ARFF Committees
ARFF is a “working” club. All members are required to participate on a committee. There are many activities that require a wide variety of skills. At the beginning of each year, the president selects committee chairs and members based on the preferences that you indicate on your application or renewal form.
If you’re new to the club, you may not be familiar with all of the committees and the jobs/skills required. We hope this list will help you make the choice that fits your skills, schedule, and areas of interest.
If you are interested in being a Committee Chair or Co-Chair, indicate that on your renewal form. We are always looking for new apprentices for these roles.
Special skills and training are needed for many of the Trial Committee roles.
The Trial Committee Chair will select people with the skills for various jobs needed to run a successful trial. If you are interested in learning to take a leadership role for any of the positions, contact the Trial Committee Chair directly. All members are expected to participate in working the club trials . Even if you cannot attend the event, there are many jobs that can be done before and after the events and from alternate locations.
Key Positions:
- Trial Chair/Co-Chair
- Chief Ring Steward (manages Worker Schedule)
- Ribbons Coordinator
- Hospitality Coordinator
- Raffle Coordinator
- Physical Site Coordinator
- Equipment Manager
- Ring Managers / Chief Course Builders
- Publicity / Marketing Coordinator
Skills: Organizational skills, people skills, marketing skills, and for certain positions, experience with USDAA trials.
Equipment Committee members are the caretakers of the club equipment stored at the River Road Farm, Carlisle, MA. Activities include:
- Field opening (unpack equipment/set up contacts): April
- Equipment inventory: during field opening & closing, other times if needed
- Pack truck/unpack equipment for Labor Day Trial: September
- Field closing (pack up and store equipment): November
- Schedule events/recruit help from non- committee members
- Track inventory and repair needs on spreadsheet
- Repair, clean, and paint equipment as needed; repair party if needed
- Make recommendations to buy new equipment/update as USDAA rules change.
Skills: Organizational skills, ability to lift equipment (with help), painting skills, yard work (raking), handy(wo)man skills.
This committee manages the club’s quarterly newsletter and annual ad in Clean Run to celebrate championships earned by ARFF teams in the previous calendar year. Activities include:
- Coordinating the articles and features for each newsletter (brags, new member intro's, championships, etc.)
- Writing articles (writers always welcome!)
- Creating or sourcing graphic design and photography (photos always welcome!)
- Soliciting membership for story ideas, filler articles, agility -related content
- Coordinating new member welcome, including current membership list and a copy of the most recent newsletter
- Producing ARFF's annual champions’ ad in Clean Run. Administrative tasks include maintaining list of championships earned during the year, coordinating photo selection with handlers and ad designer, verifying ad submission guidelines, and arranging for payment of ad. Graphic design skills needed to create the ad itself.
Skills: Writing, proofreading, editing, graphic design, creativity, photography, project management.
This committee is responsible for recruiting new members, conducting handler and dog evaluations, and ensuring that new members are familiar with practice field etiquette and club policies. Some activities include:
- Receiving and responding to email inquiries regarding membership
- Scheduling and completing evaluations of new applicants
- Sending welcome email to board-approved applicants, including information on the practice site and schedule
- Advising web administrators, newsletter chair, and mentoring coordinator of each new member
- Ensuring that each new member feels welcome by introducing them to other members and their dogs, and assisting them with practice field etiquette and club policies as needed.
- Coordinating annual “ARFF Wear” logo items (t-shirts, hats, etc.) order from
- EmbroidMe in Chelmsford, MA (taking orders from membership, contacting vendor, collecting payments, and distributing items to members).
Skills: People skills, organizational skills, sense of humor.
This committee runs the weekly practices at River Road Farm in Carlisle, MA. Our goal is to present variety of exercises and nested courses so that members at all levels of experience can participate.
Responsibilities:
- Give input on possible practice topics
- Attend Wednesday practices on a regular basis (guideline: committee members should expect that they can attend approximately a third of the scheduled Wednesday practices)
- Co-lead three/four Wednesday practices with a Practice Committee Co-Chair.
~Participate in equipment set up and pull down
~Use white board to create a running order
~Help time participants on course or at each exercise
~Help with instruction if comfortable
~Co-leaders may not be able to run their own dogs on their assigned co-leading days depending on the exercises and number of attendees. - Keep practice safe and fun; assist members in understanding and behaving according to field rules during Wednesday practices
Skills: Organizational skills, a genuine interest in learning more about agility, teamwork, and a sense of humor.
This committee is responsible for organizing the club’s social activities. Typically, there are informal winter and summer social events each year. Some activities include:
- Winter social (January—location varies): coordinating all logistics for the event, including securing date and facility, sending invites to members, arranging pot-luck and set-up/clean-up
- Summer social (August at River Road Farm): confirming date (usually the same day as equipment packing day before trial), inviting members, confirming catering arrangements with Lizzy’s Ice Cream, and coordinating set- up/clean-up
Skills: People skills, organizational skills, sense of humor.
Members organize a variety of training events for the club, which can include two to three seminars per year taught by professional, “big-name” trainers and additional short (1-to-2-hour) workshops taught by our own ARFF members during practice time at the field. Activities include:
- Designing and scheduling a mix of training activities for the membership (paid, professional events and free workshops)
- Managing the mentor program, matching mentors with mentees for skill development
- Organizing in-person winter training: video brunches, dinner with the experts, trick-demo dinner
- Surveying the membership often to make sure we are meeting the needs of all levels
- Working with other committees on joint efforts like the lending library.
Skills: Organizational skills, budgeting (spreadsheets), ability to work with online survey tools, information gathering, willingness to recruit ARFF members and others to teach sessions, ability to brainstorm creative training alternatives, and sense of humor.
This committee manages the club’s website (www.arffagility.com). Activities include:
- Coordinating articles and features with the other committees.
- Writing articles (writers always welcome!)
- Creating or sourcing graphic design and photography (photos always welcome!)
- Soliciting membership for story ideas, filler articles, agility -related content
- Managing website and content refreshes as needed
- Managing the ARFF archives
- Coordinating and enhancing our social media efforts (ARFF's presence on Facebook, Twitter, and other social media).
Skills: Writing, proofreading, editing, graphic design, creativity, photography, project management, understanding of social media, website management, creativity.