KCBS Board Meeting Agenda September 9, 2024

Kansas City Barbeque Society
Board of Directors’ Meeting Agenda
Monday September 9, 2024. 6:00pm CT
 
Membership Requests to Address the Board:   
  • None
 
Call to Order – Joel Fleetwood
 
Roll Call: 
Joel Fleetwood, Chiles Cridlin, Cliff Davis, Randy Todd, Jeanne Titus, Thomas Gearheart, Paul Buob, David Qualls, Chalie Brinza
KCBS Office:  Rod Gray
Absent: 
 
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
  • Sanctioning Committee
  • Judging Committee
  • Contest Representative Committee
  • Rules Committee
  • Foundation Committee
  • Nominating Committee
  • Workgroups:
    • Organizers Work Group
    • Backyard Work Group
    • Bylaws Work Group
    • Technology Workgroup
 
Discussion of any items removed from Consent Agenda:
 
Chief Executive Officer’s Report:
 
  • CEO Report attached.
  • The Board may take Actions based on Topics and Discussions from this report as New Business
 
 
Old Business:
 
  • None.
 
New Business: 
  • Discussion and Consideration of Approving a contract for Merchandise
  • Discussion and Consideration of Approving a staff approval process for teams wishing to return to Backyard status.
  • Discussion and Consideration of creating a 350 score award for the Backyard Series.
  • Discussion and Consideration of a proposal to Realign the Backyard series as a Division within the Master Series
  • Discussion and Consideration of Table scoring analysis report of anomalies..
 
Closed Session Agenda: 
Discussion of Legal, Financial, Personnel and Real Estate
 
  • Discussion of Financial Report
  • Discussion of Marketing and Events
  • Discussion of Contest Rep Actions
  • Discussion of Contest Rep Appointments.
  • Discission of Office Lease
  • Discussion of Bylaws Revisions
 
 
After Closed Session:
The Board may take any necessary actions including Motions on any or all matters discussed in closed session
 
 
Board Comments
 
Adjourn or Suspend
 
 
 
Attachments and Reports
Contest Report 
 
In-house Approval    
Bring'n Home the Bacon Day 1 6/13-14/2025 West Salem, WI
Bring'n Home the Bacon Day 2 6/14-15/2025 West Salem, WI
Bring'n Home the Bacon Day (ONE MEAT RIBS) 6/13/2025 West Salem, WI
Dinuba's BBQ & Brew Fest 3/14-15/2025 Dinuba, CA
Smokin on the Osage BBQ Contest and Car Show (Day 1) 7/18-19/2025 Osceola, MO
Smokin on the Osage BBQ Contest and Car Show (Day 2) 7/19-20/2025 Osceola, MO
Smokin on the Osage BBQ Contest and Car Show (One Meat Ribs) 7/18/2025 Osceola, MO
WV Coalfields Cookoff WV KCBS State Championship 6/6-7/2025 Welch, WV
WV Coalfields Cookoff WV KCBS State Championship (ONE MEAT PORK) 6/6/2025 Welch, WV
Riverland Smokers BBQ Contest 2025 6/28-29/2025 Netherlands
Spitsbroek on Fire Pt. 2 4/26-27/2025 Netherlands
Smoke on the Plains BBQ & Music Fest 6/13-14/2025 Derby, KS
1st Annual Burnt Offerings BBQ Contest 9/12-13/2025 Riverside, CA
The Golden State Battle VII 1/24-25/2025 Hollister, CA
7th Annual Qlathe BBQ Championship 3/21-22/2025 Olathe, KS
The Golden State Battle VII (Day 2) 1/25-26/2025 Hollister, CA
9th Annual E'Burg BBQ Contest 7/25-26/2025 Emmetsburg, IA
Smoke on the Bricks 8/8-9/2025 Baldwin City, KS
University of Arkansas Animal Science Boots, Brews, and BBQ Contest 3/14-15/2025 Fayetteville, AR
Uniquely Union Festival 9/5-6/2025 Union, SC
Happy Basset 5th Annual BBQ Competiion 6/27-28/2025 Topeka, KS
Connecticut Barbecue Challenge 7/12-13/2025 Somers, CT
Singing River Smoke-O-Rama (BACKYARD ONLY) 3/21-22/2025 Athens, AL
 
 
Financial Report
 
To be reviewed in closed session before publication.
 
