5A9 New Business

[Vladimir Drkulec]

This thread is for any new business discussion.

[Vladimir Drkulec]

We have had two monthly zoom meetings as board members and are starting to get more comfortable with the technology which we and everyone else is increasingly turning to for business meetings. I think it is time that we consider integrating Zoom into voting member meetings though obviously we will have to step back and have somewhat shorter meetings more akin to what we used to do in person prior to adopting the online format.

[Christopher Mallon]

I like the forum meetings myself.

They give us time to consider things.
They allow for diverse views to be properly articulated.

A zoom meeting - with 70 people? They won't even all fit on two pages, much less one page.
How much can each individual VM contribute? A few sentences at best?
Time constraints may lead to rushed decisions.

The old in-person AGMs were two days long and many many hours each day. Does anyone really want to sit in on a Zoom call for two days? Plus, a lot of things that happened were done in a "backroom" sort of way, or informally during breaks, which really only works in person.

[Michael Barron]

Dear chess friends,

I would like to propose the following Motion:

To avoid terminology confusion rename the position of paid CFC employee "Executive Director" to "Office Manager".

Any seconder?

[Ilia Bluvshtein]

Michael, could you please clarify what is the confusion with the term "Executive Director"?
I am not sure the proposed motion can be included to the agenda. Is it not too late?

[Vladimir Drkulec]

Executive Director is used in many non-profits. There was not a lot of support for this name change among the executive nor from the executive director, Bob Gillanders. There would be some expense in new business cards. It is a position title that we have used for many decades.

[Michael Barron]

Michael, could you please clarify what is the confusion with the term "Executive Director"?


The confusion is the fact that "Executive Director" is not Executive and not a Director:
we have CFC Executive, which don't include "Executive Director",
and we have Directors of the Corporation according to NFP Act, and "Executive Director" is not one of them.

[Nikolay Noritsyn]

I like the forum meetings myself.

They give us time to consider things.
They allow for diverse views to be properly articulated.

A zoom meeting - with 70 people? They won't even all fit on two pages, much less one page.
How much can each individual VM contribute? A few sentences at best?
Time constraints may lead to rushed decisions.

The old in-person AGMs were two days long and many many hours each day. Does anyone really want to sit in on a Zoom call for two days? Plus, a lot of things that happened were done in a "backroom" sort of way, or informally during breaks, which really only works in person.

I agree, the current format for a meeting is perfect and should not be changed. There will be a lot less participation in a Zoom meeting of voting members, and I don't see how that can be a good thing.

[Egidijus Zeromskis]

I would like to put two new businesses for discussions:

1.
Meeting procedure --- the ceased handbook had a long section how these forum meetings shall be conducted. It obvious that it have been forgotten during the last meeting, and I see that they are not followed in this meeting too. Thus, the section could be directly transferred as new ByLaws or left as the procedure for the President, Secretary and everyone one else to follow.

2.
Strategical CFC path
I have received an email from the CFC member with the request to post several questions regarding the CFC activities. In summary the questions are regarding what the CFC plan to do for the chess development.

I think both items are quite important and could be moved to the new own threads. Thnx.

[Nikolay Noritsyn]

The confusion is the fact that "Executive Director" is not Executive and not a Director:
we have CFC Executive, which don't include "Executive Director",
and we have Directors of the Corporation according to NFP Act, and "Executive Director" is not one of them.

True, it seems a simple matter to me. If its not too late to include it in the agenda, I will second the motion.

[Patricia Gamliel]

I like the forum meetings myself.

They give us time to consider things.
They allow for diverse views to be properly articulated.

A zoom meeting - with 70 people? They won't even all fit on two pages, much less one page.
How much can each individual VM contribute? A few sentences at best?
Time constraints may lead to rushed decisions.

The old in-person AGMs were two days long and many many hours each day. Does anyone really want to sit in on a Zoom call for two days? Plus, a lot of things that happened were done in a "backroom" sort of way, or informally during breaks, which really only works in person.


