“A small group of thoughtful people could change the world. Indeed, it’s the only thing that ever has.” – Margaret Mead

I was privileged and honored to represent our LO at the BPW State Conference held in St. Petersburg from June 22-25th at the beautiful Vinoy Renaissance Hotel. I arrived on Thursday afternoon and started my weekend by attending my first Board of Directors Meeting that consisted of the Florida State Executive Officers and other LO presidents. At this meeting, all in attendance voted on changes to the BPW/FL Handbook. It was tedious, but necessary, and will make the handbook used by our members much more practical and current.

Friday was spent in mini-seminars that provided valuable information on topics that I can use in my everyday professional life such as tips for better networking, and more efficient ways to ask others for what I need. I will share some of what I learned in these seminars with you in a future newsletter, so be sure to check back!

On Saturday, all those at the conference attended a seminar in which a facilitator led us in a group exercise that produced some valuable information for our newly installed Executive Board. We learned that a commonality the LOs share is that they are all active and successful when it comes to raising monies for various charities and scholarships. We also learned that while many of our LOs have a fair number of members, there are still many that struggle with attracting new and younger members. It was felt by most all, especially the Executive Board, that BPW/FL needs to remain “relevant” if the organization hopes to still be around in 5 years. This was a very sobering thought as this organization is nearing its 100th anniversary, having been founded in 1919.

Our LO has seen an upswing in membership the last few months and while I am very pleased with this, I also recognize the importance of this message to remain “relevant”. Therefore, I am seeking input from YOU, the reader. I am interested in creative ideas of how we can attract more members to our LO. And, specifically, if you are NOT a member of our LO, I would like to ask you; Why not? I would like to invite you to attend one of our monthly meetings to learn more about us, and to share with us what it is you are looking for in a women’s group. Let’s see if together we can’t work to meet each other’s needs; our need to remain “relevant” and to continue to grow our membership, and your needs when you look to join a women’s organization. I’ll be looking forward to meeting YOU at our next meeting!