Transcript for the NAFA® Candidate Chat December 16th, 2015
EmmaMak: Good evening everyone, this is Emma Mak from the NAFA Election
Committee. I’m the moderator for tonight’s second, and final, candidate chat
for the 2015/2016 NAFA Election. Kyle Mankes, head of
the NAFA Nominating Committee is assisting. The Board of Director candidates
are: Jennifer Bell, Steve Corona, Kim Davis and Dana Hanson.
EmmaMak: Steve, Dana, Kim are currently participating in this chat.
Hopefully Jenn will join us soon.
EmmaMak: If you have questions for the candidates, please send them in a
private message to me – to do this, there is a link in the Instructions section
above this chat window. I’ll then queue the questions and provide them to the
candidates. We’ll now take opening remarks from the candidates.
SteveCorona: Good evening everyone. Thank you for joining us tonight or reading
from the transcripts at a later date. I look forward to the exchange of ideas
with my fellow candidates and I'd like to thank NAFA for hosting this evenings chat.
KimSDavis: So glad you all could join us for the candidate chat tonight. My
name is Kim Davis and I’m thrilled to be running for the Board of Directors
again this year. I’d like to take a moment and offer a special thanks to Julie
Jenkins for forwarding my nomination for re-election.
DanaHanson: Good evening and thanks to all who are present or will take time
to read the transcripts of tonight's chat. This is a busy time of year for all
of us, I know. I thought more about a question regarding urgent issues facing
NAFA during the last chat and reminded myself that this is something people
participate in largely for fun. I thought at first that things are not so
urgent, but the decisions ahead will impact the future of something we all
love. So I thank you for taking time out of your busy schedule to join us and
learn more about all of the candidates.
EmmaMak: Question from Leerie Jenkins: Why do you
want to be on the board?
EmmaMak: I have 2 questions in the queue
KimSDavis: I love the sport of Flyball. I want to
support, encourage and help this great organization that allows us to have fun
with our dogs, compete with awesome people across the world and to contribute
to this wonderful community. One of the best ways to do all that is to run for
the Board of Directors.
DanaHanson: This is an opportunity to serve and share some of my past
experiences with not-for-profit organizations as well as to share my thoughts
and ideas and represent those of the many individuals whose paths I've crossed
in roughly 13 years of playing flyball. And on the
somewhat selfish side, its
an opportunity for me to learn more about NAFA and work along many of the
individuals who have made NAFA successful.
SteveCorona: The passion I have for the sport makes me want to be a very active
part of this community and being on the board would allow me to apply my skill
set towards benefiting NAFA. The decisions the board makes impacts our sport
and I feel that being alongside others dedicated to advancing our sport would
be a great way to share ideas and tackle difficult issues.
EmmaMak: Next question from Leerie Jenkins -
Consider this scenario: A long time NAFA flyball
enthusiast has recently passed away. He bequeathed NAFA $50,000 with the
following stipulations:
1. The $50,000 must all be spent during the next full fiscal year,
2. It must be spent to improve or replace an existing system/technology (not
used for general operating expenses),
3. The improvement/addition should be named in honor of his long time flyball dog “Jimmy.”
On what do you propose to spend the endowment?
DanaHanson: I'd like to see a paperless scoring system for use in the lane.
While I believe there is a potential long-term for things to evolve past my
starting point, I'd like to see development of handheld devices used at the
line that send information back to the scoring table, an automatic comparison
of recorded results and immediate reconciliation and recording as the tournament
progresses. Happy to name this the "Jimmy System".
SteveCorona: I believe getting the APES system out to the regions would be a
good use of this endowment; or at least a start. I'm thinking Jimmy Cam
SteveCorona: Totally coincidental Dana
KimSDavis: I would propose to use the endowmentto
further the technology behind our EJS, and the expansion of the APES if
possible.
EmmaMak: Question from Dirk Elber: What do you
see as the successes of the organization? Where do you see the weaknesses?
