BREW-B-QUE Cookoff 6/24-25/2023 Schenectady, NY
WINGS 4 WATER 2023 (COMPETITOR SERIES) 9/14/2023 Lee's Summit, MO
Scottsboro BBQ Festival 10/13-14/2023 Scottsboro, AL
CBCA Clayton BBQ and Brews Festival 7/29-30/2023 Clayton, CA
Jeep Beach BBQ Showdown 4/25-27/2024 Daytona Beach, FL
Bulls & BBQ 9/27-30/2023 Ruidoso Downs, NM
 
Financial Report
 
  • Not available
 
Sanctioning Committee
 
May 2, 2023
 
New business:
  •  90 Day rule
    • Board wants to look at how we can more efficiently handle requests
under 90 days, and if there’s anything we can tweak.
  • Sanctioning recommends adjusting the timing, allowing
automatic sanctioning up to 30 days out as long as it is an
existing contest, with existing organizers for at least 2 years
 
  • 150 Mile Rule
    • Discussion and Consideration of any updates that are possible to this
rule
  • Charlie is putting together a proposal to possibly amend this
rule and will send it to the committee for review.
 
  • Discussion of National Steak Championships
  • Discussion of Ancillary categories and how to encourage organizers to have
more ancillary categories
  • Cost adjustments
  • Friday Night Ancillaries allow more creative sponsorship opportunities
    • Celebrity Judges, etc.
 
Contests:
  • Nashville Superspeedway
    • Contest within 90 Days (see attached application)
    • Sanctioning committee recommends sanctioning Nashville
Speedway competitor’s series contest.
 
     
Judging Committee
 
Report for April 26, 2023
Committee members:
Present: Cliff Davis, CBJ Committee Chair; Jeanne Titus, Kelly Wilde, Randy Todd, Myron Berry, Stan Dobosenski (ex-officio), Rod Gray (ex-officio)
Absent: Ron Keefover
  • Consideration of elimination of judging tent MP3 – Jeanne Titus indicated discussion was held at the April 25, 2023 Rep Committee meeting. Rep committee requested to continue as is.  This process separates KCBS from other organizations and presents a professional attitude. Rep committee considering edits to the verbal Rep script that is read before the MP3 is played; to eliminate repeating info that is on the MP3. 
  • JCUP and CBJ-class scripts – Ron Keefover will review scripts to ensure that they are the same.
  • How best to encourage JCUP participation
Much discussion regarding JCUP. Prevailing but not unanimous opinions:
  • As a professional organization continuing education should be required. JCUP currently fulfills that need.
  • JCUP should not be required within a certain timeframe (yet to be determined) following initial Judge Certification.
  • Alternative recommendations were made to require JCUP for outlier judges only.
  • More discussion needed.
         Action items:
  • Rod will research the possibility of give away incentives to promote JCUP.
  • Possible Bull Sheet, Email blast, and social media posts to encourage JCUP participation.
  • Discussion of CBJ selection criteria for KCBS Word Invitational
Much discussion of a proposal by Randy Todd for various CBJ, MCBJ, and JCUP qualifications to judge the KCBS World Invitational and Open. Randy to submit a detailed outline for consideration.  
Carry over Agenda items for May meeting
  • Use of KCBS Judge Portal Score History to prove qualification for MCBJ, 100+ etc – Cliff
  • Investigate adding judge’s cumulative average score data to the KCBS Judge portal – Cliff
  • CBJ Chair to confer with Nancy Goldsmith regarding Outstanding CBJ of the Year historic selection process- Cliff
 
Contest Representative Committee
 
The Contest Representative Committee met on April 25, 2023
 
In attendance: Jonathan Williams, Bob McKee, Debby Gage, Mike Winter, David McAllister, John Scharffbillig, Ralph Williams, Jeanne Titus, and Rod Gray.
 
Cook's Meeting Agenda was discussed, and Jeanne will be asking the Board of Directors to approve the new agenda. There is still work to be done to complete the Judges and Table Captains scripts and MP3's.
 
KCBScore Beta Testing of a small update was discussed.  Will begin testing this month.
 
Beta testing of the Summary Sheet Downloads of .pdf files is complete and will need approval from the Board of Directors.
 