Sanctioning Committee
 
No Report.
 
Judging Committee
 
September 5, 2024
Committee members in attendance:
Cliff Davis-Chair; Randy Todd- Vice Chair, Kelly Wilde, Ron Keefover, Jeanne Titus, Myron Berry, Rod Gray (Ex officio)
  
There has been significant progress on the CBJ Class powerpoint presentation revision, and the Committee as a whole is proofing/reviewing for possible edits.
Revision of judging comment cards, and development of a script for JCUP "Module 9" is in the works.

The Committee has selected, and has sent forward the names of, two individuals to be inducted into the CBJ Hall of Fame at the annual banquet in January 2025.  

The 2024 Outstanding CBJ nominations and selection process were discussed at length. Solicitation for nominations will be announced in October 2024 KCBS Bullsheet. Nomination period is October 1, 2024 to October 31, 2024. Selections from the nominations will be made in November 2024 and announced at the annual banquet in January 2025.
 
There was discussion about updating the CBJ Manuals that are distributed at CBJ classes. 
 
The next CBJ meeting is scheduled for October 2, 2024.
 
Contest Representative Committee
 
The Contest Representative Committee met and discussed the Rep Hall of Fame. We have our nominees for the Board.
We also discussed Reps in Training and the Reps who are ready for Board approval.
 
Rules Committee
The Rules committee is waiting for the legal review of the Contest Judge Requirements discussed in the August Board meeting.  Any further action will depend on that review.
 
The committee also wrote a suggested addition to the Contest Organizers' Guide regarding use of alternative turn-in boxes when the standard 9x9 styrofoam is locally prohibited or unavailable.   This addition was sent to the head of the Organizers workgroup for their review. 
 
 
Foundation Committee
 
August 26th, 2024
Monthly Meeting times / dates
  • Continue with 4th Monday of each month, 7PM Central Time.
  • Teams Meeting worked great!  Will continue with TEAMS going forward.
Scholarship awards review schedule
  • The 2024 scholarship checks have been mailed.
  • The 2025 scholarships applications will open January 1st, 2025
  • The 2024 recipients have been posted on the KCBS website: https://www.kcbs.us/foundation_scholarship_recipie.php
    • Thank you Rhiannon for updating the page.
KCBS WI Pop-Up Shop for 2025
  • Still Need to send receipts and additional thank you notes to those that donated in 2024.
  • Start planning and sending notices for 2025.  Develop a schedule.
  • Nancy started in early May for the end of August WI. It takes 4 to five months of planning.
2024 Smoker Sweepstakes discussion.
  • Ole Hickory Pits CTO sweepstakes has been live since July 1st.  
  • Two email campaigns have been completed.
  • Two more email campaigns planned.
  • We need to send another communication to the KCBS Reps as judges are reporting that nothing is being mentioned at contests in regard to the sweepstakes. 
    • $6,870 Raised
    • Time Remaining 2 Months
    • Total Donors 138
    • Total Views 2750, Total entries sold 3090
Codicil inclusion on KCBS Website under Foundation tab.
  • Bill Jones has provided a WORD version of what another foundation is doing.
  • Explanation of what a Codicil is and how to create one with sample language.
  • Create PDF to put on website, perhaps another separate page.
  • Plan for legal review, announcement and social media plans for November.
.
 
Nominating Committee
 
No Report.
 
 
Organizer Work Group
adjourned. 
 
Marketing Work Group
 
 
Backyard Work Group
No Report for this period.
 
