The Calendar Says Fall

Greetings from Austin, Texas where it is still hot and dry. Many of you are now experiencing fall temperatures with pleasant days and delightful evenings. Please enjoy! 

Here at Society Headquarters, we are preparing for the international convention in July 2012.  From ballrooms to meeting rooms, from convention program planning to meals and menus much happens in preparation for this international event. The convention will be July 24-28 in New York City.  Great speakers are being planned and interesting break out sessions with a computer lab for some and a few pre-conference surprises. I'll be doing a hands-on session in the computer lab, Web 2.0 and You ( the expanded version).

This will be an opportunity for personal learning, some professional growth, a bit of entertainment and of course seeing members you haven't seen in a long time. The convention will be help at the Sheraton Hotel and Tower on 7th Avenue. What a location to visit, the heart of Manhattan. If you plan wisely, you can be part of this exciting event. Looking forward to seeing many in 2012.

Regional Conference Travel 2011

Have you ever been to all five DKG regional conferences in one summer? It is an experience. So much planning, packing, unpacking, repacking, catching a plane or two, speeches and presentations keep a person busy. But it provides new understandings, connections across the membership and incredible fellowship.

International Achievement Award
Recipients present in the NW

Reception held  in Baden- Baden, Germany
as part of Europe Regional

From the mountains in Colorado and Alberta to the racetrack world in Kentucky, from the chocolate infused world of Hershey, PA to the grape vine covered hillsides of the Black Forest in Germany, members greeted, attended a spectacular opening night, learned new things at general meetings, listened in at workshops and dressed up for a final banquet. Although each region has its own flavor, regional conferences have the mission of Delta Kappa Gamma running through the events. It is incredible to learn about regional differences but see the Society purposes in action at each regional event.

A field trip visit to Strasburg, France and
the Council of Europe

Personally, I have gained new experiences, met more members, shared a bit of knowledge in a few workshops and strengthen the collaborative ties that we have at Society Headquarters. I had the opportunity to see members in the Southeast and began getting to know more members in the Southwest. Sandi Causey is a Texas member and in my new chapter. She has served as the registrar for each region. Working with her has been a joy. Joan Hester, Alpha chapter president in Texas, joined other U.S. members in Germany and I had the honor of getting to know her better. Traveling with my companions; Corlea Plowman, Sandra Smith Bull, Phyllis Hickey, Becky Sadowski, leadership development chair and Dr. Jensi Souders, international president, has topped this experience. We are a team. We work as a team and travel as a team. We help each other, enjoy great meals together and support one another professionally and personal. I am so lucky.

Southeast Regional Conference

State organization presidents and executive secretaries have gathered in Louisville, Kentucky for the Southeast Regional conference for pre-conference training as they begin a new biennium with state organizations. The sessions provide training in budgeting, Society structure, chapter strengthening, Schools for Africa, the international project, technology and new modes of communication, membership and the new orientation materials and parliamentary procedure.

On Wednesday of pre-conference training, chairs of membership and educational excellence committees attend all day sessions in preparation for the new biennium and new information available. State level editors, web masters and treasures attend a half day session. First timers have an opportunity to learn all about a regional conference on Wednesday afternoon.

General sessions and workshops begin with Kentucky night on Wednesday and continue through Saturday. Check the international web site for speakers and the overall schedule for the conference.

At the end of June, the Southwest state organization presidents and other leaders attended a similar pre-conference and conference session. For the next three weeks, regional events will be back to back with the Northeast in Hershey; the Northwest in Edmonton, Alberta and the Europe Regional in Baden-Baden, Germany in earlier August. It's not too late to attend a regional conference where you will learn, network and grow both personally and professional.

Pre-conference training offers new opportunities

Summer is here and preparations for all five regional conferences are underway. It is an exciting time and each conference has its own flavor.  May went by like a flash as I have been developing two training sessions for regional conferences; one for editors and one for web masters. I've also worked on a section about communication for the pre-conference session for incoming presidents. As I began working on these items, it became slightly overwhelming because I now a few of the editors across the Southeast and began shaking in my boots thinking I was training them. Many editors have been doing this work for many years and could teach me much. So I talked with Dr. Jensi Souders, you might know her as the international president, but I know her as editor extraordinaire and my editor mentor for I followed her in Tennessee. We talked about what I might offer and now I have, I think, a pretty good training manual for editors and I'm excited to get to meet so many this summer.

