Date: July 15, 2013

Topic/Motion: New Exam Directorate Staff

Initiated by: Gordon Strong, President

Scope: Representatives Only

Overview: Proposal of new exam staff due to reduced exam turnaround time.

Dialogue: President Gordon Strong noted that exam turnaround time had gone from 6-9 months down to 3 months due to the changes in the exam program. Based upon recommendations from the Exam Directorate, he recommended the appointment of Frank Barickman as Exam Director, Sandy Cockerham as an Associate Exam Director, Don Blake as an Associate Exam Director, and Eric Jones as an Associate Exam Director.

Vote: The vote for this motion was held on July 18, and passed uninamously 7-0.

Date: August 1, 2013

Topic/Motion: Representative Elections Announced

Initiated by: Representatives

Scope: Representatives Only

Overview: Representative elections for 2014 were announced.

Dialogue: Representative elections for 2014 were announced internally. Representatives noted that an election committee would need to be identified and trained. It was also noted that a timeframe would need to be set and communicated, and that new tools may be available for doing so.

Vote: No vote was taken

Date: August 19, 2013

Topic/Motion: BJCP Officer Elections from a Judge’s Point of View

Initiated by: Representative Ali Kocho-Williams

Scope: Full Board

Overview: Representative Williams noted that a member from his region sent him an email expressing concerns around the BJCP's web presence, communication, infrastructure, guideline quality, quality assurance, and continuing education, and he wished the present the email for dialogue. The email stated:

Dialogue: Competition Director David Houseman noted:

President Gordon Strong, responsible for the overall administration of the BJCP, addressed the concerns:

Dialogue continued. Representative Ryan Thomas added that it’s assumed that these efforts are underway, however, it’s not clear as to who is on these committees, nor about their progress. Representative Thomas also noted that he is approached regularly with ideas for efforts, and that the ideas are great, and the individuals are passionate, however, they don’t have detailed working knowledge of the program and its current processes. One example of an idea he noted he was approached about was the idea of a Yelp-like system for competitions, where each competition was provided a rating.

President Strong noted that all of the efforts had been discussed at the annual meeting at NHC and that there are projects underway for all of the efforts covered in Representative Thomas’ survey response. He noted that there is a standing style committee for 10 years, who collects updates, and that volunteers are always welcome to be a part of that effort. He noted that David Houseman is leading the cider exam project. He also noted that there have been calls for increased communication in the past, and that the individual he had identified to assist with increased communication noted that to be the case. He noted that updates to the board are given directly or over phone calls and their frequency is based upon previous feedback.

Dialogue continue surrounding the idea of a Yelp-like ratings application for competition, the many dependencies of the program on the style guidelines and how frequent updates would disrupt these efforts, and how more regular communication is needed from the Board.

Vote: No vote was taken

Date: August 26, 2013

Topic/Motion: Appointment of a new Assistant Communications Director

Initiated by: Gordon Strong

Scope: Representatives Only

Overview: BJCP Representatives voted on approving Jeff Sanders as Assistant Communication Director, the division of labor between Communications Director and Assistant Communication Director

Dialogue: Representatives were provided an overview of Jeff Sanders' background, his proposals, current feedback from membership on the need for greater communication, as well as the proposed initial role for the Assistant Communication Director:

The Assistant Communication Director is responsible for the following:

• BJCP Newsletter.
• Primary duties are the selection, configuration, and administration of a commercial service for bulk mailing to provide better communications with members.
• The Assistant Communications Director will also collect content and prepare newsletters and other communications with the membership.
• Secondary duties include other projects in process, as well as support as a backup for the Communication Director.

Vote: The vote was held on August 28 and passed unanimously, 7-0.

Date: August 29, 2013

Topic/Motion: New Staffing Roles, Web Site Update

Initiated by: Gordon Strong

Scope: Full Board

Overview: Appointment of Jeff Sanders to Assistant Communication Director, Ali Kocho-Williams as International Lead, and Web Site Updates

Dialogue: Gordon Strong announced to the full board (representatives and officers) the appointment of Jeff Sanders to the Assistant Communication Director position, as well as what the scope of the original role would entail.

