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2008-2009 A-O MEMBER MESSAGES
Your 2008-2009 Division Officers will e-mail a common message
each month to all Division members, and those messages will be posted here as they are sent.
JUNE 2009 MEMBER
MESSAGE
Hello A-O Division Members! Summer is upon us, and it seems as if
the summer heat has hit us full blast! I hope you are enjoying the “lazy days of summer” as we wrap up our “Excellence
in Action” year!
2009 A-O Division Annual Meeting
I hope those of you who attended the 2009 A-O Division Annual Meeting
at the Cherokee Casino Resort had a great time! For those of you who were unable to attend, well, you missed a GREAT meeting!
We had 78 IAAP members and guests in attendance. Members who attended the entire weekend, including the two seminars provided
by the host Chapter on Friday, were able to walk away with eight (8) recertification points! For a complete summary of the
51st Annual Meeting of the Arkansas-Oklahoma Division Meeting, which includes those Chapters and Members we recognized at
our Annual Awards Banquet Dinner, please go to our website (www.iaap-ao.org). You will find the summary under the A-O Members Place tab, then under A-O News.
Our Southwest District Director, Toni Smith CPS/CAP, attended Annual Meeting and provided an
International update. She also left with a good impression of the A-O Division. The following are comments she shared with
us regarding her attendance at the A-O Division Meeting:
Ø
She said
her visit to the A-O Division Annual Meeting was wonderful, the Division’s hospitality was great, and we made her feel
right at home.
Ø
She thought
it was a good idea to allow members to speak during the business session and not limit it to Delegates only.
Ø
She thought
it was a great way to communicate to members the results of the Membership Satisfaction Survey sent to members in March 2009.
(You can find the survey results and the comments of our members on our website at www.iaap-ao.org in the A-O News section, along with the Division’s report as presented to members who attended Annual Meeting.)
Ø
She thought
it was a nice, personal touch to have the Division Officers present recognition awards to the Chapters for whom they were
the Division Board Contact.
Ø
We learned
from Toni that the A-O Division website was the prototype used by the District Directors earlier in the year when they created
guidelines for review of Chapter and Division websites across the association. (We always knew we had an AWESOME website!)
Also posted in the A-O News Section of the A-O Division website (www.iaap-ao.org) are President Bryan’s outgoing comments and her incoming comments.
Thank you again to the Tulsa Chapter members for hosting such a great
A-O Division Annual Meeting! Your A-O Division Officers appreciate all your hard work and dedication in making this year’s
Annual Meeting one we will remember for many years!
International EFAM
We hope many of you are planning to attend the upcoming International
EFAM Meeting in Minneapolis, MN from July 26-29. Your 2009-2010
Division Officers will be communicating to you in the near future our plans for an A-O Division dinner while we are in Minneapolis.
The A-O Division has also purchased three (3) tables (24 seats) through the Banquet Table Reservation Fundraiser, which will
benefit Second Harvest (who provides food to local food shelves throughout the upper Midwest). The A-O
Division will make these seats reserved seats available to our members who will be attending the EFAM. We will provide more
information regarding this in the very near future.
2009 Educational Leadership Conference
Each year the A-O Division provides an Educational Leadership Conference
to its members. The date for this year’s event is Saturday, August 22, at the Hampton Inn in Van
Buren, AR. Why Van Buren? Well, if you draw lines on a map from Little
Rock over to Oklahoma City, up to Stillwater
up to Bartlesville down to Tulsa over to Bentonville
down to Fayetteville and back over to Little Rock,
you’ll find that Van Buren is almost smack-dab in the middle of all of us. We want to make it an equal drive for everybody.
We have reserved a block of rooms for IAAP members for Friday evening,
August 21, 2009 at a rate of $94 per room. You will need to call the hotel
directly to reserve your room with a credit card guarantee. The number for the hotel is 479/471-7447. (There is no toll-free
number available for reserving a room.) We have reserved a block of 10 singles and 10 doubles for reservation by our members.
Once again, there will not be a registration charge for A-O Division Members to attend.
However, we will bill those members who register but do not attend for their food cost afterwards. The A-O Division will provide reimbursement again to members for half their hotel room cost for Friday night, up to
$47 plus tax.
Your 2009-2010 Division Officers are already hard at work planning
this event for you. We do know we will offer educational seminars that will provide recertification points and will share
information with you from EFAM. More information will be available to you as we continue to finalize our plans. However, we
want everyone to plan to attend. There will be something for everybody.
Pathways to Excellence
It isn’t too late to submit your criteria to become a Member
of Excellence or a Chapter of Excellence. Members have until June 30 to submit their criteria to Headquarters, and Chapters
have until July 10 to submit their criteria to Headquarters. You will find links to the online submission forms at http://pathways.iaap-hq.org.
As of June 2, 2009,
the A-O Division had 17 members who had already submitted their criteria to become Members of Excellence! Congratulations
to these members:
Linda Williams CPS/C AP – Division
Member at Large
Teresa Tidwell CAP – Central
Arkansas Chapter
Linda Dizney CAP – Razorback
Chapter
Sandy Hancock CPS – Razorback
Chapter
Dana Ledbetter – Razorback Chapter
Tamara Ellenbecker – Razorback Chapter
Jamie Watson CAP – Bartlesville
Chapter
Jodi McMillin CPS/CAP
– Bartlesville Chapter
Brenda McKinnis – Bartlesville
Chapter
Brenda Matlock CAP – Bartlesville
Chapter
Lacey Courtney CAP – American
Fidelity Chapter
Kelly Ashworth CAP – American
Fidelity Chapter
Florence Fly CPS/CAP
– American Fidelity Chapter
Cheryl Cook CPS/CAP
– Oklahoma City Chapter
Janet Griebel CPS CTM – Land
Run Professionals Chapter
Christine Hilderbrand CPS/CAP
– Tulsa Chapter
Jamie Ward CPS/CAP
– Tulsa Chapter
Congratulations also to the American Fidelity Chapter for submitting
its criteria to become a Chapter of Excellence!
2009-2010 A-O Division Officers
Your 2009-2010 A-O Division Officers are as follows:
·
President
Marsha Bryan CPS/CAP – American Fidelity Chapter
·
President
Elect Cheryl Cook CPS/CAP – Oklahoma
City Chapter
·
Vice President
Sandy Tabio – Tulsa Chapter
·
Secretary
Teresa Tidwell CAP – Central Arkansas Chapter
·
Treasurer
Donna Nerio – Will Rogers Chapter
We will announce the 2009-2010 A-O Division Committee Chairs and members
in the July Member Message.
The 2009-2010 A-O Division Officers conducted their first Board Meeting
immediately after the A-O Division Annual Meeting and assigned the following Board contacts for the Chapters and Committees:
·
President
Marsha Bryan CPS/CAP – Board contact for Land Run
Professionals Chapter and Tulsa Chapter
·
President
Elect Cheryl Cook CPS/CAP – Board contact for DMALs,
Central Arkansas Chapter and Certification Committee
·
Vice President
Sandy Tabio – Board contact for American Fidelity Chapter, Will Rogers Chapter, and APW/Education/Programs
Committee
·
Secretary
Teresa Tidwell CAP – Board contact for Benton County Chapter, Razorback Chapter, and
Bylaws Committee
·
Treasurer
Donna Nerio – Board contact for Bartlesville Chapter, Oklahoma City Chapter, and Nominations Committee
Calling All Creative Members
The A-O Division Officers are looking for a creative member of our
Division to create a graphic design of a Header for the Division’s new website. The specifications for the Header are
as follows: Must be a .gif, .jpg, or .png image that is 954 pixels wide and 180 pixels high in order to fit correctly. If
it is larger, it will be re-sized to fit within these dimensions. Please note that the IAAP logo and name in the top left
corner is permanent and not a part of the header that we can change to be our own. The header does not need to contain the
IAAP logo or name. The graphic design must be representative of our two states and must include the words Arkansas-Oklahoma
Division, Inc. We encourage members to look at other chapter/division headers in the Web Community for examples. A good place
to start would be the Missouri Division’s website. Please submit your design by July 24. We will then have the members
vote to determine the winning entry from July 25-31. Our website will display the winning design on August 1. We will award
a prize to the member who submits the winning header. We will announce what the prize will be on the Division’s website
on Monday, June 29.
