KCBS Board Meeting Quick Notes February 22, 2025

KANSAS CITY BARBEQUE SOCIETY

BOARD OF DIRECTORS’ MEETING QUICK NOTES

Saturday February 22, 2025 9:00 AM CST

Membership Requests to Address the Board:

None

Call to Order – Rod Gray, CEO

Meeting was called to order at 9:00 AM CST

Roll Call: Chiles Cridlin, Jeanne Titus, Thomas Gearhart, Paul Buob, David Qualls, Donna Fong, Lex Vanegas, Randy Todd, Luke Darnell (present for elections only), 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.

Election of Board President ( Rod Gray)

Rod Gray called for nominations for Board President
- Jeanne Titus nominated Paul Buob, seconded by Randy Todd
- Chiles Cridlin nominated David Qualls, seconded by Lex Vanegas
  - Paul Buob received majority of votes

Appointment of Officers and Committee Chairs

Officers

Vice-President
- David Qualls nominated Chiles Cridlin, seconded by Lex Vanegas
- Call for nominations to cease by Paul Buob
  - Chiles Cridlin elected by acclamation
Treasurer
- Chiles Cridlin nominated Thomas Gearhart, seconded by Randy Todd
- Call for nominations to cease by Paul Buob
  - Thomas Gearhart elected by acclamation
Secretary
- Thomas Gearhart nominated David Qualls – Daivd Qualls declined nomination
- Chiles Cridlin nominated Lex Vanegas, seconded by Donna Fong
- Lex Vanegas nominated Donna Fong, seconded by David Qualls
  - Lex Vanegas received majority of votes

Committee Chair Appointments by Paul Buob

Judging Committee – Donna Fong – Chair, Randy Todd
Representative – Jeanne Titus – Chair, Lex Vanegas
Organizers– Donna Fong – Chair, Chiles Cridlin
- Membership Subcommittee – Luke Darnell – Chair
Rules – Randy Todd – Chair, Thomas Gearhart
Nomination – Jeanne Titus – Chair
Sanctioning – Luke Darnell – Chair
Foundation – Chiles Cridlin – Chair, David Qualls
Technology – Lex Vanegas – Chair, Chiles Cridlin
Backyard Working Group – Thomas Gearhart – Chair, Lex Vanegas to support
Sponsorship & Membership Working Group – Luke Darnell – Chair
World Invitational Working Group– Randy Todd – Chair, Paul Buob
Hall of Fame – Thomas Gearhart – Chair, Chiles Cridlin to support – Carolyn Wells and office staff to support research for legacy HOF pre-2007 and digitizing all of the paper Bullsheets

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
Working Groups:
- Organizers Working Group
- Backyard Working Group
- Bylaws Working Group
- Technology Working Group

Discussion of any items removed from Consent Agenda:

Chiles Cridlin requested to remove the lack of Foundation Committee input as there is a report from that committee, seconded by David Qualls
- Motion passes
Motion by Paul Buob to approve 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:

Discussion and Consideration of four requests of Teams Backyard Status
- David Qualls - Proposed to approve these 4 teams to move to the backyard division.
- Second – Chiles Cridlin – Motion Passed Unanimously

New Business:

Discussion and Consideration of Board Review of IRS Required Conflict of Interest Statements and Declaration of findings.
- David Qualls – I move to accept all conflicts of interest statements as no conflicts presented
- Second – Jeanne Titus– Motion Passed Unanimously

Discussion and Consideration of Continuing the Audio Recording of Board Meetings for 2025
- Chiles Cridlin – I motion that we continue to record the meetings as we did last year
- Second – Thomas Gearhart – Motion Passed Unanimously

Discussion and Consideration of Establishing the Dates and Time of the Monthly Board Meetings
- David Qualls – I move that we have the monthly board meetings on the second Tuesday of each month at 6 PM CST through February of 2026
- Second – Jeanne Titus – Motion Passed Unanimously

Discussion and Consideration of new CBJ PowerPoint Presentation
- David Qualls – I move send the deck back to the CBJ committee for final revision and submission
- Second – Thomas Gearhart – Motion Passed Unanimously

Discussion and Consideration of Ending the 2025 Team of the Year on December 31, 2025 and use the Calendar Year going forward.
- David Qualls – I move to extend the 2025 Team of the Year to end on December 31st and, going forward, the Team of the Year shall begin on January 1st and end on December 31st of each calendar year to continue until 2030.
- Second – Jeanne Titus – Motion Passed Unanimously

Discussion and Consideration of a Personally Identifiable Information Agreement of Membership Data.
- Thomas Gearhart – I motion to adopt PII policy for contest organizers and KCBS Reps
- Second – Randy Todd – Motion Passed Unanimously

Closed Session Agenda:

Discussion of Legal, Financial, Personnel and Real Estate

Review of Potential National Hardware Show Contract
2024 Year End Financial reports
2025 Budgets
World Invitational Update including Budget and Friday Night Prize Purses
2025 May BBQ Month Promotions
Personnel Reports and Discussions
Discussion of Member Communications on Code of Conduct

Randy Todd – Motion to go into closed session
Second - Thomas Gearhart

Entered Closed Session at 10:28 AM

Board Returned from Closed Session at 2:11 PM

After Closed Session:

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

Membership Engagement Study

Thomas Gearhart – I motion that we direct the membership committee to conduct a study on membership engagement due by the beginning of the 3rd quarter of this year
Second – Randy Todd – Motion Passed Unanimously

Announcement and Ratification of Committee and Workgroup Appointments

David Qualls– I move to ratify the committee and working group appointments as declared earlier
Second – Donna Fong – Motion Passed Unanimously

Strategic Planning Session to be conducted by the Board of Directors at a later date to be determined

Adjourn or Suspend

David Qualls – Vote to adjourn
Second – Lex Vanegas – Motion Passed Unanimously

Meeting ended at 2:12 PM CST

Financial Report

Reviewed in closed session.

