Spring has arrived and summer is around the corner.  Celebrate the season and check your calendars for upcoming SGMP activities.  We now have more than 60 members and hope that you will make time to participate in our chapter activities to ensure that you are maximizing your membership in SGMP.

Marie Arighi and I participated in the January 2012 Joint Leadership Meeting (JLM) held at the Hilton New Orleans Riverside in New Orleans.  There were approximately 77 attendees.  This included chapter representatives from 33 chapters, National Board of Directors, Gilmer Institute of Learning Trustees and the National Headquarters staff.  This annual function brings together the President and 2^nd Vice President from each of the chapters in a unique forum that allows SGMP National board members to provide program and policy updates along with helpful ideas for improving chapter activities.  We also had the opportunity to address items of particular interest to our chapter.  One of the activities at JLM involved working on our chapter business plan, which is an ongoing process that will change as the chapter evolves.  There were also activities that provided a glimpse of the New Orleans hospitality attendees at the May 16-18, 2012 National Education Conference will experience. 

SGMP received 80 applications from 25 chapters for scholarships to the National Education Conference.  The winners were announced at JLM.  These scholarships for the National Education Conference are a wonderful opportunity for our membership and I encourage you to take advantage of this when the scholarship application information is posted on the website in November 2012 for the 2013 National Education Conference.

One of my favorite segments of this meeting is the input and feedback from the Presidents and 2^nd Vice Presidents from the chapters.  The opportunity to talk with SGMP National board members and representatives from other chapters allowed us to bring back some innovative ideas for use in our chapter.

Thank you very much for your continuing support of SGMP and the Rocket City Alabama Chapter.

I leave you with something to consider from Charles R. Swindoll, an American writer and pastor, about your attitude on life.

The longer I live, the more I realize the impact of attitude on life.  Attitude, to me, is more important than facts.  It is more important than the past, the education, the money, than circumstances, than failure, than successes, than what other people think or say or do.  It is more important than appearance, giftedness or skill.  It will make or break a company... a church... a home.  The remarkable thing is we have a choice everyday regarding the attitude we will embrace for that day.  We cannot change our past... we cannot change the fact that people will act in a certain way.  We cannot change the inevitable.  The only thing we can do is play on the one string we have, and that is our attitude.  I am convinced that life is 10% what happens to me and 90% of how I react to it.  And so it is with you... we are in charge of our Attitudes. - Charles R. Swindoll

 Patty Barron, Chapter President

SGMP's Mission & Objectives have served the government meeting professional for 30 years!
Our mission is to enhance the knowledge and expertise of government meeting professionals. Our objectives are to improve the quality of, and promote the cost-effectiveness of, government meetings. SGMP is the only national organization in the U.S. dedicated exclusively to government meetings. SGMP delivers our membership value of education, resources and networking to our 3,500 members and through 33 chapters nationwide.

 Put a supplier and planner together and you have one terrific program!  January’s program held at the Von Braun Center was just the initiative needed for this chapter to start the new year off with excitement and team building amongst the membership.  Ms. Peyton Jordan, Westin Huntsville and Ms. Bennie Jacks, Retired Government Planner with NASA, combined their talents to provide a team building exercise.  Not only was the content valuable, it offered the opportunity for the membership to work in small groups and share their values with others.  Each member was required to evaluate their personal value into rankings of 1-5 with 5 being the highest.  From there, the top 3 values were chosen amongst the members and small groups were assembled with the top 3 values to discuss.  The diversity was interesting with most members valuing relationships as their priority, while others selected timeliness and making decisions as their priorities.  Each group took 5 minutes to critique that value and how it applied to the member.  After discussion, each group gave their findings and valuable information was shared amongst the members.  This particular program was one of the core competency topics and earned members 1.0 educational contact hour.  Stay tuned for more interesting programs in the New Year - join SGMP today!

 Pictured: Peyton Jordan and Bennie Jacks. 

" Creating a Budget”was the February 28, 2012 educational program presented at the Holiday Inn Downtown Huntsville, in Huntsville, Alabama.  Marie Arighi, Director of Sales for the Von Braun Center was the program presenter.