Gordon announced the appointment of NorthEast Representative Ali Kocho-Williams to an International Lead for the BJCP. Gordon noted that Ali lives in the UK, and has been tasked with identifying primary points of contact by country, and fielding concerns by the membership in those countries for escalation to the Board for addressing. Gordon noted that in the past he had assumed that responsibility but given Ali's background, he felt it appropriate that Ali handle it and appreciates Ali's willingness to serve in the role.

Gordon also noted that the revision of the web site is a top priority. He noted that there is a new server and hosting provider, and that migration plans have been created. He noted that efforts to utilize volunteers have not yielded an expedited timeline, and that utilizing paid labor may help to expedite and provide a more predictable timeline. He also noted he has been working with an individual who has helped with the AHA's new web site, and another individual with a background in wikis in architecting the new site.

Vote: No vote was taken.

Date: September 12, 2013

Topic/Motion: Vocabulary Project Updates

Initiated by: Gordon Strong

Scope: Full Board

Overview: Gordon Strong provides updates on the status of the Vocabulary Project

Dialogue: Gordon noted that he received an email from a program member who wanted to know the status of the project. He copied the members of the BJCP Board to provide them an update as well:

Vote: No vote was taken.

Date: September 24, 2013

Topic/Motion: Web Site Rehosting and Build Out

Initiated by: Gordon Strong

Scope: Full Board

Overview: Gordon Strong provides an update on the web site, the approach, as well as resources needed.

Dialogue: Gordon noted

In subsequent dialogue, Gordon noted this to be a one time expenditure and that it was expected there would be some degree of minimal maintenance fees needed to maintain the site.

Vote: A vote was held and passed unanimously (7-0) to allocate between $5,000 and $10,000 for this effort.

Date: September 24, 2013

Topic/Motion: American Homebrewers Association Support for Electronic Exam Scanning and Routing, as well as Grader Training

Initiated by: Gordon Strong

Scope: Full Board

Overview: Gordon Strong noted that he and the AHA had had discussions regarding how to increase the number of BJCP judges at the first round of the AHA National Homebrew Competition. Two of the proposals that rose to the top. The first was an offer to provide new AHA staff to receive exams from administrators, scan them into PDFs, organize them into appropriately named files and folders, and place on a file sharing system where Exam Directors could access them. The second offer was to provide expense reimbursement for travel in support of holding grader training sessions.

Dialogue: As can be expected, this topic generated a great deal of dialogue. Gordon noted that as part of the dialogue, the AHA and BJCP recognized the need for independence, that each organizations enjoy their existing partnerships through the Sanctioned Competition Program and on NHC. He noted that each organization has a great working relationship and that this effort is only a furthering of that relationship to mutually benefit each.

Discussion continued as to how the scanning would occur, and the logistics of ensuring graders had legible copies. Some graders noted their preference in having paper copies they could hold in their hands. Some board members called for a trial period for testing the nature of relationship to verify the process worked. Others noted that they didn't believe that the reason the AHA first round is such a massive undertaking in terms of having qualified judges is due to the sheer number of entries per site in one or two days, and that perhaps by spreading out the number of days of judging it would make it a more scalable competition. After two days of extensive dialogue, a vote was taken, with several suggestions also being passed onto the AHA to help improve the number of judges who attend the NHC first round, including: GABF-style judging; qualifiers; increase site funding; more incentives for judges; and asking sites if they can handle more entries.

Vote: A vote was held on September 26, 2013, and passed unanimously (7-0).

Date: September 25, 2013

Topic/Motion: Staff Updates and Exam Program Updates

Initiated by: Gordon Strong

Scope: Full Board

Overview: Gordon noted the new size of the Exam Directorate.

Dialogue: As a point of information, Gordon noted that the Exam Directorate now includes five Exam Directors, an Assistant Exam Director, and nine Associate Exam Directors for a total of 15. He noted that such a large number of members of the Directorate were put in place to handle the increased number of exams now being offered. He also noted that due to the sheer size of the Directorate, ED Steve Piatz is purely focused on scheduling, policy, and projects.

Vote: No vote was taken.

Date: September 26, 2013

Topic/Motion: AHA Support Details

Initiated by: Gordon Strong

Scope: Full Board

Overview: After a vote passed authorizing the BJCP to accept support from the AHA with the intent of increasing the number of first round judges at NHC competitions, Gordon Strong noted details on how the effort would take place.