I was one of the organizers of an 80 people zoom last month - JUST SAYING ...

[Christopher Mallon]

I was one of the organizers of an 80 people zoom last month - JUST SAYING ...

I never said you couldn't do it (I've been in a Zoom call with 4 pages also) just that it was very far from ideal.

[Vladimir Drkulec]

I like the forum meetings myself.

They give us time to consider things.
They allow for diverse views to be properly articulated.

A zoom meeting - with 70 people? They won't even all fit on two pages, much less one page.
How much can each individual VM contribute? A few sentences at best?
Time constraints may lead to rushed decisions.

The old in-person AGMs were two days long and many many hours each day. Does anyone really want to sit in on a Zoom call for two days? Plus, a lot of things that happened were done in a "backroom" sort of way, or informally during breaks, which really only works in person.

FIDE managed to do an AGM meeting with many more participants in five hours.

[Lloyd Lombard]

I suppose it may be possible to have the first 80% of the meeting on the forum website and the last part on Zoom, that would provide an opportunity to consider various options., Or, you could have 60% forum, then 20% Zoom and the last part forum (to allow voting in the forum after the VM's have had time to consider everything said and written before the vote).

[Vladimir Drkulec]

I suppose it may be possible to have the first 80% of the meeting on the forum website and the last part on Zoom, that would provide an opportunity to consider various options., Or, you could have 60% forum, then 20% Zoom and the last part forum (to allow voting in the forum after the VM's have had time to consider everything said and written before the vote).

We could have pre-meeting discussions on the forum. The meeting could be on Zoom where following Roberts Rules would be possible though all of the voting members would need to be engaged for the hours of the meeting. The voting could be on the forum or some other platform or even in Zoom as it has that capability.

[Nikolay Noritsyn]

To expand on my earlier post.

Participation in a Zoom meeting would inevitably be much lower in two important ways -

1. significantly less voting members would be able to make the time of the meeting, whereas a forum meeting does not require a commitment of time. We are volunteers here.
2. less people would raise their viewpoints and opinions on issues, because of the zoom format (one person speaks at a time) and time restraints. A forum allows us to voice our opinions on any topic at hand, any time we like.

The discussion would also be less intelligent - on a forum, one can take their time and think things through before voicing their opinions. In a live discussion if the moment is lost, it may be lost forever.

A forum's posts are never lost or forgotten. If the unlikely happens, and I happen to call someone a buffoon (or an adolescent, etc, take your pick..) in a forum post - people will be able to read it (and quote it) and make their judgements on my character in days, weeks or months to come. Not so in a live zoom discussion, where words are wind and quickly forgotten. Minutes of the meeting will not be quickly (or at all) available for others to read.

Overall, zoom meetings will just make the role of voting members less significant then it already is. In my opinion, that is very negative innovation. Zoom meetings for the board of Directors (currently 8 people) are a different kind of animal and are likely a good idea.

[Lyle Craver]

I do not favor such a change - one of the key reasons being that under the present setup the documents are open for examination at any time and how we made the decisions we made are obvious to all.

This is incredibly valuable in governance and is lost forever if we go with Zoom or one of its rivals. It also puts a huge additional administrative load on - most of my activities in the first day or two of the meeting are user log-in related and getting everybody where they need to go. By the time we've got all sorted out (especially with the AGM where you have a lot of new people that don't know the software used) it's time to start voting.

My experience with large Zoom meetings (and I've attended more than 50 in the last year) is that you're either in complete anarchy where everyone speaks at once or many feel they are not heard if the chair is too heavy handed in recognizing people.

One advantage of this format is that everybody does get their 2 cents worth and can take their time editing and doesn't feel they misspoke themselves. No question we can fine tune (as anybody who has compared the Handbook regulations on online meetings with our general practice has done) knows we've trimmed some of the more bureaucratic stuff Bob A wrote into the original regulations.

