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2012 Midwestern Chapter Annual Conference and Trade Show
The 2012 Midwestern Chapter – Annual Conference and Trade Show, held in Overland Park, Kansas, this past February, was an unqualified success thanks to a great deal of hard work and dedication provided by a number of Chapter leaders and volunteers. Over 200 participants attending the event were treated to excellent presentations and the opportunity to interact with 29 exhibitors displaying a wide variety of arboriculture related goods and services.
The workload behind this major Chapter activity requires the dedicated effort of many volunteers from your organization. Please take the time to thank them if you get a chance over the upcoming months. Without their singular devotion to our event it is certain that our membership would not be able to enjoy the high quality conference that we have come to expect.
Jackson Bird, Conference Liaison, steadfastly manned the on-site registration booth and tirelessly answered registration questions. Greg Ruether, Conference Local Arrangements Coordinator, managed, organized and coordinated all hotel activities and emceed the awards ceremony and evening social.
Chip Doolittle, Conference Exhibitors Coordinator, with the help of Greg Van Booven at the local level, signed up exhibitors and supervised the exhibit hall while Skip Kincaid, Conference Presentations Coordinator, arranged for the wonderful array of speakers who entertained and educated us.
Josh Behounek, TREE Fund Liaison set up the silent auction, solicited the auction items and administered all aspects of this fun activity while Chris Johnson, Certification Liaison, handled the conference CEUs as well as Certification testing. Rick Spurgeon set up the twig identification contest that challenged many attendees.
Sarah Patterson, Chapter Database Manager, served as the site supervisor and managed myriad details with aplomb and nary a complaint. Last, but most certainly not least, prior to the start of the conference and (hidden well behind the scene) Jessica Kelling, Chapter Website Coordinator developed and implemented our on-line registration system and never failed to answer her phone during the conference when questions arose.
Through it all our intrepid President, Mike Sestric, chaired a number of meetings and led the entire crew with patience, humor and skill. As our Chapter’s first two-year term executive Mike has already begun the long process of planning for next year’s conference in his home city of St. Louis.
We cannot thank these enthusiastic volunteers enough!!
Future Conferences
Immediately after the wraps were put on the 2012 conference the Annual Conference Committee, Officers and Board of Directors began to turn their attention to the 2013 event to be held in St. Louis. Watch this site for developing information as well as for your opportunity to help with upcoming conferences.
As announced during the Membership Business Meeting in Overland Park, our 2014 Conference and Trade Show will be held in Iowa at a site to be determined. Negotiations are currently underway with a number of excellent facilities throughout the state and the Iowa Arborists Association is actively involved in assisting with this project.
Also announced during the Membership Business Meeting was the opportunity for communities to provide at-large proposals for hosting the 2015 conference. If you are interested in investigating the opportunity to serve as the Conference Local Arrangement Coordinator and host the Annual Conference in your locality please contact Rick Tagtow for details on how to make a bid. In the absence of an approved at-large proposal the Chapter will continue the established conference host rotation and return to the Omaha, Nebraska area.
Chapter Leadership Flowchart
You can now find a flowchart illustrating the major leadership positions available in your Chapter. When coupled with the Job Descriptions for these positions (available here) this document will provide a visual representation of how the Chapter is administered and how our programs are managed. Look it over carefully and don’t hesitate to let President Sestric know if you are interested in volunteering to assist with any of these committees or programs.
Rick Tagtow
Executive Director
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