NATLE FYI

Good Afternoon and Happy Friday!

The Justice Partner Working Group met with SBA Funding Group and NFP, their partner in their about-ready-for-NATLE insurance program.  Once the initial quirks are worked out, we will set up a zoom with the Board so SBA/NFP can make their presentation and answer any remaining questions and concerns.  They are working on a portal that will allow you and your members to choose from personal (ie. auto, pet) and professional (ie. WC, malpractice) lines of insurance.  NPF acts as a broker to evaluate current coverage(s) and find the right carrier(s) for each policy, with no obligation.  This will be an opt-in program similar to the email campaign offering loans to your law firms through the SBA.

Submissions on the Staff Salary Survey are limping along at a 40% response rate.  For the TLAs who don’t submit by the end of today, I will follow up next week so that I have enough time to compile the results ahead of the Board’s meeting in September.  I’ll then incorporate any suggestions before distributing to the participating TLAs.

August’s 4th Monday Zoom Series is responding to the immediate discussion on the ListServ about Event Apps: Who’s Using What & What Are the Pros/Cons?  Register for the zoom link and join the conversation.  Let your counterparts know what you use or learn about what’s out there.  Those who have their favorite apps are encouraged to share their screen for a demo.

The registration is open for the Governmental Affairs Conference, November 10-12, in Newport, RI.  I’ve fielded a few inquiries about which airport makes the most sense.  Boston (BOS) is 63 miles from Newport and Providence Airport (PVD) is 18 miles.  There’s a toll bridge onto the island so have a few dollars handy.  Newport is very walkable – getting from the hotel to the main drag with many amazing restaurants is 10 minutes and reaching the mansions is just under 2 miles.

That’s the NATLE Weekly Wrap.  Have a great weekend,

P.S. In case you’re still here…I know you all know what it’s like the week or two after a conference.  All of the follow-ups and to-do tasks jostling for the top of the priority list can make it hard to work on anything new.  After the Annual Meeting, I finally feel like I can move on to what’s ahead rather than what’s in the rearview mirror, and there’s a lot to look forward to.  I rely on lists to keep track of everything on NATLE’s plate, but if it seems like an idea or an opportunity you’ve suggested or heard mentioned may be gathering dust, please send me a reminder and I’ll see that it gets floated back up to the top.

Good Morning and Happy Friday!

2024 Annual Meeting attendee responses to “What will you tell your Board about this meeting?”:

“The free flowing conversation always yields the best tips and ideas. This was no exception. It also motivates me and to try new tools and change up tired practices. It’s worth every minute and dollar.”

 “That this was the most impactful conference I have been to since starting my job.”

 “We are all engrossed in our own associations and this gives us the ability to step back and look at things from other perspectives. I always take away something useful. I also just enjoy the camaraderie.”

I was excited to hear a few long-timers say that they think this was the best NATLE conference…ever.  That’s really high praise and I’m grateful to the Planning Committee members for their thoughtful selection of topics and presenters.  The evaluations reflect this level of satisfaction with the program, though the food left a lot to be desired.  They also provide a lot to consider for future programs: starting earlier – 7:30 was suggested, better breakfasts, just coffee and no breakfast, more breaks, wifi (the hotel charges $10 per person per day; there was dedicated wifi for the presenters), implementing a buddy program with pre-event zoom meet-ups.

The GAC Planning Committee met this week and is firming up the agenda and tossing around ideas for social events.  A save-the-date announcement will go out early next week to NATLE members, as well as our Justice Partners.  I will be recruiting sponsorships to help defray the cost of providing an improved F&B menu to respond to the requests we heard from the Annual Meeting.  If you have suggestions for new partners, please introduce them to the incredible network that NATLE represents, and I can take it from there!

That’s the NATLE Weekly Wrap.  Have a great weekend,

P.S. In case you’re still here…Who knew that bowling could bring out the party animals?  After the roller coaster of emotions on Sunday – I started the day as I’d mentioned in the COP meeting on Saturday feeling like a deer in headlights, to the stunning announcement that Biden stepped back from running, to adjusting to a new and unfamiliar sense of hope for the future – the lanes attracted our Social Event goers like newly hatched baby sea turtles to the ocean.  (Whenever you have an opportunity to thank the TrialSmith/MemberCentral crew, please do.  Not only do they sponsor these events, but they are constantly working on making improvements to the AMS for us, they’re responsive, and recognize that it’s a mutually beneficial relationship.)  Back on the home front, my patio is definitely not calling to me like those bowling lanes.  The crabgrass coming up between the pavers reminds me that nature will unflinchingly reclaim whatever we’ve built and tilled just like in that post-apocalyptic book, The World Without Us.  I hate to say it, but RoundUp may be my best friend in this weekend’s to-do list

Good Afternoon and Happy Friday!

