<html><head><style type='text/css'>p { margin: 0; }</style></head><body><div style='font-family: times new roman,new york,times,serif; font-size: 12pt; color: #000000'>I am the only one from my unit attending. I work for an airline, so I fly free. I had made arrangements to room with someone to share the cost.<br><br>It is, indeed, too expensive for most.<br><br>The focus should be on the conference, not the entertainment and sight-seeing available outside the conference.<br><br>Just my two cents...<br><br>Jaimie Henson, Maj.<br>Kentucky<br><br><hr id="zwchr"><div style="color:#000;font-weight:normal;font-style:normal;text-decoration:none;font-family:Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif;font-size:12pt;"><b>From: </b>"Doug Barth" <Barth7394@comcast.net><br><b>To: </b>"CAP Public Affairs Officers" <cap-pao@lists.sempervigilans.org><br><b>Sent: </b>Saturday, July 19, 2014 11:49:38 AM<br><b>Subject: </b>Re: [PAO] National Board<br><br>I totally agree with Lt Col Copenhaver, <br><br>In particular, as I move toward retirement and have more time to commit to<br>my volunteer activities, I also am very cost sensitive. <br><br>While I understand and encourage the value of face-to-face conferences, I<br>think we should look more extensively into webinar/webex events, both to<br>reduce cost to the membership and to increase the availability of these<br>types of topics across CAP. Or perhaps video tape the presentations and<br>post them to CAP website. I am not aware that we do that.<br><br><br>Major Doug Barth, CAP<br>Group II<br>MDWG<br><br>-----Original Message-----<br>From: cap-pao-bounces@lists.sempervigilans.org<br>[mailto:cap-pao-bounces@lists.sempervigilans.org] On Behalf Of Karen<br>Copenhaver<br>Sent: Saturday, July 19, 2014 9:44 AM<br>To: cap-pao@lists.sempervigilans.org<br>Subject: [PAO] National Board<br><br>Dear Fellow PAOs,<br><br>As we continue our volunteer commitment to an outstanding organization, we<br>gladly donate our resources to train and participate. Across the years, we<br>have attended conferences for our wing, region and our national board, and<br>the cost has slowly increased, mainly because of the economic posture of the<br>time. However, after reviewing the current cost associated with our national<br>board, personally I am voicing a concern of how many members can afford this<br>astronomical cost. Registration - $205 per person plus room of more than<br>$100+ per night (don't forget tax and tax); (plus the extra days lodging for<br>a total of 5 nights if you stay for the entire event) then if you plan on<br>attending our PAO Academy it is $45, and if you want to attend the FEMA<br>course it is $20, then Incorporating the Medal of Honor Character<br>Development Program into Character Development for $20 and Grant Writing for<br>$10. We can easily add these costs to be exorbitant for many. I've<br>attended many National Board Conferences, but never experienced such fees,<br>and would like to know what the "registration" is suppose to cover, if not<br>the work labs, and associated hand-outs.<br><br>I would like to see a more reasonable cost for our National Board<br>Conferences in the future. We do not necessarily need a place like Las<br>Vegas, Washington or Atlanta, or the like, as we do not have the numbers of<br>attendees to support that type of location as we once did <br>with totals of upward of 2,000+ attendees. We have some locations <br>that could support the size of our event, with less expense to our members,<br>such as Charlotte, NC, and communities of that size across our country.<br>Our overall cost has escalated to a level whereby one must truly set aside<br>additional funds up to more than $1,000 to attend, and that does not include<br>airline tickets, which are escalating too. I don't know how many of you<br>join me in these sentiments, but we need a more economical platform for our<br>national board conferences.<br><br>One other comment, wouldn't it be nice to have a non-military speaker like<br>Bill Cosby to entertain and inspire us to continue our service? As a<br>volunteer organization, who gladly gives and gives so much to our<br>communities and nation, I would hope that an individual like this would not<br>charge, but to have airfare and other related costs (room and meals) to be<br>covered to get him/her to be our speaker.<br><br>Realizing our organizational funds are somewhat limited and reduced greatly<br>across the board, we could certainly reduce our cost by holding our national<br>conference in a less costly location, and it would increase the numbers who<br>can afford to attend. It indeed is a great experience that everyone should<br>have the opportunity to attend. The labs, breakout sessions, or<br>workshops... what ever they are called, are always phenomenal. The<br>opportunity to network with your fellow members and national staff is<br>something that you will always remember as you also establish a contact and<br>many times lasting friendships. If you can..... <br>please attend as it is an experience that you'll want again and again.<br><br>Thank you for your commitment and dedication to one of the best<br>organizations of which you could ever be a part.<br><br>Respectfully,<br>Karen L. Copenhaver, Lt Col, CAP<br>Deputy Director, Public Affairs<br>MER<br><br><br><br>_______________________________________________<br>Subscribed Email Address: barth7394@comcast.net CAP-PAO mailing list<br>CAP-PAO@lists.sempervigilans.org<br>http://lists.sempervigilans.org/mailman/listinfo/cap-pao<br><br>_______________________________________________<br>Subscribed Email Address: JaimieLHenson@fuse.net<br>CAP-PAO mailing list<br>CAP-PAO@lists.sempervigilans.org<br>http://lists.sempervigilans.org/mailman/listinfo/cap-pao<br></div><br></div></body></html>