Sports Turf Manager Association

The positions representing Schools (K-12), Facilities used by Professional Athletes and the Commercial Representative are up for election to a 2-year term. The Officer positions of Secretary, Treasurer, Commercial Vice President, and President-Elect are up for election to a one-year term. The Officer positions do not require a candidate to represent a specific category of membership, except for the Commercial Vice President. The President-Elect (Mike Andresen, CSFM) will ascend automatically to President, and the President (Mike Trigg, CSFM) will ascend to Immediate Past President without election. All board nominees must be voting members of the association who are in good standing. To review the STMA Bylaws regarding election, click here.

If you are interested in being considered for national board leadership, or wish to nominate a member, please provide the following information:
• name
• full contact information
• employer name and contact information; indicate if this is full-time or part time employment
• which category he/she/you represent
• include a reference with full contact information
• answer the question: Why are he/she/you interested in serving on the STMA Board of Directors?

Send this information to STMA, 805 New Hampshire, Ste. E, Lawrence, KS 66044, Fax (800) 366-0391, or by email to STMAinfo@sportsturfmanager.org by July 7 .

This Month’s Bylaws Highlight: Changes in Representation

In previous months, you have read about the new and revised membership categories that have been proposed by the Membership Committee and incorporated into the Bylaws by the Bylaws Committee.

In the next few issues, STMA will highlight a different proposed change so that when you receive your voting materials in November, you will be well-versed and ready to cast your vote.

The Bylaws Committee has strengthened and further defined the process and timing for addressing changes to the board composition. These changes would result from a board member becoming unemployed or moving to a category other than the one he/she was elected to represent. The Bylaws Committee has recommended these processes and timelines to insure optimal board operation.

The Bylaws are basically grouped into three areas. The Bylaws that affect the:
1) entire Board of Directors
2) Officers
3) Directors

Changes in Representation - OFFICERS
Section 6.4 Changes in Representation
6.4.1 Any Officer, except the Vice-President Commercial and the Immediate Past President, who gains full-time employment in the commercial sector during his/her term of office, shall have six (6) months or until the end of his/her term, whichever is less, to resign from the Board.
6.4.2 If the Vice President-Commercial becomes employed in the non-commercial sector during his/her term of office, he/she shall have six (6) months or until the end of his/her term, whichever is less, to resign from the board.
6.4.3 Any Officer who becomes unemployed shall have six (6) months or until the end of his/her term, whichever is less, to become employed, or resign from the Board.

Changes in Representation - DIRECTORS
Section 7.3 Changes in Representation:
7.3.1 Any Director who changes employment that affects the membership segment he/she represents shall have six (6) months or until the end of his/her term, whichever is less, to resign from the Board.
7.3.2 Any Director who becomes unemployed shall have six (6) months or until the end of his/her term, whichever is less, to become employed in the membership segment that he/she was elected to represent, or resign from the Board.



STMA Member Kevin Trotta Receives 2006 Environmental Communicator Award

Today’s turfgrass manager must always consider the environment when making management decisions, said STMA member and Turfgrass IPM Specialist Kevin J. Trotta, recipient of the 2006 Turf & Ornamental Communicator’s Association (TOCA) Environmental Communicator of the Year award. If the turf industry wants to be perceived as stewards of the environment, “we must be stewards of the environment,” said Trotta, who received the award sponsored by Advan LLC at the TOCA annual meeting in Napa, CA. He is the eighth recipient of this award.

The TOCA Environmental Communicator of the Year award is given annually to an active green industry member for outstanding efforts in communicating the benefits of environmental stewardship to a particular audience within the turf and ornamental industry.

Trotta, a six-year member of STMA, is an educator, speaker and writer about Integrated Pest Management (IPM) and is an expert in the practical application of those sustainable and environmentally friendly practices in turfgrass management. Trotta began his career in the Green Industry as a lawn and landscape contractor. He also served as an assistant golf course superintendent before becoming head groundskeeper for the North Rockland Central School District in Garnerville, NY in 1988. Trotta holds a B.S. degree in landscape horticulture from the State University of New York and a M.A. degree in environmental studies from City College of New York.

TOCA is a national association of editors, writers, publishers, public relations/advertising practitioners and others involved in Green Industry communications. The association was formed in 1990 to serve members of the Green Industry.

Perhaps you will never be faced with responding to a crisis. But, if you ever have an athlete get injured during play, an employee who gets hurt on the job, a disgruntled employee, a weather related disaster, or an environmental incident, you just might find yourself in the spotlight and under scrutiny.