Next the challenge was how to design something for web masters. That entails similar skills but also very different skills as for editors. The biggest challenge in working with web masters to me was the array of software tools possibly being used to develop web sites and the enormous range of skills of web masters who might attend. Couple that with not being in a lab and not having a hands-on experience and the task becomes daunting. But not to fear, I found a solution, or at least I hope web masters will take away something new. I actually finished this manual today and it has gone to print. I must say I'm a bit pleased with it and hope many of you state web masters enjoy our time together. I'm hoping to meet many of you this summer.

Pre-conference training at regional conferences for incoming state organization leaders is one of the opportunities provided through membership in DKG. I understand the commitment involved in doing one of these jobs and what it takes to make attending a regional conference an important part of summer plans every other year. I believe it is worth the effort and expensive but truly realized this after attending several regional conferences. A regional conference is where you get to know members from across similar geographic areas. Attending these events helps one see your own potential as a member and educator. It helps bring the seven purposes to light in a new and enriching way. The International Leadership Development Committee has an incredible training opportunity for incoming state organization presidents. I am looking forward to meeting these new presidents as we travel from place to place and am honored to be part of this event. If you are an incoming editor, web master, membership chair, educational excellence chair (program chair) treasurer and have not yet made a commitment to attend pre-conference training, I urge you to consider the opportunity. You will learn a bit, meet new friends, re-kindle old friends and have a great experience.

I look forward to seeing many of you this summer. The Southwest Regional is first and begins the end of June. The Southeast follows after the 4th of July holiday (U.S.). Northeast, Northwest and Europe fall immediately after one another. Stay connected and watch the DKG Web site for highlights of each regional conference.

New York State Convention Celebrates 75 years

Syracuse, New York hosts the 75th anniversary celebration of Pi State. They know how to celebrate. The fellowship and professionalism in this state is amazing. Joan Slagle, 2009-2011 state organization president, has lead the state into new realms of working. Collaboration and teamwork is evident in all the events that have been held. Tonight's Presidents Banquet honored past state presidents, chapter presidents and the Pi State founders. The Pi State Achievement Award was a special highlight of the evening as Karen Crumley received the honor. During the banquet members were entertained by a harpist and violinist and during dessert a wonderful quartet performed. I have had such an honor in participating in this convention. Everyone has been so thoughtful and caring. Not only was I picked at the airport, someone was available most of the time for just about anything I needed. It has been wonderful to be so welcomed. New York is looking toward the future and building our vision.

I was fortunate to be the keynote speaker on Friday night. I spoke about communication and social media. My presentation is available for your use.

Missouri State Organization Convention- Delta State

Missouri shows its genuine fellowship as soon as you arrive. I was picked up Friday afternoon at the airport by a friendly face and off to the convention we went. I had the privilege of meeting with the state president's advisory council and have dinner with this esteemed group of women. Then I got to shop a little and play bunco. What's even better is I won a prize. I met lots of new members and made new friends.

Today, Saturday, April 16, has been filled with new experiences. From business meetings and lunch to workshops and banquet, I've met many Missouri members and learned a few new tips. At the banquet this evening, I was the keynote speaker. I tried something different. I used Prezi for my presentation. Prezi is a zooming presentation editor. It's a lot of fun to use but I wasn't too sure about connectivity. I was right. The meeting rooms were not equipped for Internet access but Prezi has a viewer and with lots of patience, I got it to download so I could show during my talk. My speech focused on communication from traditional methods to social media. I thought it worked out very well. I have already had many tell me how much they enjoyed my talk.

Several have already asked about the presentation. Here's the link. My presentation here will be missing of course the interaction and story telling in-between but enjoy and use if you need help. Thank you, Missouri. I've had wonderful time.

Learning and Working in a digital world

Lots has been happening in my work life and personal life of late. Here's a recap- I work full time in a very fun job. I write, I edit, I guide the development of a massive Web site, manage a private social network, review all printed materials, manage the online store for DKG, take pictures, chose images for printed material, work directly with several committees and indirectly through my colleagues at work with most committees. I drive visitors to dinner, lead a department, have too many papers on my desk most of the time and answer phone calls and emails with tips or advice or to just answer a question or two. All of this is just during the day. I have a great job. It's fun, challenging, tiring, exciting, and has a bit of travel thrown in the mix.

But there is yet another side of me and my simple life. I just became a grandmother-a little boy, Naini Warner, 7 lbs. 20 inches. I have seen pictures and will be traveling to see the little guy in about a week. I have a stash of goodies to take with me from clothes, a toy or two and of course books. My daughter will be reading to that baby. You might wonder why I'm waiting so long to visit. Well that is the other part of me that is keeping my brain and my fingers working.