 
Rules Committee
 
April 26, 2023 6pm CST
Committee Members Present:
  • Corey Linton (Chair), Ed Hartman, Mike Wozniak, Jim Frazee Jr.; Beth Salzl,
and Dave Rogers (KCBS Contest Rep)
  • Committee Members Absent -- Ron Keefover and Stephan Franklin
KCBS Office -- Rod Gray (KCBS CEO)
 
The Committee Members reviewed a proposal provided by Charlie Brinza about a “Backyard” and “Masters” designation change. The board members will continue to review the information provided, add feedback, and input about the proposal.
Mike Wozniak brought up some information to the Committee about Styrofoam containers in Illinois. Mike stated the Illinois legislature passed a law prohibiting the commercial use of Styrofoam containers starting January 1, 2024 and prohibiting Non-Profit use of Styrofoam containers January 1, 2025. Corey Linton
said he would bring this to Rod and the Board’s attention to address.
 
Finance Committee
 
Met May1 with no actions for the BOD this month. 
 
Foundation Committee
 
The committee met on 4/24/23
1. Fundraising
The committee discussed details of an online raffle/sweepstakes. The prize has been secured and
details will be communicated to membership once they are finalized.
2. World Invitational
As in past years, there will be a pop-up shop and a 50/50 raffle
Will be open Fri. 8/11 – Sun 8/13
Setup and sales assistance will be needed from members as other volunteers
3. Scholarship Review and Awards
Decisions were made and will be presented to the BOD in closed session as this contains personally
Identifiable information. Once the BOD approves the awards, letters will be sent to recipients and
announcements will be made through the Bullsheet and our social media channels starting in June.
 
Nominating Committee
 
  • The Nominating Committee Chair, Ralph Williams and Co-Chair, Cliff Davis and Jeff Kruske and Candy Weaver met April 17, 2023 at 6:00 pm.
  • The Committee has developed a form to be completed by anyone being nominated as a candidate for the KCBS BOD. The nomination form will be in write on form, thus allowing automatic transmission to nominations@kcbs.us, when the sender hits the submit button. Thus, eliminating the process of copying, saving sending or having to us the postal system.
  • Once the form is submitted, all candidates will be contacted for verification of their desire to be considered as a BOD candidate. Once verified, the candidate sent a page asking them to write a brief explanation as to the why they want to be considered a candidate and what qualifications / expertise do they bring to the BOD.
  • The Committee is working on redesigning the current questions sent to each BOD candidate selected.
  • Our next formal meeting will be May 15 at 6:00 pm Central time.
 
Organizer Work Group
April 25 meeting notes
Members:
Nick Nicholas joined the group. All present except Sue Mikula
Meeting activity:
  • Nick introduced himself to group
  • HOF
    1. Charlie explained the concept of a KCBS HOF for all members by role
    2. Group will gather thoughts for criteria for Organizers and submit to Charlie to document by next meeting where group will discuss and potentially set scoring for nominees
  • People’s Choice
    1. Chiles presented a questionnaire he has given to some East Coast organizers for the groups review
    2. Group will present and document answers from successful organizers nationally
    3. Suggestion to also see if organizers who have had contests cancelled will share reasons for cancelations.
  • Mentoring
    1. Members stressed the importance of having a one-on-one mentoring service provided
      1. Instructions
      2. Support
    2. Recommendation a short guide be created that is not as intimidating as the full Organizer’s Guide for interested new organizers
      1. Mentor will follow up once the short guide has been given to the potential new organizer.
      2. Full Organizer guide to follow
    3. See If there are current organizers who have been mentored in the past to see what they found most helpful
    4. Interview most successful contests for potential mentors
    5. Check with past successful organizers who have lost contests for mentors
      1. May have more time
      2. Perhaps contests lost to Covid
Next meeting May 30
 
CEO Report
May 2023
Key Highlights:
May is National Barbeque Month. The 2023 KCBS World Invitational was officially announced in April, and registration began on May 1.   The competition season is in full swing.  KCBS participated in the NFL Draft Smoke Show event, which was televised by ESPN.  The redesigned Bullsheet went out to membership on May 1.   Social media engagement continues to be positive, and the follower count continues to grow.
 