Website Community
Below are the Chapters that have websites published in the Website
Community:
·
American
Fidelity Chapter (www.iaap-americanfidelity.org)
·
Oklahoma
City Chapter (www.iaap-oklahomacity.org)
·
Razorback
Chapter (www.iaap-razorback.org)
·
Tulsa Chapter
(www.iaap-tulsa.org)
·
Will Rogers
Chapter (www.iaap-willrogers.org)
·
The Bartlesville
Chapter is working to get their website published soon (www.iaap-bartlesville.org).
If you have not yet visited the new Website Community, we encourage
you to go out and look. There are many new features on the new website community for our members. You can follow conversations
on the E-Forums, you can post and read other members’ blogs, you can post or look for documents in the Document Libraries,
and you can set up your own profile. In fact, a member posted to the General IAAP Discussion E-Forum last month a great suggestion
for members who may or may not have company support for their membership. When putting together your profile on the website
community, a great idea would be for you to include the name of your company, what they do and add their website to your profile.
This is a way we can all portray our employers in a positive light. If we mention our place of employment on our profile,
we need to remember that we are representing our place of employment and we are the “face” of our company within
IAAP. Because our members are the ones with connections to our employers’ executives, why wouldn’t we want to
take advantage of the marketing and branding we can provide to our employers? If we make business connections on behalf of
our executives, wouldn’t that make our positions within our companies that much more indispensable. Just a little food
for thought!
In Closing
Your 2008-2009 A-O Division Officers would like to take this time
to express their appreciation and gratitude to you, the great members of the A-O Division! Thank you for allowing us to serve
you and thank you for your participation in our “Excellence in Action” year!
We hope this Member Message has been informative and useful to you.
Don’t forget, your questions, complaints, suggestions, comments and/or compliments are always welcome! We welcome feedback
of any kind and we love hearing from our Members, so please, let us hear from you!
President Marsha
Bryan CPS/CAP, American Fidelity Chapter (marsha.bryan@af-group.com)
Vice President
Janet Griebel CPS CTM, Land Run Professionals Chapter (janetg@ctechok.org)
Secretary Florence
Fly CPS/CAP, American Fidelity Chapter (florence.fly@af-group.com)
Treasurer Sandy Tabio, Tulsa
Chapter (sandytabio@aol.com)
APRIL/MAY 2009 MEMBER MESSAGE
We hope each of you had a fabulous Administrative Professional’s Day and Week!
And, for all the Mother’s out there, here is hoping your Mother’s Day is filled with love and pampering!
All our Chapters are busy electing officers for the 2009-2010 year and planning their Chapter’s new Officer Installation
ceremonies. It is hard to believe how quickly this EXCELLENCE IN ACTION year has gone. It has been a busy and productive
year for many of our Members and Chapters!
A-O Division Survey
We are busy gathering the survey responses we asked our members to provide us.
Thank you to all of you who took the time out of your busy day to respond to our survey. Your feedback is very important to us, and we hope to learn how we can better serve our members. It is our hope to provide to you at Annual Meeting a summary of the responses we received and perhaps take
a few minutes to discuss some of the suggestions we received.
2009 A-O Division Annual Meeting
By now, all A-O members should have received a registration brochure for Annual
Meeting. A condensed black/white version of it is also available at the top of
the A-O Division’s website (www.iaap-aoi.org) home page. May 9 is the deadline for reserving a guest
room at the Cherokee Casino Resort Hotel. May 10 is the deadline for early-bird
full registration of $100. Please note there is an additional cost for attending the two seminars offered on Friday. Members
who attend all events from Friday through Sunday will receive eight (8) recertification points. Yes, count ‘em.
It’s not a misprint. We said EIGHT! Please sure to indicate your
menu choices before you mail your registration form. Otherwise, the Tulsa Chapter will select for you.
In accordance with the A-O Division Bylaws, the 2008-09 A-O Division Nominations
Committee submitted the following proposed slate of officers for 2009-2010 to be voted on at the Annual Meeting, June 13, 2009 in Tulsa, OK.
The current acting President, Marsha Bryan CPS/CAP will
automatically advance to the office of President.
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President Elect: |
Cheryl J. Cook CPS/CAP, M.S., OKC Chapter
Michelle Hunsaker, Benton County Chapter
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Vice President: |
Sandy Tabio, Tulsa Chapter
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Secretary: |
Teresa Flurry, OKC Chapter
Teresa Tidwell CAP, Central Arkansas Chapter
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Treasurer: |
Donna Nerio, Will Rogers Chapter
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As outlined in our Bylaws, nominations will also be accepted from the
floor at Annual Meeting, provided all established guidelines are met. Please be sure and mark your calendars
to attend this year’s Annual Meeting!
The candidates’ qualifications will be provided in the 2009 Annual Meeting
Program Books.
Also in accordance with the A-O Division Bylaws, the
2008-2009 A-O Division Bylaws and Standing Rules Committee submitted the proposed amendments for consideration and action
by Delegates during the business session at Annual Meeting, June 13, 2009
in Tulsa, OK. A
link to these proposed amendments can be found on the A-O Division website’s (www.iaap-ao.org) home page.
We also don’t want our members to forget
that May 31 is the deadline for
submitting completion criteria to your Division Board Contact for our A-O Division Chapter of Excellence and Member of Excellence
awards. At the Annual Meeting Awards Banquet, we will recognize all members who
submit for Member of Excellence. We will select one member from each chapter and one DMAL as the Division Members of Excellence
for special recognition. We will also recognize one chapter as the Division Chapter of Excellence. We look forward to celebrating
the successes of our members and chapters at Annual Meeting. The criteria and
worksheets for Chapters and Members can be found on the A-O Division website (www.iaap-ao.org) under the Local Members tab, then the A-O Division Pathways to Excellence tab (which is then broken down into Chapter of
Excellence and Member of Excellence). You can also find the Membership Goals
and Awards that will also be announced during the Annual Meeting Awards Banquet. Should
anyone have a question, please contact your A-O Division Board contact.
The Business of A-O Division
Your Division Officers were very busy during the months of April and
May providing the Strategic Planning Sessions to our Chapters. We want to thank all of our Chapters for helping the Division
meet the criteria towards its goal of becoming a Division of Excellence. We also
hope that those members who attended felt the presentation was worthwhile and learned something new.
2009 Education Conference
Put the date on your calendar! The A-O Division’s 2009 Educational
Leadership Conference has been scheduled for Saturday, August 22, 2009 at
the Hampton Inn (1916 N. 6th St. – Exit #5 from I-40) in
Van Buren, AR. A
block of rooms has been reserved for IAAP members for Friday evening, August 21, 2009
at a rate of $94 per room. You will need to call the hotel directly to reserve
your room with a credit card guarantee. The number for the hotel is 479/471-7447
(there is no toll-free number available for reserving a room). We have reserved
a block of 10 singles and 10 doubles in our block for our members to reserve. There
will not be a registration charge for A-O Division Members to attend. However,
members who register but do not attend will be billed afterwards for their food cost.
The A-O Division will provide reimbursement again to members for half their hotel room cost for Friday night, up to
$47 plus tax. Please watch for more information regarding the 2009 Education
Conference after Annual Meeting.
Pathways to Excellence
We hope that all of our chapters and many of our members are well on their way in their quest for EXCELLENCE through
their participation in the International Chapter and Member of Excellence Programs.
A lot of information is available about these programs, so if anything needs clarification, don’t hesitate to
contact your Division Board Contact. Please note that the deadline for submission
to Headquarters for the Chapter of Excellence applications is July 10, 2009
and the deadline for submission to Headquarters for the Member of Excellence applications is June 30, 2009.
