Better Together: Scaling Chapter Success Without the Stress

Let’s be honest: running a local chapter is rewarding, but it’s also a lot of work. Between hunting for the right pitch deck and drafting your third MOU of the month, it can feel like you’re building the plane while flying it.

The good news? Someone else in the EVA network has probably already built that plane and they’ve got the blueprints ready for you.

At the EVA Annual Member Summit and Awards this May, we’re hosting a session titled "Power in Partnerships," an interactive roundtable designed to break down the silos between chapters and turn local wins into national standards.

The "Good, the Bad, and the Ugly"

This isn't a top-down lecture. We’re getting real about local operations. Led by Andy Fraser (EVA of Washington DC) and Gary Heaton (EVA of Ohio), this session is a peer-led deep dive into what is actually working on the ground and what isn't.

We’re inviting Chapter Leaders to bring their "ugly" stories (the logistical nightmares) and their "good" stories (the big wins) so we can collectively find a better way to move forward.

The "Needs & Leads" Exchange

The heart of this session is a facilitated exchange designed to maximize our collective strength:

• Identify Your Needs: What is holding your chapter back? Is it a lack of event checklists? Difficulty managing sponsorships?

• Offer Your Leads: What have you mastered? Do you have a killer slide deck or a streamlined method for tracking local partners?

By identifying who has what, we can create a reciprocal network where no leader feels like they are on an island.

Building a "Community of Practice"

We’re not just talking for the sake of talking. This session has a clear mission: defining what we need from the National arm of EVA. We want to ensure that National provides the specific support, templates, and coordination tools you will actually use and iterate upon.

Key Discussion Points Include:

• National Scaling: Identifying chapter-grown materials, like MOUs and event checklists, that are ready to be shared nationwide.

• The Resource Repository: How can chapters "remix" and upload shared resources to keep our national library current and field-tested?

• Beyond the Listserv: We know the email listserv is a start, but what would you actually use for real-time chapter-to-chapter coordination? Slack? Discord? A dedicated portal?

Join the Brain Trust

If you’ve ever felt like you were duplicating effort or wished you had a "cheat sheet" for chapter operations, this session is for you. Join Andy, Gary, and your fellow EV educators to help us build a more connected, efficient, and powerful EVA.

Let’s stop working harder and start working together.