Last year I was voted in as the Vice President of the International Association of Administrative Professionals (IAAP) California Division. With the position comes the tremendous responsibility to chair and plan a statewide annual conference. Was I crazy? With two full-time jobs and another equally separate long list of commitments and responsibilities, I didn’t think twice about accepting the assignment. I put my head down, started working into the middle of the night and weekends for months, and said, “Here we go!”
Education and continuous learning have always been important to me. The ability to expand thinking and purposefully seek out continuous education is critical to the career success of today’s 21st century administrative professional. I still have more to learn. What about you?
I’m active in professional associations and sign up for conferences because learning is important.
On June 5-8, 2014 in Sacramento, CA, the IAAP California Division Annual Educational Conference and California Division Meeting was an absolutely remarkable success!
With nearly 200 speakers, exhibitors, and attendees registered for educational sessions and conference events, I couldn’t have been more jazzed about the energy and excitement being shared by everyone in the room.
Our speaker and panel lineup included: Pam Hurt-Hobday, James Spellos, Ted Gaebler, RoseMarie Terenzio, Erica Gutierrez, Judith Yannarelli, Allyn Friedrichsen, Lorraine Beaman, Stacey Peterson, Adam Lindgren, Jeanne Reaves, and Judy Peebles. They each did an incredible job presenting and connecting with the audience!
A special thank you to the exhibitors: Boston Market, Buca di Beppo, California Division, Inc.—IAAP, Diva Designs, Fairy Tale Interrupted, Fruitridge Printing & Mailing, Give Something Back, The Gourmet Gift Horse, Granlibakken, Heald College, JLB Career Consulting, Macy’s, National University, OfficeTeam, Susan Henley Design, SyTech Solutions, The Knowledge Series, thirty-one, Visit Santa Rosa, and Whole Foods.
A highlight of the conference was hosting RoseMarie Terenzio, former Executive Assistant to John F. Kennedy, Jr., for a book signing during the Exhibitor Expo for her bestseller “Fairy Tale Interrupted.” Thank you Barnes & Noble for being present to sell the books.
We appreciated our sponsors this year, which included: City of Rancho Cordova, CORT, Heald College, Meyers Nave, Rancho Cordova Chapter IAAP, Susan Henley Design, SyTech Solutions, and Visit Santa Rosa.
Our IAAP California Division Board Members Barbara Rambow, Donna Kendrena, Murphy Jones, and Alice Martin were great leaders this year. Thank you for believing and supporting this conference.
Thank you to each attendee and each business that donated an item into our bags that attendees received at registration. Also, thank you to the DoubleTree by Hilton Sacramento. The staff at the DoubleTree was fantastic.
A special shout out to my good friend and colleague Mindy Cuppy. Thank you for saying, “Yes!” and not thinking twice when I asked you to serve as coordinator of a statewide conference. You helped to make this the best conference ever!
The take away for me saying “Yes!” to yet another commitment and a very BIG one is “We have more capacity than we think.” There are incredible opportunities that we often never experience when we quickly jump to say, “no” or let fear get in the way.
AWESOME!!! As always Stacy you lead the way in doing things with class and professionalism!
Many Thanks!
Donna
Sounds like a big success. I think you earned a great relaxing weekend.
Stacy, you and Mindy made it the best conference EVER. The speakers were wonderful and everyone is STILL talking 2 weeks later about this fantastic event. Everyone needs to join IAAP-the benefits are huge!