Dialogue: Gordon noted that the AHA will be hiring a part-time hire to assist with BJCP efforts at the end of January 2014. This individual will attend GABF and NHC. His/her responsibility is to scan exams and return them within a 24-48 hour time period, with the exception of the time period between Christmas and New Year's. The AHA will provide tuning and optimization of the scans based upon feedback from BJCP judges. The AHA noted they too would like a formal agreement in place between the two organizations. The term of the agreement would be one year, renewed automatically, with 6 months necessary to opt-out. The AHA noted that they are in the partnership for the long haul.

Vote:No vote was taken.

Date: October 8, 2013

Topic/Motion: Regional Training Concept

Initiated by: Randy Scorby

Scope: Full Board

Overview: Education Director Randy Scorby put forth a Regional Training Concept brief to the board, including two specific efforts to be included: Advanced Judge Training and Exam Grader Training. A Regional Training Coordinator position would be created under the CEP Directorate to oversee the region training, including (but not limited to) recruiting regional training coordinators, managing the schedule of events, and reviewing/approving content & expenditures.

The contents of the training concept include the following:

Dialogue: Representative Ryan Thomas expressed concern whether the Regional level was the appropriate level at which to create such a position given the geographic distribution of judges within his region, and whether or not an Area or Local coordinator was better suited.

Gordon Strong noted he supports the plan, and applauded Randy for the structure around the proposal. He noted that the AHA efforts will dovetail well into this proposal, that there is an existing registration and payment system that can be used for coordinating such events, and that one of the best parts of the proposal is having an individual whose job it is to retain materials, store them, and keep them up to date. Further discussion was had on the appropriate levels and on logistics.

Vote: A vote began on October 23, 2013 and concluded on October 30, 2013. The motion passed unanimously (7-0) with the following specifics as to how the Regional Concept will be implemented:

• $10,500 will be allocated a year to support the regional education concept.
• A second vote will occur on a Secondary CEP Director staff appointment separately, after the plan is approved and Randy makes a recommendation.
• The funding amount of $10,500 is based upon $1500 a region, but the CEP Director Randy and the regional training coordinator have the discretion to allocate the money based on need and demand. The approval authority for spending money will be at the CEP level (Director or Assistant Director), not at the region level. Oversight is needed of regional plans.
• Staffing at the region level is at the discretion of the CEP Director.
• If multiple people are needed to cover different sections of a region, it is approved. The overall coordinator (assistant director) will still have oversight over the staffing and budgets. Each region should have at least one person designated to coordinate local training events.
• Randy and and the CEP will be responsible for coordinating the content delivered. Coordination with the Exam Directorate on grader training content is required.
• The responsibility for the NHC judge reception will transfer to the new assistant CEP director.
• The AHA will be providing travel reimbusement for content delivery for grader training. The CEP Directorate will take over this coordination responsibility, including working out the details with the AHA on how this will be handled. The CEP must still approve each trip subject to reimbursement.
• The CEP Directorate will be responsible for collecting, organizing and sharing the content developed as part of this program. Coordination with the IT Directorate is required as we migrate to the new web site. The future goal is to allow direct publishing from the CEP on the new web site.

Date: October 16, 2013

Topic/Motion: Merchandise Update

Initiated by: Gordon Strong

Scope: Full Board

Overview: Gordon Strong noted that he had been working with a number of different vendors on the merchandise available to BJCP members, specifically focused on embroidery. Prototypes were given to some board members for feedback, with a focus on providing value and quality merchandise that would hold up over time and be utilized at judging events. The intent is to have a limited number of products from a trustable vendor. The BJCP does not intend to make any money from the sales of the merchandise, but does need to identify a trustable vendor with a web storefront who can meet the quality standards and will be a partner in the longer term. Gordon asked Mike Dixon, Communication Director, to lead the effort.

Dialogue: Mike noted he would begin to contact some of the vendors and keep the board informed.

Vote: No vote was taken.

