The President is responsible for overseeing the Executive Team. They call executive and general meetings to order, and ensure that they provide enough notice for each meeting as is possible. They propose policy changes as required, and work to develop campaigns and campaign timelines. They are the primary spokesperson for the organization, and represent the organization to the public via expos, events, panels, and mainstream media. They nominate and appoint Committee Heads along with the rest of the Executive team, and work closely with Committee Heads and with Executive Members chairing on Committees to ensure the success of the committee. The President is also responsible for communicating to other organizations and members via e-mail and letters. The President assists in the development of the Executive Team and of Committee Members, and promotes and nurtures leadership skills among all parties. The president also communicates with the Harry Potter Alliance to ensure that the HPA promotes various EPIC campaigns, and relays upcoming HPA campaigns to the rest of EPIC. Strong verbal and written skills are required. Previous leadership experience is considered an asset to this position, as is a familiarity with past EPIC campaigns and committees.
My name is Yara, and I am the founder, Chapter Organizer, and current president of Edmonton Potterwatch Institute for Charity. I have my hands in a number of pockets, namely the ones containing chocolate, but beyond that, I also work for the HPA as a volunteer running the Global Chapter Project, I am English-Psychology Double Major heading into my last year of my Bachelor, I've spent the last 15 months working as a Probation Officer as part of an internship, and I’m a swimming instructor at Confederation Leisure Center, to name a few of my many faces. Of all of my commitments, however, I can say without a doubt that the one that I consider to be the most rewarding, satisfying, and joy-inducing, is Potterwatch.
Why do you want to serve on the EPIC Executive Committee?
As the founder of EPIC, there hasn’t been a week of my life that hasn’t in some way been shaped by our organization and what we’ve accomplished. I truly believe that, having been previously the founder and currently the President of the organization, I am in a place that is best suited to continue to lead this organization for the coming year into a place of stability and sustainability. Our first year was a success primarily because of the sheer enthusiasm of our members, but in order to continue to experience similar successes in the future, EPIC is in need of a strong organizational backbone. Having been present to witness the growth of our organization, and having a strong familiarity with the processes of our organization and the members who partake in its various facets, I believe that I have a lot to contribute to EPIC’s continued epicness…so to speak.
I also take a lot of pride in the success of our members, and have made it one of my goals to foster leadership skills in both the Executive Committee and in various Committee Projects. I consider developing leadership in others to be one of my strongest talents, and I would be honoured if EPIC would grant me the opportunity to continue doing so for another year.
What skills or qualities do you bring to the EPIC Executive Committee?
Over the past few years I have had numerous opportunities to take on leadership roles and to help others thrive in non profit and in work-related environments. In my work as a swimming instructor, I’ve frequently taken on the role as Team Leader, supervising other instructors and working with clients to ensure the success of the program. At Starbucks I worked as a Shift Supervisor, which gave me the opportunity to coach other baristas, delegate tasks, and oversee the business and organizational aspect of working in a hectic environment. With the Harry Potter Alliance, I oversee a team of International Liaisons, assist them in forging connections with chapters in their areas and ensuring the sustainability of chapters in over 20 countries. I have an ability to adapt to a leadership style that is best suited for different situations due to these different experiences. These examples also demonstrate my ability to work well with people, my experience in conflict management, and my organizational skills.
Describe your personal involvement in one EPIC project or campaign from the last year that you are particularly proud of.
The Rockin’ Charity Yule Ball 2014 was one of EPIC’s most ambitious projects. It was pulled together despite most of the committee having very little experience in event planning, very little budget to work with, and a little over half a year to pull it all together. After confirming that the EPIC community had a vested interest in making this event come to life, it then became a matter of putting together a committee, securing a venue and entertainment, navigating budget complications, ticket sales, and legal contracts, advertising the event to major media and to our own internet community, ensuring that the logistics of the day of went smoothly, and following up with every party involved, including sponsors, attendees, volunteers, and committee members. The Yule Ball has been one of our most successful events to date, primarily due to the incredible dedication of the Yule Ball committee, and the amount of man hours put in by our own Executive Committee. Though I was not by any means the most knowledgeable or experienced when it came to any aspect of the event, I did my best to keep myself informed on every aspect regardless. I made myself available to nearly every committee member, communicated regularly with the Committee Head, researched alternatives to save costs, and forged connections independently with media and with other community organizations. I developed a survey for attendees, and organized a follow up meeting with the committee, in which we discussed ways we could improve as an organization and ways we could improve the event itself. Overall the experience of putting on the Yule Ball was one that strengthened our organization and made us aware of our limits, and how to overcome them in the future.
What new ideas, projects, campaigns or policies would you like to see the EPIC Executive Committee implement in the coming year?
I believe that in terms of campaigns and projects, EPIC is blessed with an active audience of members who know what they want to commit to. We are fortunate that the EPIC community is dedicated to giving back to the community, and as such we aren't running low on ideas by any means!
That said, I believe that EPIC would benefit from more efficient ways of communication: a proper website that can be easily found on the web and accessed by those who don't frequent facebook; a cleaner mailing list with facilitated subscribe and unsubscribe features, a member initiation package that helps new interested members integrate themselves into the EPIC community, and more frequent get togethers for social events - events that are created primarily for the purpose of helping people bond and get to know each other. We've worked hard as an organization, it's time we learned how to play hard too.
If you could change one thing concerning the operation of EPIC over the past year, what would it be?
I'm fiercely proud of what EPIC has accomplished, and how much our members have invested themselves into the success of our organization. That’s said, in the last year I've seen engagement on the part of Potterwatch members fluctuate considerably, and campaigns that were easily executed by sheer vigor the first time around were met with a lot more struggle in year two. This comes down, I believe to an issue of both communication and an issue of engagement.
I’ve found that, despite the ease of use of working on a platform like Facebook, the fact that almost all of our work with committees and members exists on Facebook makes communication difficult to organize and to keep track of. Also, apart from sending out minutes, communication between the Executive Committee and members is inconsistent. I also believe that the issue of engagement will be less of an issue in the future if the issue of communication is addressed, and that with more standard communication procedures and better tools to make that communication happen, EPIC will only grow better and stronger with time.
