Volunteers Invited to Join New Membership Advisory Panel

Community and innovation are core values to the CAS. Community is the belief that CAS members are best served when there is open sharing and exchange of ideas and research. Innovation is the belief that the continuing vitality of the CAS is best served when creative thinking and research are valued, open discussion is encouraged, new ideas are openly entertained, and the diversity of members' opinions is respected.

Gathering, understanding, interpreting, and acting on member input is of paramount importance to CAS committees and task forces and is often accomplished by the use of research surveys. However, there has been concern expressed about overwhelming CAS members with numerous survey requests.

Earlier this year the CAS Board of Directors approved the formation of the Membership Advisory Panel Committee (MAPC) and the Membership Advisory Panel (MAP). The purposes of the committee and the panel are to encourage an open and dynamic communication environment among committees, members, and the CAS; to serve as a vehicle for members to provide feedback to CAS committees on the quality and value of benefits provided; and to foster the spirit of community and innovation.

Volunteers on the Membership Advisory Panel (MAP) will be part of an on-call focus group that facilitates membership research activities by:

• Providing a mechanism that can be used to assess CAS membership satisfaction levels, with a goal of assuring that the benefits of association far exceed the cost and identifying opportunities to enhance the value of CAS membership;
• Providing CAS leaders and committees with access to a representative collection of members who are willing to participate in surveys and research conducted by the CAS;
• Providing a dynamic vehicle for CAS members and leaders to communicate and interact on topics of mutual interest;
• Providing a mechanism to assess the extent to which the CAS operates consistently with the core values of the organization, as articulated in the CAS Centennial Goal.

In 2003-04, the Member Advisory Panel Committee will concentrate on establishing itself by recruiting and staffing the Member Advisory Panel, integrating the new process into the CAS culture, and communicating the availability of this exciting new resource to all committee and task force chairs.

Currently seven members make up the Member Advisory Panel Committee and five additional members are desired. The Committee plans to conduct most of its work through e-mail exchanges and teleconferences, and does plan to meet face to face at least once a year. Annual time commitment is expected to be 20-45 hours per year.

The committee is hoping to recruit at least 100 volunteers to serve on the Member Advisory Panel (MAP). MAP members will be called upon on an as-needed basis. There is no travel involved and the average time commitment is estimated to be about 20 hours per year. This is a great opportunity for those of you who indicated on the Participation Survey that you would like to volunteer but are under time constraints or prefer not to travel.

Volunteer now for the MAP or MAPC! If you indicated an interest in joining either the MAPC or the MAP on the Participation Survey you will be contacted by committee chair Al Weller. If you would like to volunteer at this time please contact the CAS office at (703) 276.3100 or office@casact.org.