[PAO] National Board

Sun Jul 20 11:31:41 CDT 2014

I agree with Karen as well. There is no national board anymore, just a
command council meeting. What is the purpose of the national conference? I
would think a conference of this size would need to offer something that
you just couldn't do in another way. The same goes for region and wing
conferences.

Maybe CAP should reevaluate the need and purpose of conferences. For me,
the PAO Academy is the only reason I am going, but I will not be attending
the "conference" part. There's no point that I can see that makes it worth
it to attend the conference.

The PAO Academy is worth it. However, it's technically not even part of the
national conference -- it's a pre-conference workshop. So what does that
tell you about the conference itself? Maybe there's a better way, like
national sponsored conferences in different regions at the same time. There
are lots of alternatives to the old fashioned expensive conference.

Lt Col Paul Cianciolo
Sent from my Droid DNA
On Jul 20, 2014 12:01 PM, "Pat Mitcham" <pmitcham at knology.net> wrote:

> Good morning all,
>
> I agreed that many of us cannot afford multiple conferences in a year. By
> the time I've gone to wing and region conferences, the National Board is
> out of reach. Add in ES activities and my budget for supporting CAP is
> gone. Some of us have retired and need to make sure the budget for
> volunteering is realistic, no matter how much we want to participate.
>
> Thanks, Karen and others, for talking about this.
>
> Regards
> Pat Mitcham, Lt Col, CAP
> Huntsville Senior Squadron PAO
>
> Sent from my iPad
>
> > On Jul 20, 2014, at 11:24 AM, "lockit3" <lockit3 at att.net> wrote:
> >
> > Thank you Lt. Col. Copenhaver for bringing this subject up.
> >
> > The fact of the matter is, that even if these rates are not "terribly
> out of
> > line" for a conference this size, it is still unaffordable for many of
> our
> > members, me included. If we pay for the meeting hall and any peripheral
> > rooms needed for the breakout sessions, or whatever we are calling them
> this
> > conference and the hotel knows it has "X" amount of rooms guaranteed,
> > concessions should be able to be reached on the room rate for members. If
> > the facility will not make such concessions because it is Las Vegas and
> they
> > will get that rate from someone then let them get it from someone else.
> We
> > do not have to conference in Las Vegas.
> >
> > First of all, it has been my experience that if you have time to go to
> the
> > activities that are available outside of the conference, you are not
> > attending the conference. My answer that would be take a vacation. While
> > other cities may not have the outside venues, they could handle the size
> of
> > our event and perhaps for a lesser price. I have concerns about meeting
> > somewhere like Vegas anyway. As concerned as we are about the image of
> Civil
> > Air Patrol and the image that casts on the Air Force, is this really a
> good
> > idea.
> >
> > If we save on the price of the hall and classrooms, then maybe our fee
> could
> > at least cover the banquet and everyone could attend. A Spaatz cadet from
> > our Wing is National Cadet of the Year and most of our Wing members will
> not
> > see him receive the award because we cannot afford the conference let
> alone
> > an additional fee for a banquet that should be included.
> >
> > I did not intend this to sound like a gripe session, but sometimes I
> think
> > in an effort to look like an organization of high prestige, we forget
> that
> > our members are volunteers, mostly of middle America. We need to get
> back to
> > servicing the needs of the members who service the needs of our country.
> >
> > With respect,
> >
> >
> > Curtis "Wayne" Hooks 1st Lt.
> > Civil Air Patrol
> > FLWG Online Newsfeed Manager
> > Group 1 Public Affairs Officer
> > Group 1 Recruitment and Retention Officer
> > Thank you Lt. Col. Copenhaver for bringing this subject up.
> >
> > The fact of the matter is, that even if these rates are not "terribly
> out of
> > line" for a conference this size, it is still unaffordable for many of
> our
> > members, me included. If we pay for the meeting hall and any peripheral
> > rooms needed for the breakout sessions, or whatever we are calling them
> this
> > conference and the hotel knows it has "X" amount of rooms guaranteed,
> > concessions should be able to be reached on the room rate for members. If
> > the facility will not make such concessions because it is Las Vegas and
> they
