FIELD TRIP COORDINATOR
The Field Trip Coordinator is responsible for creating the BBC field trip schedule by setting dates for potential field trips and recruiting field trip leaders. At the coordinators’ discretion, the schedule may be set by calendar quarters (JFM, AMJ, JAS, OND) or by season (fall (A-N), winter (D-M), spring (A-J)).
The BBC’s goal is to conduct field trips on a weekly basis throughout most of the year. Field trips generally are scheduled for Saturdays or Sundays, but may occur on other days. Field trips are not scheduled during the Christmas Bird Count season, from mid-December through early January, and during other major count events, such as Global Big Days. Field trips also are suspended from mid-June through mid-August to avoid the summer heat, although trips may be scheduled during this time if circumstances warrant.
The Field Trip Coordinator duties include:
The BBC’s goal is to conduct field trips on a weekly basis throughout most of the year. Field trips generally are scheduled for Saturdays or Sundays, but may occur on other days. Field trips are not scheduled during the Christmas Bird Count season, from mid-December through early January, and during other major count events, such as Global Big Days. Field trips also are suspended from mid-June through mid-August to avoid the summer heat, although trips may be scheduled during this time if circumstances warrant.
The Field Trip Coordinator duties include:
- Recruit field trip leaders from the BBC membership, using the newsletter, emails and announcements at meetings. Maintain an email list of potential field trip leaders, including people who have led trips in the past.
- AT LEAST SIX WEEKS PRIOR TO THE BEGINNING OF A NEW FIELD TRIP PERIOD, establish the dates for possible field trips and email the list of potential leaders to ask them to lead trips. Leaders are to select the location of each trip and should be encouraged to explore new locations.
- Once leaders have responded with dates and locations of trips, prepare the BBC activity calendar (MS Word document) for the period. It should include the following information for each trip (obtained from leaders):
- Day, date and time
- Difficulty rating: easy, moderate, strenuous – based on the distance walked and terrain
- Location and general description of expected birds (migrants, residents, waterfowl, warblers, etc.)
- Meeting place – description and GPS location (may be added by coordinator based on information from leaders)
- Leader name and day-of-trip contact information (mobile phone number preferred)
- Complete the activity calendar by adding monthly meeting information and any other club activities scheduled for the time period. Save it as both an MS Word document and a PDF file.
- In consultation with the Newsletter Editor, transmit both copies of the calendar to the editor in time for it to appear in the newsletter for the first month covered by the calendar.
- Provide field trip leaders with an electronic version of the field trip release of liability/sign-in form and the leader instructions. Remind leaders to submit field trip results to eBird in a timely fashion, with the narrative in the comments section and shared to the BBC eBird account.
- Maintain the BBC eBird accounts by accepting shared checklists into the main account (Beckham Club) and sharing the checklist into the private backup account (Beckham BC).
- Attend BBC monthly meetings and provide updates on upcoming and past field trips.
- When handing over field trip coordinator duties to a successor, provide information on eBird accounts (login and password information).
- If not a member of the Board, the Coordinator may attend Board meetings and should do so when requested.
EDITOR OF THE BECKHAM OBSERVER
The Newsletter Editor is responsible for compiling The Beckham Observer, the monthly newsletter of the Beckham Bird Club. The Editor should include information on upcoming club events and articles of interest to BBC members. The Editor should be familiar with MS Word or other word processing software in order to write, edit and lay out the newsletter in a format suitable for printing and conversion to a PDF file.
Duties of the editor include:
Duties of the editor include:
- Completing the newsletter 12 to 13 days before the next BBC monthly meeting.
- Providing the newsletter to the BBC Website Manager so that it may be uploaded to the BBC website and to the person who prints and mails the newsletter to those members who do not receive it by email.
- Each newsletter should contain the following information:
- Information on the next monthly meeting, including date, time, location, a summary of the featured program and appropriate photos, if available. The March and June meetings should have this information for the annual dinner and picnic respectively.
- Upcoming field trips for the month.
- Reports from recent field trips.
- Other material as submitted (conservation report, etc.), as directed by the board or as appropriate (e.g. – rare bird reports). Use of photos is encouraged.
- If not a member of the Board, the Editor may attend Board meetings and should do so when requested.
- January: Reminder about membership renewal
- February: Annual Dinner Meeting and Reservation Form
- March: Annual Dinner Meeting and Reservation Form
- April: List of Birdathon projects approved by Beckham’s Board of Directors.
- May: Election of Officers and Picnic details with reservation form. Global Big Day reminder.
- August: Details for Breakfast with the Birds (if taking place)
- October: Global Big Day reminder
- November: Membership Renewal for the upcoming year.
- December: Christmas Bird Count Schedule. Remind people about membership renewal.
WEBSITE MANAGER
The Website Manager is responsible for maintaining and updating the Beckham Bird Club website, www.beckhambirdclub.org. The Manager should be familiar with the web publishing software used to create the website (currently Weebly), as well as with MS Word, MS Excel, Adobe Acrobat and other software used to create website content.
Duties of the editor include:
Duties of the editor include:
- Monitoring the website regularly to insure it is functioning as intended.
- Making sure that domain name registration and any the website hosting account are current and paid up. Notifying the Treasurer when payments should be made and to whom in order to maintain domain names, etc.
- On a monthly basis, completing the following tasks:
- Uploading and posting the newsletter and sending the link to the Email Manager for distribution.
- At least two weeks in advance, revising the homepage to announce the program for the next monthly meeting or other scheduled event (dinner, picnic).
- Concurrent with posting the newsletter, revising the upcoming activity page to remove activities that have been completed.
