Our return to meeting in-person appears to be just around the corner. We have been cleared to return to meeting in-person by the BNI Regional Leadership. Right now, we are confirming with our hosts at the PrairieFire Museum that our room is available (our understanding is that it is) and that the space can meet the technology requirements of a potentially hybrid type of meeting. The overwhelming sentiment of BNI Select members so far has been to return to meeting in person as soon as possible. But we know that not everyone is ready for or comfortable with an in-person, indoor, meeting.
Important things to keep in mind:
- If you are attending our meeting in person, you must either be fully vaccinated (two weeks after receiving the Johnson & Johnson vaccine, or two weeks after your second dose of the Pfizer or Moderna vaccine) or wear a mask. This requirement will be revisited regularly, with important input from the BNI Regional and National bodies, as well as federal, state, and local government resources.
- Once you make a choice about attending in-person or via Zoom, that choice is a commitment for the next six months. Attending the meeting remotely is not a fall-back if you’re running late. Our expectation is that in-person attendees will be there, in the room, ready for the meeting at our usually scheduled time every week. If you send a substitute in your place, the substitute should attend the meeting in-person, just like you would have. We will confirm this element at the next Chapter Success meeting on June 24, 2020. But our proposal is that members who commit to returning in-person but instead attend via Zoom will be treated as if they had sent a substitute.
- While some chapters have had good success while meeting remotely, most of the data supports the idea that chapters with higher levels of in-person involvement are more engaged and therefore more successful than chapters meeting remotely.
- This poll is non-binding. We are not asking for your name, but we are recording participation by IP address, simply to ensure that each person only votes once. The collected addresses will not be reviewed (they’re just a database cross-check for the poll application). A count that is as accurate as possible is important to ensuring that we have appropriate equipment and technology in place to serve both members who are attending in person and those who are attending via Zoom.
I’m not sure I can physically attend all meetings because of my health problems. On Zoom I know I can be at the meetings and fulfill my commitments,