Happy New Year! As we move into a new decade and new life and professional adventures, it’s important to reflect on a few key items; what went well, what needed to change, and what did we accomplish. I want to take the time to put my thoughts down on these items as it relates to our chapter. I’d love to hear from our membership on these key items as it relates to you and/or your organization so I’ve started a discussion on our chapter’s LinkedIn Site:

http://www.linkedin.com/groups?home=&gid=2137909&trk=anet_ug_hm.

What Worked for ASTD SCWC?

-          Our Volunteer Board – Thank You, Thank You, Thank You to all of our current and outgoing volunteer board members. You are a priceless resource and our chapter wouldn’t be here today without you and your commitment to ASTD SCWC.

-          Our Supportive Members and local community – The best part of being a member of this chapter and sitting on the board is the opportunity to meet and engage with our local community and membership. I hope I get the opportunity to personally meet each one of you in 2010.

-          Our Incredible Calendar of Events – This is a total shout out to Kimberly Frederickson! Kimberly has been phenomenal at organizing our events and bringing in wonderful speakers to keep our membership in the know within the industry and our specific learning interests. Thank you Kimberly! 

What did we change for ASTD SCWC?

-          Event Management – We’ve transitioned our event management from CVENT to Event Brite and we are thrilled with Event Brite’s website tools and capabilities. Hopefully you’ve had the opportunity to stay up to date on our program offerings as well as enjoy the ease of registering for events through EventBrite.

-          Chapter Management – Lean economic times call for “lean thinking”. We realigned some priorities and tasks for our board to handle and minimized the need for a paid administrator to those areas that require an outside third party. This helped our chapter becoming financially stronger, giving us the opportunity to bring additional member benefits to 2010.

-          Event schedules and format – We tried some new things in 2009 – mainly the FREE Summer Savings Series and based on attendee feedback this was quite the success.

What did ASTD SCWC Accomplish?

-          Joint programming with local organizations – We partnered with SOCAP in 2009 for our annual event which gave our members the opportunity to attend a large scale event with an A-List Keynote, Curt Coffman, noted author of the best selling book “First Break All the Rules.” 

-          We have recruited and elected a full Board of Directors for 2010 and we’re ready to get down to business! We are always looking for volunteers to help us reach our goals. If you are interested, check out our current opportunities

Feel free to reach out to me and the rest of the board with questions, comments, and suggestions.

I wish you all the best for 2010. 

-Susannah Rockman-Lee