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From Jay Speyerer
Welcome to the new program year for NSA-Pittsburgh.
Starting our year in September is like going back to school after summer vacation. But what would be bad news for kids is good news for us: we're lengthening our school year to include a June meeting. That's one of this year's changes.
As the French philosopher Marcel Marceau said, The more things change, the more they remain the same. (Except he mimed it. In French.) You'll still be a part of useful and information-packed programs; we'll just get there by a slightly different route. Considering Pittsburgh road construction and repairs, we're quite accustomed to getting places by different routes, so I know we'll be just fine.
For instance, we'll move the first break. Nobody gets winded after half an hour of networking and 15 minutes of announcements, so we'll have a five minute warning before the 8:30 start and then we'll dive right in. We'll have more things to do before the speaker begins than we have in the past, so our guest speakers will be starting just a bit later, and we'll take another longer break right before that. To continue the school theme, think of it as recess.
Along with announcements, guest introductions, and 30-second elevator pitches from the membership, we'll have a brief "What's New" segment. If you have something new happening in your business, sing it out. As the saying goes, inquiring minds want to know. "What's New" is for members and affiliates. Guests will have the opportunity to chat about their news over lunch and in the parking lot.
The 50/50 raffle will be reserved for special occasions. I'm sure Dave J won't get out of practice, and I know he won't run out of tickets.
Bring your products and promotional materials. We have the table space, so let's put it to use with free advertising and marketing. Remind everyone what you're all about.
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President,
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Another way to sharpen your image is by participating in our new "Local Talent" segment. At each meeting, a member or an affiliate will have the opportunity to give us ten or fifteen minutes of one of their presentations so we can get a clearer idea of their expertise. The Board of Directors will choose based on proposals, so plan to get some of your best material in front of the membership. Let's aim for topics that most directly benefit the group in general, but we still want to hear from as many of you as possible. To start the ball rolling, Lynda Stucky and I will give a snippet of our program, Executive Image Control, in October.
This is not practice, and there will be no formal critique. This will simply be you showing us what you do as part of our meeting. If you'd like to present, send me your info directly and I'll get it to the board.
It's a well-known fact that we like the old days around here. So let's get back to those days of having so many people at the meetings that we need to steal chairs from other rooms to accommodate the overflow. Let's get back to guests who like us so much and see so much value in our programs they can't help but join. And let's continue the friendliness and camaraderie and helpfulness that make these meetings so worthwhile. By getting back to those traditions, NSA-Pittsburgh will move forward to grand success.
So sharpen your pencils, bring your notebook, and let's go back to school. And if you have any questions, pass me a note at recess.
All the best,
Jay
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