June 2005
Last week I attended the Region 5 conference in Springfield, Illinois. What an excellent adventure! There were CL's (Chapter Liasons) from Iowa, Illinois, the Upper Penninsula of Michigan and Missouri. It was a joy as well as educational to attend. What a fun group. Most of the attendees were members that attend the Region Meetings regularly.
Our CL for St Louis Chapter is Christine Leja. Chris is CIO at Southwestern Illinois College. Chris has attended each of the meetings during her tenure as CL. Chris has been a good CL for our Chapter since she always brings back the Region 5 News and keeps us abreast of what we need to do as a Chapter to receive funds to which we are entitled and information that we need to operate. Chris and I traveled to the meeting together. Chris introduced me to all the CL's. I attended particularly because a Training class on Leadership was being provided for Chapter Presidents and other Officers. Chris and I participated in this training and it was excellent. We were taught how to navigate the AITP Website Portal www.aitp.org for creating reports and updating data for our Chapter, as well as well as how to keep up with our membership information for all new members and existing members. We went over how to edit information found on the site (our personal data). It was so informative. Christine and I are planning a training session for the Board of Directors. The St Louis Chapter Web Site is: stlouisaitp.org
We discussed the challenges all Chapters are facing in recruiting new and younger member. Several chapters shared that they were initiating a Mentoring program for utilizing the strong skills and experiences of the strong and capable members of many years. I shared that our student chapters are receiving guidance and opportunity from our experienced members and that we will continue to support our student chapters and focus on the development of new IT talent from our student and interim members.
Chris Leja and I will provide some seminars for our membership to utilize the web site more efficiently. There have been some upgrades and new features implemented. Both Mark Kleine and Mark Gilfand were our instructors and they are very knowledgeable about the functions and capabilities of the portal. Mark Gilfand is our President-elect for the National AITP organization. Mark Kleine is the developer who made the enhancements. They worked together to identify the specific changes needed and they did a great job sharing the knowledge with those of us in attendance. It is imperative that Presidents of our chapters understand the nuances of the role of leadership in AITP and understand how to utilize the web portals.
On Saturday, we toured the Lincoln Library and Museum that was recently opened in Springfield. We were so impressed with the holograms and other technologies that we experienced. I recommend a visit by any of you who want to learn more about our history and about the presidency of Abraham Lincoln.
I am looking forward to the August meeting at MicroSoft. It will be on August 25 and please see the announcement in the newsletter.
Also look for the information about our Student Scholarship and how you can apply. Have a great summer. We have some great programs for you in the fall at the Holiday Inn Westport as always.