2018 BGA Membership Meeting
Each year the chair (that’s me, Sarah Leslie) of the Barista Guild of America hosts an annual membership meeting. Access is a new event that is intended to be the annual gathering for BGA members in the US, and it felt like the perfect place to hold this meeting.
For those of you who weren’t able to attend Access, I wanted to write a quick recap of the meeting to update you on the 2017-2018 year. As you read, if you have questions, want to get involved, or just want to share your thoughts, please feel free to reach out to us at bgaec@sca.coffee or join us on Facebook.
View the PowerPoint presentation here.
Membership Committee: Chair Kathie Hilberg & Vice Chair Sam Schaefer
Passport Program launched at Access: Attendees who visit all the local cafes listed on the passport received a special-edition BGA pin.
Blog posts on local coffee communities are currently being commissioned. Watch this space for posts. If you have a local community you’d like to see highlighted, we’d love to hear from you.
Espresso Survey 2.0 is in the works. The first Espresso Survey took place in 2017 and the results were presented to the SCA community in 25 Magazine. Look out for your chance to participate in the survey again.
Membership Booths at the U.S. CoffeeChamps Qualifying Events are being planned. If you are going to be in Denver, CO in December 2018 or Nashville, TN in January 2019, we look forward to hanging out.
Online Event is being planned. More details coming very soon!
Events Committee: Co-chairs Mark Hundley & Matt Scott
Barista Camp in Wisconsin & California in 2017 (That’s 17 Camps in the US!)
Bloom Providence took place in March 2017. Attendance was up 20% from the previous Bloom Event in San Francisco and 97% of those who attended would recommend Bloom to others.
Access took place in September 2018 in Austin, TX.
BGA Cafe, Re:co Coffee Service, and TNT @ Expo are in the works for 2019. We always need volunteers for events so if you are planning to attend Expo and are looking to get involved (and get a discount on your badge) consider joining us as a volunteer.
Bloom 2019 is being planned right now. We had an open call for proposals from different cities to host. We are currently reviewing those proposals and working on plans for June 2019.
Access 2019 will take place annually in the fall. The event will be full of education, community-building, and fun!
Outreach Committee: Chair Liz Dean & Vice Chair Adam Jacksonbey
Regional groups became the focus of our outreach efforts in 2018.
Developed Universal Code of Conduct based on feedback from regional groups about what would be helpful to them.
Regionally diverse committee members were recruited to support the work of the committee.
Working on Code of Conduct implementation for 2019.
Community Survey: “How can we serve you?” coming in 2019.
Content Development Committee: Chair Brent Hall & Vice Chair Bailey Arnold
Commissioned in 2017 to foster development and growth for baristas beyond the bar, the “CDC” is the BGA’s newest committee.
Workshops offered Expo 2018. Committee members wrote and delivered new workshops at Expo as a compliment to the existing Coffee Skills Program offerings.
Instructor Liaisons and Peer Review system are currently being created to ensure that content delivery meets our high standards.
Trend Friends is a new aspect of the CDC that we are excited to share with the BGA community soon.
Workshops at Access were overseen by the CDC.
Member Driven Events
Cross-committee project! Content is developing material, Membership is formatting and offering “how-to,” and Outreach is distributing to regional groups.
Launching in 2019 after USCC!
Unification Committee: BGA Members Sarah Leslie (BGA EC Chair), Gabe Smentek (BGA EC Vice Chair), and Todd Mackey (BGA EC Immediate Past Chair)
The BGA Executive Council and the BGE Working Group are currently reviewing Bylaws, Transition Plan, and Rules of Procedure proposed by the Unification Committee.
Unified Barista Guild on track to launch in January 2019.