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UMass Amherst lecture series – local interest?

September 29, 2011 By Leave a Comment

Hello everyone,

Just wanted to pop in to take a quick survey of interest in UMass Amherst’s Green Building Committee Lecture Series open to the public. Please see the event flyer here. You will likely recognize some of the names – some NESEA members & friends will be speaking, for example, our intrepid Board Member, Bruce Coldham, of Coldham & Hartman Architects.

We were thinking it might be fun to gather Springfield Area Sustainable Energy Association chapter members, any Western MA members (and of course, anyone else who would like to join us) at one of these lectures and follow up at a local restaurant/pub/coffee place to chat about the event, make or reestablish connections and have some fun!

Would you be interested in joining us? Please fill out our poll to let us know!  The October 18th speaking engagement, a Tuesday, will be an opportunity to connect with our SASEA chapter chair, Mike Kocsmiersky (of Spirit Solar). If you’re interested in another meet-up, we can arrange another around Bruce Coldham’s November 15th presentation.

Please also stay tuned for more information on our joint chapter-affiliate event in Southborough, MA, November 10th, sponsored by Mitsubishi Electric. And of course, don’t forget Green Buildings Open House is this Saturday, October 1st!

Hope to see you soon!

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More news on the chapter re-design process

December 9, 2010 By 2 Comments

Last week we announced a new chapter structure for NESEA, and invited current NESEA chapters to work with us to iron out the particulars. This chapter restructuring is truly taking on a life of its own. I can hardly believe how much has happened since then – all good stuff, all worth sharing!

• Yesterday, we received our first, formal written response from a current NESEA chapter. The Board of GreenHome NYC indicated that they are interested in working with us to further design the ideal NESEA chapter. Per Andy Padian, who serves on their board, “Of course, New Yorkers always want to scream out “we’re #1” and this week, we can claim being the first (we think) existing Chapter to stay in the fold. Do we win anything?” We’ll have to see if we can come up with a suitable prize for those Yankees fans, but in the meantime, my undying gratitude to them for stepping up to the plate will have to suffice. We also have inklings from a few other current NESEA chapters that they’d like to work with us to design the ideal chapter and opt into the new structure – although no more formal commitments yet.
• We have received almost universally favorable comments about the proposal – even from those who are not sure they want to opt in. Some chapters have indicated that they are interested in having NESEA provide some sort of chapter programming each year – say a workshop or seminar – and that they would gladly trade some of their chapter dues share for such programming. We have learned that some of our chapters are reinvesting some of the dues share money they receive from NESEA in “the mother ship” – purchasing NESEA memberships in lieu of an honorarium for their guest speakers. And we have learned that we may need to do a better job of articulating the “WIIFM” (“What’s in it for me?”) to the chapters. If we are asking them to make changes that take more time and cost more money, they’ll need to know what these additional costs buy them in return.
• The proposal also has sparked comments from NESEA members who are not currently involved with a chapter have also shared ideas with respect to how to increase the value of NESEA membership, how to more readily connect NESEA members to each other directly – through pot lucks, house parties, and an online, member-to-member directory.
• Late last week, we received an inquiry from a professional in the Poughkeepsie, NY area who is interested in starting a new NESEA chapter. We filled him in on the chapter redesign process, and he’s very excited about participating in this process from the ground floor.
• I have been asked to share We have been asked to share this open and collaborative process, and our results so far, at the annual conference of our parent organization, the American Solar Energy Society (ASES), in May. Evidently, others in sustainable energy are interested in learning about how we are engaging the NESEA community with respect to these issues, and we are delighted to share what we’re learning!

So what’s next? In January and February we plan to start meeting with those chapters who have expressed interest in fleshing out the new chapter structure to get their perspective on exactly what the new structure should look like, and how and when to roll it out to best serve them. We will also likely create some sort of forum at BuildingEnergy11 so that chapters, NESEA members, and the sustainable energy community at large can weigh in with their ideas. Once we’ve gathered feedback from all the stakeholders, we will present a clearer proposal and roadmap to the NESEA Membership and Chapters Advisory Committee, and ultimately to the NESEA Board for their consideration at the May Board meeting.

