Manager’s Report: News and Notes from the Conference

By Dawnell Claessen, SIG Manager

It is hard to believe that more than six months have gone by since Lois Marsh and I became Co-Managers of the P&P SIG. I am pleased to say that Lois and I have met all our original goals we set when we assumed leadership.

This must mean that it is now time for us to set new goals for the coming year. Here are some of the ideas we are working on:

• Budgets and financial plan for 2007-2008 SIG year.
• Volunteer Conference Call to be held early July 2007.
• Recruit for volunteer vacancies.
• Submit two quality P&P proposals for 2008 STC Conference in Philadelphia.
• Invite a speaker and develop a tailored educational program for 2008 STC Conference in Philadelphia.
• Poll members regarding the election of SIG Leaders in 2008.

Notes from Conference
The P&P SIG had a GREAT conference in May with more activities than ever before in Minneapolis. At the Welcome Reception, P&P SIG shared a table with Quality and Process Improvement SIG. Lots of people stopped by to say hello – and pick up some P&P SIG sticky notes and a SIG Brochure. At the SIG networking luncheon there were nearly 50 attendees, mostly P&P SIG members

Our Progression session had 10 P&P specific Table Topics and we had approximately 60 attendees. New at conference this year was a meeting of all SIG leaders.

Led by our “SIG Advocate” Judith Herr, the message I took away from this meeting was that our SIG activities should be “…by and for the benefit of OUR SIG members.” We can look to STC and other SIGs for ideas and inspiration, but look to our members for what they want and need from this SIG.

Notes from P&P SIG Business Meeting
On Monday, May 14 (at 7:00am!) the P&P SIG held its annual business meeting. There were 21 members in attendance. A lively round table discussion followed the conclusion of our business.

The message I took away from this meeting is that our members join and participate in the P&P SIG for education and information specific to the practice of Polices and Procedures. Interestingly enough, it seems that our members want this education and information to be either at the introductory level or at the advanced level, as opposed to intermediate.

Budget News
The annual budget for the P&P SIG will increase significantly in the 2007-2008 fiscal year. So we want to hear from our members about how they want to spend their money! We would love to hear your ideas for programs.

Right now, we are planning to use a significant portion of our budget to develop educational programs for the benefit of our members.

We want a program to present at Conference, with materials made available to all SIG members after the conference is over, maybe a Webinar and even some short topics made available in the form of Podcasts.

ListServ News
Our list serv WILL get better this year. There are plans to migrate to new software and really get the discussions going!