About Greater Seattle Membership: Low Meeting Attendance

The Greater Seattle Chapter currently has 92 members; however, participation and networking is at all time low!

If you have some ideas, comments about how to change this please send me an email at: president@armaseattle.org or call me at 206-615-1609. I would like to hear from members that have ideas on how to encourage participation, attendance, and more networking.

Or, tell me your needs from the local organization.

The Greater Seattle board has decided to no longer host meetings at an area hotel because we can't make your minium required number of attendees. The Greater Seattle board decide to host meetings, for now or until our attendance increases, at free venues.

What does this means for you?

• You will still get a high quality educational program.
• You will get it at a lower cost-$5 for just to cover the food the board will purchase.
• You will still get to network with area Records and Information Managers.

I hope to see you at either February 5 at Seattle City Hall, Room 370 8:30 a.m. March 5 at Seattle Municipal Tower, Room 4050/4060. (For program information and addresses see Greater Seattle Website.)

Andrea Bettger, Greater Seattle President

Message from the Greater Seattle President

Message from the President

If you were at the January 8, chapter meeting, you may have noticed I was absent. I was speaking (via teleconference) to IT professionals at the Northwest Public Power conference in Portland. It was a great experience and I am still getting emails from people asking questions about records management. Word back from the conference is that it was one of the best sessions.

Next month on February 5, Stephanie Wade from Boeing will be speaking about imaging and scanning. It will be great to hear how a large corporation manages their small, medium, and large scanning projects. Imaging and scanning projects are also playing a more important role in records management in my office. I have recently had several questions regarding imaging projects. I am looking forward to hear about how Boeing handles their many projects. We will be announcing the location very soon.

Andrea Bettger, Greater Seattle President

Venue Change
For the last three years, we have been at the Best Western Executive Inn. Due to shrinking attendance at our meetings, we will no longer afford venue and meals at the Best Western. The Greater Seattle meeting will be hosted at several large offices in the Seattle area, so make sure you pay attention to the location when you see the meeting announcements. If you have a large conference room or would like to host a breakfast or lunch meeting in the future, please contact a Greater Seattle Board member.

Tri Chapter Seminar: Update!
The date of the Tri-Chapter event has changed to Friday, May 1. The Bellevue Eastside, Greater Seattle, and Puget Sound Chapter will be hosting together a joint seminar on all day at La Quinta Inn, Tacoma WA. It was originally scheduled for the Thursday, but there was small change of plans, which I think are for the better.

The Tri-Chapters event has several great speakers planned. Jesse Wilkins from Access Science Corporation will be speaking about Enterprise Content and Records Management. He is a very excellent and informative speaker on Records and Information Management topics. He regularly speaks at ARMA International Conferences. The Tri-Chapter presidents are very proud to present Wilkins.
The Spring Seminar’s second track will be David Matthews from the City of Seattle. Matthews will be speaking about Electronic Investigations. You can learn how the technology professionals look inside a computer and find all those dirty little secrets. This session will be partnered with E- discovery. We are still finalizing the speaker, but soon will be announced. You will want to make sure to attend this event!

ARMA International News
ARMA International Education Foundation
The ARMA International Educational Foundation is a funding resource for research and scholarship in the field of records and information management. The source of funds is the income earned by an Endowment being raised by concerned individuals and organizations in the profession. Established by ARMA International, the leading professional association of records and information managers, it is a 501(c) 3 non-profit entity.

The Greater Seattle Chapter made a commitement to give five $100; this year will be our fourth pledge year. The pledge is from chapters that donate for five years $100. AIEF also sales drawing tickets to the ARMA International conferences. There will be tickets on sale for the 2010 conference in San Francisco, CA. The Greater Seattle Chapter is looking for a new AIEF Champion. If you would like to make an announcements at meetings and sale the 2010 raffle tickets, please contact the Chapter President.

ARMA International Website News
ARMA International's online shopping cart will be unavailable February 1 - 3 due to a system upgrade. After February 3, the ARMA Website and the online shopping cart should be working.

ARMA International Board Voting
ARMA International 2009 Board of Directors Election is open from January 7, 2009 until February 16, 2009 at 11 p.m. Make sure to check out who to vote online at:

· http://www.arma.org/news/enewsletters/index.cfm?ID=3241

A Message From the Region Manager

February. Did you ever wonder why, when the calendar was being decided, that February was only given 28 days? I think that perhaps it was because they were hoping that February would go by quickly. After all, February is nestled smack dab in the dead of winter. Personally I have found myself battling a state of the winter doldrums.
It’s dark, it’s dreary, and it’s cold. Add to that the state of our economy. More and more employers are talking about cutbacks. Whispers of the “L” word have even been mentioned in my workplace. It would be so easy to become depressed and give up trying.

Remember the scene in the Wizard of OZ when the bad witch casts a spell on Dorothy and her friends and causes them to lie down in the fields and sleep? Ah, but Glenda the Good Witch comes along and makes it snow which causes them to wake up and continue on.

O.K. the snow has fallen. It’s time to wake up from the winter malaise and move forward! And just like Glenda, ARMA International will be there to provide us with the tools we need along our journey. Free webinars, new publications in the ARMA bookstore, and leadership training are just a part of the services available to us.

Spring is coming and with it will be a number of excellent spring seminars being put on by our chapters. Contact your chapter leadership for details. I encourage you to attend!

Coming in June will be the annual Region Leadership Conference. Did you know that attendees receive four hours of leadership skill training by Alliance Training and Consulting? Dale Mask will be joining us again this June. Ask anyone who was there last June how tremendous Dale is! This is some of the finest training you can get and it’s provided to attendees by ARMA International. Now here’s the best part. You don’t have to be a member of your chapter’s Board to attend and get in on this opportunity! So mark your calendar for June 26-27 to join us in Boise. I hope to see you all there!

Finally, please remember your Region Team is here to help. If you ever have any questions, concerns, comments, or suggestions, please feel free to contact me or Fran.

Out of the dead of winter will come new growth. I urge you all to grow as well this spring by taking advantage of the services and opportunities available through your membership in ARMA!

Very Truly Yours,
Marc


Marc J. Simpson, Manager
Great Northwest Region
of ARMA International