As excited as I am to move ahead with all this, I recognize these are big changes we’re making, and big changes take time. And, of course, these changes are occurring in the context of a whole system, a system in which we face competing priorities every day. We’ve opened the spigot, and the ideas with respect to chapters and membership are flowing much faster than we can process them all, especially as we are trying to deal with a server that crashed earlier this week, and with making BuildingEnergy11 our best conference ever. Nonetheless, I’m looking forward to sharing our progress, and hearing your thoughts

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An invitation to NESEA Chapters and Members

November 30, 2010 By Leave a Comment

I just finished a call with the NESEA Chapter Caucus to update them on some changes to our chapter structure that the NESEA Board recently approved, unanimously, and inviting them to participate in a collaborative process to build a new chapter structure over the next six months. I was delighted with the level of engagement and cooperation on the call. Those who participated seemed, universally, to understand this new strategic direction and the rationale underlying it.

In the spirit of openness and collaboration, I wanted to share the same information with you, the NESEA membership.

Here’s the text of the letter I circulated for the call:

November 29, 2010

An invitation to NESEA Chapters

We are inviting you to work with us to build a new Chapter structure – a structure that puts NESEA’s mission, to advance the adoption of sustainable energy practices in the built environment – at the very center of our local activities, and that provides Chapters with the resources to help advance that mission.

We have outlined below what we think this new, ideal chapter structure will entail, and the NESEA board has given unanimous approval to move in this direction. We hope you’ll want to be a part of this process. If so, we’ll need to hear from you by no later than February 1, 2011.

After consideration, if, for whatever reason, you decide that you will not be participating in further defining and implementing this new chapter structure, we hope that you will still choose to be an Affiliate of NESEA. We have further defined the affiliate relationship below.

Background

For the past several months, a Chapter Advisory Committee, comprised of NESEA board members, representatives of NESEA’s staff, and Mitch Anthony, an outside strategy consultant, has been reviewing and considering the organization’s membership and Chapter system. This work is being done in the context of a new, integrated strategic plan that is focused on learning how the organization can better fulfill its mission, an how it can better serve its members.

One of our primary findings was that NESEA Chapter and Chapter membership policies are inconsistent. Over time, our Chapters have developed their own policies with respect to their membership, their branding, and their programming. Our Chapters are doing some really great work – but much of it is not done in the name of NESEA, in concert with NESEA, or in concert with other Chapters. We aim to address this inconsistency.

Help us build the ideal chapter

We would like to invite you to collaborate with us to build “the ideal chapter.” The NESEA Board has agreed to what the basics of the ideal chapter might look like, but we need your help fleshing out the details – how will it work in practice, what’s the best way to implement it, etc.

Based on the work we’ve done with the Chapter Advisory Committee so far, here’s what we think that ideal chapter might look like:

Look and Feel
• Consistent Branding – use of logo (NESEA Chapter Graphic) in literature, signage, tabling materials
• Consistent web presence
• Consistent naming protocol (ex. NESEA RI, NESEA Boston, NESEA NJ)
• Clarity that you are a chapter of NESEA (display prominently in literature and on website and/or in tag line)
• NESEA to provide: branding toolkit (including logos, PowerPoint template, suggested color palate); training in how to use it