As of April 24, 2009, 340 members have submitted to Headquarters
their criteria to become a Member of Excellence. Of those 340, 3 of them hail
from the A-O Division. Congratulations to Teresa Tidwell CAP,
Central Arkansas Chapter, Florence Fly CPS/CAP, American
Fidelity Chapter and Janet Griebel CPS CTM, Land Run Professionals Chapter for attaining
Member of Excellence at the International level!
In Closing
We hope this Member Message has been informative and useful to you. Don’t
forget, your questions, complaints, suggestions, comments and/or compliments are always welcome! We welcome feedback of any kind and we love hearing from our Members, so please, let us hear from you!
President Marsha Bryan CPS/CAP,
American Fidelity Chapter (marsha.bryan@af-group.com)
Vice President Janet Griebel CPS
CTM, Land Run Professionals Chapter (janetg@ctechok.org)
Secretary Florence Fly CPS/CAP,
American Fidelity Chapter (florence.fly@af-group.com)
Treasurer Sandy
Tabio, Tulsa Chapter (sandytabio@aol.com)
MARCH 2009 MEMBER MESSAGE
It’s hard to believe the end of March is near and that here, in the state of Oklahoma
at least, our weathermen are talking about blizzard like conditions! Just when
we thought spring had arrived, Mother Nature gently reminds us that we are never 100% in charge of the things that occur! But, we shall try to remain focused and continue to seek EXCELLENCE IN ACTION
no matter the weather!
A-O Division Survey
Earlier this month you received an email from you’re A-O Division contact, encouraging you to take the time to
provide us your feedback in the survey we provided you the link for. While we
have received responses, and we thank those of you who have responded, we would still like to hear from more of our members
– yes, you! Therefore, we have extended the deadline to respond to the
survey to April 10. We would encourage those of you who have not yet taken the
survey to do so. Your feedback is very important to us, and without it, well,
it’s hard for us to know if we are truly providing the leadership you expect from us.
We would very much appreciate it if you could take a few moments and provide us with your responses. The survey can be found at http://www.surveymonkey.com/s.aspx?sm=JWouZNdKM3R4wU2eKjUQ9A_3d_3d.
The Business
of A-O Division
Nominations Committee Chair Brenda Kindschi CPS/CAP
has issued the call for CANDIDATES TO RUN FOR ELECTION as Division Officers
for 2009-2010. We will be seeking candidates for the positions of President Elect,
Vice President, Secretary, and Treasurer. Marsha Bryan CPS/CAP
will continue as President for that year. Candidate names are due to Brenda by
April 14. You may email Brenda at bkindsch@ditchwitch.com for further information about the process. We have provided additional details on the Division website (www.iaap-ao.org), and you can always refer to our Bylaws and Standing Rules
as a resource. The committee will announce the slate of candidates by April 29.
Your Division Officers have scheduled several Strategic Planning Sessions
with our Chapters. The Strategic Planning Session dates and locations have been scheduled
as follows: (not all sessions have a final meeting location set):
For the Oklahoma
City and American Fidelity Chapter:
Oklahoma City,
OK
April
4, 2009 (Saturday)
9:00 -
10:00 a.m.
American Fidelity Assurance Company
complex
2000 Classen
Blvd.
For the Will Rogers Chapter, Tulsa
Chapter, Bartlesville Chapter and Land Run Professionals Chapter:
Owasso,
OK
April
25, 2009 (Saturday)
10:00
- 11:00 a.m.
National Steak & Poultry
301 E. 5th Ave.
For the Razorback Chapter and Benton
County Chapter:
Rogers,
AR
April
30, 2009 (Thursday)
6:00 -
7:00 p.m.
Arkansas
World Trade Center Building
3300 Market St.
Little Rock,
AR
For the Central Arkansas
Chapter:
May
1, 2009 (Friday)
12:00
Noon - 1:00 p.m.
<no specific meeting location has
yet been determined>
If you are interested in attending one
of these Strategic Planning Sessions, please contact your Chapter President or A-O Division Officer contact.
2009 A-O Division Annual Meeting
The Tulsa Chapter continues to work hard in the planning the 2009 A-O Division Annual Meeting, which will be held at
the Cherokee Casino Resort in Catoosa (Tulsa, OK) on June 12-14, 2009. We are
very pleased that Toni Smith CPS/CAP, our Southwest District
Director, will attend this A-O Division Annual Meeting. We are also very excited
to share with you that to date, the Tulsa Chapter has arranged for a total of 7 recertification points to be offered during
the 2009 Annual Meeting. You also will not want to miss Gini Courter of Triad
Consulting, who will provide two half-day seminars on Friday. If you have never
attended an International Convention workshop presented by Gini, you will not want to miss this opportunity to experience
attending her workshops during Annual Meeting. Triad Consulting workshops are
some of the most well-attended workshops during International Convention. Please
watch for the Annual Meeting registration brochure and be sure to plan to attend. Should
you have specific questions regarding the 2009 A-O Division Annual Meeting, you may contact Meeting Coordinator Christine
Hilderbrand CPS/CAP at HildeCh@tulsaschools.org or childer@cox.net. We hope you
have already made plans to attend!
2010 A-O Division Annual Meeting
You will also learn at the 2009 Annual Meeting where the 2010 Annual Meeting, to be hosted by the Oklahoma
City Chapter, will be held. All we know at the present time is that it is to
be held at a “to be announced” location in Oklahoma City, OK
in June 2010. You may direct any questions regarding the 2010 A-O Division Annual Meeting to Meeting Coordinator Cheryl Cook
at cookcj@oge.com.
Pathways to Excellence
We hope that all of our chapters and many of our members are on their quest for EXCELLENCE by participating in the
International and Division Chapter and Member of Excellence Programs. A lot of
information is available about these programs, so if anything needs clarification, don’t hesitate to contact your Division
Board Contact. We need the help of our chapters and our members in order to become
a Division of Excellence. If you’re looking for a starting point, try answering
the Division Question of the Month. That will get you started on the road to
excellence. Please note that the deadline for submission to Headquarters for
the Chapter of Excellence and Member of Excellence applications is June 30, 2009.
Chapter News
Congratulations to the Central Arkansas Chapter for being selected to host the 2009 Skillsoft Administrative Professionals
Briefing. Twenty-four Chapters from 46 submissions throughout the association
were selected to host this event.
In Closing
We hope this Member Message has been informative and useful to you. Don’t
forget, your questions, complaints, suggestions, comments and/or compliments are always welcome! We welcome feedback of any kind and we love hearing from our Members, so please, let us hear from you!
President Marsha Bryan CPS/CAP, American Fidelity
Chapter (marsha.bryan@af-group.com)
Vice President Janet Griebel CPS CTM, Land Run Professionals Chapter (janetg@ctechok.org)
Secretary Florence Fly CPS/CAP, American Fidelity
Chapter (florence.fly@af-group.com)
Treasurer Sandy
Tabio, Tulsa Chapter (sandytabio@aol.com)
JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2009 MEMBER MESSAGE
My, doesn’t time fly when you’re having fun! We hope your
holiday season was joyful and that you are experiencing EXCELLENCE IN ACTION with
your IAAP activities in the new year.
The Business of A-O Division
We sincerely hope you have noticed that we have acquired our VERY FIRST CORPORATE
SPONSOR on the A-O Division Website (www.iaap-ao.org). Will Rogers
Chapter President Brenda Dietzfeld sells Morgan Dane Jewelry and advertises her product there.
Check it out. Morgan Dane Jewelry is unique .925 Sterling Silver Jewelry
hand-made in the United States.
You may contact her at 918-344-2020 or at bdietzfeld@cox.net for a catalog and a special introductory offer. If you mention that you saw her ad on the A-O website, she will give you 20% off your first order. In addition, you need to ask Brenda how to get FREE
jewelry!