Again we're all here as we have a common goal we support and we're working out the details from there - that's basic parliamentary procedure. Yes the meetings (particularly the last two days) can drag but the last special meeting was a prime example of how we DON'T want a meeting - live, Zoom or forum - to be run as there were times members DIDN'T feel they were being heard particularly in the way the chair challenge was handled. (Which in my opinion Vlad fumbled mostly due to inexperience though long experience in chair challenges is not something you want too much expertise in!)

Summary: the main problem with Zoom meetings in governance is that unless you have someone taking VERY good minutes and is fully attentive for the whole thing - which is never the case in any long online meeting I've attended - you DON'T get the record of proceedings we get here. Sure we could tweak things and should - but the basic format is sound and in my opinion way more effective in terms of capturing what we decided and why.

[Vladimir Drkulec]

In a zoom format we could record every meeting and put it on youtube as FIDE did with their online meeting.

No other non-profit employs such a time wasting format on its board or members. Most non-profits would have a single yearly AGM and not 37 days of meetings as we will have in this year. That is more than 10% of the year spent in meetings.

[Egidijus Zeromskis]

In a zoom format we could record every meeting and put it on youtube as FIDE did with their online meeting.

No other non-profit employs such a time wasting format on its board or members. Most non-profits would have a single yearly AGM and not 37 days of meetings as we will have in this year. That is more than 10% of the year spent in meetings.

FIDE and others have a quite number of committees who work year-around - thus at the end who knows who spend more human-hours overall. FIDE also put on youtube several committee/council meetings what happened during the last congress thus many hours to watch overall.

The annual meeting shall culminate the work done over the year; and it is not a place for long discussions as members would come with more or less clear minds what shall be decided and how they plan to vote -- the notice of the meeting would have all required information for homework.

[Vladimir Drkulec]

If we are truly casting off the handbook as is being suggested in another thread then there are many implications for all of our past practices. Some of the voting members may be familiar with zero based budgeting where you constantly reevaluate everything you are doing and decide where it is still relevant.

[Pierre Dénommée]

In a zoom format we could record every meeting and put it on youtube as FIDE did with their online meeting.

No other non-profit employs such a time wasting format on its board or members. Most non-profits would have a single yearly AGM and not 37 days of meetings as we will have in this year. That is more than 10% of the year spent in meetings.

Which is perfectly legal and is how the Government expects non-profits to be ran. I have been on the board of at lest one non-profit almost continuously since 1992 and the CFC is the only organisation with so numerous members' meetings. Having active Commissions instead would be better.

[Patricia Gamliel]

I understand that people are reluctant to change especially when technology is concerned. But the more we do these meetings the better we get at them. In ZOOM or other similar programs there are features for questions and answers and chat side to post links to access documents. Moreover, all documents can be accessible 10 days before the meeting and discussed, if necessary through share screen or in the chat feature. Quorum is easily counted. And yes, I agree that committees should be created to review whatever subject needs to be tackled and report. Also, recording allows the secretary to issue complete minutes quickly.
There is also another program that can be used for secret ballot which results can be known within a minute on every subject. This program is used by the Canadian Bar Association on a Canadian level with thousands of lawyers attending the zoom and voting on various motions presented in advance of the meeting...

[Pierre Dénommée]

The Fracophone Chess Association has announced two new online tournaments. Links to the announcements (https://www.facebook.com/Association-Internationale-des-Echecs-Francophones-AIDEF-1426742824256955/?hc_ref=ARS1rOsLYcUMloP84m491Ej-tKhQ3CBSETwXoVCNwnOIBtXmEwHeple4R5PQ6ECY2k8&fref=nf&__xts__[0]=68.ARBu796KgZLfqTfmcLrspV3TzlJd4eGeut8Y4zZa4cFAEM aigBKvp5FueqjOSkvo9MXcSfaiDiLAFxhuu_XrhIxM9f_5v8SM z4xkQkGeaW1avqnyswLstIStMw1-KJTIpyXIM5IGrOdRnzPiJ4sJ9bwCDIK1ZADLPJCr2l0Jx1dWky 5GSWY36koNEXewhAKt8j-Vaa9T_yJswOVASwXP4NYQFHl9CPLeNOBs0m-34mHjaFyxTklvHjmP3NrpPhT3TNHV7TgLRcAGyLvWze78YBkZR g_gVSfoH73O_74M4nF1zR6D7Rfs3aQ&__tn__=kC-R)

The CFC can send a team with at least one women to those two competitions.

