Final President’s Message

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Tiina Freeman, CAE

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Something occurred to me as I was reading the attendee comments after the convention: while WSAE has undergone many changes over the past two years, from board member turnover to a management company change, we are still the same welcoming and friendly group of association professionals and suppliers we have been in the past. It isn’t by accident. It is because we have articulated what our values and culture are, and what is important to us, and then made decisions accordingly. Our strategic plan is based on those values. Therefore, the changing of the guard, which will occur at the end of this month will be a nonevent for our members as we will seamlessly continue to deliver quality service to our members based on those values.

Don’t leave your organization’s culture to a chance. Evaluate and discuss it. Is it where you would like it to be? If not, go to work to change it. Put it in writing so that it can be communicated consistently to all levels of the organization. The game where you whisper a message into the next person’s ear doesn’t work here! Your organization’s strategic plan and policies already spell out the rules of the game, but the culture explains the spirit in which the game is played. A statement of your organization’s culture is a valuable gift to those who come after you.

Many thanks to the WSAE departing board of directors, Andrew Prazuch, CAE, Gary Kipp and Scott Hildebrand, for their contributions to WSAE. Our incoming president, Stacie Weedon, is already hard at work to ensure that the new board can hit the ground running at the strategic planning retreat at the end of this month. I can’t wait to see all the good things that we can do with her leadership!

Tiina Freeman, CAE
WSAE President, 2015-2017