 Team One

      Jill Sanderson - Team Captain

      Liz Blackmon

      Cheryl Wise

      Charles Pollard 

 Team Two

       Jonathan McKinney- Team Captain

       Sherry Hilley

       Peyton Jordan

       Robb Strommen

 Team captains were selected:  Jill Sanderson, Sales Manager, Holiday Inn Downtown Huntsville and Jonathan McKinney, Director of Sales of the Marriott Shoals . Teams of 4 were formed.  Each team sent their players up one at a time for the initial question. Whichever individual from the team answered first with the correct answer made the decision of whether to play or pass for their team.  From there, the team playing could only give 3 incorrect responses before the opposing team could “steal” the points with a correct answer. Even though the teams were a mixture of planners and suppliers, some of the questions proved to be difficult and we learned quite a bit!  Some of the things we learned were:

1) Under a functional expense budget as it relates to a meeting what are the specific categories for expenses? A) Program Development B) Travel and Per Diem Expenses C) Promotions/Marketing Costs D) Exhibit Cost E) Registration Cost F) Meeting Expenses G) Operation and Overhead.

2) What are 3 main factors that could positively or negatively impact your budget? A) Number of attendees B) Number of Exhibitors C) Sponsorships.

3) What are 5 fixed costs within your meeting budget? A) Room Rental B) Speaker Fees C) Internet D) AudioVisual  E) Signage.

Jonathan McKinney’s team walked away with the victory and as the team leader he won a Family Feud board game of his very own! The game was both educational and fun not only for the players but for the audience as well!

We also enjoyed a delicious Mexican themed dinner from the Holiday Inn Downtown and had "Save the Dates" and other information regarding the National Education Conference available to take with us to begin planning our trip to New Orleans!!!

Effective Conference Websites – was the March 27, 2012 educational program presented at the Holiday Inn Research Park in Huntsville by Mr. Scott Schroeder of Marketing Mud.  

Mr. Schroeder using the 2012 Southeast Regional Conference website as an example walked us through effective techniques to use in developing a marketing scheme.  He walked us through logo design, ad creation, social media and web design.

We learned how to create branding solutions that stick!!

Pictured: Barbie Baugh, Chief of Protocol AMCOM, presenting certificate to Scott Schroeder, Marketing Mud.

The Rocket City Alabama Chapter kicked off a new program called “Member Minute”.   Each month a member is selected by a random drawing to “Highlight” their property or organization.  The member is then “Spotlighted” all month on the website. 

Members Spotlighted this past quarter were…..

 January/February

Natalie Hasley

Bama Jammer Inc.

www.bamajammerinc.com

March/April

Peyton Jordan

Westin Huntsville

www.westinhuntsville.com

The New Board of Directors for the Rocket City Alabama Chapter will take office beginning July 1, 2012!!! 

President                          Patty Barron

1^st Vice-President           Barbie Baugh

2^nd Vice-President          Brent Cotton

Secretary                           Arthur Henderson

Treasurer                          Marie Arighi

Planner Director              Rose Wiley

Supplier Director             Peyton Jordan

Supplier Director             Trey Hodge

Get Connected to SGMP!!!  Get involved with a committee...

 Navigating through Government Meetings - that is the theme for the 2012 Southeast Regional Conference in Mobile, AL September 16-19th at the Renaissance Mobile Riverview Plaza Hotel.  You will not want to miss this exciting program with workshops centered around Time Management, Creating Partnerships, the Ideal Request for Proposal, and many more.  Sponsorships are available now - and exhibit space is filling up.  Register today!  http://sgmpcentralflorida.com/srec/

Robb Strommen and his wife Ann welcomed twins into the world on April 10.  Katherine and Nathaniel were born healthy and are doing well.  Nathaniel came home with his parents while his sister Katherine remains in the NICU to gain weight. Sydney is the older sister, by 10 years and was very excited about her little brother and sister. Her only conditions were to not share a room and never be assigned diaper duty.  Robb is the Alabama Account Executive for Marriott International and provides Marriott meeting and room quotes for group/government/social travel anywhere in the world your needs take you.

 Each month at the chapter meeting there is a "Rocket Bank" available for your "Loose Change". 

The money will be tallied before the annual conference and donated to the charity chosen for the 2012 National Education Conference.   

So remember every penny counts......