We are pleased to announce (or remind you) that FIVE
OF OUR CHAPTERS have joined the IAAP Web Community and are now hosting their chapter websites through IAAP. After logging in to the Web Community (via either the International or the Division links), you should
go to “Browse Community Websites” on the top row. There, you can
check out the chapter websites that belong to the Web Community. They are American
Fidelity, Oklahoma City, Razorback, Tulsa,
and Will Rogers. You will find some very good information and ideas there. Our other four chapters who have not (yet) joined the Web Community also provide helpful
information on their websites that may assist you and your chapter in your program and fundraising activities.
Nominations Committee Chair Brenda Kindschi CPS/CAP
has issued the call for CANDIDATES TO RUN FOR ELECTION
as Division Officers for 2009-2010. We will be seeking candidates for the positions
of President Elect, Vice President, Secretary, and Treasurer. Marsha Bryan CPS/CAP
will continue as President for that year. Candidate names are due to Brenda by
April 14. You may email Brenda at bkindsch@ditchwitch.com for further information about the process. We have provided additional details on the Division website (www.iaap-ao.org), and you can always refer to our Bylaws and Standing Rules
as a resource. The committee will announce the slate of candidates by April 29.
Bylaws and Standing Rules Committee Chair Carolyn Rufus CPS has issued the call for
BYLAW AMENDMENTS for us to consider at the 2009 Annual Meeting. Proposed amendments are due to Carolyn and her committee by March 14.
You may email Carolyn at clrufus@arkbluecross.com, and we have provided additional details on the Division Website
(www.iaap-ao.org). The committee
will edit, correlate, and communicate the final amendments by April 29.
2009 A-O Division Annual Meeting
The Tulsa Chapter is hard at work planning the 2009 A-O Division Annual Meeting, which will be held at the Cherokee
Casino Resort in Catoosa (Tulsa, OK) on June 12-14, 2009. We are very pleased that Toni
Smith CPS/CAP, our Southwest District Director, will attend
this A-O Division Annual Meeting. The Tulsa Chapter is currently planning a golf
tournament at the Cherokee Casino Resort on April 28, 2009 to assist them
in their efforts to raise funds for the 2009 Annual Meeting. If you are interested
in participating in the golf tournament, you may contact Sherry Tyler CPS/CAP
at STyler@arrowengine.com. Should you have
specific questions regarding the 2009 A-O Division Annual Meeting, you may contact Meeting Coordinator Christine Hilderbrand
CPS/CAP at HildeCh@tulsaschools.org or childer@cox.net. We hope you
have already made plans to attend!
2010 A-O Division Annual Meeting
Meeting to be held at a “to be announced” location in Oklahoma City, OK
in June 2010. You may direct any questions regarding the 2010 A-O Division Annual Meeting to Meeting Coordinator Cheryl Cook
at cookcj@oge.com.
Pathways to Excellence
We hope that all of our chapters and many of our members are on their quest for EXCELLENCE by participating in the
International and Division Chapter and Member of Excellence Programs. A lot of
information is available about these programs, so if anything needs clarification, don’t hesitate to contact your Division
Board Contact. We need the help of our chapters and our members in order to become
a Division of Excellence. If you’re looking for a starting point, try answering
the Division Question of the Month. That will get you started on the road to
excellence.
News from International
Our International Convention and Education Forum has a new name! An increase
in educational opportunities and a decrease in the time to conduct business means that Education
Forum and Annual Meeting is more representative of what to expect. More exciting
news can be found in the February issue of IAAP Connections.
Congratulations to Division Member at Large, Tracy Cumbie CPS/CAP! Tracie was one of the Early-“Early” Registration Winners for the Education
Forum and Annual Meeting and won a $100 American Express Gift Card!
Has your employer established policies and programs to encourage and support the advancement and effectiveness of administrative
professionals? If so, why not show your appreciation by nominating your employer
for the IAAP Award for Excellence. The
award is given in two categories: large corporations with 1,000 or more employees
and small companies with fewer than 1,000 employees. Applications must be postmarked
by April 1, 2009. The Award
for Excellence Guidelines and Nominations Submission Form can be found in the Newsroom Section of the IAAP website (www.iaap-hq.org) under Awards>Award for Excellence.
Chapter News
The American Fidelity Chapter in Oklahoma City celebrated their 10th
Anniversary in February 2009. At their regular monthly chapter meeting, they
recognized their charter members and charter officers in attendance.
Please help us in congratulating the members below, who are our newest CPS
and/or CAP recipients. Achieving Certification
is a milestone worth celebrating. We will also recognize these members at our
A-O Division Annual Meeting in June.
CPS Recipients:
Theresa Sontag CPS – Central Arkansas Chapter
CAP Recipients:
Tracy Cumbie CPS/CAP – Division Member at Large
Dawn Fisher CAP – Razorback Chapter
Christine Halverson CPS/CAP – Benton
County Chapter
Amy Swindell CPS/CAP – Bartlesville
Chapter
Jodi McMillin CPS/CAP – Bartlesville
Chapter
Of course, once you become certified you must maintain your designation by recertifying. Congratulations to the members below who recently recertified. We
will also recognize these members at our A-O Division Annual Meeting in June.
Jacquelyn Kelly CPS/CAP – Division Member at
Large
Mary Beth Watson CPS – Benton
County Chapter
Florence Fly CPS/CAP
– American Fidelity Chapter
Feedback from Education Conference Survey and Response
Over the last couple of Member Messages we have been sharing with you the feedback received from attendees of our Education
Conference.
Some last comments we received regarding IAAP’s new Pathways to Excellence Recognition Program, with our response,
is below:
Some leaders indicated their lack of personal commitment to this program because of other
things going on in their chapters and in their personal lives but did say they would encourage their members to go for it.
Other responders indicated that new members may feel pressured by this program and not see it as an opportunity to grow but
as just something else they have to do
We understand that not all members will buy into the new recognition program or even participate
in it, and that is fine. However, we are concerned with these statements because we don’t want our chapter leaders to
be perceived as being negative about the recognition program. We do appreciate that a chapter leader who isn’t going
to participate personally would encourage their chapter members to participate.
We also asked attendees what they would have done to improve the weekend and what they would like to see at future
A-O Division Education Conferences. This is a comment we received, along with
our response:
One responder said the week-end was great for long-time IAAP members but that it would
be more beneficial for newer members (and to generate more attendance) to have an all-inclusive Conference with seminars on
strictly job-related topics, such as time management, organization skills relating to the flow of paperwork, computer file
management, email record keeping, records management, dressing for success, office ethics, meeting ethics, etc.
We really appreciate this feedback but do want to remind our members that we belong to
a professional association and believe that, because of that, we should also offer association information to our members.
In addition, if we were to offer an Education Conference with some or all of the recommended topics, we would likely have
to pay speakers to present the programs. That would put a huge financial strain on the Division. We already incur a rather
large expense to provide the Education Conference the way it was done in August. If
we incur additional speaker fee expenses, we would have no choice but to charge our members for this event. We believe that
in turn would decrease attendance. There are no easy answers. We want to meet the needs and expectations of our members, but
we must do so within the constraints of our finances.
We asked our members to make any comment or ask any questions about the Education Conference, about A-O Division, about
the Pathways to Excellence Program, or about IAAP in general. This is a comment
we received, along with our response:
One responder asked if they are going to design a more professional looking CAP
pin and said it has been discussed at their chapter meetings where all agree that the current one looks cheap and uneventful.
A-O Division has no control over the design of the CAP
pin. However, the International website has provided a way for members to share feedback with the International Officers or
Headquarters. You can do so by going to http://www.iaap-hq.org/Feedback to share your thoughts and/or suggestions about
IAAP. We believe this would be the best forum to address the design of the CAP pin.
In Closing
We hope this Member Message has been informative and useful to you. Don’t
forget, your questions, complaints, suggestions, comments and/or compliments are always welcome! We welcome feedback of any kind and we love hearing from our Members, so please, let us hear from you!