> > will get that rate from someone then let them get it from someone else.
> We
> > do not have to conference in Las Vegas.
> >
> > First of all, it has been my experience that if you have time to go to
> the
> > activities that are available outside of the conference, you are not
> > attending the conference. My answer that would be take a vacation. While
> > other cities may not have the outside venues, they could handle the size
> of
> > our event and perhaps for a lesser price. I have concerns about meeting
> > somewhere like Vegas anyway. As concerned as we are about the image of
> Civil
> > Air Patrol and the image that casts on the Air Force, is this really a
> good
> > idea.
> >
> > If we save on the price of the hall and classrooms, then maybe our fee
> could
> > at least cover the banquet and everyone could attend. A Spaatz cadet from
> > our Wing is National Cadet of the Year and most of our Wing members will
> not
> > see him receive the award because we cannot afford the conference let
> alone
> > an additional fee for a banquet that should be included.
> >
> > I did not intend this to sound like a gripe session, but sometimes I
> think
> > in an effort to look like an organization of high prestige, we forget
> that
> > our members are volunteers, mostly of middle America. We need to get
> back to
> > servicing the needs of the members who service the needs of our country.
> >
> > With respect,
> >
> >
> > Curtis "Wayne" Hooks 1st Lt.
> > Civil Air Patrol
> > FLWG Online Newsfeed Manager
> > Group 1 Public Affairs Officer
> > Group 1 Recruitment and Retention Officer
> > Tallahassee Composite Squadron
> > Ser FL-432
> > Public Affairs Officer
> > Recruitment and Retention Officer
> >
> >
> >
> > -----Original Message-----
> > From: cap-pao-bounces at lists.sempervigilans.org
> > [mailto:cap-pao-bounces at lists.sempervigilans.org] On Behalf Of Wm and
> > Kandyce Lewis
> > Sent: Saturday, July 19, 2014 1:31 PM
> > To: 'CAP Public Affairs Officers'
> > Subject: Re: [PAO] National Board
> >
> > I have done conferences for our wing and I don't have prices like that.
>  You
> > can get hotels to not charge for the the rooms if you agree to so many
> rooms
> > being rented by members, and guaranteeing so much in other costs.  I
> know as
> > I have done that in the past.  You just keep telling them you need a less
> > amount.  I didn't check the cost of the dinner but I thought $70 last
> year
> > was out of line for our members.  And having gone many others must have
> felt
> > so as well as there were lots of members eating at other places during
> the
> > banquet as I saw them out and about.  I realize we have more guest we may
> > pay for national conferences but it can't be that much more.  I suspect
> less
> > and less members are going to national boards.
> >
> > And yes as members get closer to retirement they are looking at those
> costs.
> >
> > Kandyce Lewis, Lt Col.
> > WA Wing Staff
> >
> > -----Original Message-----
> > From: cap-pao-bounces at lists.sempervigilans.org
> > [mailto:cap-pao-bounces at lists.sempervigilans.org] On Behalf Of Doug
> Barth
> > Sent: Saturday, July 19, 2014 8:50 AM
> > To: 'CAP Public Affairs Officers'
> > Subject: Re: [PAO] National Board
> >
> > I totally agree with Lt Col Copenhaver,
> >
> > In particular, as I move toward retirement and have more time to commit
> to
> > my volunteer activities, I also am very cost sensitive.
> >
> > While I understand and encourage the value of face-to-face conferences, I
> > think we should look more extensively into webinar/webex events, both to
> > reduce cost to the membership and to increase the availability of these
> > types of topics across CAP.  Or perhaps video tape the presentations and
> > post them to CAP website.  I am not aware that we do that.
> >
> >
> > Major Doug Barth, CAP
> > Group II
> > MDWG
> >
> > -----Original Message-----
> > From: cap-pao-bounces at lists.sempervigilans.org
> > [mailto:cap-pao-bounces at lists.sempervigilans.org] On Behalf Of Karen
> > Copenhaver
> > Sent: Saturday, July 19, 2014 9:44 AM
> > To: cap-pao at lists.sempervigilans.org
> > Subject: [PAO] National Board
> >
> > Dear Fellow PAOs,
> >
> > As we continue our volunteer commitment to an outstanding organization,
> we
> > gladly donate our resources to train and participate.  Across the years,
> we
> > have attended conferences for our wing, region and our national board,
> and
> > the cost has slowly increased, mainly because of the economic posture of
> the
> > time. However, after reviewing the current cost associated with our
> national
