The document outlines guidelines for TDWI chapters, which are local groups that further TDWI's mission of educating BI/DW professionals. Chapters are led by elected officers and aim to provide networking, education, and promote TDWI events and membership. They must hold regular meetings and remain neutral/unbiased. TDWI provides support like marketing, virtual funding, and discounts to members to help chapters operate successfully.

1. TDWI Chapter Charter
Updated 04/28/09
Preamble
The Data Warehousing InstituteTM (TDWITM), a division of 1105 Media, Inc., is the premier
provider of in-depth, high-quality education and research in the business intelligence (BI) and
data warehousing (DW) industry. TDWI fosters a community of learning where business and
technical professionals come together to gain knowledge and skills, network with peers, and
advance their careers. Through education, research, and training, TDWI enables individuals,
teams, and organizations to leverage information to improve decision making, optimize
performance, and achieve business objectives. As a trusted leader in the community, TDWI
believes in delivering high-quality, vendor-neutral products and services and treating customers,
partners, and suppliers with integrity and respect.
Chapter Objectives and Purpose
To foster education and networking at the local level, TDWI sponsors Chapters in regions
throughout the world. The purpose of TDWI Chapters is to:
 Bring together BI/DW professionals in a geographic area to share best practices.
 Create strong local networks of BI/DW professionals to share ideas and provide mutual
support.
 Educate BI/DW professionals about the critical success factors involved in building and
maintaining BI/DW solutions.
 Educate the vendor community about the unique requirements of BI/DW organizations in
a specific geographic area.
 Recruit new TDWI Members.
 Promote TDWI events and programs to local BI/DW professionals.
TDWI Chapters need to remain faithful to the spirit and guiding principles of TDWI. This means
that TDWI Chapters will:
 Deliver high-quality, vendor-neutral education, networking, and training opportunities.
 Work to advance the professional development of local BI/DW professionals.
 Be faithful ambassadors of TDWI at the local level.
Chapter Meetings
TDWI Chapter meetings should remain consistent with TDWI’s mission of providing “no hype,
no fluff, no bias” education and training. Recommended guidelines for the format of a meeting
are:
1) Announcements/Welcome
2) Speaker Presentation
3) Roundtable or Panel Discussion
4) Networking Time
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2. TDWI Chapter Charter
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The speaker portion may be presented by a Chapter attendee (i.e., case study) or an outside
expert. Members of TDWI’s faculty are good candidates for outside speakers.
TDWI discourages Chapters from having vendors deliver presentations. Even the best vendor
presenters, no matter how technically astute and well grounded in customer needs and
requirements, may skew their content to align with their company’s product strategy and
architecture and not provide a totally objective perspective.
TDWI Chapter Meetings are open and free to all BI/DW professionals. However, individuals
who are not TDWI members are encouraged to become TDWI Members to obtain the full
benefits of Membership. Chapter Officers need to ensure that vendors and consultants do not use
the Chapter meeting or its directory of attendees to sell, pitch, or promote their products or
services.
Governance of TDWI Chapters
TDWI Chapters are managed by local BI/DW professionals, who elect a set of officers every two
years to compose a Board of Directors.
Officers. The launch of a new Chapter requires a Board consisting of at least three officers: a
President, a Vice President, and a Secretary. However, TDWI recommends that Chapters have at
least five officers to ensure momentum and succession by the end of the first year of operation.
The minimum three officer positions are:
 President: Runs the Chapter by leading the planning and execution of Chapter events.
Organizes other officers to conduct the business of the Chapter. Serves as the primary
point of contact with TDWI. Ensures that the Chapter stays within its allotted funding.
 Vice President: Assists the President in planning and coordinating Chapter events.
Conducts the business of the Chapter in the President’s absence.
 Secretary: Maintains and safeguards the lists of attendees at Chapter meetings. Ensures
that all attendees fill out an attendance form at each Chapter meeting and sends a copy of
the forms to the TDWI Chapter Administrator. Writes a review of each meeting for the
Web site.
Other positions a Chapter should consider adding are:
o Sponsorship Coordinator: Recruits and manages sponsors. Provides a point of
contact for sponsors. Coordinates the delivery of sponsors’ benefits at meetings.
