KCBS Board Meeting Agenda for 8 July 2025

• None

• Minutes of previous BoD meeting
• Contest Report
• Sanctioning Committee
• Judging Committee
• Contest Representative Committee
• Rules Committee
• Technology Committee
• Foundation Committee
• Nominating Committee
• Hall of Fame Committee
• Working Groups:
  • Organizers Working Group
    • Membership Subcommittee
  • Backyard Working Group
  • Sponsorship Working Group
  • World Invitational Working Group

• CEO Report attached.
• The Board may take actions based on Topics and Discussions from this report as New Business.

• Discussion and update for the KCBS competition structure (2 meat and 4 meat) and working group lead (Paul Buob).
• Update for the 20252026 Strategic Planning session (Paul Buob).
• Discussion and update for providing a guidance letter to the American Royal and Jack Daniels about reducing the number of teams to be considered a qualifier from 25 to 20 (Rod Gray).
• Review KCBS World Invitational 2025 (Paul Buob).
• Discussion and status of Hall of Fame trophies and rings (Rod Gray).

• Discussion of 2 Contest Representatives for approval (Jeanne Titus).
• Discussion of Hall of Fame criteria for CBJs, Reps and Organizers (Thomas Gearhart/Donna Fong).
• Discussion of KCBS social media and BullSheet strategy for the remainder of the 2025 FY (Chiles Cridlin).
• Discuss plans for KCBS World Invitational 2026 (Paul Buob).

• Discussion of Resolution R-07-08-2025 (Paul Buob).
• Discussion for CEO contract (Paul Buob).

• Discussion of open contest format request (Lex Vanegas).
• Discussion of lack of adherence to table seating requirements/process in recent contests (Paul Buob).
• Discussion and update of the “inexperience shuffle” judge seating procedure (Paul Buob).
• Discussion of member reinstatement (Rod Gray).
• Discussion of possible marketing opportunity (Lex Vanegas).

• Reviewed Year-over-Year (YoY) membership data (revenue and total numbers). The decline in total memberships does not align with the revenue drop, suggesting potential misclassification of 2024 revenue as member dues. This may stem from miscategorizing PayPal transactions for other payments as dues.  

• Noted significant YoY decline in sponsorships and a moderate shortfall in CBJ income compared to budget.
• CBJ class revenue for the remainder of 2025 is unlikely to meet expectations.
• Lifetime membership sales in May fell YoY despite a promotional campaign.
• Recorded a $73K loss in May, partly due to delayed revenue recognition from World Invitational (WI) sales, recorded in the payment month rather than the event month.
• Other income and expenses align with expectations for May and YTD.
• YTD loss of $20K against a full-year budgeted net income of $50K. Anticipate partial recovery in June 2025.

• US Soy sponsorship for 2026 is at risk. The Soy Board is reallocating budgets to individual states, recommending partnerships with KCBS. To secure funding, KCBS must engage state boards and event organizers. Failure to do so risks a significant reduction in sponsorship funds.

• The contest-side of the event generated ~$20K net income.
• The public-side of the event incurred a ~$6K loss, better than expected.
• Identified opportunities to reduce public-side operating expenses in 2026, potentially achieving positive net income.

• Reviewed Statement of Work (SOW) for financial assessment and reached alignment. Treasurer to compile a provider list and obtain quotes.

• Investigate PayPal transaction categorization for 2024 membership revenue to confirm if they inflated the 2024 membership figures.
• Engage state boards and organizers to secure US Soy sponsorship for 2026.
• Explore cost reductions for WI public side to improve 2026 profitability.
• Treasurer to gather quotes for financial assessment providers.

• Attendees: Donna Fong, Chair; Randy Todd, Co-chair, Paul Buob, ex officio, President, KCBS; and Rod Gray, ex officio, KCBS CEO, Jeanne Titus, Advisory Rep; and members Myron Berry, Joe DeBella, Cliff Brockman, Ron Keefover, Bryan Stewart and Mark Tuttle
• The Awards Subcommittee is in its final draft of the HoF and Outstanding CBJ criteria and the nomination process. The criteria will be presented to the BOD for approval before award nominations are solicited. 
• The Rules Subcommittee discussed the matter of judges receiving multiple signatures for separately sanctioned same day contests.  It was determined that judges were only given 1 signature for 2 separately sanctioned one meat contests at the World Invitational.  A letter has been sent via email to inform affected judges who only received one signature but judged both one meat contests on the same day, that they can receive the second signature from a Rep.  
• The Training Subcommittee has met with the Chair of the Tech committee about identifying regions where there may be insufficient number of trained judges for contest needs versus regions where there are more judges than opportunities to judge. The training committee expects to receive data to be analyzed for study.  In addition, it is anticipated that a survey will be sent to CBJ class stakeholders to gauge support for a potential hybrid CBJ class (online/in-person), in addition to traditional in-person classes. The hybrid classes are meant to support regions where the cost of hosting a class may be prohibitive or there is low student turn-out.
• The next CBJ meeting will be on July 23, 2025.