Sanctioning Committee

No January meeting.

Judging Committee

No January meeting.

Contest Representative Committee

No January meeting.

Rules Committee

No January meeting.

Finance Committee

To be discussed in Closed Session

Foundation Committee

The 2025 Foundation Scholarship application web page was opened on January 1st and will accept applications through March 31st, 2025.

To date, we have had 16 applicants start the process but only four have submitted information. We will be sending another email blast to our members reminding them of the application availability and deadlines.

As a brief financial report, the KCBS Foundation has $61,044.12 in certificates of deposit, and $31,139.27 in our business account.

During a review of 2024 banking activities, we reviewed where we instructed First Business Bank to move $10,000 from our Foundation business account and put it into the certificate of deposit account. In November, First Business Bank did put the additional funds into the CD account, but used the KCBS operating account as the source. This is reflected in the December KCBS financials. We will work with Rod to settle this discrepancy as the Foundation should only have $21,139.27 (or there about) in our business account.

Work is also underway to staff and stock the KCBS Foundation Pop-Up Shop again this year at the World Invitational. This year it's expected to be open to the public so we will be asking our generous suppliers for more donations than we have in years past.

Nominating Committee

Conducted Annual and January Special Elections and announced results.

Organizer Work Group

No January meeting.

Backyard Work Group

No January meeting.

CEO Report

Key Highlights:

With the Annual Election, Special Election, Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony, and Annual Awards Banquet squarely in the rearview mirror, we turn our full focus on 2025 and the 7th Annual KCBS World Invitational. We’ve been slowly getting unpacked and put away at the office. There were over 80 Bankers Boxes of documents to file alone. We’re down to hanging pictures and making things look like home.

We’ll begin bi-weekly staff meetings for the World Invitational and monthly meetings with the Contest Representatives for this event. There are currently weekly meetings for the Barbeque Village, the public facing side of the event. Hard to believe it’s only three months away. We have 48 teams signed up as of the writing of this piece.

The Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony and Annual Awards Banquet received much positive feedback. The HOF mixer was well attended, with over 100 people. Considering the weather, that was a great number. Folks enjoyed the shuttle service. Annella Kelso organized an “after” party, which by all accounts was a smashing success. Annella even organized a raffle with some amazing prizes from associated vendors. Oh, and Annella ran a tab for KCBS members. This all happened in the hotel lobby, and everyone had a good time. Snake River Farms also donated the proteins for Saturday’s dinner. Gold Grade Top Round and Premium boneless pork loins were served to the guests. There were several comments about the quality of the meal. We inducted 17 new Hall of Fame Inductees, each speaking about their KCBS knowledge and experience. After, during the Annual Awards Banquet, nearly 150 awards and $50,000 were awarded to the top teams and distinguished individuals recognized for their service. The Saturday evening ceremony ran a bit longer than the guests desired, but overall, things went off without a hitch. The ballroom was nice, we weren’t crowded, and the sound and lighting added to the experience. if I had to do it over again, I wouldn’t change a thing.

I want to thank everyone who helped make the breakout sessions interesting and enjoyable. So many people moderated or sat on a panel, making this year’s topics informative and entertaining. Far too many people to thank here, but you know who you are, and we appreciate your effort.

Membership:

The February 14th, 2024, membership count snapshot reflects 15,410, up 15 from the 15,395 members reported on December 6th, 2024. We are continuing to send postcards to expired members. Our CBJ class scheduled for March 1st is full with 47 members attending from 14 states. We gained 26 new KCBS members through this class registration.

Contests:

10 Contests Completed in 2025

299 Contests Scheduled for 2025 (calendar year)

32 New Contests Scheduled for 2025 (single meat, backyard or masters)

6 Contests Canceled for 2025

Note: There are nine contests with applications submitted without payment or we’ve yet to assign Contest Representatives. Additionally, there are currently 60 contests that have yet to submit for renewal.

CBJ & Table Captain Classes:

15 CBJ Classes Scheduled for 2024

12 TC Classes Scheduled for 2024

Marketing & Communications:

Bullsheet: The email open rate for the February issue of The Bullsheet has a current open rate of 28.34%.
Board:
- Monthly Experience Survey
  - distributed 2/06
Other Marketing/Social Media Updates:
- We’ve continued to promote the World Invitational registration and links to apply for judging.
- Scholarship Foundation posts have been posted for the upcoming deadline of March 31st.

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.

Social Media Growth:

Facebook	0 new followers	109.9K Reach
Instagram	74 new followers	34.4k Reach
Twitter	28 new followers	-

Our most reached for January: Kick-off post before Annual Awards Banquet – January 11th
- 9.6k reach, 147 likes, 1 comments, 5 shares and 15.9k views