The Role and Responsibilities of the Program Chair
The Program Chairperson has a vital interest in the Canadian writing community and knows a variety of authors who might be invited to make a presentation on Zoom as one of CA-BC’s monthly literary events or speaker talks. This person has the skills and experience to chair meetings and to supervise the planning of events.
The Program Chair (or delegate) attends the monthly meeting of the CA-BC branch. (Excluding July and August).
The Program Chair calls for and presides at the Program Committee held 3-4 times a year for a couple of hours each. All Canadian Authors-BC meetings are held by Zoom, as members may come from across the province.
At Program Committee meetings, both chair and members suggest names for speakers. If the committee thinks they will offer a high quality of program, persons proposing the names then follow up by contacting their suggested people. The members give the prospective presenters a suggested date or two then report back with their responses. If the presenter has accepted, they are put on the schedule.
The chair person (or delegate with copy to chair person) sends a confirmation email to the prospective presenters. A few months before each presentation, the chair person (or delegate) solicits the bio, presentation blurb and photo from each presenter to go out in our Mailchimp announcement.
The chair (or delegate) maintains contact with the tech person (Mailchimp) to assure that the public notice is prepared well in advance and sent out as scheduled. The Chair may send out Zoom invitations to the program personally, or another member of of CA-BC may be enlisted to provide technical support for Zoom. The CA-BC does have its own Zoom account when needed.
The chair finds an appropriate person (usually a member of the Program Committee) to introduce and thank the speaker at the event.
The Chair takes charge of the Zoom meetings or arranges for someone else to do the welcome, the acknowledgement of indigenous lands, and close the meeting.