• Discussed past actions:

• Update of Rep Manual and Rep Advisory
  • Reported and sent out the 1st draft of the Rep Manual for review.
  • BoD needs to have someone ensure that the updated Organizer, CBJ, and rep manuals all promote the same procedures, rules, messages and meanings
• 1st Rep Town Hall on 16 June had good participation. Discussed the new KCBScore Overall ranking on the team detail sheet and answered all questions. Next Rep Town Hall is the 21 July (3rd Monday of every month).
• Update for the ‘Utensil’ rep advisory. Discussed the need for having this as a rule. Sent to all Reps on 1 July 2025 (See below for advisory). Any Rep that did not receive this advisory must contact info@kcbs.us to ensure that they are on the current rep mailing list.
• Need to complete Rep On-call schedule for the rest of the calendar year to be reviewed soon.
  • Discussed items for next rep all hands
  • Discussed how long Reps should hold boxes. Reps should hold all boxes for 30 minutes after the Team Detail sheets are handed out. To be written in the Rep Manual.      
  • Next Committee Meeting: 22 June 2025.

• Utensils must not be used as an individual judging tool.
• Judges are reminded that BBQ is a finger food, and judging involves multiple senses: sight, taste, texture, and feel.
• Contest-provided utensils may be used solely to remove samples from the entry box.
• Judges must use unscented wipes or paper towels to clean their fingers between entries. Licking fingers during judging is strictly prohibited.

• Scholarships have been awarded; applicants have been notified.

• Recipients have already started sending in their required fall schedule of classes to receive payment. About 60% have responded.
• The meeting goal is to review the timeline for distribution and office participation for updating the website with the new recipients.
  • July 1st for photo and statement.
    • Nancy to remind remaining recipients to submit before deadline.
• August 25 Bullsheet to have information from recipients.
• To receive a check by August 15th, we must have proof of enrollment.
• KCBS office to have website updated by August 1st (to match the Bullsheet).

• NY Division of Corporation and State Records is in receipt of the surety bond and package; we are still awaiting their approval.
• 2025 proposed dates will be July 1 through October 31st, drawing on November 5th and announcing at the AR if possible. E-mail to non-winners go out on November 10th.
• Meeting goal to review marketing and awareness strategy.

• KCBS Office has completed the artwork.
• Social Media Post and banner change on July 1st.
• Rep communication so that every contest has an announcement at the CBJ and Cooks meeting.
  • Have at least two flyers with QR code ready.
  • One email blast per month, one blast per week in October.
  • Article for the Bullsheet / Flyer in every Bullsheet through Nov.
  • Social Media post schedule?? / FB pages, one per month.

• The Foundation is looking to establish continuity. Currently there are no BOD members that have indicated interest. Headhunting tactics among the qualified candidates that could be interested in running.

• Write a Bullsheet article to re-introduce the foundation and why we need candidates, job description, etc.
• Ways to donate, talk about a Codicil, put the sample document online.
• Social media post?
• November donation for social media and Bullsheet.

• Worked data requests for CBJ committee.
• The update for the Overall Ranking on the team Detail sheet is in beta testing. After the beta takes place, training will be scheduled with the KCBS reps to be rolled out to the field.

• Attendees: Donna Fong, Chair; Chiles Cridlin, Co-chair; Julie Poe, Advisory Rep, Paul Buob, ex officio, President, KCBS; and members Jim Palmer and Christie Vanover
• Not in attendance: Kathy Trainor, Nick Owensby and Joe Osbrink
• The Organizer Working Group generally meets on the 4th Tuesday of each month at 6:30pm Central. 
• The working group has submitted the Organizer Guide for 4 meat and 1 meat contests for review and has received good feedback which is being summarized. We expect the Organizer Guide to be released later this year (Julie Poe).
• The working group is planning its Fall (08/26/25) and Winter (12/09/25) KCBS Organizer Townhall Zoom meetings. The Fall Townhall topic will be Marketing your Contest and Getting Sponsorship. 
• The working group discussed the Organizer Hall of Fame criteria and process.
• The next Organizer Working Group will be held on August 5, 2025.

• Bullsheet: The July Bullsheet was the Paul Kirk Memoriam edition.
• The World Invitational judge shirts have been made and are being sold through Graphx Connections until the end of July, along with the team shirt.