The Microsoft/Crowdstrike software update SNAFU is creating a memorable and inauspicious start to the Annual Meeting.  Persistence is king, though, and I’ve heard from a handful who are working their way through the system to get to Nashville.  I am including a link here to the directory of the meeting attendees for all members to see.

Just a reminder that the Happy Hour is tonight at 5pm at the “Livin’ It Up Rooftop Suite” at the Margaritaville Hotel (one block from the Omni).  Bring your AAJ badge since you’ll need it later to get into the AAJ Opening Reception.

That’s the NATLE Weekly Wrap.  Have a great weekend,

P.S. In case you’re still here…I’ll call it a case of a bait ‘n switch.  My frugality-fueled adventure of taking the Nashville city bus from the airport was off to a great start.  I waited for about 20 minutes with a boisterous group of ladies I guessed was on a girl’s trip.  The first of the two busses on this journey pulled up and we piled on without incident.  Being the over-prepared traveler that I am, I had the full list of the stops the bus could make before we arrived at my transfer point for the second bus.  When it looked like we were getting close, I asked the driver if he stops there automatically or if I should get off now since it was obvious that we were already at a stop where the sign indicated that it was also a stop for the #55 bus.  He suggested that because the neighborhood surrounding the stop I was aiming for “wasn’t so good”, I should get off now.  I grabbed my suitcase and hoisted myself off.  I didn’t wait long, and I wasn’t alone…there was a gentleman sitting on the bench who quietly swayed to some unseen sea swells.  He apparently didn’t need to get where I was going and didn’t get up when the bus came.  Considering the beautiful condition of the first bus, it was somewhat of a shock to get on the second.  To call it a bus doesn’t do it justice.  It was more of a homeless shelter on wheels.  I sat down next to another gentleman – at least I think it was, he had his head down and shaggy hair over his face – who held his walker in one hand and an open bottle of what I only hoped was really Mountain Dew, as per the label, in the other.  As I got on, I’d told the driver that I was headed for the Omni and, seeing that I may have been out of my element, he said “I got you.”  And, he did.  He let me know exactly where to get off and pointed me in the right direction to get to the hotel.  Truly, my fellow passengers were harmless, but it’s also true that I stuck out a wee bit.  I made it just fine, but a $2 bus ride didn’t save much over the $16 Uber, so I think I’ll splurge on the way back to the airport.

Good Afternoon and Happy Friday!

With the Annual Meeting just over a week away, my desk(top) is awash in Excel (budget), Word (ED Report), MC Control Panel (blast announcements), Adobe (BOD and MBM packets), not to mention Outlook (everyday emails).  I just handed off the directory to Virginia Flanagan (new-ish NATLE member and saint for taking it off my plate).  This directory is a welcome feature that helps everyone get to know (or remember) new friends and long-time colleagues.  We should be able to distribute the directory on Monday.

The Happy Hour on Friday (July 19th at 5pm), will be at the “Livin’ It Up Rooftop Suite” at the Margaritaville Hotel (one block from the Omni).  Bring your AAJ badge since you’ll need it later to get into the AAJ Opening Reception.

That’s the NATLE Weekly Wrap.  Have a great weekend,

P.S. In case you’re still here…yes, Beryl whipped through Vermont this week and caused major flooding in the same areas that were swamped exactly a year ago to the day.  At this point last year, a restaurant owner in Waterbury, VT, had only moved in five weeks prior to the first flood and he’s just experienced his third.  I’ve been through the whole water-in-the-basement ordeal, though nothing to extent those folks have had to deal with.  For half the month of April 2011, Vermont had storms that brought 3-5 inches over average rainfall.  The ground was so saturated at my old house in northwest VT, that the sump “drain” in my basement looked like a firehouse…very disconcerting when the water flows in the wrong direction.  My second flood came when a hefty, unnamed storm hit on July 4th 2012, and brought a few inches into the basement of my childhood home that I’ve since moved back into.  I remember the date because it was the day after my mother died and I was so grateful that my family was here to help with the clean-up and maintain my sanity.  My stepbrother helped me redirect the downspouts from the addition Mom had recently had built and I have been spared ever since.  I still creep downstairs during a storm just to check.  Even that relatively little experience was traumatic and I don’t wish it on anyone.

Good Morning and Happy Friday!

I hope everyone had a wonderful Independence Day and had an opportunity to engage and thank a veteran.

