Thirty One Days of Blogging - Day 18

I have now reached day 18 of blogging. Today I will talk about the Heartland Chapter and where it all started for the Optimistic BA. I was involved in the first eight conferences the chapter had. We got together ahead of time to “stuff the goody bags,” code for let’s have a party. We did get the work done as we went along. One year I showed up at the affair, and I asked the current President if she was running again. She looked at me and said, ask Nicki about that. Nicki told me that the group had talked and I was going to be their next President. I looked at them and said, Ok. Now I had no hidden agenda when I asked Sarah if she was running again.

As they say, the rest is history as I served for two terms as President. When I stepped down, I agreed to run the conference for two years. In the later years, Nicki said she told everyone “that Judy is a diamond in the rough and needs to be President.” I never pushed Nicki on her comment, and we became good friends. Nicki worked on the conference for several years and enjoyed doing food and facilities. She joked she loved to carry the walkie talkie to communicate with the facility. My last year as conference chair was 2017. That year I also had to step in as speaker chair, so I knew I would be extra busy. Nicki was on a long term project out of town, so it was my turn with the walkie talkie. Those management types are not real smart, so I didn’t realize when you had to hold down and let up on the button.

It was a good conference, and I also got to do a panel with two of my good friends, Paula Bell and Angela Wick. With everything I had going on, saying my feet were sore was underestimating it. I don’t think I unpacked my conference stuff for at least two days. The conference was held two days after I was appointed IIBA’s Global Chapter Council Chair, and I announced it during our panel discussion. As one chapter was closed, another one opened, and I am never bored. I couldn’t sit still anyway, which is why my friends say I failed at retirement. Until tomorrow, which is only three hours away in my time zone, make sure your glass is at least half full.