Membership:
The May 3, 2023, membership snapshot reflected 16,401 total members, up 17 from 16,384 reported on April 4, 2023. 
 
Contests: 
79 Contests Completed in 2023 (calendar year)
91 Contests Completed in 2023 Season (November 1, 2022 – October 31, 2023) 
 
343 Contests Scheduled for 2023 (calendar year)
355 Contests Scheduled for 2023 Season (November 1, 2022 – October 31, 2023) 
 
23 Contests Canceled for 2023
5 Contest Postponed in 2023
  
CBJ & Table Captain Classes:    
30 CBJ Classes Scheduled for 2023
19 TC Classes Scheduled for 2023
 
2023 KCBS World Invitational:
 
Please refer to the email sent to BOD.  The agreement is signed and planning is underway for this event at Prairie Band Casino in Mayetta, Kansas on August 11 - 13.  Proposed qualifying period for the 2023 event is June 1, 2021 through May 1, 2023.  
 
Marketing & Communications:
  • Lifetime Membership Drive National BBQ Month–$100 discount.
    • promoted to dropped members
  • Bullsheet -  The email open rate for the May Bullsheet was 54%.   
    • The Bullsheet redesign and new content are live.
  • KCBS Officiated the Smoke Show BBQ Competition at the NFL Draft 2023–Rod Gray co-emceed the event and Carolyn Wells was one of 7 judges. Many of the Smoke Show competitors are KCBS members. Marketing conducted interviews with KCBS pitmasters and restauranteurs throughout the week and promoted the Smoke Show on social media. 
    • Google Analytics tracking shows an 11.5% increase in users and a 15% increase in new users to the website compared to the first week of last month. Full report viewable here. 
  • Old World Spice–meeting with OWS this week regarding 2023 WI trophy sponsorship.
  • KCBS will host a Certified Barbeque Judge Class at the American Royal on May 6, featuring Q39 as the cook and event sponsor.  As of this report, forty-four participants
    • converted 18 new members through this event (Q39 reserved 10 spots for staff)
 
OTHER ITEMS: 
Scholarship:  The Foundation committee has reviewed the scholarship applications submitted for 2023, and plans to announce the winners soon.
 
Social Media
 
We continue to leverage social media to drive member conversion, promote the KCBS brand, showcase our sponsors and events, and provide value to our members through fun and educational content.
 
2023 People’s Choice Photo Contest
 
On April 3rd, we took photo submissions for our 2023 People’s Choice Photo Contest. Submissions were taken until April 13th, receiving 68 photo submissions in total. We narrowed that down to five photos and had social media users vote on their favorite to become the May Bullsheet cover. The voting went from April 16th to April 23rd and garnered 768 votes, with the winner obtaining 441. 
 
Of the five posts created for the photo contest throughout April, the total engagement on Facebook and Instagram:
 
Facebook 1.9k engagements
Instagram 88 likes 
NFL Draft Smoke Show Barbeque Competition
KCBS got the opportunity to officiate the Smoke Show BBQ Competition at the NFL Draft this month, where we featured 16 posts for the event on Facebook and 8 on Instagram. The engagement on those posts totaled:
Facebook 3.8k engagements
Instagram 308 likes
 The 2023 World Invitational Championship Announcement
We announced on April 20th  the 2023 World Invitational Championship, and the announcement was our third-highest engagement post for the month on Facebook:
20.7k reach 166 comments 39 shares
Social Media Growth (since the beginning of April):
  • All platforms saw continued growth and increased engagement
  • Total Audience, as of 4.5.23: 114,680 total followers
  • KCBS gained 352 new followers across social media platforms within the month, with the biggest increase coming from Instagram and Facebook.
 
Facebook 70,798 likes [Up from the 70,606 Likes on 4.5.2023]  192 new followers 42 posts, reaching 239k accounts
Instagram 23, 473 [Up from the 23, 361 Followers on 4.5.23] 112 new followers 25 posts, 35k accounts reached
Twitter 20,409 [Up from the 20,361 Followers on 4.5.23] 48 new followers 3 tweets, 2.6k impressions