From the elect President David Lowry

I was recently elected the president of the Central New York Chapter and never having held such a leadership position in ARMA I had some trepidation coming into office.  So I decided it was a good idea to attend the ARMA Northeast Leadership Development Conference in Boston this past June.  Central New York is a small chapter so we didn't have a lot money to pay my expenses and in these tough economic times there was no chance of financial assistance from my employer.  Then I discovered there were leadership training grants available from ARMA and I was lucky enough to get one.

I must admit as I was driving across the Massachusetts Turnpike towards Boston I was thinking to myself "I hope this conference will be worth the time." There was no need to worry, I got more out the conference than I expected. The two days of training featured a good mix of leadership training, networking, and information on available resources.

The first day began with training of strategic planning by Dale Mask. For any chapter to be successful it needs careful planning and must be goal oriented. This course demonstrated the importance of developing vision and mission statements and walked us through the mechanics of setting up a planning committee, putting the planning writing, and executing it. This training will be especially useful to our small chapter as we try to find ways to increase membership, expand participation and improve services.

There were also sessions focusing on the latest ARMA initiatives and resources available to members and local chapters. ARMA President John Frost presented "ARMA's Board of Directors: Working for You." This session looked at some new ARMA initiatives like GARP (Generally Accepted Recordkeeping Principles) and the RIM self-assessment. He also updated us on some newly formed committees at HQ and recent efforts to make the organization more nimble.

Tom Killan, Director of Member Services, provided an overview of the resources available to the chapters from HQ such as the online chapter operations handbook and the Leadership Academy. Also provided was some good practical training on facilitating an effective board meeting and using Constant Contact to better communicate with your chapters.

Perhaps the greatest benefit of attending the conference was the chance to network with peers. It was nice to be able to match names with faces and meet our Northeast Regional leaders and folks from HQ, including the ARMA president. I now have a better idea whom to call on for help when needed. Also, it was great to hear what other chapters are doing and I left with three pages of notes filled with ideas for future chapter initiatives. Oh, and the after hours social events were a lot of fun too!

Whether you are new to chapter leadership or an old pro, I'm convinced attending the Northeast Leadership Development Conference will always be beneficial and help the local chapters succeed.