[nabs-l] Candidates' Forum Announcement!

[Kirt Manwaring]

Mary,
  This is brilliant!  Thank you!
  Best,
Kirt

On 6/27/11, Mary Fernandez <trillian551 at gmail.com> wrote:
> Hello All:
>
> I hope this Email finds you doing well. As the NABS elections approach,
> we thought that hosting a Presidential Candidates' Forum would be both
> beneficial and informative for the membership. Thus, we are asking all
> who are interested in voting during the NABS meeting and would like to
> know more about their candidates to participate in this call.
>
> First, the call will consist of six candidates maximum, who are
> interested in running for the offices of President, First Vice
> President, or Second Vice President. The candidates will be given a set
> time to make opening remarks with random selection to be made by the
> moderator in advance.  Then, they will be asked questions which the
> membership will have provided and, finally, they will have time to make
> concluding statements. If time permits, they will also take questions
> from the floor before making concluding remarks.  The time allotted for
> each candidate to deliver statements and answer questions will depend
> both on the number of candidates who choose to participate in the Forum
> and the number of questions submitted.  The call is not expected to last
> any longer than one hour.
>
> In order for the membership to submit questions, I will be creating a
> Survey Monkey form, which we can use to submit our questions. All
> questions must be submitted by noon on Wednesday in order for them to be
> considered. Furthermore, this survey will allow you to indicate whether
> you are intending to run for an office and be part of this forum.
>
> In order to make the call objective, Ollie Cantos, who is not affiliated
> with the student division but who is a Federationist and past president
> of NABS, will serve as our moderator. I am attaching his biography with
> this Email. Ollie  will be sorting through the questions from the Survey
> Monkey results and selecting which will be posed to the candidates.
>
> In order for this Forum to be effective, we have set a few parameters,
> so that the call can be objective, informative, and fair to all those
> who want to participate.
>
>        1. Because of time constraints, the offices will be limited to
> the positions of President, 1st
> Vice President, and 2nd Vice President.
>
>        2. These candidates will be given a set time for an
> introduction, time to answer questions from the membership, and time to
> make concluding remarks.
>
>        3. Those who are running for the previously-mentioned offices,
> except for the office of President, must indicate via Survey Monkey
> their desire to be a part of the forum as a candidate. If more than two
> people are intending to run for the same office and wish to participate
> in the Forum, every effort will be made to accommodate each candidate.
> If the total number of candidates wishing to participate in the Forum
> exceeds 6, only the first 6 names received (2 for President and the
> remainder for the other offices) will be able to participate in the
> Candidate Forum.
>
>        4. Once we get a set count of the candidates participating, we
> will send out a breakdown of the time frames. Note that if you are
> participating as a candidate, you will be stopped, even if it is
> mid-sentence by our Moderator, once time is up.  He will make every
> attempt to give 30-second warnings before time is set to expire.
>
> Finally, having read all the postings regarding elections that have been
> written in the last two weeks, I sincerely hope that we all make an
> effort to be on this call. This is your chance to let your voice be
> heard and to ask questions of your candidates! I will create the Survey
> Monkey soon, and post the link. In the meantime, be thinking about what
> you want to know about your candidates before July 4th.
>
> Thanks so much!
>
>
>
> --
> Mary Fernandez
> President: Georgia Association of Blind Students
> Emory University 2012
> P.O. Box 123056
> Atlanta Ga.
> 30322
> Phone: 732-857-7004
>
> "It's not worth doing something unless someone, somewhere, would much
> rather you weren't doing it."
> Terry Pratchett
>