Minimum Activity Level
• Minimum quarterly opportunity for in-person meeting. Regularly scheduled meetings to advance mission, recruit members. Meetings might include:
o Tours of high performance buildings or manufacturers’ plants
o Meet ups for networking
o Business “How To” (ex. how to green your portfolio, sustainable leadership
o Workshops (professional development, technical issues, “BE on the Road,” financing, incentives, rebates)
o Incentives/rebates/financing
o Info sessions on NESEA events. Ex. ZNEB, GBOH, JSS, BE
• Reciprocal communication: Chapter publicizes NESEA events and vice versa
• Host NESEA Award Night Annually – Celebrate member achievements!
o NESEA Members submit their best projects. One is selected per state or several per category per state – and they are honored at an awards night.
o This will help track our impact throughout the territory and it will provide good PR and networking opportunities.
• Participation in the GBOH tour
• Participation in BE
• Tabling on behalf of NESEA at local/regional conferences, fairs, expos, etc.
• Active in Chapter Caucus (participate in calls or in-person meetings at least 3X per year, share information)
• Mentor/Teach/Coach other chapters
• NESEA to provide: suggested topics and speakers for meetings, information on how chapters can get AIA or other professional development credits for their programming, content for NESEA program info sessions, support for local NESEA night

Reporting
• To help NESEA track our reach geographically (how many people are we reaching each month/year throughout the territory).
o Meeting report – (topic, speaker(s), attendees, attendee info, evals)
o Workshop Report – (topic, speaker(s), attendees, attendee info, evals)
o Annual Report
• NESEA to provide: Simple-to-use online template that chapter can populate to report speaker, topic, number of members attending

Mission and Strategic Focus
• Chapter mission must be the same as NESEA central’s, although there may be room for chapters to use different strategies to achieve that mission, so long as they are also willing to support NESEA’s strategies

Membership
• All chapter members must be NESEA members.

If you are interested in helping us to flesh out this new chapter structure, we invite you to be part of that process.

What’s the alternative?

If, for whatever reason, your Chapter does not notify NESEA by February 1, 2011 that you want to participate in building this new chapter structure, we would still like to maintain an affiliate relationship with your organization, and continue to work with each other to advance our respective missions. An affiliate relationship would entail the following:

• Logo exchange for use on website/social media/PR
• Live link exchange
• Share email lists (when appropriate)
• Help promote each other’s activities
• Calendar exchanges
• Membership in each other’s organizations (your organization would be a Business Level 1 member of NESEA, and NESEA would have an equivalent membership level within your organization.)

There will be no dues sharing with affiliates. Affiliates will maintain their own members, and NESEA will maintain its own members. (We have, however, created a tool kit for affiliate organizations to help them administer their own membership and notify their members of the change.)

Catch-up call

We want to provide more detail and hear your ideas and questions. We’ve scheduled a group conference call on Tuesday, November 30th at noon Eastern. The call-in details are:

Dial in: 866-675-4248
Passcode: 774-6051

Come prepared with your suggestions, questions and ideas.

NESEA is committed to serving its members. We are committed to serving their efforts, and your efforts, to advance the adoption of sustainable energy practices in the built environment. How can we help you to do this on a local level? We hope you’ll accept this invitation to help grow the organization to meet these goals.

Warm Regards,

Jennifer Marrapese
Executive Director

I would love your involvement in the process as well. Please let me know how chapters can best serve you. How do you think NESEA chapters can best advance the adoption of sustainable energy practices in the built environment? What programming should they be offering? What types of networking opportunities? Email or call me with your ideas: jmarrapese@nesea.org or 413.774.6051, ext. 23.

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Quick Update from the Executive Director

July 28, 2010 By Leave a Comment

This will be my last communication for a week or two, as I’m headed off to vacation in Madison, Wisconsin with my family on Friday. But I wanted to fill you in on what the staff and I have been working on over the past few weeks.

The short story is that we’ve been operating at a fever pitch this summer, and finding opportunities to collaborate, both internally and with external partners, almost everywhere we look.

Here’s a snapshot of what’s underway:
• We have developed a media tool kit so that we can better equip our Green Buildings Open House organizers and hosts to promote the tour, being held on October 2nd;
• Our Education Department is working closely with the BuildingEnergy planning committee on our first Educators’ Summit, to be held at BE11;
• We are partnering with other organizations (Affordable Comfort, Green Roundtable/NEXUS, the BSA, and others) to spread the word about our programs and better serve our members;
• We are more clearly defining NESEA’s brand so you’ll begin to recognize us more readily. We’ve been working with Mitch Anthony and Susan Lapointe on our ads, website, and other promotional materials to create a cleaner, more consistent look and feel for the NESEA tribe.
• We’re looking closely at the relationship of NESEA members and chapters to NESEA central – trying to envision what it might look like if we were building it from scratch, and identifying ways to move toward that ideal state.
• And there’s more . . . much more!

