NATLE FYI

Good Afternoon and Happy Friday!

The NATLE Annual Meeting registration page is open, as is AAJ’s registration page.  Our meetings will be held at the Philadelphia Marriott Downtown.  The Tommy Townsend Memorial Scholarship applications are available and will be accepted until the end of today.  If you know of someone who is on the fence because of cost, please let them know about the scholarship.  The brochure should be ready for upload next week once we confirm the speakers.

Continuing the thread of rejuvenating the Member Resource Center, Connie’s team, working on the Advocacy portal, met this week to dig into the goal’s scope and approaches to elicit the primary needs from TLAs.  Balancing accessibility with the necessity for national monitoring, timely strategies, and accurate data, appears to be a crucial focus.

The Nominating Committee has been set up to review nominations from the membership for positions on this Executive Committee.  All seats are open except for the President’s into which the President-Elect moves automatically.  Reminders will go out weekly to the membership before the May 12^th deadline.

We will pause our 4^th Monday Zoom Series this month to avoid a conflict with AAJ’s COP meeting.  Look for an announcement to this effect along with a teaser for May’s Series topic, cyber security and the basics of protecting your data and system from intrusion.

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

P.S. in case you’re still here…it’s National Coffee Cake Day.  I’m not one to pass up a soft warm cake, but I haven’t had much time for baking this past year.  That’s probably a good thing since no longer working in an office means I can’t foist the baked bounty off on my co-workers.  This time of year, I’m more of a hot crossed bun girl than matzah or brik.  My mother would buy the buns from a local bakery and I’ve never been tempted to make them myself.  Yeast was an ingredient not easily found in my childhood home, so that set me up to be rather scared of it.  I can trace that feeling back to seventh grade when my home ec teacher told us that yeast is alive and needs the water to be in the Goldilocks zone (not too hot or too cold) or it will DIE.  That’s not reassuring to a pet-less child who hadn’t yet experienced that kind of loss.  Is it any wonder that I’m terrified of the thought of being responsible for a creature who can’t tell me where it hurts?

Good Morning and Happy Friday!

The first announcement and document upload request for the rejuvenated Member Resource Center has launched.  It’s exciting to see this member-facing initiative come out of our Strategic Plan!  Congrats to Alison Dodge and her team!

Nominations to the Executive Committee are open and the first request is going out today.

If you weren’t able to attend our 4^th Monday Zoom Series on Monday, or want a refresh, the recording is available here; Password is V=GAZ9qM.  Mark Powers of Atticus provided multiple tips and tools to help get a handle on managing your time, email, and tasks throughout the day and week.  Atticus’ target audience is law firms, but the tools are easily adapted to all professions to form “good habit” practices to maintain control of your workload.

Our new Justice Partner, Four Pillars Research, has shared their logo and information for our website.  Skribe’s logo will be applied as of May 1^st.

The NATLE Annual Meeting registration page is open, but AAJ’s registration page is available with this link, but not yet through their website.  Our meetings will be held at the Philadelphia Marriott Downtown.  The Tommy Townsend Memorial Scholarship applications are available and will be accepted until April 7^th.

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

P.S. in case you’re still here…it has been years since I attended a high school play.  Friends with kids don’t always tell their kid-free friends about these events, but I think it’s fun (and reassuring) to see the creativity and poise in some of today’s young people.  I won’t say they’re all Broadway-bound, but they have a good time.  So, tonight’s agenda includes the Mean Girls musical at one of my trivia pal’s daughter’s school.  I somehow missed the 2004 movie, but I’m pretty sure I’ll be able to keep up.  After that, there’s a bluegrass band that plays every Friday night at a bar near my friend’s house.  We’ll all have our sleeping bags to stay the night, but I won’t have time for a lazy Saturday morning – I need to be back in town for an exercise class at 10:30.  That’s almost too much excitement in way less than 24 hours for this girl.

Good Morning and Happy Friday!

This Committee met on Tuesday and covered a lot of ground.  The minutes have been drafted and will be sent out next week.  The next meeting is May 16 at 2pmET/1pmCT/12pmMT/11amPT.

We have a speaker for our 4th Monday Zoom Series right around the corner on March 27^th.  Mark Powers of Atticus Advantage will facilitate a time management tune up, discuss how we can get more accomplished, and still finish the day on time.

I sent the Affinity & Justice Partner Program agreement to our new Silver Partner, Four Pillars Research, for their review and signature.  They look forward to being with us in Philadelphia.

An announcement went out to the membership about the Annual Convention schedule shift and that we’ll be starting Saturday morning.  The AAJ registration page is not yet open, but the NATLE Annual Meeting registration page is now open.  Our meetings will be held at the Philadelphia Marriott Downtown.  The Tommy Townsend Memorial Scholarship applications are available and will be accepted until April 7^th.