President Marsha Bryan CPS/CAP,
American Fidelity Chapter (marsha.bryan@af-group.com)
Vice President Janet Griebel CPS
CTM, Land Run Professionals Chapter (janetg@ctechok.org)
Secretary Florence Fly CPS/CAP,
American Fidelity Chapter
(florence.fly@af-group.com)
Treasurer Sandy
Tabio, Tulsa Chapter
(sandytabio@aol.com)
DECEMBER
MEMBER MESSAGE
HAPPY HOLIDAYS!! Your Arkansas-Oklahoma Division Officers hope your holiday season is filled with tidings
of comfort and joy and that your New Year brings you fabulous opportunities to experience EXCELLENCE IN ACTION!
News from
International
The International
Board of Directors reviewed and approved the registration fees for the 2009 International Convention and Education Forum. The Early Bird registration fee for members has been set at $495. The Regular registration fee for members has been set at $515 and the Late registration fee for members
has been set at $565. Also, as was just published in the December IAAP Connections
e-newsletter, IAAP is offering to members, for the very first time, an “early”, early bird registration opportunity
and the chance to win one of four prizes if you register by January 31, 2009. Members
who register before the “early”, early bird deadline will be eligible to win one of two $100 American Express
gift cards or one of two fully paid membership renewal dues (to include International, Division and Chapter dues). The drawings will take place on February 2, 2009 and the winners will be announced on IAAP’s website
(iaap-hq.org). See the December IAAP Connections e-newsletter for full details.
The International
Board recently reviewed the current policy of the Certification Department for recertification deadlines. Certified members must recertify within five years of their initial certification and every five years
thereafter. The International Board has approved a 120-day grace period for members
to submit their recertification application for those who recertify after January 1, 2009.
Members who submit their recertification application after the five-year deadline will be assessed a $100 late fee. Recertification points will still need to be earned within the original timeline (five
years) and recertification will be back dated to that time.
Information,
procedures and forms are now available to submit nominations for the International Board, The Retirement Trust Foundation
Trustees, International Committees and The Trust Committee. The forms are available
in the “Member’s Place” (requires you to log on with your user name and password to the website) under “Forms”
(www.iaap-hq.org).
The deadline
to submit nominations is January 15, 2009 (certified or registered mail postmark or via email).
The procedures
and sample format for submission of Proposed Amendments to the International Bylaws and Standing Rules and Resolutions are
also available. These forms can also be found with the Nomination forms on International’s
website (www.iaap-hq.org). The deadline to submit proposed amendments is February
1, 2009 (postmarked if sent via snail mail or via email).
The 2009
Professional Education Conference (PEC) will be held at the Gaylord Opryland Resort in Nashville, TN from March 9 –
11, 2009. The conference title is “Impression Management for Admins.” Hotel registration is now open and complete conference information and registration
is now available in the “Meeting and Events” section of the IAAP website (www.iaap-hq.org).
The 2009
Certification Conference will be held at the Marriott Waterfront in Portland, OR from October 18 – 21, 2009. Additional information regarding the Certification Conference will be available in the “Meetings
and Events” section of the IAAP website (www.iaap-hq.org) in the spring.
Chapter News
The Bartlesville
Chapter held an IMPACT meeting in September. Fourteen prospects attended the
meeting and seven of those guests joined the Bartlesville Chapter. The Bartlesville
Chapter experienced a 25% growth in membership from this one meeting! Way to
go Bartlesville Chapter!
The Central
Arkansas Chapter held an Excellence in Action “An Evening with Career Minded Administrative Professionals” IMPACT
Meeting on November 6, 2008.
The Land
Run Professionals Chapter was recognized as one of ten chapters that conducted an IMPACT Meeting from January 1, 2008 through
May 31,
2008 and
sustained the highest percentage of net growth. They received
$175 from
IAAP Headquarters for their efforts. Congratulations Land Run Professionals Chapter!
2009 A-O
Division Annual Meeting
The Tulsa
Chapter is hard at work planning the 2009 A-O Division Annual Meeting which will be held at the Cherokee Casino Resort in
Catoosa (Tulsa, OK) on June 12-14, 2009. We are very pleased that Toni Smith
CPS/CAP, our Southwest District Director, will be in attendance at this A-O Division Annual Meeting. The Tulsa Chapter is currently planning a golf tournament at the Cherokee Casino Resort on April 28, 2009
to assist them in their efforts to raise funds for the 2009 Annual Meeting.
If you are interested in participating in the golf tournament, you may contact Sherry
Tyler CPS/CAP at STyler@arrowengine.com. Should you have specific questions regarding the
2009 A-O Division Annual Meeting, you may contact Meeting Coordinator Christine Hilderbrand CPS/CAP at HildeCh@tulsaschools.org or childer@sbcglobal.net. We hope you have already made plans to attend!
2010 A-O
Division Annual Meeting
The Oklahoma
City Chapter is also already busy working on and planning the 2010 A-O Division Annual Meeting to be held at a “to be
announced”
location
in Oklahoma City, OK in June 2010. Any questions you may have regarding the 2010
A-O Division Annual Meeting can be directed to Meeting Coordinator Cheryl Cook CPS/CAP at cookcj@oge.com.
Member Recognition
Just a reminder…we
want to hear from you! What makes your Chapter or
Member(s)
special? Has a Chapter Member reached a milestone or achieved something special
or significant? We want you, our members, to use our Monthly Member Message to
brag on your Chapter, Chapter Members or even a fellow Member of another Chapter. Let
us all help you celebrate an achievement or milestone by publishing it in our Monthly Member Message.
Email your submissions to A-O Division President Marsha Bryan CPS/CAP at marsha.bryan@af-group.com.
Question
of the Month
Don’t
forget to check out the December Question of the Month. To see the question,
go to the “Question of the Month” link from the “Local Members” tab on the A-O Division website. This will provide you with the question and direct you on how to post your response. To ensure you are credited for your response to the Question of the Month, please
include your first name, last name and Chapter name in the body of your response. We
may not be able to determine your identity at a glance based on your log-in ID. And,
don’t forget, your monthly response to the Question of the Month earns you a point towards becoming a Division Member
of Excellence!
Feedback
and Comments from Education Conference Survey Responses
As we did
in the October Member Message, we are again responding to questions and comments on the excellent feedback we received from
our Members. If you would like to discuss any of the feedback further, or perhaps
add to the feedback or pose new questions or comments based on the feedback, go to the forum topic, “Feedback to A-O
Division Officers”
on the A-O
Division website. You can find this by clicking on “Division Forums”. We invite and encourage everyone’s feedback on this discussion thread.
Feedback from Education Conference Survey and Response
(MISCELLANEOUS
COMMENTS FROM ATTENDEES)
We asked
attendees what we could have done differently for that weekend.
One responder
asked if it would be possible to also have an education conference once a year in the Centrachapter who are unable to travel
out of town?
No matter
where we hold the Education Conference in Arkansas or Oklahoma, some of our members will have to travel farther to attend.
It is for this reason that we continue to offer this each year to our members at no charge with lunch provided. It is also
for this reason that we offered financial assistance with the cost of a hotel room for our members. Providing such a conference
is not cheap. A-O Division spent more than $2,000 on it this year. The Division considers many different aspects when planning
this event – how many members will attend, where we can hold a nice conference at the least expense, how can we obtain
maximum attendance with the least hardship for the most, etc.
Some responders
suggested randomly assigned seating so as to not sit with friends or their own chapter members in order to get to know those
from other chapters better.
We love this
idea but also believe if we were to do this, we would have more people complain that they should be allowed to sit wherever
they want. Perhaps in the future we can break it up and try something new for
at
least a portion of the meeting.
A responder
asked that we give earlier notice of the final date and time of this Education Conference for scheduling purposes.
We appreciate
this feedback and will make every effort from this point forward to be ready to announce the date and place of the Education
Conference (or Leadership Conference or whatever we call it for that particular year) at our Annual Meeting in June.