Date: October 23, 2013

Topic/Motion: Exam Quota Update

Initiated by: Gordon Strong

Scope: Full Board

Overview: Gordon Strong noted that the BJCP was now operating at a total of 10 exams per month, that all exam organizers had been contacted with the option of moving their exams up, and that as a result, there were more exam spaces available in 2015. Exam Director Steve Piatz spent over 2 months reaching each Exam Administrator to notify them of the changes.

Dialogue: No dialogue occurred.

Vote: No vote was taken.

Date: November 4, 2013

Topic/Motion: David Teckham Appointed as Regional Training Coordinator

Initiated by: Gordon Strong

Scope: Representatives Only

Overview: CEP Education Director Randy Scorby made recommendations to appoint David Teckham as the first Regional Training Coordinator based upon the Regional Training proposal that was approved by the Board.

Dialogue: No dialogue occurred.

Vote: A vote was taken on November 19, 2013 and the motion passed unanimously (7-0) to appoint David Teckham into the role.

Date: November 4, 2013

Topic/Motion: Bylaw Update Proposed

Initiated by: Gordon Strong

Scope: Representatives Only

Overview: Gordon Strong noted to the other Representatives that an update of the Bylaws was long overdue and that previous efforts to update the Bylaws had not resulted in a final work product. As a result, Gordon volunteered to gather the notes he had had during the past few years and revise the Bylaws, then to get feedback from the Board at large before a vote was taken.

Dialogue: Representatives agreed the updates were long overdue and asked Gordon to perform the updates.

Vote: No vote was taken.

Date: November 7, 2013

Topic/Motion: Judge and Competition Feedback Software

Initiated by: Joe Formanek

Scope: Full Board

Overview: MidWest Representative and Vice President Joe Formanek noted that the Grant Committee recently received a proposal regarding funding for software development to develop a program that offers feedback to both judges evaluating entries as well as to competition organizers to assist in competition improvement. This software would be open source freeware made available to BJCP registered competitions after Beta testing in a region local to the submitter. There is also a competition rating system proposed to be included in the software, linked to the competition rating system on the BJCP website, as well as utilizing a site account where judges can privately receive feedback. The software would allow a “Quality of Judging” feedback for individual judges as well as for the competition as a whole to allow decisions to be made whether a brewer or judge should participate in the event. This new software would be added onto the existing BCOE&M software package being used by local clubs as well as the AHA to help organize competition and to manage judges and entries. Joe and the Grant Committee wished to receive feedback on the proposal from the Board.

Dialogue: Board members expressed concerns that participants in the competition may purposefully elect to provide negative feedback about the competition, with an inferred silent endorsement from the BJCP. Others questioned whether feedback should be provided only on competitions using the ranking, and whether or not feedback on individual judges was warranted to be visible in a public format. Competition Director David Houseman noted that prospective judges or entrants may be interested in hearing from other judges on "quality of judging, timeliness of return of forms, timeliness of submitting organizer reports, quality of lunches for judges, cost of entry, wow factor of prizes/ribbons."

Further dialogue noted that it should be questioned whether or not the BJCP should fund enhancements to one software package (BCOE&M) for running competitions versus providing that funding for other software packages. Several noted that they see relevance in providing feedback about the competition year over year, but dissenting voices noted that Competition Organizers do change year over year. Questions arose as to exactly what the funds would be going to: paying the developer, hosting expenses, or some other item. Some noted that there were direct concerns in paying a volunteer for an effort he is expending elsewhere. Competition Director Dave Houseman noted that he does recommend the BJCP create a web-based means of competition rating for all BJCP/AHA-sanctioned competitions by participants. The question put forth was whether or not the enhancements to an existing software package that is not officially sanctioned by the BJCP would serve the broader interest and mission of the BJCP.

Joe Formanek noted that the Grant Committee thanked the Board for the discussion and points to consider, and that he and the Grant Committee would have an internal discussion and respond to the proposal.

Vote: No vote was taken.

Date: November 21, 2013

Topic/Motion: Mailing Service Software

Initiated by: Gordon Strong and Jeff Sanders

Scope: Full Board

Overview: Gordon Strong noted that Assistant Communication Director Jeff Sanders had finished his rather extensive analysis of bulk mailing services in conjunction with the Communication Directorate, that the service met their requirements, and was recommending the BJCP allocate funds for the service. Gordon noted that the service being recommended is GetResponse, which Jeff was able to negotiate an annual discount and 501c3 discount for bringing it to a total of $221 annually. Gordon noted it will let the Board publish newsletters or other bulk mailings to members, and can construct dynamic queries to target certain sets of judges by region, rank, or other attributes in the database. The service will track bounces, and also allow individuals to opt-out of mailings (as required by law).