Bylaws Work Group
Second revised draft has been completed and reviewed by attorneys.  Committee anticipates a whole Board participation with the workgroup and attorney for a final Q&A and draft preparation.
Technology Work Group
No Report for this period
 
CEO Report
 
Key Highlights:
August was the month the staff could use to catch up on details being that it was long enough after the World Invitational yet still a couple months the Jack Daneil’s Invitational World Championship and the American Royal World Series of Barbecue.  While we’ve been dotting our “i’s” and crossing our “t’s”, we’ve also been planning for the American Royal, the 2025 World Invitational, the Annual Awards Banquet, and the KCBS Hall of Fame.  The staff is hosing bi-weekly AR Contest Representative meetings, we’re attending multiple meetings a week for a public element to the World Invitational, we continue to touch every detail of the Annual Awards Banquet, and we’ve made great strides in preparation fo the Hall of Fame.  Below are some HOF and Awards Banquet details completed in August:
 
  • All Pitmaster Hall of Fame Inductees have been notified via email regarding their induction.
  • KCBS staff designed formal invitations for inductees and those are being sent out this week.
  • Inductees received an RSVP link for the banquet, keynote, and mixer, as well as a profile questionnaire.
  • KCBS staff designed HoF promotional and marketing materials for the webpage, social media, and The Bullsheet. Publication forthcoming.
  • KCBS staff wrote and will issue a press release announcing the class of 2025 inductees. The press release will be issued early next week.
  • KCBS staff are finalizing the HoF sponsorship pitch deck.
  • KCBS staff continue to plan the details for the mixer and banquet including budget, ticket pricing, menu, and event registration.
  • Banquet breakout session programs have been finalized, and coordinators identified.
 
This month will be the final CBJ class at the American Royal.  KCBS staff will attend Made for KC contest in Weston, MO.  I plan to travel to Fargo, North Dakota for the ND BBQ Championship.  This will be KCBS’s first contest in North Dakota since 2011.  We continue to prep for a November CBJ class in central Oklahoma sponsored by Westlake Hardware.    Finally, as we look towards the end of 2024, the 2025 partnership push is in full swing.  I have met or am meeting with several prospects in the coming weeks and hoping to add new marketing partners for KCBS.
 
 
 
Membership:
The September 6th, 2024, membership count snapshot reflects 15,697 members, down 70 from the 15,767 reported on August 6th, 2024. Membership retention efforts include sending postcards to expired members and dropped members.
 
Contests:
254 Contests Completed in 2024
347 Contests Scheduled for 2024 (calendar year)  
 
 49 Contests Canceled for 2024
 
CBJ & Table Captain Classes:
40 CBJ Classes Scheduled for 2024
22 TC Classes Scheduled for 2024
 
Partnerships Discussions:
Sponsor Updates:
  • US Soy
  • Q39/Westlake Ace Hardware: Quarterly CBJ classes co-sponsored by Q39 & Westlake Ace Hardware hosted at the American Royal. Registration for September: 28 registered
    • Westlake Ace Hardware CBJ sponsorship in Moore, OK 11/16
  • National Hardware Show
  • Weber
  • YETI
 
 
Marketing & Communications:
  • Bullsheet:  The email open rate for the August issue of The Bullsheet was 29.25%
    • October Issue will focus on The Jack and November’s issue will feature on  American Royal decaying publication date to Nov. 4th
  • Merch and KCBS Registration booth at the American Royal
  • KCBS World Invitational Public Workgroup
  • Hall of Fame and Banquet event planning underway
 
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. Marketing priorities include reviewing social media performance and identifying creative strategies to increase engagement. Efforts underway to capture footage at high-profile events (like the American Royal) for future use on social and digital assets.
 
Social Media Growth:
  • Total Audience, as of 9/3/2024: 125,767 total followers
Facebook 54 new followers 72.8K Reach
Instagram 52 new followers 11.5k Reach
Twitter 128 new followers -
 
  • Our most reached for August: 700/180 Best of the Best from August 22nd.
    • 7.7k reached, 184 interactions