President’s Corner

President’s Corner

The President’s Corner

By Debra Johnson
President
Orlando Central Florida Chapter STC
president@stc-orlando.org

Hello all! It is with great excitement that I write my first message as your Chapter President. My feelings are many, as I am excited for the future, but nervous about my capacity to measure up to those who have come before me….    It’s such a notable list…

I’ve watched some of the best Dalton Hooper, Kelli Pharo, and before that Erika Higgins, lead our chapter so competently and with such dedication. They welcomed me years ago with open arms and took me under their wings to show me what the possibilities were.  They were true positive examples of volunteerism and dedication…  But most of all, I want to thank Karen Lane, our immediate past president… she is someone who for me is straight-forward, honest, and funny… she is an inspiration to me…. I can honestly say it’s been a privilege and enormous pleasure to work with her and learn from her. I am so glad she is still around.  She is an amazing source of knowledge about STC, the chapter, and its long history.  And finally, I want to thank all of you…. you were confident enough in me to accept me as your leader.  It is all of us as a group, a collection, an assemblage, a throng … who make the Orlando Central Florida STC Chapter what it is.!

The last three and a half years as VP have been very gratifying for me…it got really comfortable…maybe a bit too comfortable… I have twinges of angst in turning over the responsibility of the “Programs” chair to Sarah Baca even though she is more than capable… Sorry Sarah, I will learn to let go….

Looking to the future… I am so excited for what is coming…

Due to some logistical issues at Wyndham, we moved the retreat this year to the Wood Grill and Buffet on International Drive just south of Sea World. Thanks to RD and Mary… I am using some of their notes to recap the day…

Our Leadership Retreat program  was so jammed packed that time just flew by…  we discussed so much that we could have had a two day event and not covered it all.  We had our usual AdCo meeting; our Membership update, we heard Sarah’s plan for future meetings. We talked briefly about Washlines XIX coming on August 22. Alyssa Fox is speaking on Agile Scrum in Sept. and Paul Mueller will present in October.  We still have several openings for 2014 meetings, and we came up with some great ideas to fill them…  We talked about our mentorship program.  Challenge: keeping up our strong rate of retaining and transitioning student members to regular members.

We played a great game of “Who Am I,” where we used our skills of investigation to garner clues to our “identity” taped to our backs. Laughter was prevalent as some of us had an easier time than others… You know who I am talking about…  “Cinderella” and “Chuck Norris”.

We discussed the chapter achievement award application and activities that might give us an edge, such as updating the Web site, hosting more regional networking events, the Ocoee high school collaboration, and online meetings and presentations.

After watching  the “Golden Circle Presentation” a talk by Simon Sinek TED talks, we talked about “What exactly is our chapter’s “WHY”.  — “People don’t buy what you do; people buy why you do it.” Some of our thoughts:  It’s about passion for what we do, furthering the profession, creating a safe place to learn leadership, making a difference, a sense of identity.

We enjoyed a live online presentation on “Entraining Volunteers” by Ben Woelk (Rochester STC).

Finally we started a spirited discussion on Web site redesign review. Using a basic wireframe, we brainstormed richer content and fewer clicks. We were given some very valuable information that we have to further investigate that could really help us move forward on enhancing our web presence from Michelle Ladner, president of the SunCoast chapter, who we were lucky enough to have in attendance.

We talked about having a Social Media team, persons who would post live, as we hold our meetings.  Whew!!!! I am out of breath just thinking about all we covered.

Thank you to all attended… It was exciting and very filling (LOTS OF FOOD).  I am so encouraged and confident that we can continue moving forward with some of the wonderful ideas from such a bright bunch!  Thank you to all and see you at Washlines XIX August 22.

Till Then!

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