There’s still time to make suggestions for our Annual Meeting’s opening speaker, Beth Z, to help prepare her for any particular uses of AI that you want to learn.  Her presentation is, “Beyond ChatPT: 24 Fabulously Fresh Ways to Use Generative AI for TLA Professionals”.  I’ve given her some direction on what we would like to learn, but it would be great to give her your ideas of how you want to use AI.

We are now two weeks away from our Annual Meeting and I will provide the Omni with our numbers next week.  If you’re still on the fence about attending, please register as soon as possible so that you’re included in our count.  I’ll send out a What-to-Know-Before-You-Go blast next week with hints on airport transportation, the weather forecast, and restaurant suggestions for Saturday night.

That’s the NATLE Weekly Wrap.  Have a great weekend,

P.S. In case you’re still here…a man I truly admired passed away this week.  Phil was the older brother of a friend I’ve had since almost my Day One.  I was two months old when Patrick was born and we grew up together – same babysitters and most of our schooling.  Phil and Pat’s father worked with my mother at The University of Vermont conducting cancer research on unsuspecting rats, but I digress.  Phil had earned his PhD in physics from Harvard, he was encyclopedia-smart, and could debate with the best.  Over the last 20-plus years, he’d also developed the worst case of scoliosis I’d ever seen, but I never heard him complain.  He died two weeks shy of his 50th high school reunion and was ambivalent about going, in part, because none of his classmates had seen him and his now 90-degree posture in decades.  I love to think that there’s something to the “great beyond” and that Phil is standing tall in a cool stream, fly fishing again with his dad.  Pat and I spent the first of what will hopefully be several times together reminiscing about Phil and his quirks.  It’s strangely cathartic to laugh and to cry over things that now just make us shake our heads.

P.P.S. It’s National Bikini Day, but I’ll take a hard pass on that one.  It’s also National Workaholics Day, so, while I don’t entirely subscribe, maybe it’s a tad more apropos.  Anyone else in the office??

Good Morning and Happy Friday!

A Working Group met this week to begin brainstorming topics that might go into a recorded webinar series I’ve temporarily dubbed, Membership 101.  If you’re interested in getting in on the early stages and/or contributing your thoughts and experiences with training/onboarding membership staff, we will be sharing ideas via Google docs until we meet again.  Let me know if you want “in” and look for more information to come out at the Annual Meeting.

AAJ Senior Researcher, David Ratcliff, shared his slides from this week’s 4th Monday Zoom Series session.  Access is restricted to members, so you must be logged in to retrieve the documents.  He also sent a summary of AAJ’s new report on the insurance industry’s record-breaking profits.

The opening speaker at our Annual Meeting is Beth Ziesnis (she goes by Beth Z to save us the embarrassment of bungling her name), and her presentation is, “Beyond ChatPT: 24 Fabulously Fresh Ways to Use Generative AI for TLA Professionals”.  If you have questions you’d like to have answered or a particular demonstration of how to use AI, there’s still time to make suggestions so she can be prepared for us.  I’ve given her some direction on what we would like to learn, but it would be great to give her your ideas of how you want to use AI.

We are exactly three weeks away from our Annual Meeting and I have provided the current AAJ registration list to the executive directors.  I will request (and forward) an updated list on Monday, July 8.  Our brochure now includes the latest details on our Social Event at Pinewood Nashville on Sunday evening.  This is a ticketed event, so let me know if you don’t already have them in your registration confirmation.  The event page also contains links to AAJ registration (a must-do for NATLE registrants, too!) and hotel information, as well as NATLE registration.

That’s the NATLE Weekly Wrap.  Have a great weekend,

P.S. In case you’re still here…this will drop in your inbox too late to point your sights skyward for the first of two asteroids that will zip by earth between now and Saturday morning.  Yesterday afternoon’s rock would have been too hard to see without a strong scope, but if you’re in the SW or in Hawaii, and an early riser, check out the skies around 4:45amPST tomorrow.  You might see the dully-named “2024 MK” streak by at a distance of a mere 188,000 miles – that’s closer than the moon, btw!  This is neat to observe, but is anyone else freaked out that the astro geeks only discovered these asteroids less than two weeks ago??

P.P.S. Happy Drive Your Corvette to Work Day!  That sounds fun…who’s with me?  Definitely more of a party than National Insurance Awareness Day...yeesh.

Good Afternoon and Happy Friday!

The NATLE Executive Committee and a few members the Board met with Chris Bennett from The Spark Mill to understand the options for administering a follow-up to the ED Compensation Survey, as well as revisiting and rejuvenating the Strategic Plan.  More on this when it becomes available.

