No, we are not eliminating any components of a traditional Presidents’ Meeting. We are simply extending the content over a longer period of time. An in-person meeting will still be an option for regions that can and want to proceed with an in-person or hybrid event.

EO needs to re-frame the way it thinks of president training and transition. Traditionally, both the training and transition occur at the Presidents’ Meeting, typically in late January or early February.

In actuality, a president’s training and leadership transition begins when they are named the president-elect and does not end until a successor assumes the role.  Our goal is to honor this by starting the transition process earlier and extending the training throughout the year.

Therefore, an in-person meeting focused on the president to president-elect transition is just one component in a year-long, cyclical training loop.

We are making this change to align Presidents’ Meetings with other organizational meetings (eg, Annual Planning Meeting and Global Leadership Conference) and create greater alignment across the organization.

We believe that this process will streamline member leader and staff efforts, reducing work redundancy and bringing consistency to trainings around the world.

The rhythm outlined below will serve as the framework for the training cycle.

Significant resources and focus will be directed on the area director role in coaching presidents through this cycle.

1.Initiate
Choose your board (Dec/Jan): The initial kick-off of president-elect training and transition, this stage will include resources and training related to succession planning and chapter staff engagement.

2. Envision
Transition your board (Jan/Feb): “How-to” training on transitioning from president to president-elect; this step will include on-demand training modules and live virtual trainings.

3. Lead
Lead your board (March/April): A regional in-person/hybrid event that encompasses leadership training and regional/global messaging.

4. Level Up
Preparing for Presidency (April): This is the virtual officer role training at GLC.

5. Sustain
President coaching (May-November): The ongoing coaching and training a chapter president receives via their area director, Strategy Summits, and other leadership development opportunities.

All regions are being asked to align with and commit to this new training structure.

Behind the scenes, the above-mentioned planning team is beginning to plan and design the various components of the training cycle.

First up, you’ll see training resources on succession planning come out in December.