In Closing
We are providing
a link for you to view a special holiday “message” from your Division Officers.
We hope you enjoy seeing your Division Officers as dancing elves! To view,
click here or cut and paste the link in to your web browser:
http://elfyourself.jibjab.com/view/BwZFToVTdA2iO8dCcF50. If you enjoyed viewing this, be sure to check out
another “dancing elves” performance by you’re A-O Division officers by clicking on the link we’ve
provided to you on the home page of our website (click on the Merry Christmas
2008 from
A-O Division Officers banner)!
We hope this
Member Message has been informative and useful to you.
Don’t
forget, your questions, complaints, suggestions, comments and/or compliments are always welcome! We welcome feedback of any kind and we love hearing from our Members, so please, let us hear from you!!
President
Marsha Bryan CPS/CAP, American Fidelity Chapter
(marsha.bryan@af-group.com)
Vice President
Janet Griebel CPS CTM, Land Run Professionals Chapter
(janetg@ctechok.org)
Secretary
Florence Fly CPS/CAP, American Fidelity Chapter
(florence.fly@af-group.com)
Treasurer
Sandy Tabio, Tulsa Chapter (sandytabio@aol.com)
OCTOBER MEMBER MESSAGE
We have officially completed the First Quarter of the 2008-2009 year! As
we embark on the Second Quarter of the “Excellence in Action” year, we hope all our Chapters and Members are having
a successful year thus far. With the implementation of the new Pathways to Excellence
program this year, we imagine many of you are staying busy. As with the implementation
of anything new, you may still have questions or concerns. We encourage you to
contact you’re A-O Division Board contact if you do have any questions or comments so we can provide an answer to you. If you prefer, you may instead post your question on the forum. We have added a new forum topic, “Pathways to Excellence Discussion” on the A-O Division website. You can find this by clicking on “Division Forums”. We also welcome any questions, conversation, or feedback regarding this Monthly Member Message. We have added a new forum topic, “Feedback from October Monthly Message” on the A-O Division
website. You can find this by clicking on “Division Forums”. However, the forum can not be successful without feedback from you. We invite and encourage everyone’s feedback on our discussion threads. We will continue to post a new forum thread for discussion purposes each time we send out a new Monthly
Member Message. We encourage you to utilize this forum to ask questions, post
feedback and to provide us information regarding your Chapter happenings. If
you prefer to email your questions, feedback or information regarding Chapter happenings, you may do so by sending an email
to your A-O Division Board Contact.
Education Conference Survey Responses
We hope many of you have found the summary of your survey responses and feedback to the Education Conference on the
Division’s website. If not, you may find it by clicking on the “Education
Conference Info” link from the “Local Members” tab on the A-O Division website (www.iaap-ao.org) (you must first log-in with your user name and password to access this information).
Beginning with this installment of the Monthly Member Message, we will respond to questions and comments on the excellent
feedback we received. If you would like to discuss any of the feedback further,
or perhaps add to the feedback or pose new questions or comments based on the feedback, we have added a new forum topic, “Feedback
to A-O Division Officers” on the A-O Division website. You can find this
by clicking on “Division Forums”. We invite and encourage everyone’s
feedback on this discussion thread.
Question of the Month
Beginning last month we have again begun asking a Question of the Month. We
had many members post responses to the September Question of the Month. The October
Question of the Month has also been posted. To see the question, go to the “Question
of the Month” link from the “Local Members” tab on the A-O Division website.
This will provide you with the question and direct you on how to post your response.
To ensure you are credited for your
response to the Question of the Month, please include your first name, last name and Chapter name in the body of your response. We may not be able to determine your identity at a glance based on your log-in ID. And, don’t forget, your monthly response to the Question of the Month earns
you a point towards becoming a Division Member of Excellence!
2009 International Convention and Education Forum
To book your hotel reservations for the 2009 International Convention and Education Conference, go to www.iaap-hq.org/Convention_09/index.htm. Additionally, if you are interested in representing your Division
by serving on an International Committee, specifically the Bylaws and Standing Rules Committee, Committee on Nominations or
Retirement Trust Foundations Committee, (these volunteer positions are appointed, not elected), you can print an application
by logging on International’s website with your member log-in ID and password and clicking on the Member Place tab. From there, you need to click on the link for the 10/2/08
communication from International President Barb Horton CAP.
The deadline to submit your application is 5:00 p.m. ET, January 15, 2009. Applicants will be advised of
appointments in the spring. You may also volunteer to serve on the host committee
by emailing the 2009 Host Coordinator, Nita Nurmi at nita.nurmi@sparboe.com.
News from International
This year the International Board of Directors has committed themselves to create a Remarkable Association by 2010. The purpose of this Project Plan is to integrate the concepts of the 7 Measures of Success by the American Society of Association Executives into IAAP.
The first phase of this project began in April 2008 and will run through December 2008.
During this first phase, one of the goals is to re-define IAAP’s mission and value statements. In last month’s Member Message we reported that re-defining IAAP’s Mission Statement was almost
complete. However, the International Board has sent the draft back to the drawing
board. While the original version is still in place, the International Board
is struggling with wording that inspires and motivates both internally and externally.
Once the International Board of Directors has put the final touches on the drafts, a survey will be sent to a selection
of members with the results to be announced shortly thereafter. Should you be
selected to participate in the survey, we ask that you please take a few minutes to respond to it.
Member Recognition
Last month we asked you to share with us what makes your Chapter and Members special so we can share it with all our
members in future Member Messages. To date, we have not yet received any submissions. We believe all our Chapters and Members are wonderful and we will continue to remind
you that we want to hear form you! There are many recognition opportunities that
come our way, so let’s all take a couple of minutes to share our successes with everyone.
Bosses Day
The Benton County Chapter will celebrate their bosses with an “Employer Appreciation Day”
dinner and program on October 21 with a special presentation by J. Cne´ Breaux, President of Product Strategies, LLC.
The American Fidelity Chapter will honor its bosses with a special breakfast program on Tuesday, October 14.
Did your Chapter celebrate its bosses? If so, let us know so we can share
with our Members.
Chapter Visits
The Division Board attended the Tulsa Chapter’s IMPACT Meeting on Thursday, October 2. We are happy to report they were successful in recruiting several new members in to their Chapter from
this meeting. Congratulations Tulsa Chapter!!
2009 A-O Division Annual Meeting
The Tulsa Chapter will host the 2009 A-O Division Annual Meeting at the Cherokee Casino Resort in Catoosa on June 12-14, 2009. Negotiated room rates
are $99 for Thursday night, $114 for Friday and Saturday nights and $99 for Sunday night.
Call 1-800/760-6700 to make your reservation and ask for the IAAP rate. You
may also book guest rooms online at www.cherokeecasino.com by using the Group Code INTA0609. Hurry
though, the room block is going fast! Please direct specific questions to Meeting
Coordinator Christine Hilderbrand CPS/CAP at childer@sbcglobal.net. Upgrades to suites may be available for $139 per night, but the
number is limited so you will need to contact Meeting Coordinator Christine Hilderbrand CPS/CAP
if you are interested in upgrading. We hope you are already making plans to attend!
Feedback from Education Conference Survey and Response
(COMMENTS FROM ATTENDEES REGARDING
IAAP’S NEW PATHWAYS TO EXCELLENCE RECOGNITION PROGRAM)
Some responders found the different awards and levels
somewhat confusing (i.e. international/division, chapter/member) and the tracking to be very involved. It was suggested that
we provide a matrix for all the levels (International, Division, Chapter, and Member) on one sheet because there seemed to
be a lot of overlap and redundancy. One responder asked if Headquarters suggested the Division Level awards or if A-O came
up with them.