AAJ Senior Researcher, David Ratcliff, will join us on Monday with a preview of their new report on the insurance industry’s record-breaking profits, as well and an update on the pesticide immunity legislation.  Register for our 4th Monday Zoom Series (4pmET / 3pmCT / 2pmMT / 1pmPT).  These sessions are not recorded, so please register another NATLE member if you can not attend.

I signed up for a free webinar held yesterday, hosted by PropFuel, that featured our Annual Meeting speaker, Beth Z.  The topic was “AI’s Most Awesome, Outrageous, and Astounding Tools: 2024 Edition” and tended toward videos and voice cloning.  This won’t be the focus of her presentation with us, but I’ve given her some direction on what we would like to learn.  There’s still time to make suggestions so send me an email describing a few ideal examples you’d like to see so we can make this a relevant and on-point session.

We are exactly four weeks away from our Annual Meeting and the brochure has been updated with the latest details on our Social Event – moved to Sunday evening!  Pinewood Nashville has plenty for everyone – indoor/outdoor space with casual seating, plus several lanes of bowling – and stay tuned for information on live music!  Sponsored by TrialSmith and Counsel Financial, this is always a highlight of our after-hours time together.  This is a ticketed event, so let me know if you don’t already have them in your registration confirmation.  The event page also contains links to AAJ registration and hotel information, as well as NATLE registration.

That’s the NATLE Weekly Wrap.  Have a great weekend,

P.S. In case you’re still here…I may be the only one on the planet who didn’t watch “Sex and the City” when it was on HBO beginning in the late 90s.  Now that that period is in the rearview mirror, what is it about the [pop-] culture references that stirs the nostalgia?  Is it the aerial images of Manhattan with the twin towers, the shoulder pads, or the cringy up-close camera angles?  Despite the sometimes shallow and definitely crass dialog, the characters chew over situations common to many women – be they dating, aging, or bodily functions.  I’ve only just started Season 3, but I was hooked when Carrie “breaks the fourth wall” and talks directly to the viewer.  In real life, she’s only a few years older than I am and I love that she’s been married for almost three decades to one of my favorite actors, Matthew Broderick.  (…side note bonus…"Ferris Bueller’s Day Off" has always been my go-to feel-go od movie since it came out the year I graduated from high school.)  The show also reminds me of how grateful I am to live where I can hear birds chirping, neighbors mowing their lawns, and watching the sun set over the Adirondacks.  It beats sirens and steaming manhole covers any day of the week.

Good Morning and Happy Friday!

Details about the Social Event during the Annual Meeting in Nashville are being confirmed, so watch your email for an announcement next week.  It may shift to Sunday and sounds like it will be a ton of fun.  At this point, you have hopefully reserved your accommodations.  The brochure has the latest information on speakers and locations of the events.  You will also find links to AAJ registration and hotel information, as well as NATLE registration.  Executive Directors, if you can’t attend, please consider sending a member of your staff!

The Planning Committee is beginning to lay out the agenda for the Leah S. Guerry Governmental Affairs Conference.  Save the date now for November 10-12 for a great program at the Hotel Viking in Newport, Rhode Island.

I just started following a couple dozen TLAs on Instragram in a new approach toward connectedness, for lack of a better word.  I will keep an eye on posts and when the opportunity comes along, bring TLAs together that might be facing a similar legislative or membership issue, for example.  A member search on NATLE.org provides social media addresses, so if you want your colleagues to be able to find your TLA highlights and shared moments, add the info to your record.

ICYMI: The date and location of the 2025 Winter Meeting has changed!  Held alongside AAJ’s program, the NATLE meeting will now be February 15-16 in Miami at the Fontainebleau Hotel.

That’s the NATLE Weekly Wrap.  Have a great weekend,

P.S. In case you’re still here…The movie E.T. came out 42 years ago this week…do you remember where you were?  It was the summer before my freshman year in high school and I was on vacation on Cape Cod with Mom and the mother-daughter pair that lived across the street from us when we were all living in Bristol, England a few years earlier.  We watched it one night and came back to our 2-story, 2-bedroom, 1-bath rental.  Stephanie was (well, still is) a few years younger and had the idea for the two of us to “camp out” in the downstairs living room that night.  It was very dark when I felt her tapping my shoulder to wake me up.  She had to go to the bathroom, but was too scared to go upstairs by herself.  I guess the E.T. puppet gave her the willies.  Anyway, I didn’t feel like being her escort, so I told her she was on her own.  Turns out I should have been a better friend because she instead pulled up a chair and peed in the kitche n sink.  Too bad we lost touch, I’d love to ask her if she remembers that as well as I do

Good Morning and Happy Friday!