Dialogue: Jeff noted that he had reviewed and set up test accounts for 28 different services, running them through a set of evaluations. He noted that the GetResponse service price is quite good and includes a 50% discount for non-profits and for paying for a full year. He noted GetResponse supports segmenting, which is targeting messages by custom fields the BJCP incorporates. He noted GetResponse has a programming interface that can used in the future to link up with the web site and/or the database. GetResponse also supports Responsive Design, meaning that emails can be designed once and then the service re-formats them regardless of the device (PC, Mac, Tablet, Phone) or the platform or the version. He stated GetResponse they supports text-based e-mail as well, and that some people just want the text. He noted GetResponse uses an opt-in model, meaning that those who don't want to get the e-mails don't have to, but can also opt-in at a later time. He lastly noted the service will help to track down bounced e-mail addresses.

Jeff also noted that the service could be used for elections, to notify judges that their vote is needed; a mailing for exams, to notify those in a specific geography that there are available seats, for example; a mailing for provisional judges, to get them engaged in judging while awaiting their test scores, for example; mailings based upon rank; mailings for graders; mailings based upon anything captured in the BJCP database. The board discussed the expenditure.

Vote: A vote was taken on November 26, and passed unanimously to fund the service (7-0).

Date: December 5, 2013

Topic/Motion: BJCP Bylaw Update Proposal

Initiated by: Gordon Strong on part of the Representatives

Scope: Full Board

Overview: Gordon Strong noted that the BJCP Bylaws were long overdue for an update. He noted that a previous committee's work in updating them never yielded any updates that were voted upon, and at the direction of the Representatives, he had worked on re-writing the bylaws to address concerns that had been voiced over the past several years, as well as bring them into alignment with concerns addressed by many similarly sized non-profits. Gordon uploaded a proposed copy of the Bylaws for review and feedback by the Board. He noted that any updates must be posted for 30 days to be reviewed by the membership before they may be voted upon.

Dialogue: Board members provided feedback questioning the need for an odd number of regions, who provides review of staff functions and roles annually, when the Annual (financial) Report is to be posted by, and whether or not the period allocated for amendments was too lengthy. A question was raised as to why the BJCP does not enforce term limits.

Gordon noted that he reviews the roles and descriptions for staff annually and makes suggestions at the Annual Meeting. He noted that while most of the membership cannot make it to the Annual Meeting, that the role of the new Assistant Communication Director is to provide updates to the membership, and that mailings should help to improve information flow. He also noted that in the past, the amount of time necessary to review a proposed change (60 days/30 days) was itself a limiting factor in implementing the change. He also offered his personal opinion that term limits are best set by elections.

Treasurer Al Boyce noted that Annual (financial) Reports had been completed in every year, however, they were not always posted to the web site but instead made available upon request. Further feedback was provided from Communication Director Mike Dixon from Facebook, noting members desire to include non-discriminatory language. Questions arose as to how a tie is resolved between Representatives should one Representative not be able to vote, or if the vote is limited to an even number of Representatives. In that case, does the vote fall to the President to break a tie, and is there a conflict of interest if the President is also a Representative (as required by BJCP current bylaws).

Vote:Gordon Strong noted that the changes noted by the Board were incorporated, and a new version of the Bylaws were posted to the web site (December 27). He also noted that a vote would occur on or around January 11, 2014 (Note: The revision to the by-laws did pass on January 14, 2014 by a unanimous vote (7-0)).

Date: December 26, 2013

Topic/Motion: Proctor Payment Policy

Initiated by: Representatives

Scope: Representatives Only

Overview: After the new Best Practices for Exam Administration whitepaper was released, the BJCP Representatives discussed the BJCP's policy on whether and how much proctors may be reimbursed for the administration and attendance of an exam.

Dialogue: Feedback was gathered for further discussion.

Vote: No vote was taken.