NOCA Conference Features Public Member Sessions

One of the most interesting sessions at the 2007 NOCA meeting that we attended late last month in San Antonio was on the subject of public members. David Swankin, of the Citizen’s Advocacy Center in Washington, DC, is leading a push for NOCA to offer more resources for public members. Discussion during the session touched on a variety of topics including encouraging associations to bring their public member(s) to the NOCA conference, providing sessions specifically targeted towards public members, providing education on board governance in general, and creating a directory to aid organizations in their search for qualified public members.

The public member forum has been a regular feature during the last few NOCA conferences. This year attendance was disappointing. Only a handful of people attended the actual networking forum and a handful more attended David’s session on building a public member network.

We hope that organizations will increasingly support their public members and encourage them to learn more about certification by attending NOCA educational events. Regardless of the form it takes, education for board members and the public members that sit on those boards, can only serve to increase the effectiveness of volunteer leaders.