Per the new opt-out rules for emails, you will see a "Manage Preferences" link at the bottom of all future Blasts.  I’ve attempted to make the options within each “type” as specific as possible so that you don’t inadvertently opt out of emails you still might like to see.  I’m open to suggestions, so let me know.

Details about the Social Event during the Annual Meeting in Nashville are close to confirmed, so watch your email for an announcement next week.  If you’ve been waiting on that information before registering for the NATLE program, we can add tickets to your registration at a later date.  The most crucial piece is to reserve your accommodations.  The brochure has the latest information on speakers and locations of the events.  You will also find links to AAJ registration and hotel information, as well as NATLE registration.  Executive Directors, if you can’t attend, please consider sending a member of your staff!

Please be aware that the bad actors who have time to send spam emails from – in the latest case – a NATLE Board member, are at it again.  Requests seem to refer to a need to make payroll changes.  The names of our Board are available on our website, so it’s not a stretch to make it sound legit. 

Date and location change of the 2025 Winter Meeting!  Held alongside AAJ’s program, the NATLE meeting will now be February 15-16 in Miami at the Fontainebleau Hotel.

Just a reminder that most of our Zoom sessions are recorded and accessible (once you’re logged in) under the Events tab.

That’s the NATLE Weekly Wrap.  Have a great weekend,

P.S. In case you’re still here…It is with a mixture of revulsion and glee, topped with a heavy dollop of adrenaline, that I write yet another episode in the ongoing saga of my apparent skunk infestation.  In the wee hours of yesterday morning, the unmistakable smell of a skunk that’s either met an enemy or its maker invaded my bedroom.  I couldn’t see it in the road, so I suffered the odor until it dissipated.  No lingering smell by morning, so all’s good.  We haven’t had rain in a few days, so I went out at lunchtime to water my tomato and pepper plants.  My brain may have registered a slightly familiar odor – I bet you see where I'm going – but I was a bit slow on the uptake since I was practically on top of it before I saw it.  As with the last close encounter, my language was less than lady-like, but my reflexes are solid.  I jumped back at first, until I saw that it was a very young skunk and covered with flies, so dead.  I pulled on my Big Girl pants, grabbed a shovel from the garage, and headed back out there to play the part of an adult homeowner.  I paused to capture the Kodak moment and then thought better of assuming it was dead.  Forget the BG pants, I went full Damsel-In-Distress.  Aiming to nudge my otherwise very manly neighbor into taking care of it, he suggested covering it with a bag and waved “good luck”.  Ugh, fine.  I followed his advice – that I’d actually thought of first, but let him feel like he was contributing – and scooped the critter into another garbage bag.  It was trash day and it wasn’t 10 minutes after I’d added the bag to the pile at the bottom of my driveway that the garbage truck came.  I was shaking throughout the whole excavation, transfer, and tie-off-the-bag operation, and unnecessarily dreaded getting caught by the trash guy.  If you choose to forward my name to the local health department for improperly disposing of hazardous waste, I’ll accept my punishment without a twinge of regret.  Burying the evidence was the farthest thing from my mind.  Besides, I wasn’t thinking rationally beyond keeping one twitchy eye on the bag I used to cover it and the other eye on the lookout for Mama.

P.P.S. Happy National Donut Day!  (though, maybe you don’t have an appetite after that story.)

Good Morning and Happy Friday!

The Nominating Committee met this week to review the nominees to the Board of Directors.  A slate was approved, the nominees have been notified, and the vote by the membership will take place at the Membership Business Meeting (MBM) in Nashville.  The slate will be included in the MBM agenda packet that will be distributed in the next few weeks (ByLaws Art. VII Sec 1).

We are exactly seven weeks out from our Annual Meeting and the speakers are excited to share with you their experiences and engage you in discussions about situations you have or may encounter as TLA staff.  Onboarding and orienting new board members, recruiting and onboarding new TLA members, learning lessons from a new CEO/executive director, and dealing with difficult people.  These are just some of the sessions we have lined up in Nashville!  The brochure has the latest information on speakers and locations of the events.  You will also find links to AAJ registration and hotel information, as well as NATLE registration.

Welcome (again!) to our new members, Katie Justice (Louisiana Association for Justice) and Lexi Henry (Ohio Association for Justice).

Just a reminder that our Zoom session with Jeff Tenenbaum about antitrust issues faced by associations is available, along with sample documents and a transcript of the session on our website.  NOTE: Jeff forwarded two new sample documents this week that are now linked from the Zoom Series page under the Events tab.

That’s the NATLE Weekly Wrap.  Have a great weekend,

P.S. In case you’re still here…“34” is my new favorite number.  I celebrated like Rocky on the steps of the Philadelphia Museum of Art…hopping up and down, fists raised.