I am a doctoral student. Yes, I went back to school. I started this in 2006 and am beginning to see the light at the end of the tunnel. I am a student at Pepperdine University in California. Much of the program was done online. Hooray for the digital world. So I work by day and study and write by night. Lots of nights I find myself not getting much done (imagine being tired at the end of the day) so on Saturday and Sunday into my home office I go. Between reading, writing, and doing more reading and writing, editing and starting again, I find I have used up another day. But in two days, I will participate in a preliminary conference with my dissertation committee. This is a huge hurdle. I can hardly wait. I've worked on a Power point presentation getting ready for this event. My presentation is extensive. This is a monumental event in the path to completing this work. The conference will be held remotely with my dissertation committee in California and me in Texas. We will be using Skype and all will have my presentation which is 26 minutes long. Try to guess how many times I've practiced and timed this thing. I might even dream about it. Then the committee members ask questions and make comments and decide if I can move forward with the research. Tomorrow I have a pre-conference call with my advisor in preparation for Tuesday. So needless to say, Tuesday is a really big day. I hope to be celebrating that night.

Headquarters is buzzing

      Lots of activity is found at the international headquarters in Austin this week. Two committee meeting this week and one was this past weekend. That keeps everyone busy. The headquarters staff works very hard to make everything easy for committee meetings since most committee members travel from places far and wide. The non-dues revenue committee met over the weekend and Marcia Kirkland, a committee member, said, " This is hard word to do so fast."
     Many who serve on an international committee for the first time are overwhelmed at the first meeting. They soon learn the ropes and many try for another committee after the experience. Each committee has a representative from each geographic region. Larger committees have more. The administrative staff serves on committees as the liaison from committee to headquarters. It's one of the exciting parts of being on the staff. You get to meet people from parts of Europe, Latin America, Canada and the United States.
      This week I'm headed to Dallas for the Texas Leadership Seminar. I'm so excited to have been selected for this opportunity. This way I'll get to meet members from across Texas and learn more about the state organization. I've adopted an Austin chapter and they have been grand. Membership certainly has many unseen benefits if you open doors as they appear.
      In April, I'm looking forward to taking the international president's message to New York and Missouri. I'll have more new friends after visiting each state organization convention. Of course, there are five regional conferences this summer and I will be visiting each. It will be a whirlwind summer- four weeks on the road back to back. They tell me it is an experience - a bit of work and some fun. Hope to meet some new friends in each area. I'll be looking to meet as many members as I can. I'm doing a workshop in Hershey and Denver- What you can do with Web 2.0. I hope you can join me.

New things in a new year

We are well into January of 2011 and have new things to share. The Bulletin has a fresh new cover so watch for it's arrival in your mail. The Constitution and International Standing Rules, 2010, has been printed and is ready for purchase for the Society store and for your Kindle. The Bulletin will soon be available for the Kindle.

Headquarters is humming with activities for regional conferences and processing multiple applications. The information department has launched the beginnings for the regional Web sites. Watch for additions and changes on these sites. Planning of the next editions of the DKG News, the President's Page and the Bulletin, with editor, Judy Mertz, have already begun. Operations is keeping the building running efficiently and warm for Austin's sudden cold snap. This department processes scholarship and world fellowship applications so they are busy as bees. The executive department stays busy with travel arrangements for committees, planning for future conventions and training the new Educational Foundation assistant. Membership has been working tirelessly with the membership committee to provide new versions of orientation and a completely new re-orientation guide.The educational excellence committee is working fast and furious to provide new and fresh materials for projects and ways to support early career educators.

I've been experimenting with a flip camera and here's a short video of the Planning Meeting held in September.

On a personal note, I have a new red car, a Ford Edge. I am so excited and love the ride. It rides great and has lots of new technologies that I'm learning to use. I'm loving being in Austin and have settled well in my home. I'm looking forward to traveling to state organization conferences and regionals this summer.

I've been working on my dissertation for a year now and seem to be making some progress. I recently got chapter 3 back from my advisor with major rewrites to do. I completed that task today. I've sent it back and hope I'll soon be able to move to the next chapter (five chapters in all). I took the holidays off to rest but now I'm back at it. I spend lots of Saturday and Sunday afternoons writing or reading. The coursework was tough but I'm beginning to think this is harder.