EmmaMak: I have two questions in the queue.
SteveCorona: Successes would include all the time and effort that goes into
organizing CanAm; that is a tremendous undertaking.
Our judges training program produces the best judges in the world and that we
allow all types and breeds of dog to participate is a feather in NAFA's cap.
One area for improvement is in spreading the word about our sport and
challenging ourselves to find younger participants.
KimSDavis: The CanAm Classic has to be considered
as one of the major successes for NAFA. Along with the pursuit of the existing
and future technology that we now enjoy in both the EJS and the APES.
The one weakness that we've yet to conquer is the lower tournament numbers in
some of the regions, where it be due to economics or lack of attendance and
viable venues in which to hold tournaments.
DanaHanson: I view the annual gathering known as CanAm
as a kind of crown jewel. It is a huge accomplishment to pull this off, and I
know that the current and past board members work incredibly hard to do that. I
believe NAFA led the way in allowing mixed breeds to compete, which many other
organizations followed suit. I believe it can boast one of the most supportive
groups of competitors in any dog sport. On the flip side, some other
organizations have rolled out new products (I'll call them that) to entice new
competitors to give their organization a look. While staying true to its core
of racing, I think NAFA can evaluate ideas to generate new interest in the
organization.
EmmaMak: I see that Jenn Bell has joined. I'm just going to give her a
minute to answer this question.
EmmaMak: Question from Mark Hartley (unable to attend chat this evening so
emailed this question beforehand)
Regarding the APES feature that was used at Can-Am this year: it seemed some
handlers were thinking their dogs had completed error free runs but in review
of the race a ball spit was detected. In some cases no flag was raised by the
line judge, but then the win or NAFA points were taken away from the dog/team.
I’m all for getting the call right and want NAFA to keep advancing the use of
technology in the ring, but it just didn’t seem fair in some cases. What do the
candidates think of this issue and do they have any possible solutions?
JennBell: sorry for being late... my little guy has the stomach flu.....just
catching up
EmmaMak: Jenn can you answer the last two questions? We'll wait for you.
EmmaMak: So they were: Question from Dirk Elber:
What do you see as the successes of the organization? Where do you see the
weaknesses? and the one from Mark Hartley above
SteveCorona: It's certainly a balance of making the correct call versus the
win/points issue. I do believe the context of where the APES system was used to
make these calls has to be taken into consideration. This was only brought into
the finals and it was used to declare a winner that had completed a clean run.
These championship races have had issues in the past and the intent was to
produce an undisputed champion. I believe as the technology improves we will be
able to make the calls more quickly and allow for re-runs if the team so
decides.
DanaHanson: This move was intended to advance the sport. I understand that in
the past, bystanders filmed infractions that were not called by officials, and
that, too, became a source of complaint. I believe it is important to move
forward and know that transitions can at times seem bumpy, but that it is
genuinely NAFA's desire to make things better. In order for that to happen, it
needs to process feedback from all sources so that it can fine tune these kinds
of enhancements. I would suggest attention could be devoted to speeding the
delivery of information that was captured at the runback end of the lane to the
competitors.
DanaHanson: Ill clarify that I said runback end of the lane because that is
where the monitors could be seen.
JennBell: I am running for the board because I think it is important for the
future of our sport for the people involved to take an interest in the
direction the sport is going. I have played this sport for many years and would
like to have an opportunity to get more involved,
KimSDavis: The review was only used for the championship races and it was the
call of the championship/head judge whether or not to use the 'output'. And it
was to be sure the runs were indeed clean. I think with the furthering of the
technology, it could be possible that this might become standard. And along
with that improvement, the calls will be more accurate and the clubs will get
the more immediate feedback on any possible infractions.
EmmaMak: Jenn is working on the last two questions. We'll move on to the
last one for the evening.