[Richard Bérubé]

The CFC should at least have a B-plan because that kind of forum are currently attack by hackers.

[Egidijus Zeromskis]

For future developments FIDE might grant projects too. Before the program was restricted to "developing" countries (per FIDE definition), they opened it too all countries. The CFC has already received one proposal and it will be going to FIDE. Hopefully FIDE will choose to fund even more projects from Canada if any would come forward. Details about the program at

https://pdc.fide.com/2021/03/05/development-funding-programme-2021

The CFC executives will facilitate the process, but the program shall come from the community willing to do the work. The final word is by FIDE to stamp it and provide financing.

[Vladimir Drkulec]

The CFC should at least have a B-plan because that kind of forum are currently attack by hackers.

I think Zoom is one option but there are about three other possibilities including offerings from Microsoft, Google and perhaps even Apple. I use Skype mostly myself and it seems to work well but have been using Zoom a lot lately which I gather works for larger meetings. I have had some issues with the google option getting into meetings though once in the meeting, the software also worked satisfactorily. I first started with Teamviewer many years ago and haven't used it in some years but I still get emails from the company.

There have also been some minor issues of stability of the platform since the migration to the new server. I know that I was talking to Aris and he could not access the platform at one point last night and while we were talking on skype it became unavailable to me as well though the "outage" only lasted about a minute or less.

[Vlad Rekhson]

I was wondering if there are any plans to update the current CFC website? It is very difficult to find things, tons of broken links etc...

[Fred McKim]

I was wondering if there are any plans to update the current CFC website? It is very difficult to find things, tons of broken links etc...

The CFC has a completely new Website. Our Webmaster, Don Parakin, is continuing to bring over features from the old site. I'm not aware of any broken links. You should simply report any issues to the CFC Office.

[Don Parakin]

... any plans to update the current CFC website?
Yes, definitely. Work will resume in May. When I started, after the old website finally died (blocked due to too many viruses), I had plenty of free time to get it done. Then a series of unexpected things came up that ate into my free time. The core functions (ratings, upcoming events, handbook, etc) are my highest priority but other functions have slipped below some of my non-chess.ca unexpected tasks. Apologies and thanks to all for your patience. The slowdown due to the pandemic has allowed me some flexibility.

Warning/Apologies - way off topic: Besides joining a buddy to start a new online business, the unexpected "neutron bomb" that hit was my wife & I finding a house we fell in love with, a heritage home built in 1863. This meant an unplanned and unprepared move that we've been working on since January and will finish April 30. It's amazing how much stuff you can accumulate over the decades: yesterday was moving truck 1 of 2. As a still proud owner (before discovering the downsides of an 158 year old house), here's a photo. The cupola on top, wife be willing, will be turned into The Centre for Chess Studies ;)
491

[Vladimir Drkulec]

Warning/Apologies - way off topic: Besides joining a buddy to start a new online business, the unexpected "neutron bomb" that hit was my wife & I finding a house we fell in love with, a heritage home built in 1863. This meant an unplanned and unprepared move that we've been working on since January and will finish April 30. It's amazing how much stuff you can accumulate over the decades: yesterday was moving truck 1 of 2. As a still proud owner (before discovering the downsides of an 158 year old house), here's a photo. The cupola on top, wife be willing, will be turned into The Centre for Chess Studies ;)


I doubt that very much built today will still be livable 158 years from now.

