June, 2023 President’s Message: The Great Outdoors

Summer season is here! It’s the best time of year to be in Chicago – and it’s the best time of year to get out and give tours! Over 100 boat tours each weekend, oversold walking tours – this is what it’s all about!

Last weekend I gave Walk Through Time on Saturday and Sunday, and both days were sold out (Saturday with two docents). The Sunday tour was oversold—a group of visitors from NYC walked up just before departure and since three folks hadn’t checked, we sold them tickets. Then, right at departure, the last three folks arrived. Fortunately, unlike an airline we can “create” a couple of more spots on our tour – so I took them all out. They were a great group – super impressed with the lobby at the Chicago Motor Club as well as the stories of Mies and air-rights that spawned The Illinois Center and our home!

I hope you have seen the Docent Council summary and meeting minutes (links below), we have kicked off our three task forces focused on making the Docent Experience the best it can be by enabling deeper partnership with the CAC, Staff, and Strategic Objectives. Watch The Bridge for more updates each month. The three task forces and their mission statements are:

Improve Staff / Docent Collaboration (Co-Chairs: John Schneider & Catherine Thomson)
Create a shared understanding of staff and docent roles and goals, and establish clear paths of communication to quickly resolve concerns

Define the Docent Experience (Co-Chairs: Erica Myles & Kathy Baker)
Provide tools to identify the different segments of the docent population in order to design differentiated experiences that attract, retain, motivate and inspire CAC docents

Digital Growth (Co-Chairs: Lori Nelson & Kelly Manteck)
Support development of CAC volunteer community and improve scheduling, reporting, communications and information sharing through robust, easy to use technology platforms.
Explore docent led digital offerings to broaden audience reach and generate new revenue streams.

These task forces will drive a new level of partnership with the CAC and staff! There will be much more to come over the following months from these exciting task forces including where they will need your help to succeed!

Last but not least – It was fantastic to see so many of you at Docent Appreciation Night on the 15^th! Thank you again to our co-chairs Ellen Shubart and Amanda Lewis and the entire committee – especially for the last-minute pivot when it was too cold and windy to be out on the patio. A fantastic event (I really enjoyed having a drink and bite amongst the “forest” of the mass timber exhibit). Join me in congratulating all of the award winners – all very deserving.