I’m happy to share any of these developments with you if you’d like to contact me directly after August 8th. Until then, I’ll be “off the grid!” — Jennifer

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On winning . . . NESEA style

June 30, 2010 By Leave a Comment

My favorite blogger, Seth Godin, wrote yesterday about winning. He started with the toddler’s approach to winning – getting what you want, now. But he went on to describe more nuanced ways of defining a “win.,” asking instead, “What happens when you define a win as getting closer to someone who wants the same thing? Or when you define it as improvement over time? Or in creating trust?”

These three questions set the framework for what could have been a very difficult meeting yesterday.

NESEA staff had a visit from representatives of our New Hampshire Chapter, NHSEA, yesterday. Madeline McElaney, Program and Outreach Coordinator, and Christa Koehler, Vice President of the Board of Directors met with me and the rest of the NESEA staff for almost two hours. We all knew at the outset that this might be a challenging meeting. The New Hampshire Sustainable Energy Association (NHSEA) has for years been doing wonderful, compelling work (both education and advocacy) on behalf of residential consumers and business owners in New Hampshire who wish to learn more about sustainable energy. Their mission and their focus have been different than NESEA’s, as we have devoted most of our energy toward supporting professionals in sustainable energy in their networking and professional development. This difference in mission and in strategic direction has been a source of concern for NHSEA for several years – to the point that they are actively considering whether affiliation with NESEA still makes sense.

Madeline and Christa also shared with us several concerns about the current NESEA membership and chapter structure – some of them relating to the revenue chapters receive from NESEA for each new member, and others relating to the “contract” between NESEA and its chapters, and the lack of clarity about what is expected of the chapters and what they can expect in return.

These are pressing issues to NHSEA, and they want to see progress on them . . . now!

Clearly this wasn’t a meeting where either party could expect a “toddler win.” Everyone around the table understood that. Too many complex issues requiring the consent of too many stakeholders who weren’t even in the room. Yet I would absolutely classify this meeting as a “win” on the basis of the other three, more nuanced questions.

Getting closer to someone who wants the same thing: We shared information and experiences with respect to the Green Buildings Open House program and identified ways we could work together more effectively immediately on that program so that it reaches more consumers in New Hampshire. We also raised the possibility of working together on a pilot for the program to increase its visibility and its financial viability over time – a pilot that might serve as a model for other NESEA chapters.

Improvement over time: We committed to work together to address the concerns they raised with respect to membership, in the context of the NESEA Membership/Chapters Advisory Committee. This committee will be addressing each of the issues raised by NHSEA within the next six months or so – but will do so in the context of the “whole system” that is NESEA. Madeline will serve as a member of that committee, which will make final recommendations to the NESEA board with respect to membership structure and benefits, revenue share with chapters, what will be expected of chapters and what NESEA will provide in return.

Creating trust: This one’s probably pretty obvious. It spoke volumes to us that Madeline and a member of her board cared enough to visit us, to sit with us face-to-face, to tell us the hard truth, and to give us the opportunity to work together to resolve the issues.

So are we all ready to sing Kumbaya? Not quite yet. As I shared with Madeline and Christa, I can’t guarantee the outcome on some of the items most important to them – those relating to membership and revenue. These are decisions that the NESEA board will ultimately make. Nor can I guarantee that our missions will continue to align sufficiently that NHSEA will find value in affiliating with NESEA. What I can guarantee is this:

• NESEA will try to be as transparent as possible throughout this process;
• The door will remain open for better communication between the chapters;
• They will have a seat at the table as we reformulate the membership/chapter structure; and
• We will continue to try to find ways to support them, whether they decide to remain a chapter or not.

I hope it’s enough for now, and I look forward to working together to sort out the rest.

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