[ian findlay]

Just a few thoughts
1) Changing the title of a paid employee from Executive Director to Office Manager could easily be considered 'constructive dismissal'. I defer to Patricia Gamliel on this since it is a legal matter, but my wife who has been a CEO for a NFP for the last 20 years assures me that it is. Maybe not a big deal, but it does open us up for a lawsuit if the employee was upset.
2) I think a Zoom meeting offers pluses and minuses. There are features such as hand raising and chat for large meetings and also polls to have secret ballots. I do like the fact that the 'Discussion Threads' allows for more points of views and that you can attend when you have time. I believe there is a major flaw however in the discussion thread when we take a 'secret ballot'. The software shows me the users browsing the thread. After I vote I can see the poll results. It is easy to figure out who just logged in and when the vote changes, who they voted for. Not only is not a secret ballot, but knowing the results before they close, can also influence voters.

[Vladimir Drkulec]

Just a few thoughts
1) Changing the title of a paid employee from Executive Director to Office Manager could easily be considered 'constructive dismissal'. I defer to Patricia Gamliel on this since it is a legal matter, but my wife who has been a CEO for a NFP for the last 20 years assures me that it is. Maybe not a big deal, but it does open us up for a lawsuit if the employee was upset.
2) I think a Zoom meeting offers pluses and minuses. There are features such as hand raising and chat for large meetings and also polls to have secret ballots. I do like the fact that the 'Discussion Threads' allows for more points of views and that you can attend when you have time. I believe there is a major flaw however in the discussion thread when we take a 'secret ballot'. The software shows me the users browsing the thread. After I vote I can see the poll results. It is easy to figure out who just logged in and when the vote changes, who they voted for. Not only is not a secret ballot, but knowing the results before they close, can also influence voters.

Yes though Bob is a contractor and not an employee NUDGE. NUDGE. WINK. WINK. The last four words an OPR (obligatory pop reference) many chess players will understand.

Actually, I have thought about this angle of constructive dismissal (though not in reference to Bob) before as I have been reading articles about some of the nuances of employment law along with discussions about the topic at the Sunday dinner table when my brothers were still able to visit. These discussions and articles primed me to be wary of asking people to resign. Well also articles which wrote about the legal consequences of asking someone to resign.

Knowing the results as we go along can but it can also reduce the stress level when the vote is going well.

It is best if we concentrate our efforts on things that actually will make a difference for chess and chessplayers instead of rearranging deck chairs on the Titanic.

We were looking at options on the voting side. We could also have a pre-meeting where discussion threads were launched to talk things out starting two weeks before the actual meeting (or one week).

Yes that is a bit of a flaw. We could fix it by breaking the voting process but maybe we just stretch the voting out over a longer period like a week where no one is going to sit and monitor who votes how for that long.

Thirty seven days spent in meetings is a bit much for a relatively small non-profit. A lot of what we do in meetings could be done outside of meetings and wouldn't require monitoring meetings for the next crazy thing being thrown against the wall.

[ian findlay]

Yes though Bob is a contractor and not an employee NUDGE. NUDGE. WINK. WINK. The last four words an OPR (obligatory pop reference) many chess players will understand.

Actually, I have thought about this angle of constructive dismissal (though not in reference to Bob) before as I have been reading articles about some of the nuances of employment law along with discussions about the topic at the Sunday dinner table when my brothers were still able to visit. These discussions and articles primed me to be wary of asking people to resign. Well also articles which wrote about the legal consequences of asking someone to resign.

Knowing the results as we go along can but it can also reduce the stress level when the vote is going well.

It is best if we concentrate our efforts on things that actually will make a difference for chess and chessplayers instead of rearranging deck chairs on the Titanic.

We were looking at options on the voting side. We could also have a pre-meeting where discussion threads were launched to talk things out starting two weeks before the actual meeting (or one week).

Yes that is a bit of a flaw. We could fix it by breaking the voting process but maybe we just stretch the voting out over a longer period like a week where no one is going to sit and monitor who votes how for that long.

