Great NW Region Manager Message

Happy New Year!

‘Tis the Season to get the new calendars out and begin planning the New Year. For me, it is shaping up to quite busy, already! Here are some important GNW Region of ARMA dates you may wish to get onto your 2006 calendar right away!

February 14 – ARMA International Elections ballots are due. ARMA will be mailing ballots to its members around January 6th. You may learn more about the candidates by visiting the MyARMA section of the ARMA website (www.arma.org/myarma). There you will find candidate bios and their perspective on current RIM issues. There is also a transcript of the “Candidate Forum” which was held in Chicago at the conference. You may also ask questions of the candidates via the Candidate Forum on the member forum page – and, of course, read answers of questions that others have asked. While in MyARMA, you may wish to check your own profile to be sure your contact information is correct. I encourage you to exercise your voting rights in our organization!

March 13-15 – The Great NW Region Conference will be held in Seattle, WA. Plan to come into town the day before (Sunday) for a couple terrific “socials” that the host, Greater Seattle Chapter, has arranged. There will be a cocktail hour in the Space Needle as well as tickets to the EMP (Experience Music Project) and the Science Fiction Museum at the Seattle Center. Then, Monday morning will begin a two-and-a-half day whirlwind of marvelous speakers and sessions in two “tracks.” You should begin looking for the brochure with all the details sometime in January. The conference registration fee will be $300 for ARMA members (up to a cutoff date). The Best Western Executive Inn, 200 Taylor Avenue North, is the location for the conference. Room rates will be pretty reasonable - well under $100!

June 23-24 – The Great NW Region Leadership Conference will be held in the Greater Portland, Oregon area. We appreciate the Oregon Chapter for hosting this one-and-one-half day event in 2006. If you have, will be, or are considering serving your chapter as a Chapter Board of Director member, this is a great opportunity to learn more about the governance of our Chapter, Region and International organizations; tips and training on performing your duties for your chapter; and a wonderful chance to network with other volunteers from our GREAT Region. Watch for more information about this event in future chapter publications and this column.

Fran and I will be visiting several chapters during the next several months. We very much look forward to meeting each of you. Thanks for being a member of our Association! I wish you a prosperous 2006!

Very truly yours,

Susan M. Lord, Manager

Great NW Region of ARMA