One of the unique features of NABT is the ability of members to have a face-to-face meeting with the Board of Directors and “talk back” as it were. I’ve attended several of these meetings and quite frankly, some have been rather contentious. This year, however, was not one of “those” meetings. John Moore, this year’s President made a presentation bringing folks up to date about the state of the organization and generally explained the situations and decisions made this past year. Needless to say, 2009 has been a monumental year for NABT. The economy has hit all non-profits hard and NABT is no different. But when given lemons, you best make lemonade and the year has been full of tough decisions and hard work to re-structure for the future. One bit of especially good news: we planned the conference based on a projected attendance of 850 and as of Saturday morning had over 1100 registered attendees. Special kudos to the Colorado Biology Teachers Association for their volunteer efforts. Some 70 CBTA members worked registration and handled AV needs for the conference
But the dialog is not one-way at the Town Hall. Members can ask any question, challenge any decision, and offer suggestions as they see fit. This year offered some good suggestions about potential future convention sites, member recruitment, NABT merchandise sales, and the annual banquet, which were dutifully recorded by yours truly to be posted to the Board of Directors and added to the ongoing discussion.
The Town Hall ended with Past President Todd Carter presenting outgoing President John Moore with a plaque to commemorate his year of service to NABT.