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

P.S. in case you’re still here…one of the items that made the move up from my father’s home in NH in the original moving truckload is a Vespa scooter.  It’s practically new with only a few thousand miles on it, if that (I can’t really tell since the battery is dead so the odometer is dark), and even though he was never going to ride it again, he held onto it.  I used to have a motorcycle, but rarely rode, mostly because none of my friends had bikes.  I thought about keeping the Vespa, but when I sat on it to move it out of the way in the storage unit last weekend, my feet don’t reach the ground…and, that’s a problem.  My dilemma is, do I go through the expense of modifying it or trade it for a smaller model?

Good Morning and Happy St Patty's Day!

I met with Mark Powers of Atticus Advantage on Tuesday afternoon with the intention of discussing our Justice Partner program.  Instead, I came away with the impression that he’d be more valuable as an educational resource.  Skip this if you’re already familiar with their offerings from their past relationship with NATLE, but they specialize in helping attorneys (and their firms) realize their full potential.  That comes from time and email management skills, effective handling of staffing issues, and the tools to reduce operational headaches and increase efficiencies.  He’s happy to address TLA audiences and is more than willing to begin [re]establishing the relationship with NATLE through workshops geared toward association management issues as bite-sized virtual programs via our 4^th Monday Zoom Series or with more in-depth in-person topics, like executive thinking and business basics.

Speaking of Justice Partners, I’ve reached out to our current D&O agent, Moranco National, as well as a firm that specializes in focus groups…I’m waiting to learn if they have more than their one not-so-centrally-located site.  I’d like to think our educational programs won’t get to the point of being break-even, but I’d like to shore up our other non-dues revenue streams in the meantime.  As we heard in the presentations in Seattle and Phoenix, your members who work with trial and law office-related vendors can be your best marketing reps by encouraging those vendors to become the TLA’s business partners.  If you have an exhibitor or business partner that would benefit by partnering with NATLE and our collective reach, please point them in my direction and start the conversation with an intro email!

The Executive Committee meets next Tuesday, March 21.  These folks are your representatives, so please reach out to any one of them (or me!) if you have an idea or concern as it relates to NATLE and it will be discussed under the New Business agenda item.

I don’t have any new news from AAJ regarding their Annual Convention schedule.  We do know that the site for our NATLE Annual Meeting is the Philadelphia Marriott Downtown, but please hold off on making travel arrangements until AAJ’s convention schedule is posted…I’ve been told there will be a few adjustments.

That’s the NATLE Weekly Wrap.  Have a great weekend and don’t drink too many green beverages tonight!

P.S. in case you’re still here…I don’t know about you, but this has felt like an exceptionally long week.  The 12” of snow that fell at my house on Tuesday – and gave me a serious case of perma-grin – seems like ages ago.  I thought Dad and I might go XC skiing this weekend, but rain is in the forecast today, so even if it doesn’t completely decimate the base, the snow that’s left will be icy at best.  I might instead spend an hour on Sunday at the storage unit constructing the shelving for Dad’s six canoes that he hasn’t yet brought himself to sell.  I need to move more of his stuff out of my garage so I can stop shimmying around my dirty, salty car like I’m walking on the skinny ledge of a 12-story building.  I just need to scrounge up a friend to help with the lifting…especially for the top shelf of the 3-high stack.

Good Afternoon and Happy Friday!

The Executive Committee has approved the agreement with TrialSmith that comes with a substantial sponsorship for NATLE and for your TLAs.  If you are looking for a new website host and/or AMS, let me put you in touch with TrialSmith and MemberCentral.

This felt like a week full of meetings and of setting up future meetings!  I talked with Amy Caldwell (VT) about her ideas for educational topics, Meghan Shott (NJ) about their Business Partners program, Maresa connected me with a vendor who may be a potential new partner, and I joined a few Strategic Planning Teams that are making progress on their goals  The Strategic Planning Team (Valerie, Alison, Barbara) will get together after this Committee’s meeting on March 21, the ED Performance Review Committee meets in a few weeks, the Annual Meeting Planning Committee will meet next week to fill out the program with topics and speakers.

Late breaking news from AAJ has our NATLE Annual Meeting in July at the Philadelphia Marriott Downtown.  AAJ will have its registration page ready next week.  Please hold off on making travel arrangements until their convention schedule is posted…I’ve been told there will be a few adjustments.

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

P.S. in case you’re still here…most Tuesday nights you’ll find me playing trivia with friends at a local Mexican restaurant.  There are three of us in our core team and we have backgrounds in banking, business, and medicine, and we each bring our own strengths (and weaknesses).  We start off strong – and even win – in the miscellaneous and literature rounds, but our edge tends to fade in the movie and music rounds.  I consider myself to be pretty well read, but as an NPR devotee, I sit quietly and sip my margarita when it comes to naming the song title and artist.  I remember playing tapes on my boom box, circa 1978, prompting my grandfather to shake his head in bewilderment and say that he couldn’t understand the words.  Pfft, now I find myself saying that with what “the kids are listening to today”!

