Tip 1. I saw this in print somewhere and adopted it as my philosophy because it seems to fit our jobs so well: “Over prepare and then go with the flow!” Looking forward to the retreat! - Harriett Wagnon

Tip 2. Treat all members the same, no favoritism! (not always easy in a small board!) - Carolyn House

Tip 3. Be transparent --- always make sure your board knows you are available for them in your professional capacity. It’s not easy to toot our own horn, but they need to know what you do and that you do it well. - Carolyn House

Tip 4. Network with your fellow AEs at every meeting you attend & get their phone numbers/email addresses – a wealth of information is learned from them. - Carolyn House

Tip 5. Share with your fellow AEs your successes and failures. - Carolyn House

Tip 6. Ask for help! Remember – you are supposed to have a life, too. (I know, REALTORS don’t think we should, but we do!) This is the Tip I find the hardest to do. - Carolyn House

Tip 7. NETWORK! Go to as many conferences, etc. as possible and get to know your fellow AEs. - Barbara Woodall

Tip 8. Read old minutes. Board of Director minutes show you how the board/association got to where it is now. See if your ideas have already been tried. See if suggestions made in the past might be more doable at the present, if they did not work in the past. - Barbara Woodall

Tip 9. Get to know your OAR staff. It is much more comfortable getting information if you are personally acquainted with the person you are talking to. - Barbara Woodall

Tip 10. Attend all board of director and general membership meetings. The more members you know, the better, especially the movers and shakers. They are probably the ones you will be working closely with. - Barbara Woodall

Tip 11. Browse NAR’s website. It has tons of information that can be utilized. - Barbara Woodall

Tip 12. Study the Code of Ethics and Arbitration Manual and the Handbook on MLS Policy. Even if you have committees to handle these things, you will need to be familiar with your role and be able to guide new committee members through some of these steps. - Barbara Woodall

Tip 13. Become familiar with your office and office storage spaces, know where to find what you need when you need it without undue waste of time. Those boxes that have not been opened in a long time may hold something you will need unexpectedly. - Barbara Woodall

Tip 14. Know your MLS Rules and Regulations and your By-Laws. You are going to have hundreds of questions from the membership on these. - Barbara Woodall

Tip 15. Use the knowledge of your long-time members. They can tell you an awful lot about what works and what doesn’t, about who can give you any help you might need in any area. - Barbara Woodall

Tip 16. Understand you have multiple bosses in the Board of Directors. - Shirley Holland

Tip 17. Make it click with the Board of Directors. Build respect with honesty. - Shirley Holland

Tip 18. Disclose, disclose, disclose—even when you don’t have to. - Shirley Holland

Tip 19. Keep a log noting changes to governing documents with the governing documents. This gives a history of how, why, and when the changes were made. Great reference for when questions on why something was done. - Shirley Davis

Tip 20. Stay in tune with your membership—especially the Board of Directors. - Shirley Davis

Tip 21. Develop Trust with Board of Directors. - Al Unser

Tip 22. Strong local associations make a strong State Association. - Al Unser

Tip 23. Get input on changes or status of the items offered to the membership (e.g. forms, mls). - Al Unser

Tip 24. Networking the ability to call and ask for ideas and input from other AE’s around the state is very important. - Lee Roy Kalka

Tip 25. Give the credit to your President when things go well and take the blame when things go wrong. Job of the AE is to make the President look good. - Harriett Wagnon