Region Message for December 2011

As of this writing, I have just returned from San Francisco and the 55th ARMA International Conference and Expo. My shuttle to SeaTac airport picked me up at 4:50 a.m. on Friday the 5th. Good thing I had a chance to snooze on the plane. From the time we landed in San Francisco until we took off heading for home the following Wednesday, it was non-stop. After two days of Region Managers and Coordinators strategic planning meetings, meeting with the ARMA Board of Directors, the Awards Luncheon, Chapter Leadership and the Welcome Party…whew (deep breath), the Conference and Expo started in earnest. Again, there were great sessions, lots to learn on the vendor floor and a great time to be had. And there’s much to do in the evenings! The Canadian Party is always one of my favorites.
This year Jenny and I were thrilled to be joined by 32 members from our region for a region lunch. All of our chapters were well represented just as all of our chapters were well represented at the conference. The estimated overall attendance of the conference was approximately 1500 of which 113 were from our region! Way to go Great Northwest! But the best part of the lunch was honoring our award winners. And we had a lot to celebrate!
First, hats off to all of you who are your chapter’s Member of the Year. We cheered and applauded when your names were up on the big screen. You will be receiving an award from ARMA International soon.
ARMA instituted some new awards this year. Next up was chapter Leaders of the Year. Again we cheered an applauded! You will also be receiving an award from ARMA soon.
Other new awards included Chapter Recruitment Awards. These went to chapters who finished their year with more members than they started the year with. In today’s economy, that’s quite an accomplishment! Congratulations to the Columbia Basin and Greater Anchorage Chapters for achieving this!
The Chapter Participation Award is another new one. While many chapters are scratching their heads wondering how to increase participation, our Greater Seattle Chapter has excelled at it. Good going Seattle!
Then there are the new Special Merit Awards. These awards set certain criteria for chapters to achieve. There are awards at the Bronze, Silver, and Gold levels. A chapter must accomplish everything on the Bronze level before moving up to Silver and then Gold. No chapters in ARMA have reached the Gold level yet and only 2, yes, only TWO have made it to the Silver Merit Award. Congratulations to the Greater Anchorage Chapter for receiving the Silver Merit Award!
And then it was time for Newsletter-of-the-Year presentations. You’ll remember that last year Boise Valley won in the medium chapter category while Oregon took home the large chapter honors. Could they repeat?? You’d better believe they did!! Congratulations to BVC and Oregon and especially Amity Highly and Jane McGarvin, their newsletter editors! Wow. You really shined!
But the greatest honor of them all came the next day during the opening ceremonies. There is no higher honor in all of ARMA than to be admitted to the Company of Fellows of ARMA International. There are very few individuals ever admitted into that elite company. This year, ARMA admitted number 44. Long overdue, the Company of Fellows has admitted to its ranks a favorite son of the Great Northwest Region. Please join me in congratulating Dave McDermott, CRM, FAI. Well deserved Dave!!
So what more can I say? I had a great time. I learned a lot. I met up with some old friends and made some new ones. And once again, as always, I was very proud to be a part of the greatest region, the Great Northwest Region!

Marc