Ensures compliance with sponsorship guidelines.
o Membership Coordinator: Promotes TDWI Membership at Chapter meetings
and between meetings.
o Publicity Coordinator: Promotes upcoming Chapter meetings via the local
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3. TDWI Chapter Charter
Updated 04/28/09
press, calendar listings on relevant Web sites, and by working with local
consultancies and the branch offices of BI/DW vendors to publicize events using
their local mailing lists.
o Events Coordinator: Provides help identifying meeting locations and organizing
logistics for meetings.
Eligibility. Any Chapter attendees may become Officers, as long as they hold high-level BI/DW
positions within their organizations and/or have considerable BI/DW experience and expertise.
Chapter attendees who work for a BI/DW vendor will need approval from TDWI before they can
become Chapter officers.
Terms. New Officers are elected every two years. Terms of service for officers are 24 months.
There are no term limits. Elections take place in the spring every two years (i.e., April/May).
Benefits. TDWI provides up to seven complimentary TDWI Memberships to each Chapter
Board, to be used by Officers as long as they serve on the Board. TDWI will provide five days of
complimentary training per year to each Chapter Board to be shared by the Officers. These
training passes are valid at TDWI World Conferences or Seminars, are nontransferable, and
cannot be rolled over from one calendar year to the next.
Board Meetings. The Board will meet regularly to plan Chapter meetings. All Officers are
encouraged to attend these meetings in person or via teleconference. The Board is solely
responsible for the content of each Chapter meeting.
Chapter Officer Meetings. TDWI will hold quarterly meetings, inviting a representative from
each Chapter Board. These meetings will be used to provide updates on the Chapter program.
TDWI requires that one Board member from each Chapter attend and take responsibility for
updating his or her officer Board.
Chapter Operations
To minimize the administrative burden of running a TDWI Chapter, TDWI will assist the
Chapter in several ways.
 Meeting Announcements – TDWI will market your meetings to our database of BI/DW
professionals. The Chapter must submit meeting details, including date, location, and
agenda at least six weeks prior to the meeting. This will provide TDWI with the 30 – 45
days needed to properly market the meeting. Upon notification to TDWI, Chapters may
send meeting announcements to their own contact lists, including attendees of previous
meetings.
 Attendance Records – TDWI will maintain records of all past attendees of each Chapter
meeting.
 Membership – TDWI will process and support all Memberships that are created from a
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4. TDWI Chapter Charter
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Chapter meeting.
 Virtual Accounts – TDWI will maintain records of all incoming revenue from Chapter
sponsorships. TDWI will also maintain records of all expenses. Chapters will send all
check requests and/or expense reports, with receipts attached, to TDWI for processing
within 3 weeks following each Chapter meeting. TDWI will provide each Chapter with a
current status of their account on a quarterly basis or as changes occur. TDWI Chapters
are not legal entities with bank accounts. Chapters may not collect TDWI Membership
dues, open a bank account, or collect money directly to defray Chapter expenses.
Chapter Membership Incentives and Discounts. As an incentive, TDWI offers 10% discounts
to Chapter attendees who become new Members. TDWI provides a customized Membership
application, usable at each meeting, to promote this offer. In addition, online promotional codes
are available for each Chapter on the TDWI Web site.
TDWI provides further incentive for Chapters to recruit TDWI Members with awards of $25 for
each Individual Membership and $100 for each Team Membership, credited to the Chapter
virtual bank account.
Attendance Forms. Chapter attendees will provide their contact information when registering
for a Chapter meeting. Attendees who do not preregister must fill out a Chapter Attendance
Form at the meeting. The Chapter President is responsible for ensuring that TDWI receives
contact information for all onsite registrants.
Sponsorships
To fund its activities, each Chapter is expected to promote sponsorships to local consultancies,
user organizations, or other BI/DW organizations. The cost of a one-year sponsorship is $2,500,
nonrefundable. TDWI will provide $200 per meeting to support a Chapter’s first three meetings
if the Chapter has not already obtained sponsorship support. After that time, a Chapter must be
financially self-sufficient.
Sponsors receive the following benefits:
 Signage at Chapter meetings.
 Sponsors can place collateral at a sponsorship table in the Chapter meeting room.