As a manager of people, you may have to deal with an employee’s death or illness, a sudden change in top management, or employee issues of sexual harassment. Each one of these can constitute a crisis. You must be prepared for that decisive moment when your response can lead the crisis to better or to worse. An initial negative perception is nearly impossible to reverse.

Crisis Communication Response Tips
• Respond within 24 hours.
• Don’t point fingers.
• Always be available to the media.
• Be visible and on-site.
• Tell the absolute truth.
• Never say “no comment.”

You are judged within the first 30 seconds of speaking if you and the information you are providing is trusted. Appearing empathetic and caring are the most importance characteristics you can exhibit to show “trustworthiness”. Your audience will also assess your competence, your honesty and your commitment. Your goal as a communicator is to demonstrate these attributes.

It is important to recognize that the media is usually more interested in covering opposing viewpoints and that bad news and conflict are more newsworthy. Most reporters are working under a tight deadline, have limited scientific and technical knowledge and can be a bit cynical. When preparing to talk with the media, address the principal underlying concern of the audience/questioner/listener keeping your responses short and concise.

In many crisis situations it is important to bring in a third party and to tell the media who you have contacted.

Crisis Communication Interviews
• Take control early by educating the reporter and correcting misunderstandings.
• Clarify the questions.
• Prepare two to three main messages.
• Give facts: who, what, when, where, but don’t give how and why.
• Express your concern. Safety is always the top priority.
• Avoid jargon and do not use humor.
• Frame your answers in the positive.
• Tell how fast you responded, how much has been done and what you will do about it in the future.
• Thank or give appreciation to any assistance.
• Avoid words with negative connotations such as lethal, risky, deaths, maimed, toxic.
• Do not repeat the “charges” or any negatives words, such as no, not, never.
• Be conscious of your body language. Do not place your hands in a “fig leaf” in front or in back of you, but keep your hands/palms open and above the waist. Avoid touching your face, clasping or clenching your hands and pointing your fingers.

Remember these phrases.
You want to give a sense of more to come, which will help to establish your trustworthiness.

“What I can tell you is …”
“So far, what we know is …”
“So far, what we have done is …
“What we are planning to do next is …”
“We will be able to tell you more when …”
“I’ll be glad to talk with you again after we conduct …”

Source: Susan Santos, Ph.D., FOCUS GROUP, Medford, MA

Crisis Example and Response
Situation: You have a major event that is being hosted in your stadium the next day. As a set of temporary bleachers is being installed, they collapse and your assistant has been critically injured. A reporter is at the stadium asking what happened and why, and if the event is taking place.

Your first response must show concern for the worker and his family. “Our first concern is for Joe Smith and his family. Joe’s safety and the safety of all of our workers is always our top priority.

What we do know is that a temporary set of bleachers being installed here at King Stadium collapsed about an hour ago. Joe has been taken to Mercy Hospital.”

So far, we have cordoned off the area to protect the public. A team of OSHA inspectors are on their way. We’ll cooperate in any way to find out what happened. We have also called in a safety engineer to help. We will be able to tell you more about the accident after OSHA and our safety engineer has evaluated the situation.

Your response to whether or not the event will be held the next day depends upon your management teams’ decision. If you are going ahead with it, you need to respond with how you are insuring fan safety: “We are going ahead with the concert tomorrow; however to insure the safety of our rock fans, we will be limiting the seating to the built-in seats in the stadium grandstands and offering on-the-floor seating in the end zone.” If you are not going ahead, “We will not be holding the concert tomorrow. Fan safety is paramount and until we know why the bleachers collapsed, we will not be holding any events.”

We appreciate the help of the city’s emergency response team. I ‘ll be glad to talk with you again when we know more.

For more information on crisis plans and crisis communication, visit these web sites.
http://www3.niu.edu/newsplace/crisis.html
http://www.lsu.edu/pa/crisis.html
http://usinfo.state.gov/products/pubs/pressoffice/crisis.htm
http://www.topstory.ca/crisis.html

This 26-page booklet provides the turf manager with a thorough overview on how and where to apply chemical inputs to turfgrass. It is also an excellent teaching tool for the sports turf manager to use in crew training or a refresher for the pesticide applicator at the facility.

This booklet accompanied the demonstration and presentation by Roch Gaussoin, Ph.D., University of Nebraska, on Equipment Calibration at the STMA Conference in Orlando earlier this year. It covers:
• liquid applicators
• sprayer nozzles
• technology to improve accuracy
• granular application equipment
• sprayer calibration
• tank mixing pesticides
• granular equipment calibration

To read or print a copy, click here.