Thirty seven days spent in meetings is a bit much for a relatively small non-profit. A lot of what we do in meetings could be done outside of meetings and wouldn't require monitoring meetings for the next crazy thing being thrown against the wall.

1) Yes, if he is a contractor, then I think we can change the title.
2) I like the idea of combining the discussion threads with a Zoom Meeting. On the plus side, I think people are more civil during online meetings. On the minus side, some might not get the floor in a live meeting. It is important to have a good Chairperson. Also, as people adopt to the more current technology (Zoom Meetings) and learn all the bells and whistles, we may just realize that the discussion forum is not even necessary. I am not really sure with how much work is involved setting up the discussion forum.
I do know setting up a Zoom Meeting is easy and we do not have to worry about Chris Mallon being hit by the proverbial bus.

[Patricia Gamliel]

1) Yes, if he is a contractor, then I think we can change the title.
2) I like the idea of combining the discussion threads with a Zoom Meeting. On the plus side, I think people are more civil during online meetings. On the minus side, some might not get the floor in a live meeting. It is important to have a good Chairperson. Also, as people adopt to the more current technology (Zoom Meetings) and learn all the bells and whistles, we may just realize that the discussion forum is not even necessary. I am not really sure with how much work is involved setting up the discussion forum.
I do know setting up a Zoom Meeting is easy and we do not have to worry about Chris Mallon being hit by the proverbial bus.

On your second point, if I may: Zoom has features that allow questions and answers and chat to share links (for example google docs links to consult documents on the side column of the screen.
We can even have “breaking rooms” per committees that come back to report to the general room after an hour but this takes organization (I and another 7 people just completed organizing such a zoom: A 10 roundtables conference taking place on April 21 for the Canadian Bar Ass. 80 people are registered) so, yes, zoom can happen!!!

[Vladimir Drkulec]

1)
I do know setting up a Zoom Meeting is easy and we do not have to worry about Chris Mallon being hit by the proverbial bus.

If something happened to Chris and Lyle while I could probably figure out how to hold a meeting as Lyle provided me with instructions some years ago, assuming that I could find the email, I am not sure that I would as a zoom meeting would not require any fancy setup though we would have to get a zoom license in that case as I am not sure that free zoom cuts it.

[Michael Barron]

To avoid terminology confusion rename the position of paid CFC employee "Executive Director" to "Office Manager".


Mr. President, please include this Motion into AGM Agenda for voting.

Nikolay, could you please second it?

[Nikolay Noritsyn]

Mr. President, please include this Motion into AGM Agenda for voting.

Nikolay, could you please second it?

Sure, I confirm that I second this motion

[Lyle Craver]

I was one of the organizers of an 80 people zoom last month - JUST SAYING ...

As we speak I am listening in to a Zoom meeting with 83 present.

Be aware that while I've attended more than a dozen meetings with 50+ people in the past 6 months, what is lost is that you DON'T get meaningful contributions from anybody but the organizers and a LOT of people do feel they've not been heard.

Worst case scenario in a forum meeting like this is that people can page through material they don't deem sufficiently relevant but at the very least everybody DOES get to get their contributions in - which is definitely NOT the case in a large Zoom meeting. Zoom works well for meetings of 20 or less people but beyond that your level of participation is no more than one would get listening to the radio.

[Lyle Craver]

I can assure you the CFC is by no means remotely close to being "meeting heavy" compared to other organizations out there, several of which I belong to.

[Vladimir Drkulec]

By-law amendments requiring ordinary resolutions of the members

By-laws will be changed and updated over time as the needs and the organization of the corporation change. The following are the default steps for approving by-law changes that do not require special member approval (see By-law amendments requiring special resolutions of the members (https://www.ic.gc.ca/eic/site/cd-dgc.nsf/eng/cs05005.html#toc-04)). If you prefer a different process, these steps can be changed in your corporation's articles, in its by-laws or in a unanimous member agreement (https://www.ic.gc.ca/eic/site/cd-dgc.nsf/eng/cs04975.html#uma).