Good Afternoon and Happy Friday!

The 4th Monday Zoom Series was a free-flowing exchange of innovative ideas.  The discussion ranged from membership recruiting to sponsors to calendar apps.  It was recorded in case you need a way to spend an hour…you might pick up a pearl.  Passcode: @R8+G#w#

A working group met with Kent to discuss evolutionary ideas that go beyond listservs.  The group was formed back in August during the presentation from Kent on their Listserv Survey results.  Billed as a listening session, the group highlighted the requests they’d heard from their membership, ie. more mobile-friendly tools, Slack-like functionality, and a little anonymity to ask "dumb questions”.  Given the expressed sense of urgency and the need to be on the cutting edge, Kent said their next step will be to conduct focus groups with attorney volunteers.  He is collecting names, though he didn’t list any criteria.  Please reach out to him if you have young/tech-savvy members who might be valuable to the discussion.  It was recorded.  Passcode: F1&F7V*Z

The Annual Meeting Planning Committee met to go over the proposed guest speaker, Amanda Kaiser, and her fee, the registration, and to fill out the agenda.  We’re excited about the speaker and hope that TLA staff in the membership director roles will be motivated and able to attend.  We don’t yet know where our program will be, ie. the Marriott vs. the convention center, so estimating the F&B and A/V is on hold.  AAJ has updated their main convention page, but there’s no registration link.

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

P.S. in case you’re still here…Cue the Darth Vader music.  Yep, it’s going to be a tax prep weekend, and not just mine.  I’ll get together with my dad to sort out his forms and receipts for his accountant on Sunday afternoon.  With the coming snowstorm expected to bring another 6 to 12 inches, you’ll find me on my XC skis at Camel’s Hump at some point before I have to sharpen my pencil.

Good Afternoon and Happy Friday!

The Affinity & Justice Partner Working Group is submitting a recommendation for a potential new partner, Four Pillars Research, for this Committee’s approval at our March meeting.  The agenda/packet is in progress.

I had lunch this week with a friend who is the Assistant Vice President for Alumni & Donor Relations at my alma mater, The University of Vermont.  We talked about a lot of things, but the reason I bring this up is because of their internship program.  It’s ripe with students looking for short-term projects and she’d help us submit job description(s).  For example, part of the Strategic Planning goals is developing customizable templates for social media posts, marketing, and advocacy.  (Here’s a link to UVM’s style guide that might serve as a model for the variety of templates that we can provide.)  While you’re brainstorming approaches to getting from A to Z with your SP Team, consider out-of-the-box resources like your local colleges and universities!

The Annual Meeting Planning Committee has filled out with representatives from blue states and red, large and small TLA, big staffs and little.  They will meet next week to finalize the registration fee and discuss the agenda.  The AAJ room block rate is $269-$299/night with the Philadelphia Marriott Downtown, Residence Inn Philadelphia, and the Loews (for overflow).  AAJ’s registration page isn’t yet available, so stay tuned.

Ringler Associates has committed to sponsoring our Membership Luncheon in Philly and I’ll reach out to SBA Funding about their Mimosa Break next week.  We have several sponsorship opportunities at the Annual Meeting in July.  If you know of a potential Justice Partner who might appreciate this initial introduction to NATLE, please point them in my direction.

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

P.S. in case you’re still here…if any of you have parents who were recommended for a senior’s driving test, perhaps by their PCP, you know it’s a touchy subject.  I alluded to a conversation several months ago in this space that I started to have with my father about his driving skills.  It was short and I quickly realized I wasn’t the best messenger.  I should have known better, he’s avowed for decades that “they would have to pry the keys from my cold, dead hands.”  Well, I thought, let’s hope it doesn’t come to that.  He was scheduled for a test this past Tuesday and asked an old med school classmate to go with him.  When the call to let me know how it went never came, I thought maybe that meant the worst, and I didn’t want to call and poke that bear.  Turns out, the test was postponed a month because the assessor wasn’t available.  Friends’ parents have lost their driving privileges, so I understand the loss is real.  Someday, though...

Good Afternoon and Happy Friday!

“Membership” is the clear winner in the tally of most wanted topics from recent surveys.  The Annual Meeting Planning Committee is answering the call and is in negotiations to feature a speaker who conducts her presentations with workshops on engaging members.  She emphasizes that every position within the association is Membership – from the c-suite to the bookkeeper.  Anyone who comes in contact with a member represents the association and can benefit from the workshop exercises and envisioning how to adapt the ideas within their own TLA.  The hope is that this session will justify including as many TLA staff as possible.  Additional Planning Committee members are being recruited and the full committee will meet again soon.  In the meantime, AAJ is locking down room blocks with the Philadelphia Marriott Downtown, Residence Inn Philadelphia, and the Loews, so we should have information on our meeting location within the next few weeks.