- Complete the following scheduled updates:
- Update the field trip/meeting schedule when it is provided by the Field Trip Coordinator.
- From November through January, place a membership renewal reminder on the homepage.
- Revise the officer/board member/leadership list in June or whenever changes occur.
- Update the Birdathon page in April to announce the list of grantees for the year and in October to reflect grant amounts.
- Add, remove or replace content as directed by the President or the Board.
- Maintain logon and password information for the website, updating it as needed for security purposes.
- If not a member of the Board, the Manager may attend Board meetings and should do so when requested.
ANNUAL DINNER MEETING CHAIRPERSON
The chairperson for the annual dinner meeting is responsible for all arrangements with respect to securing a location and event planning for the annual BBC Dinner in March. This does not extend to arranging for the featured speaker and organizing the program, as those are the responsibility of the BBC Board.
The duties of the dinner chairperson include:
The duties of the dinner chairperson include:
- In March of each year, and with approval of the board, reserve a facility for the second Tuesday in March of the following year.
- Coordinate with the Treasurer to provide the facility with any needed advance deposits.
- By December of the preceding year, finalize the menu and catering costs for the following year’s dinner. Provide this information to the board so that the fee charged for the dinner may be determined.
- Coordinate with the Newsletter Editor to place dinner information and reservation forms into the February and March newsletters
- Coordinate with the board to activate the Telephone Committee, which reminds members to send in their reservations for the dinner.
- The Chairperson determines the facility’s deadline for providing a final head count and submits the final number, including speaker and any other comped guests, it in a timely fashion.
- On the evening of the dinner, the Chairperson arrives in time to set out table numbers matching the seating chart and to prepare a registration table at the entrance to the meeting room in order to sign in guests and distribute membership directories and any other necessary materials.
- If not a member of the Board, the Chairperson may attend Board meetings and should do so when requested.
MEMBERSHIP CHAIR
The Membership Chair is responsible for maintaining all BBC membership records and providing the information as needed for club mailings and other functions. This position requires familiarity with spreadsheet software and the ability to formant and print labels for mailings.
Duties of the Membership Chair include:
· Maintain the membership roster in an electronic spreadsheet. Update the roster on a monthly basis to reflect additions or subtractions from the roster, address changes and changes in member emails or telephone numbers.
· Provide new or changed email addresses to the BBC email manager to on a timely basis an advance of each month’s newsletter distribution.
· Print labels each month to mail newsletter to those who request a paper copy. Deliver labels to volunteer who does copying & mailing.
· Each February, provide the updated membership file to the person creating the Membership Directory for distribution at the annual dinner meeting.
· If not a member of the board, report membership numbers and trends to President prior to each BBC board meeting if not attending the meeting.
Duties of the Membership Chair include:
· Maintain the membership roster in an electronic spreadsheet. Update the roster on a monthly basis to reflect additions or subtractions from the roster, address changes and changes in member emails or telephone numbers.
· Provide new or changed email addresses to the BBC email manager to on a timely basis an advance of each month’s newsletter distribution.
· Print labels each month to mail newsletter to those who request a paper copy. Deliver labels to volunteer who does copying & mailing.
· Each February, provide the updated membership file to the person creating the Membership Directory for distribution at the annual dinner meeting.
· If not a member of the board, report membership numbers and trends to President prior to each BBC board meeting if not attending the meeting.
- If not a member of the Board, the Chairperson may attend Board meetings and should do so when requested.
EMAIL ACCOUNT MANAGER
The Email Account Manager manages the main BBC account and any other email accounts used by the club to conduct its business.
Duties include:
Duties include:
- Monitor the main BBC Gmail account, checking it at least once a week.
- As necessary, respond to emails directly or refer them to the appropriate BBC officer, director or other official.
- Maintain the account by deleting unneeded emails and regularly checking and emptying the spam folder.
- Send the Beckham Observer to all members with email addresses once a month. The Website Manager will send a link to the newsletter that has been posted to the BBC website. Send this link rather than sending the newsletter as an attachment.
- Keep member email addresses up to date as much as possible. Membership chair will send new or updated member email addresses. Add any new members to the Contacts list under Beckham Members and update others as needed
- When sending any correspondence to all club members, ALWAYS use the bcc (blind carbon copy) function so you are not publishing email addresses. Address the email to the club email and bcc the Beckham Members group.
- If not a member of the Board, the Manager may attend Board meetings and should do so when requested.
HOSPITALITY COMMITTEE
The hospitality committee sees that refreshments are provided at each of the Beckham Bird Club meetings. The duties are:
- At the monthly meetings in August and September, the committee circulates sign-up sheets asking for volunteers to bring refreshments to one of the monthly meetings. Refreshments may include cookies, crackers or similar snacks. March and June are omitted because the monthly meetings are replaced by the annual dinner and picnic.
- The committee members bring tablecloths, napkins, plates, cups, utensils, and other supplies. When these items need to be replaced, the committee members purchase them and are reimbursed from the hospitality donations or by the BBC treasurer.
- Attendees at BBC meetings are asked to contribute to a donation jar placed on the refreshment table.
- The hospitality committee provides the drinks at the meeting. The committee buys the drinks and prepares them for the meeting.
- The committee members prepare the table before the meeting, setting out supplies and drinks. After the meeting, they clean up the area and put everything in order before leaving.
- Members who volunteer to bring snacks should be told to make enough for about 40 people.
- A BBC anniversary cake is bought for the January meeting. Those providing refreshments should adjust amounts accordingly.
- If not a member of the Board, the Chairperson may attend Board meetings and should do so when requested.