Step 1 – The board of directors initiates a change to a general by-law. The effective date of this change is the date it is approved by the directors.
Step 2 – The by-law change is placed on the agenda for the next meeting of members.
Step 3 – Members confirm the by-law change (or they amend it and then confirm it) by ordinary resolution.
Step 4 – If the members reject the by-law adopted by the directors, the by-law change ceases to have effect on the date it is rejected by the members. Alternatively, if the directors fail to submit the by-law change to the members at the next members meeting, the by-law change ceases to have effect on the date of the members meeting at which it should have been submitted to the members. In such cases, future by-law changes that have substantially the same effect as the one rejected or not submitted will not become effective on approval of the directors. They only become come into effect when approved by the members.
Step 5 – Within 12 months of the confirmation of the by-law changes by the members, a copy of the amended by-laws must be sent to Corporations Canada.


https://www.ic.gc.ca/eic/site/cd-dgc.nsf/eng/cs05005.html

We do have to consider the issue raised by Ian about whether this constitutes constructive dismissal and necessity for a new and different contract which frankly this is not a good time to be pursuing around the time of Covid. Bob Gillanders does not seem terribly enthusiastic about this and it is intruding on the day to day operation of the CFC. We discussed this previously among the executive and there was not a lot of support for it.

In all likelihood we will be talking to the FQE about some of the things that they have suggested might be possible and at that point we will come up for a plan for how we are going to be organized. You don't need an office manager for a virtual office with one contractor/employee.

[Aris Marghetis]

...

We do have to consider the issue raised by Ian about whether this constitutes constructive dismissal and necessity for a new and different contract which frankly this is not a good time to be pursuing around the time of Covid. Bob Gillanders does not seem terribly enthusiastic about this and it is intruding on the day to day operation of the CFC. We discussed this previously among the executive and there was not a lot of support for it.

In all likelihood we will be talking to the FQE about some of the things that they have suggested might be possible and at that point we will come up for a plan for how we are going to be organized. You don't need an office manager for a virtual office with one contractor/employee.

I'm not sure I've seen every post about this subject, but at first glance, especially with everything Bob has been doing for years, like he's such a good chess man, why would we consider some minor naming change that would make him feel disrespected? I don't get our prioritizations sometimes. Please let's keep Bob happy!

[Jeremy Sztuka]

I'm not sure I've seen every post about this subject, but at first glance, especially with everything Bob has been doing for years, like he's such a good chess man, why would we consider some minor naming change that would make him feel disrespected? I don't get our prioritizations sometimes. Please let's keep Bob happy!

I agree with Aris on this one. I do not see there being a net benefit to the CFC to change Bob’s title - and - therefore it should be kept as is.

[Vladimir Drkulec]

I agree with Aris on this one. I do not see there being a net benefit to the CFC to change Bob’s title - and - therefore it should be kept as is.

As Miyamoto Musashi says in his classic Book of Five Rings "Do nothing which is of no use." Bob's contributions to the CFC are well appreciated.

[Victor Itkin]

I'm not sure I've seen every post about this subject, but at first glance, especially with everything Bob has been doing for years, like he's such a good chess man, why would we consider some minor naming change that would make him feel disrespected? I don't get our prioritizations sometimes. Please let's keep Bob happy!

Aris, I believe that everyone respects Bob and appreciates his input and important role in the CFC. The issue is that CFC has 8 Directors at the moment, and there is a motion on the table for the next AGM to increase the number of Directors to 9 by adding Women's Coordinator. From other side, the Executive Director is not actually a CFC Director, even though the word "director" appears in the title.

Maybe, a better option (rather than to change Bob's title) is to make the Executive Director a real CFC Director, instead of Women's Coordinator? :)
Just an option to be considered.