The Affinity & Justice Partner Working Group met on Tuesday to review three potential new partners, Trial Structure, Four Pillars Research, and NITA.  Once the Working Group’s follow-up questions have been answered by the applicants, this Exec Committee will receive a recommendation.

We have several sponsorship opportunities at the Annual Meeting in July.  If you know of a potential Justice Partner who might appreciate this initial introduction to NATLE, please point them in my direction.

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

P.S. in case you’re still here…I had my second shingles vaccine shot on Tuesday morning.  Spoiler alert…I survived despite the horror stories people feel strangely obligated to share.  A little backstory first…I treat myself to a monthly chef-hosted, 5-course dinner as often as I can.  Since it’s at his (and his wife’s) home, the group is limited to no more than 14, and we all sit around a big dining table in their living room.  I’ve been going to these dinners since 2018 (though not at all during the pandemic), and I remember the first time I heard someone make a comment that clearly revealed how he leaned politically.  I held my breath thinking, “this might be the moment I decide whether or not I feel comfortable coming in the future”.  Turns out, I was among a dozen like-(me)-minded intellectuals all very in-tune with the issues and personalities on the evolving political stage.  (Whew, I exhaled.)  Back to my shot…I’m on the younger end of the age spectrum with this group, so I felt OK sharing that I was about to have my second Shingrix dose.  I’m sure she thought she was doing me a favor by preparing me for the worst, but the woman across from me at last Saturday’s dinner said that after her second shot, she found herself curled up and drooling on her bathroom floor with terrible chills.  Ugh, why?  At most, she could have just said that everyone tolerates vaccines differently, and I’ll be fine.  So, yes, other than a red rash on my neck, I am fine, thank you.

Good Afternoon and Happy Friday!

The evaluations from the Winter Meeting are coming in and they’re all very positive.  Ben Goldstein, Steve Pontoni, and Barbara Jorden kept the program humming and as one evaluator wrote, “the format was great - just enough structure to keep things moving and yet enough time for the free flow of ideas. Thank you to the brilliant and generous members of NATLE."  Most respondents are happy with the Sat/Sun shift in programming.  I’m also collecting answers from a separate survey to non-attendees to understand the factors that went into the decision to skip it.  So far, “budget” and “busy time of year” are the main reasons.

I’m always jazzed after a conference – loving the ideas that come from the variety of attendees (staff and ED, newbies and long-timers).  Following up on several of them this week has included:

• Adding social media fields to member records
• Sending a save-the-date announcement for the Annual Meeting
• Creating a “directory” of conference registrants (with headshots) that will go out the week ahead of future meetings

The Annual Meeting Planning Committee will meet on Monday with Valerie O'brien, and co-chairs Paul Dullea and Griffin Gillis.  We received a great list of topic suggestions from the two surveys (mentioned above) and we’ve heard the call to include more programming for staff.  I'll send an announcement as soon as I get wind that AAJ’s convention registration page and hotel room block come open.

Our Affinity & Justice Partner Working Group is also meeting next week to review three potential new partners, one of which has already committed to becoming a Silver JP and all three want to join us in Philadelphia.

If you think of it when you speak to your Ringler Associates rep, please thank them for sponsoring one of our working lunches in Phoenix.  Also, Strategic Capital provided "wellness bags", SBA Funding kept us fresh with gum, and the Arizona Association for Justice plied us with boxes of delectable brownies!

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

P.S. in case you’re still here…on the first night in Phoenix, I had dinner with Barbara Jorden and Christina Busso at a restaurant named, ComicX, and (congrats) it’s not a big leap to assume that it’s superhero-themed.  I should have taken a pic of us with the Hulk, but he looked angry…or maybe that was his happy face…I can never tell with him.  We sat on the bar side where the décor is a mixture of DC and Marvel memorabilia.  On one wall, we each commented on the 9¾ train platform to Hogwarts – a clear reference to Harry Potter.  In the storyline, that platform isn’t visible to muggles.  Could we be…?!

Good Afternoon and Happy Friday!

It’s not too late to suggest any questions or ideas you’d like brainstormed during the Winter Meeting in Phoenix.  A Working Lunch for the purpose of brainstorming our Strategic Planning goals will take place tomorrow at noon (MT).  Barbara and I will co-facilitate this session and all responses will be shared with you after the conference.  Please make any additions to the shared document (spreadsheet) so we have the latest information to work with when we describe your planned action items, expectations/outcomes, and milestones.

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

P.S. in case you’re still here…I’m hoping I thaw out on the flights to Phoenix today.  The temps in South Burlington are in the single digits below zero this morning.  Bringing only a light jacket meant for a chilly dash in from the airport parking garage.