 Sponsors are recognized at the beginning of each Chapter meeting.
 Sponsors are recognized on the Chapter’s Web site.
 Sponsors can offer “door prizes” at Chapter meetings (after coordination with the Board).
 Sponsors can market Chapter meetings to their local customers and prospects, as long as
they properly attribute their affiliation with the Chapter (i.e., their Chapter sponsorship)
and adhere to TDWI branding policies.
Sponsors should be made aware of the following:
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5. TDWI Chapter Charter
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 Sponsorship does not correlate to speaking opportunities. The Chapter Board extends
speaking invitations based on valued expertise and knowledge, and a sponsorship will
not influence the decision-making process.
 Sponsors are not provided attendee lists or contact information, unless voluntarily
provided by individual attendees.
 Sponsors must receive the approval of the Chapter Board to distribute “giveaway” items
to each attendee at Chapter meetings.
 TDWI will review each sponsorship application and reserves the right to reject any
application deemed incompatible with TDWI’s mission.
How it Works. Sponsors send contracts directly to TDWI, which invoices the sponsors and
deposits payments into the Chapters’ virtual accounts. Chapters are responsible for “selling”
their own sponsorships, and there is no restriction on the number of sponsors a Chapter can have.
TDWI must approve any changes to the standard sponsorship contract. TDWI retains 35% of
sponsorship funds to help defray costs associated with supporting the chapters.
Accounting and Reimbursements. TDWI will collect funds on behalf of TDWI Chapters and
deposit them into a “virtual bank account.” Virtual funds will be used on a first-in and first-out
basis. The funds will have an 18-month expiration date starting from the time they are received
into the "virtual bank account". If your Chapter sponsor funds are approaching this 18-month
expiration date, please contact TDWI in order to reach a resolution.
TDWI pays Chapter expenses upon receiving a check request or expense report with receipts
from Officers seeking reimbursement. Chapters will provide expense reports related to Chapter
meetings within 3 weeks following the meeting. TDWI requires one-month lead time for all
check requests. TDWI then deducts these expenditures from the Chapter’s virtual account.
TDWI will publish account balances on a quarterly basis to each Chapter and upon request.
Virtual funds are designed to help TDWI Chapters pay the travel and speaking expenses of
outside speakers or defray meeting room or other costs associated with holding regular meetings.
Virtual funds cannot be used to pay Chapter Officers to speak at their own Chapter meetings,
including expenses for traveling to and from Chapter meetings. TDWI’s policy is to reimburse
expenditures associated with group activities, not individual activities.
Eligibility Requirements
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6. TDWI Chapter Charter
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To remain a TDWI Chapter in good standing and be eligible to spend virtual funds in its account,
a TDWI Chapter must:
1. Adhere to the Chapter charter.
2. Hold at least four meetings a year.
3. Assist TDWI with maintaining updates to a directory of Chapter participants.
4. Provide information for updating the Chapter Web site between meetings.
5. Submit a detailed agenda for upcoming meetings at least six weeks in advance to allow
TDWI the time required to market a meeting.
6. Send completed attendance lists and forms to TDWI after each meeting.
7. Attract at least 15 people, on average, to each Chapter meeting and maintain sufficient
sponsorships to fund ongoing activities.
Miscellaneous
Branding. TDWI Chapter Boards may use TDWI branding (i.e., logo and designs) on mailings,
signage, and other external communications vehicles as long as they send the material in
advance to the TDWI Chapter Coordinator for review and approval. Under no circumstances can
TDWI Chapter Board Members put a TDWI logo or title on their business cards or other
professional documents without prior permission of TDWI.
Web. TDWI provides Chapters with a TDWI Web page for displaying Chapter information,
news, and links. Upon submission of Chapter meeting agendas, the Web page will be updated to
reflect new meeting information. The Web page will include contact information for the Chapter
officers as well as sponsor information.
Disbanding Chapters. TDWI may disband a TDWI Chapter at any time for failing to meet the
eligibility requirements listed above and for any of the following reasons:
 Not maintaining accurate attendance records
 Not using virtual account funds for their intended purposes or incurring expenses that
exceed the funds in the virtual account
 Misusing TDWI’s brand according to TDWI guidelines
 Other malfeasance
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