President's Message

No one ever told me the region president position would be so exciting.  Tonight, Steve Kinsley, my wife, Linda, and I spent the evening sealing, labeling, and stamping the 662 invitations for the 39th Annual Chesapeake Challenge.  It hardly sounds like the makings of a fun night, right?  The truth is that it really was. At first, you try a little process improvement, but you quickly reach the optimum approach, and then all you can do is sit back and enjoy the ride.  Mindless activities like this are a good excuse to get together and share thoughts, experiences, and stories.

Our region hosts excellent events.  The event chairs work very hard to provide the best possible experience for our members, and it shows.  I try to get around during our events and talk with members to find out if they are enjoying themselves, and it's rare that I hear any complaints. Believe me it's not because our members are shy.

The success of an event is directly related to the amount of work put in by the event chairs, but before your mind equates work to drudgery, consider the kind of work that needs to be done for an event.  Most of our events are big parties.  The Annual Crab Feast, The After Holiday Party, the New Member Party - all of them parties.  There are some exceptions, like autocross, which I'd argue is a bring-your-own-food-and-drink party for gear heads.  We are, after all, a social club.  The real work is event planning.  I know there are plenty of members who love - if not thrive - on planning events.

During our "invitation stamping party", we noticed many names of people we don't know - people who don't attend the events.  These are members who aren't getting the full benefit of their membership.  I know there are many reasons for not attending, like schedule conflicts.  There are also a many reasons for attending.  If you haven't been to a region event or if you haven't been to one in a long time, I suggest you give it a try.  I think you'll be pleasantly surprised.

So if you're looking for the fun in the region...it's in the mail.

Andrew