[Vladimir Drkulec]

Aris, I believe that everyone respects Bob and appreciates his input and important role in the CFC. The issue is that CFC has 8 Directors at the moment, and there is a motion on the table for the next AGM to increase the number of Directors to 9 by adding Women's Coordinator. From other side, the Executive Director is not actually a CFC Director, even though the word "director" appears in the title.

Maybe, a better option (rather than to change Bob's title) is to make the Executive Director a real CFC Director, instead of Women's Coordinator? :)
Just an option to be considered.

We could put him in charge of his salary negotiations. :)

[Egidijus Zeromskis]

Aris, I believe that everyone respects Bob and appreciates his input and important role in the CFC. The issue is that CFC has 8 Directors at the moment, and there is a motion on the table for the next AGM to increase the number of Directors to 9 by adding Women's Coordinator. From other side, the Executive Director is not actually a CFC Director, even though the word "director" appears in the title.

Maybe, a better option (rather than to change Bob's title) is to make the Executive Director a real CFC Director, instead of Women's Coordinator? :)
Just an option to be considered.

In general in a non for profit organization the directors are not paid for there work as directors. It is possible but... The Bob is a contractor, with an expired contract LOL

I looked through other nfp organizations -- seems they don't bother with the executive director, who is not a director. Probably it came historically as with the CFC.

[Michael Barron]

In general in a non for profit organization the directors are not paid for there work as directors. It is possible but... The Bob is a contractor, with an expired contract LOL

I looked through other nfp organizations -- seems they don't bother with the executive director, who is not a director. Probably it came historically as with the CFC.

I would like to confirm that this Motion is not disrespectful for Bob - we all appreciate what he's doing for CFC.
And to show our appreciation of his work we could consider to raise his salary.
But the name of "Executive Director" position came historically from the old CFC, and nowadays it's just misleading - he's not Executive and not a Director.
Let's fix this discrepancy to avoid misunderstanding when we discuss CFC management structure.

[Vladimir Drkulec]

I would like to confirm that this Motion is not disrespectful for Bob - we all appreciate what he's doing for CFC.
And to show our appreciation of his work we could consider to raise his salary.
But the name of "Executive Director" position came historically from the old CFC, and nowadays it's just misleading - he's not Executive and not a Director.
Let's fix this discrepancy to avoid misunderstanding when we discuss CFC management structure.

In these pandemic times with revenues very low it is not a time for increases in costs. Remember that we no longer have the CMA book contract. We are likely to be in Covid lockdown into the fall. We need to find new sources of funding and we need to determine what is possible as far as government and other support programs.

[Pierre Dénommée]

Remember that we no longer have the CMA book contract.

Why did we loose it? Do we have any plan to restart a book and equipment business or to get another partner?

[Pierre Dénommée]

AIDEF will send an invitations directly to the CFC.

I have received the invitations and the rules of those tournaments.

The AIDEF Facebook page is the place to look the latest public information.

Because participation is restricted to AIDEF members, the registration form will be sent by email, it cannot be downloaded from the web site.

[Vladimir Drkulec]

Why did we loose it? Do we have any plan to restart a book and equipment business or to get another partner?

Chess books and equipment sales declined with the decline of chess tournaments due to covid as well as amazon which crushes the competition. It wasn't that the CMA was unhappy with the CFC. The business case was just not there to continue in the current environment.

I don't think that we can run a book and equipment business profitably though an equipment business might be possible in some circumstances. Hal Bond was interested at one point in doing that. To do so you need employees and it really isn't a core mandate of the CFC to sell books or equipment.

[Pierre Dénommée]

To do so you need employees and it really isn't a core mandate of the CFC to sell books or equipment.

CFC used to own a business condo and used to finance itself with the sale of books and equipment. I agree that a pandemic is far from the ideal time to launch a business.

[Vladimir Drkulec]

We will look for opportunities for advertising but so far most of the people who have approached us are not people that should be advertised on a website frequented by children (gambling for example).