Headquarters did not suggest the Division Member of Excellence
and Division Chapter of Excellence programs. Your Division Officers thought it made sense to pattern our membership awards
in line with Headquarters’ implementation of Pathways to Excellence. A-O Division has always sponsored award and recognition
programs for our Chapters and our members separate from anything International offers. For this reason, it is not our intent
to prepare a matrix, as we think it could cause confusion that the Division’s recognition program and International’s
recognition program go together, which isn’t the case. If anyone does not understand any aspect of the program –
at the International level or the Division level – please let your board contact know. Your Division Officers are willing
to answer questions at any time, and if we don’t know the answer, we will find the answer for you. We want our members
to feel comfortable with these programs. Chapter Presidents, please let us know if your chapter has members who do not understand
the programs. We are willing to come and answer questions in person or perhaps spend a chapter meeting explaining the programs
to the members.
Some responders viewed the Member of Excellence Program
as more like a 5-year- plan than an immediate goal. One member thought she’ll begin earning Excellence status if she
saves her points until next year.
While achieving the Member of Excellence status may take some
members more than a year to attain, it must be understood that members cannot carry over some of the criteria they meet in
one particular year to the following year. Paying membership dues on time, recruiting a new member, conducting public programs
are example of criteria that could not be carried over to the next year.
The 5-year-plan concept is probably more applicable to achieving
Division of Excellence and Chapter of Excellence status. For example, some criteria under Chapter of Excellence (publish at
least six newsletters/e-newsletters; participate in web community; conduct a new member orientation; create and maintain an
annual budget, provide a monthly financial statement to the membership; and submit annual audit report to the division treasurer)
may take more than a year to implement. Once in place, however, it can carry over from year to year. The chapter will not
have to start from scratch each year but will simply continue what has already been implemented.
In Closing
We hope this Member Message has been informative and useful to you. Don’t
forget, your questions, complaints, suggestions, comments and/or compliments are always welcome! We welcome feedback of any kind and we love hearing from our Members, so please, let us hear from you!!
President Marsha Bryan CPS/CAP,
American Fidelity Chapter (marsha.bryan@af-group.com)
Vice President Janet Griebel CPS
CTM, Land Run Professionals Chapter (janetg@ctechok.org)
Secretary Florence Fly CPS/CAP,
American Fidelity Chapter (florence.fly@af-group.com)
Treasurer Sandy
Tabio, Tulsa Chapter (sandytabio@aol.com)
SEPTEMBER MEMBER MESSAGE
It’s hard to believe we have almost completed the First Quarter of the 2008-2009 year! We hope all our Chapters are having an “Excellence in Action” year so far.
Education Conference
We had 49 Attendees at our Education Conference held in Oklahoma City on August 22-23, 2008. We are SO glad we
could provide a day of education and networking to our members at no cost. The
Pathways to Excellence criteria for becoming a Member of Excellence was rolled out and the criteria for becoming a Division
Chapter of Excellence and Division Member of Excellence was also rolled out. For
those of you who were not able to attend, handouts and other information that were covered at the Conference can be found
on the Division’s website under the Local Members tab. PLEASE NOTE: Members of A-O Division should register in the Web Community before logging in to
see the latest news and information posted to the Division’s website for our members only. For those members who attended the Education Conference and completed the survey, we appreciate your feedback. We are summarizing the evaluations and will post the results on the website soon under
the Local Members tab. We received some questions, which we will address, and
also received some positive feedback and some good suggestions.
Question of the Month
It’s back – yep – the Question of the Month is back! We
have had many inquiries regarding when we would start posting a Question of the Month to the website again. For those of you who were unable to attend the Education Conference last month, the Question of the Month
is now a way for our members to earn a point every month towards becoming a Division Member of Excellence. New this year to the Question of the Month is the fact that your responses will be posted on the Forum. This will require you to log-in with your member ID and password to post your response. To see the question, go to the Local Members tab and click on Question of the Month. It will then direct you on how to post your response.
When you post your response to the Question of the Month, and if your Member ID does not contain your first and last
name, please identify who you are so that we can ensure you get credit for responding to the question!
2009 International Convention and Education Forum
The 2009 International Convention hotel reservations are now open. The
host hotels and their rates are the Hilton Minneapolis at $185 per night for single or double occupancy (add $30 per person
for 3rd and 4th person) and the Minneapolis Marriott
City Center at $178 per night for up to 4 people per
room. The Convention will take place in the Minneapolis
Convention Center from July 26-29, 2009. For more details go to http://www.iaap-hq.org/convention_09/index.htm.
News from International
Redefining IAAP’s Mission Statement is almost complete. A final
survey will be sent soon to a selection of members with the results to be announced shortly thereafter. Should you be selected to participate in the survey, please take a few minutes to complete it.
Work on redefining the Value Statements has been ongoing and should be available within the next month.
Do you have “feedback” to share with the International Officers or Headquarters? If so, go to http://www.iaap-hq.org/Feedback to share your thoughts and/or suggestions about IAAP.
Completion of the Commitment forms for the Pathways to Excellence program has been delayed until the Mission Statement
is finalized.
Member Recognition
Has your Chapter recently recognized a member? If so, let us know so we
can help you toot your horn! There are many recognition opportunities that come
our way, but many times, we don’t take advantage of them.
Has your Chapter recently begun doing something that has helped you get members to your Chapter meetings? If so, let us know that too so we can pass along the kudos.
Bottom line, we want our members and Chapters to toot their horns and share with us what makes their Chapter and members
special. Let us know and we will share it with other members of the Division
here in future Member Messages.
Bosses Day
Bosses’ Day is quickly arriving. The special day set aside for our
Bosses is October 16. Is your Chapter planning a celebration or event to honor
your boss? If so, let your Division Board contact know so that we can share it
with your fellow A-O Division members.
2009 A-O Division Annual Meeting
The Tulsa Chapter will host the 2009 A-O Division Annual Meeting at the Cherokee Casino Resort in Catoosa on June 12-14, 2009. Negotiated room rates
are $99 for Thursday night, $114 for Friday and Saturday nights and $99 for Sunday night.
Call 1-800/760-6700 to make your reservation and ask for the IAAP rate. You
may also book guest rooms online at www.cherokeecasino.com by using the Group Code INTA0609. Hurry
though, the room block is going fast! Please direct specific questions to Meeting
Coordinator Christine Hilderbrand CPS/CAP at childer@sbcglobal.net. Upgrades to suites may be available for $139 per night, but the
number is limited so you will need to contact Meeting Coordinator Christine Hilderbrand CPS/CAP
if you are interested in upgrading. We hope you are already making plans to attend!
In Closing
We hope this Member Message has been informative and useful to you. Don’t
forget, your questions, complaints, suggestions, comments and/or compliments are always welcome! We welcome feedback of any kind and we love hearing from our Members, so please, let us hear from you!!
President Marsha Bryan CPS/CAP,
American Fidelity Chapter (marsha.bryan@af-group.com)
Vice President Janet Griebel CPS
CTM, Land Run Professionals Chapter (janetg@ctechok.org)
Secretary Florence Fly CPS/CAP,
American Fidelity Chapter (florence.fly@af-group.com)
Treasurer Sandy
Tabio, Tulsa Chapter (sandytabio@aol.com)
JULY 2008
MONTHLY MESSAGE FOR IAAP
MEMBERS IN A-O DIVISION
We are now "Forward Moving"
toward "Excellence in Action"
during this transition period
between old and new IAAP years!
www.iaap-ao.org
As the 2008-2009 IAAP year begins, your Arkansas-Oklahoma Division Officers
look
expectantly toward another great year. We are excited to communicate
directly with you again through these Monthly Member
Messages.
The officer sending you this Monthly Message will serve as your Board Contact for
2008-2009
and would enjoy hearing from you in return with any comments or concerns.
MEMBERSHIP REPORT
We have posted the final A-O Division Membership Scorecard for 2007-2008 on the Division website. We
began the year with 288 members and ended it on June 30 with 315 members. That represents net growth of 9% since July 1, 2007.
We ended the year in 5th Place in Membership
(out of 36 Divisions) in the entire association! Five of our ten chapters also experienced net growth.
