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.
Saturday, April 16, 2011
Sunday, March 27, 2011
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.
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.
Monday, February 7, 2011
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.
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.
Thursday, January 20, 2011
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.
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.
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