EmmaMak: Question from Chris VanWert via email:
I have read the discussions from the previous chat and it seems unanimous that
the most urgent issue before the NAFA Board is how to continue to grow this
sport. As someone who competes in a Region that has declined over 70% since
2009, I absolutely agree with this assessment. The suggestions from the
previous chat all depend on LOCAL involvement to grow the sport. My question is
this: In your view, what initiative would you recommend the NAFA Board adopt to
facilitate the growth necessary to insure a bright future for NAFA? What does
NAFA need to do that it is not already doing?
JennBell: I think the organization as a whole is a success. It has grown in
leaps and bounds. I think the promotion and encouragement of new involvement is
important. I think we also need to look at the advancement of new technology as
the sport evolves. We also need to look at ways to keep the sport fair and
uniform for everyone.
SteveCorona: My recommendation would be some sort of media campaign; either
print or video if the budget allows. NAFA gained some national exposure by the
segment carried on NBC Nightly News after it picked up the story from the local
affiliate. I believe that we need to make a concerted effort in wide ranging
exposure. While it is important at the local level to try to promote the sport,
must clubs just don't have the resources to be very far reaching in their
appeal.
DanaHanson: I think there is more than one thing that can be done to promote
interest in the sport. I mentioned new offerings earlier. In the last chat I
mentioned possibly developing seed money or a used equipment pool to get new
clubs started or to encourage existing clubs to travel to help bring flyball to new areas. I also believe that creating a higher
profile for its events in order to bring more spectators to our venues -- each
spectator a potential player at some point -- could assist in stimulating
growth.
SteveCorona: The national news story I'm referring to was shot during CanAm 2015 and showed just how much enjoyment our handlers
and their dogs were having.
KimSDavis: Marketing the sport on a national level would be ideal; seeing the
2015 CanAm Flyball Classic
on the NBC Nightly News was a great experience and hopefully we can expand upon
that. But the local competitors would need to still get out the word to the
other dog sports competitions or pet fairs, hosting demos, etc. Existing clubs
might need to help new teams get started in areas around them.
DanaHanson: On improving participation, I think it's important to capture and
measure which tools are successful in bringing new participants to the sport.
Perhaps this is something that can be captured when a participant registers
their first dog.
JennBell: I think there needs to be some sort of support to clubs to help
promote our sport in their communities. Media is one way. The exsisting clubs also need to be willing to step up and get
involved. Maybe NAFA could look at having support for clubs to do fair demos,
sporting demos, pet expos, ect...
EmmaMak: Candidates please prepare your closing remarks.
EmmaMak: Ballots were emailed out December 1st and polls close midnight CST
January 13th, 2016. Club Owners, Regional Directors, Approved/Supervising
Judges and Board Members are eligible to vote. The email will be from Big Pulse
(the election company). If you didn’t get the ballot email, please check your junk
mail folder, and if not there please contact elections@flyball.org.
DanaHanson: My first competition dog Huey's leading me to this sport is
largely responsible for most of the friends that I have to day. It has been an
incredible journey and one that I hope more folks will discover. I thank all of
you for participating in this election and hope that I have an opportunity to
give back to the flyball community.
KimSDavis: I'd like to say a special thank you to the election and
nominations committees for all they do! Thanks again for the chance to ‘talk’
and answer all your questions.
SteveCorona: Thanks again to all who joined us this evening and provided the
thought provoking questions. My intent is to serve the NAFA community to the
utmost of my ability and I hope to be honored to do so. The 2 chats have been
an enjoyable experience with my fellow candidates and I thank them for being a
part of this exchange. Thanks again to NAFA for organizing the chats and I wish
everyone a happy holiday season.
JennBell: This is my first time running and has been a great experience. It
has allowed me to get to know more of my fellow flyballers
from across North America and their concerns for the direction of NAFA.
Thank-you.
EmmaMak: Thanks to the candidates, and to Kyle Mankes
for assisting, and everyone that participated in this chat. Any questions or
concerns about the election should be directed to elections@flyball.org. Have a
wonderful holiday season and please don’t forget to vote!