¶ A-O Division President Jamie Watson CAP will be recognized as the
President of a Distinguished Division with our net growth of 9% and retention of all chapters as of June 30.
¶ Wanda Perry CPS/CAP, Outgoing President of the Central Arkansas
Chapter in Little Rock, AR will
be recognized as the President of a Distinguished Chapter with their net growth of 31%.
¶ Joni Davis, Outgoing President of the Will Rogers Chapter in Tulsa, OK will be recognized as the President
of a Distinguished Chapter with their net growth of 58%.
We are looking forward to watching these three leaders walk across the stage at the upcoming International
Convention in New Orleans to receive their watches and ring.
Any one of them will tell you that they may personally receive the award, but the glory belongs to their members who never
once wavered in their determination to recruit new members.
Congratulations to all the DISTINGUISHED members in A-O Division for your hard work and dedication
during 2007-2008!
Regretfully, we have learned that the Ardmore Chapter will disband, so our number of chapters will decrease
to nine for the 2008-2009 year.
The association ended the year with 21 new chapters. The most recent being:
· Plaza 205 Mobile Chapter - Alabama
Division
· Cutting Edge Chapter - Colorado-Wyoming-Montana Division
· Bluewater Sarnia Chapter - Ontario
Division
· Mid Lakeshore Area Chapter - Wisconsin Division
· Sudbury Nickel Chapter - Ontario Division
· Atlanta City
Hall Chapter - Georgia Division
· Cucamonga Valley
Chapter - California Division
· ExxonMobil South Chapter - Texas-Louisiana Division
· Hermiston Chapter - Idaho-Oregon-Utah Division
The association also gained 12 new Student chapters. The most recent being:
· Bates Technical College Student Chapter, located in Tacoma, WA, is sponsored by the Mount Rainier Chapter
· Bakersfield College Student Chapter, located in Bakersfield, CA, is sponsored by the California Division
· Metro Business
College Student Chapter, located in Rolla,
MO, is sponsored by the Missouri Division
A BIG CONGRATULATION
Congratulations to those that sat for and passed the certification exam
in May 2008!
·
Lisa Hawkins CPS
- Bartlesville Chapter
·
Therese Anderson-Aduni
CPS - Tulsa Chapter
·
Lorna McMillian
CAP - Oklahoma City Chapter
·
Deborah Black CPS/CAP
- Will Rogers Chapter
·
Christine Hilderbrand
CPS/CAP - Tulsa Chapter
·
Jamie Ward CPS/CAP
- Tulsa Chapter
Congratulation also goes to those members that recertified during the first
half of the year!
·
Lori Hartwick CPS
- Central Arkansas Chapter
·
Kimberly Wagoner
CAP - American Fidelity Chapter
·
Jeanette Loudermilk
CPS/CAP - American Fidelity Chapter
·
Stella Gilbert
CPS/CAP - Land Run Professionals Chapter
·
Sharon Schonthaler
CPS/CAP - Land Run Professionals Chapter
·
Janet Griebel CPS
- Land Run Professionals Chapter
A SPECIAL "THANK YOU"
Those of you who attended the 2008 Annual Meeting graciously joined us in signing a "well wishes" card
for Central Arkansas Chapter President Wanda Perry CPS/CAP, who is battling breast cancer and could not be with us that weekend.
When we sent your kind words to her, we also enclosed souvenirs from Annual Meeting for her enjoyment. We have received a
very lovely "thank you" note from Wanda to share with you.
"It was so special to receive the package of IAAP materials and wonderful well wishes from my IAAP friends.
I can't begin to express how much it meant to me! I am improving daily and have received good news from my doctors as it concerns
my prognosis and continued treatment. My circle of friendships has been enlarged through IAAP, so please let everyone know
how much I appreciate each of them and their support."
We have learned recently that Wanda's doctors have cleared her to attend International Convention in
New Orleans, so she'll be there with bells on to receive her
watch as the President of a Distinguished Chapter in 2007-2008.
2008 INTERNATIONAL CONVENTION AND EDUCATION FORUM
Please let us know if you are going to New
Orleans for Convention by sending an email right now to Board Assistant Linda Williams CPS/CAP at lindacpscap@aol.com. We want to be able to connect with our members while there. Delegates, please provide us with a phone number where you can
be reached so we can notify you if there will be a second or third vote. Plans are still in the work for our Division Dinner
on Sunday evening. Once we finalize those plans, we will be able to email the details to those who are going and provide a
listing of all attendees from A-O.
A-O DIVISION'S "EXCELLENCE IN ACTION" EDUCATION CONFERENCE
Your Division Officers will conduct an all-day Education Conference at
the American Fidelity Corporate
Conference Center in Oklahoma City, OK on Saturday, August 23, 2008. We're also
inviting you to a free Pizza Party on Friday night at The Classen Tower Apartments just across the street.
This day of education and networking will be free for our members. If
you live far enough away and your employer or chapter does not subsidize your expenses, we will reimburse you for half your
cost (up to $60 per person) for a hotel room Friday night. Look for the registration flyer to arrive in your email in-box
soon. We will need your RSVP by return email for this event no later than August 13.
During this Education Conference, you'll learn more about IAAP's Pathways
to Excellence recognition program, but there will also be educational presentations by our members. We will not force you
to sit in a stuffy room and listen to only your Division Officers for the day. We are mixing it up with a lot of education,
a lot of networking, a lot of good food, and a lot of connections. There will also be beautiful baskets on which you can spend
your money to benefit IAAP's charitable entities.
Mark your calendar now, plan to be in Oklahoma
City on August 23, and expect to receive the registration flyer very soon.
2009 A-O DIVISION ANNUAL MEETING GUEST ROOM RESERVATIONS
The Tulsa Chapter will host the 2009 A-O Division Annual Meeting at the
Cherokee Casino Resort in Tulsa June 12-14, 2009. Negotiated room rates are $99 for Thursday night and $114 for Friday
and Saturday nights and $99 for Sunday night. Upgrades to suites may be available for $139 per night, but the number is limited
so you will need to contact Meeting Coordinator Christine Hilderbrand CPS/CAP at childer@sbcglobal.net if you are interested in upgrading. Call 1-800-760-6700 to make your reservation and ask for the IAAP rate. You may also
book guest rooms online at www.cherokeecasino.com by using the Group Code INTA0609. Please direct specific questions to Meeting Coordinator Christine Hilderbrand CPS/CAP at
childer@sbcglobal.net. We hope you will plan right now to attend this event.
TOO MUCH COMMUNICATION? NO SUCH THING!
Please visit our A-O Division website frequently (www.iaap-ao.org) to check out the latest news and posted documents. There you'll find the new leadership listings, revised bylaws, and the
final financial statement for 2007-2008. As with many things in IAAP at this time of year, the website is in a transitional
stage right now, so bear with us as we reorganize it to meet your and our needs more effectively. If you have input or comments
about it, we'd like to hear from you. After International Convention, we will fill it with information about our goals for
the coming year. We will also share with you the Division rewards in store for our Chapters and Members of Excellence.
We welcome your feedback, so please let us hear from you.
President Jamie Watson CAP, Bartlesville Chapter (jwatson@vom-usa.org)
President Elect Marsha Bryan CPS/CAP, American Fidelity Chapter, Oklahoma City (marsha.bryan@af-group.com)
Vice President Janet Griebel CPS CTM, Land Run Professionals Chapter,
Stillwater, OK (janetg@ctechok.org)
Secretary Florence Fly CPS/CAP, American Fidelity Chapter, Oklahoma City (florence.fly@af-group.com)
Treasurer Sandy Tabio, Tulsa Chapter (sandytabio@aol.com)
Florence Fly
American Fidelity
Assurance Company
#24 on FORTUNE'S
100 Best Companies in America to Work For
PO
Box 25523
Oklahoma City OK
73125
florence.fly@af-group.com
(405) 523-5073
(405) 416-7951 FAX
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