> > board, personally I am voicing a concern of how many members can afford
> this
> > astronomical cost.  Registration - $205 per person plus room of more than
> > $100+ per night (don't forget tax and tax); (plus the extra days lodging
> for
> > a total of 5 nights if you stay for the entire event) then if you plan on
> > attending our PAO Academy it is $45,  and if you want to attend the FEMA
> > course it is $20, then Incorporating the Medal of Honor Character
> > Development Program into Character Development for $20 and Grant Writing
> for
> > $10.  We can easily add these costs to be exorbitant for many.  I've
> > attended many National Board Conferences, but never experienced such
> fees,
> > and would like to know what the "registration" is suppose to cover, if
> not
> > the work labs, and associated hand-outs.
> >
> > I would like to see a more reasonable cost for our National Board
> > Conferences in the future.  We do not necessarily need a place like Las
> > Vegas, Washington or Atlanta, or the like, as we do not have the numbers
>  of
> > attendees to support that type of location as we once did
> > with totals of upward of 2,000+ attendees.    We have some locations
> > that could support the size of our event, with less expense to our
> members,
> > such as Charlotte, NC,  and communities of that size across our country.
> > Our overall cost has escalated to a level whereby one must truly set
> aside
> > additional funds up to more than $1,000 to attend, and that does not
> include
> > airline tickets, which are escalating too.  I don't know how many of you
> > join me in these sentiments, but we need a more economical platform for
> our
> > national board conferences.
> >
> > One other comment, wouldn't it be nice to have a non-military speaker
> like
> > Bill Cosby to entertain and inspire us to continue our service?  As a
> > volunteer organization, who gladly gives and gives so much to our
> > communities and nation, I would hope that an individual like this would
> not
> > charge, but to have airfare and other related costs (room and meals) to
> be
> > covered to get him/her to be our speaker.
> >
> > Realizing our organizational funds are somewhat limited and reduced
> greatly
> > across the board, we could certainly reduce our cost by holding our
> national
> > conference in a less costly location, and it would increase the numbers
> who
> > can afford to attend.  It indeed is a great experience that everyone
> should
> > have the opportunity to attend.  The labs, breakout sessions, or
> > workshops... what ever they are called, are always phenomenal.  The
> > opportunity to network with your fellow members and national staff  is
> > something that you will always remember as you also establish a contact
> and
> > many times lasting friendships.  If you can.....
> > please attend as it is an experience that you'll want again and again.
> >
> > Thank you for your commitment and dedication to one of the best
> > organizations of which you could ever be a part.
> >
> > Respectfully,
> > Karen L. Copenhaver, Lt Col, CAP
> > Deputy Director, Public Affairs
> > MER
> >
> >
> >
> > _______________________________________________
> > Subscribed Email Address: barth7394 at comcast.net CAP-PAO mailing list
> > CAP-PAO at lists.sempervigilans.org
> > http://lists.sempervigilans.org/mailman/listinfo/cap-pao
> >
> > _______________________________________________
> > Subscribed Email Address: bklewis425 at msn.com CAP-PAO mailing list
> > CAP-PAO at lists.sempervigilans.org
> > http://lists.sempervigilans.org/mailman/listinfo/cap-pao
> > _______________________________________________
> > Subscribed Email Address: lockit3 at att.net CAP-PAO mailing list
> > CAP-PAO at lists.sempervigilans.org
> > http://lists.sempervigilans.org/mailman/listinfo/cap-pao
> >
> > _______________________________________________
> > Subscribed Email Address: pmitcham at knology.net
> > CAP-PAO mailing list
> > CAP-PAO at lists.sempervigilans.org
> > http://lists.sempervigilans.org/mailman/listinfo/cap-pao
> _______________________________________________
> Subscribed Email Address: pa at natcapwg.cap.gov
> CAP-PAO mailing list
> CAP-PAO at lists.sempervigilans.org
> http://lists.sempervigilans.org/mailman/listinfo/cap-pao
>

-- 

------------------------------
Civil Air Patrol National Capital Wing
*"Citizens Serving Communities: Above and Beyond"*

CFC Charity #26757
www.NatCapWing.org

-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://lists.sempervigilans.org/pipermail/cap-pao/attachments/20140720/7f0846f8/attachment.html>