President's Message and March Digest

March DIGEST


Message from the President

Dear member,

The 2009-2010 ARMA year is coming to close, but there are still some great meeting and events coming up. On April 15-16, in Bellevue the Great Northwest Region Conference will be hosting a two day conference. Make sure to look on the Great Northwest Region Website for all the details and register for the event. If you can’t attend the two day conference, you can still attend an evening event. I hear it is about classification and demonstration with chocolate and wine. Sounds like fun! Again, go the Great Northwest Region Website for those details.

In this digest you will find information about the how to attend the Region Conference using the Greater Seattle chapter funds, the New Member Meet and Greet, a teaser about our May 6 Social Networking panel discussion, and details about Greater Seattle seeking new board members.

Happy reading!

Andrea Bettger

Great Northwest Region Conference
The Bellevue/Eastside, Greater Seattle, and Puget Sound Chapters invite you to attend Reaching the Island Paradise: RIM Tools and Resources.
Have you reached your RIM island paradise? Or are there some tools and resources that will help fill in those missing links? The 2010 GNW Conference will offer a variety of sessions and speakers that will help you if you are just setting up your island paradise or have been working on it for some time. One of the key components of any island is networking and this year we have added a session just for networking with others in your field.
Thursday night our social event will offer a mix of RIM, wine and chocolate. Just how does that work? You’ll have to attend to see how our speaker, Charmaine Brooks, present RIM and Washington wines in a whole new light!
Other sessions will feature speakers from both public and private industries including Laurie Carpenter, Barbara Benson, Gregory Trosset, Mark Rocco, Joy Sage, Jeff Benson, and experts from Microsoft.
For more information go to: Great Northwest Region Website

Greater Seattle Scholarship
Would you like to attend the Great Northwest Region Conference, but lack the funds? The Greater Seattle board will be awarding four $100 scholarships. To apply for the scholarship please go to: http://www.armaseattle.org/images/SCHOLARSHIPREQUEST.doc
Complete the form and return it to Andrea Bettger at andrea.bettger@seattle.gov by April 2. Only current members of Greater Seattle Chapter are able to apply for these funds.

New Member Meet and Greet
On April 29, from 4:30-6:30 p.m. at Foster Pepper, 1111 3rd Ave, 30th floor, the Greater Seattle Chapter will be having a meet and greet of new members. Members that joined the chapter from April 2009 to present will be invited to join board members and select chapter members. The new members will learn about the chapter and great tools that are offered by ARMA International on how to improve your Records and Information Management knowledge. If you are a new member, I hope you will consider on attending.

Social Networking Panel Discussion
Have you ever been to the Columbia Tower Club? If not, it is the best view in town! On May 6, from 8 to 10 a.m. you will hear a panel discussion of Social Networking. We are finalizing the panelist, but for the low cost of $10 you can enjoy the best view in town and a great RIM program about a very hot topic. The Columbia Tower Club is located at, 601 5th Ave. Floor 75, top of the building. I hope to see you in the sky!

Greater Seattle Chapter Seeking New Board Member!
As I mentioned in the first part of the digest, the 2009-2010 ARMA year is coming to a close. The board will be seeking new individuals to continue with running the Greater Seattle Chapter. You may not know this, but local ARMA members develop all the programs and manage all the behind the scenes of the Chapter. Our membership is increasing and changing, our members are regularly attending our meetings, and we are having some great networking opportunities. However, to continue with a healthy chapter we need new board members with new ideas, and new energy.

The board will need to fill the following positions next year:
· Vice President
· Secretary
· Treasurer
· Membership Director
· Programs Director

You may ask yourself:
· What is the time commitment?
· What does that position do for the Chapter?
· What type of experience do I need?

Time Commitment: All Greater Seattle board members are asked to attend one face-to-face retreat one day in July (the date determined by board), which last two to three hours. Also to regularly attend board conference calls, which commonly last no more than one hour six to eight times a year. Conference calls are scheduled according to board members calendar and commonly during the day.

Here is a short description of the position’s duties we need to fill next year:
· Vice President-When the president is unable to attend regular meeting he/she will act as host and greeter; president may select project for vice-president. Attend board meetings accordingly.
· Secretary-Scribe for board meetings and provide reminders to board for specific deadlines. Attend board meetings accordingly.
· Treasurer-Keep track of funds incoming and outgoing from the chapter. If possible, provide suggestion or recommendations to the board on financial matters. Attend board meetings accordingly.
· Membership- Welcome all new members via phone and/or email; coordinate the annual potential member list for ARMA; assist with new member event. Attend board meetings accordingly.
· Programs Director-Coordinate programs for the year; create write up for email and web announcement; assist speaker at the regular meetings. Attend board meetings accordingly.
· Web Master-Update and manage the Greater Seattle Website. Attend board meetings when possible.

Experience: If you are new to ARMA or a wanting to learn leadership skills, ARMA International can assist you with developing these skills. On June 11-12, there will be a Leadership Conference that the Chapter will pay your attendance fee. This year the Leadership Conference will be hosted by the Greater Seattle Chapter, we are hoping all our new board members will be able to attend. During the Leadership Conference, you will learn about all the great tools ARMA International offers our members and you will be learn about being an ARMA board member. You will also be invited to develop leadership skills throughout year with an online leadership course. In addition, you will be working with Andrea Bettger and Andrew SanAgustin, whom will mentor you through your new position.

If you have questions, please contact Andrea Bettger or Andrew SanAgustin, we would be happy to answer your questions about joining the board.


Western Round Up 2010
The Western Roundup 2010 super-regional meeting of archivists from across the western U.S. is April 28-May 1 at the newly renovated Renaissance Hotel in downtown Seattle. This is a joint meeting sponsored by Northwest Archivists, Conference of Inter-Mountain Archivists, Society of California Archivists, and Rocky Mountain Archivists, but all are welcome!
For general information visit the conference website at http://northwestarchivistsinc.wildapricot.org/WesternRoundup2010 or go straight to the program detail page, http://northwestarchivistsinc.wildapricot.org/program.
Online registration available at http://northwestarchivistsinc.wildapricot.org/Registration.

Shredding Day
Commonly in April the Greater Seattle Chapter hosts a Shredding Day; however, the Washington Attorney’s General is hosting several of these days throughout the year. We have decided to pass on our annual shredding event this year. The Greater Seattle board hopes to attempt one in this fall.

There are several free shredding events in April throughout Washington. If you need to do shredding or if some asks, please see http://www.atg.wa.gov/Shredathon.aspx#events the dates, times, and locations are listed on the Washington Attorney’s General Website.

Greater Seattle Blog
I would like to remind you to check out the Greater Seattle Blog. The board post news items, messages from the region manager and coordinator, items of interests that are happening locally such as conferences, events, and networking opportunities. I hope you will consider book marking the Web at work and home. If you would like to post to the Greater Seattle blog, please contact a board member.