President's Message
As your 2008 President and the first " Florida" President of the Southeast Chapter, I have spent this year striving to engage all members-suppliers, planners, and especially the students-of the Southeast Chapter. I realize that like most chapters we are geographically challenged. However I believe we have stepped up and met that challenge this year with two board members residing in Florida and one board member residing in Alabama. This year has proven that you can only get out of your membership what you put into it. It doesn't matter what city or state you live in. You can get involved with your chapter and get more out of your membership than ever before.
WOW, what a year so far! In celebration of our 10th year as a chapter, the board, committee chairs and volunteers have worked extremely hard to achieve all of our chapter's goals and make 2008 so far an amazing year for all of our members. We have offered exceptional education, endless networking opportunities and created new scholarship programs.
This year is just the beginning of a New Attitude for the Southeast Chapter and getting what you want out of your membership. The Programs Committee has worked very hard and deserves kudos for planning some of the best programs ever. We kicked off the year by hosting a Green Meeting in March; co-hosted a meeting in May with the Georgia Chapter of HSMAI; organized an amazing meeting in August with record breaking attendance, while being engaged by a panel of top industry executives reporting on the economy and the future of the industry; and, partnered with the Georgia Chapter of MPI at their annual Southeast Educational Alliance held in Aruba in September.
In addition to the amazing meetings held so far and the partnerships we have built amongst other industry organizations, we have initiated a program this year in support of the students of this chapter. This was another important goal for me as a President, since I began my involvement with PCMA as a student member 10 years ago. We hosted a meeting at the Rosen College located in Orlando in October and the students did an amazing job planning and organizing the entire meeting. The chapter raised money through various marketing efforts so we could assist them in meeting their fundraising goals to send student members to the Annual Meeting. We have also created two scholarship opportunities available to all student members of the Southeast Chapter that will cover their registration, accommodations and airfare for the 2009 Annual Meeting.
The Community Service Committee has really gone above and beyond this year, organizing a toiletry drive at the May meeting and a day of painting in September, both in support of the Atlanta Day Shelter for Women and Children. In November, the Service N Sync project is scheduled to be held at the Hope Lodge in Atlanta again this year. For the first time, however, we are reaching out to the other states to get involved and organize a community service project in your city - let's be "N Sync" amongst all states in this chapter. I know Orlando is already on board, come on other states - let's step up to this challenge!
Communications has really stepped up to the challenge as well and has made sure that our members stay informed all year long with upcoming meetings, sponsorship opportunities and how you can get involved on our new website hosted by headquarters, thanks for taking the time to check us out!
As you can see, we have been extremely busy and we're looking forward to wrapping up the year at the 3rd Annual President's Ball being held Thursday, November 20th in Atlanta. I hope you all can attend to help us celebrate the Southeast Chapter's amazing 10th year!
Ali Brown
SE Chapter President - 2008
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