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Expert Opinion and Symposium Planning

R

RonW

Joined
Aug 25, 2005
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Location
Norfolk, VA
I have been impressed by the quality of most of the comments made about the success and challenges of the symposium. There have been some great observations and suggestions to make things better. I hope you folks who are currently in leadership roles for the AAW are making check lists of what has appeared, so none of the ideas get dropped before a fair discussion. Having said that, I wonder how those of us who are still willing to spend the time to suggest improvements, can participate in the planning of the next symposium? Not all of us can be board members or full time committee members. Has thought ever been given to an at-large email based committee formed to review and comment on planning? If such a group was formed, it would be like herding chickens if not limited in numbers and given some clear guidelines. There has to be a way to capture the great expertise in the membership in a way that will help make the next event even better than the Louisville Symposium.

Ron Wilson
 
Any member can become part of a committee. One just has to volunteer to become part of a committee. It's that simple. And all of the committees do real work. It's not just suggestions or email.

Example: The exhibitions committee coordinates all the exhibition work. They also assemble the exhibition catalogs - concept, design, printing bids, writeups, all the way thru publication. I would estimate that the exhibition committee chair Bill Haskell easily put in 300 hours getting that work done. As a committee member, I reviewed some of his work, and in general it was usually darned near perfect!

Similar work is done on all the other committees. Ron, you have a good suggestion and if you want to put in some time I bet one of the committees would appreciate the help. All the committees could use some help.

We had a few problems that were exceptional problems at the symposium this year. Everyone seems to be amped up about those. Last year most everything was fine. And actually this year most of the symposium went pretty well. Like I said, the real work is not "armchair quarterbacking". It takes time and effort.
 
Where do I find a list of the committees and contact info for the chairpersons? I quickly looked at the AAW home page but did not see anything on committees... not surprising as I am half blind in one eye and can't see in the other, and real dull. (That is also the excuse I use for my turnings....). If it is as easy simply saying you want on, I hope that several of the other commenter's who have not been on a committee, will take the time to join one and add their expertise to the mix. And Jeff- not all after action commenting is second guessing, armchair quarterbacking, or criticism ... most is meant to help.

Ron Wilson
 
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