Board of Directors Statement

Scott Hares, CBBQA BOD Nominee for 2012

I joined the CBBQA in 2008 and I look forward to the chance to serve our community as a member of the board. I believe the goal of any board member should be two fold: First and foremost is to uphold the mission statement of the CBBQA. Second is growth. Growth in terms of membership and / or funds raised for charity.

If elected to the board of directors I will be honored to serve the membership and the organization. I will continue to be active and accessible on the forum and in person. I welcome input, feedback and criticism. And will always cast my votes based on what I think is best for the entire organization.

I have outlined just a few example ideas for growth in detail below:

First we need to define growth as it relates to CBBQA. Does growth mean membership? Charitable funds raised? Both? Or something else entirely? Lets presume growth is defined as both membership and fund raising. What opportunities are we missing right now?

One example from first hand experience:

People are hungry for back yard grilling and bbq instruction from people like us who have dedicated many hours to our craft and really know our stuff. Every guy or gal wants to be king of the grill in their own back yard, but searching on-line for classes is the last option that crosses their minds. The trick here is point-of-sale. Getting the word out where people are buying their steaks, buying charcoals, or even buying their weekend beverages - that's challenge #1 and a big one.

Second, I believe smaller, 1 or 2 instructor classes, held more frequently, are more manageable for instructors and more accessible for students. There is no shortage of people willing to spend up to $200 for a 6-8 hour class that over delivers on value. Get the word out and we have more membership and fundraising growth right there. Any one of us can volunteer to instruct a class, but incentive and location are a challenge needing ideas.

Now lets take those classes a step further and raise a little more passive income for charity - all of us potential instructors have products and gadgets we like to use in our bbq and grilling. Students want to buy those recommended products. Why not point those students to CBBQA hosted internet links to Amazon or other merchants in such a way where CBBQA earns a percent of every sale?

Lets take it even one step further - CBBQA is content lite other than the forums. The website needs a lot more bbq and grilling articles designed to cast a much wider net for people searching on bbq and grilling information in Google, Bing, Yahoo. For example, suppose someone searches for ''hot and fast brisket on wsm'. CBBQA is nowhere to be found. But a properly structured article on the subject could change all that. Next step: those articles funnel readers to CBBQA classes page, and CBBQA Amazon offerings, as well as offering relevant Google ads for a nice passive income stream - all for CBBQA charities.

Everything I'm talking about here is tried and true - I have done it time and time again. These techniques are what I use in my own internet marketing business, and the sole reason I am able to afford to compete in California BBQ community. There is no reason the same system cannot be set up for CBBQA.

One last thing please. I think we need to adopt a far less protectionist stance from a business perspective. Every competitor in business is a potential business partner. You need look no further than your grocers shelves for proof. Everywhere you look, you'll see store brand clones of name brand product side by side. Yet neither party is going broke.