Is really already Thursday?

Good Morning!

Being still on Central Time while in California, I was awake at 3:15 am. It didn't take much to force me to turn back over and stay in bed. The Hilton in Costa Mesa is the site of this year's Governing Council and I've noticed two pluses for it. Fast elevators and a great location with restaurants and shopping nearby. Haven't been inpressed with the restaurant yet, but they have the opportunity to improve.

Thursday is the day for all the seminars and since I can't be at all of them, I'm hoping to tap into others to help me out with information. I'm starting the day with a judges school - to get certified to judge the new Moves-in-the-Field.  That runs from 9 -11.

There's a Marketing & Publicity seminar that runs from 10:30 to noon, so I'll run there as soon as the judges school is over.  I do marketing and publicity for my real-life job, so I know it might not make sense that I want to attend, but when I attended the session two years ago, I criticized the seminar as being "Death by Powerpoint" and I want to see if  A) He (RB) is no longer creating a Powerpoint Hell and B) if he talks about Social Media Marketing (my passion).

I'll attend the "Critical Issues Q & A" from 1:30 to 3:00 and then the session "Attract and Retain Members" from 3:30 to 5:00. I'm on the panel for the Fundraising Session at 5:30 - I'll start a timer to see how long it takes before someone brings up having accounts for skaters where the funds they raise go into. It comes up every year, regardless of the topic (such as last year's Bylaws 101 session).  And the delegates rarely like my answer and try to think of ways around the IRS (good luck with that one).

Since the fundraising session runs at the same time as the Synchro Session, I'll need to find a guest blogger to get the information for you.

The evening ends with the Interclub Open Forum - where I'm also on the panel to talk about your favorite topic and mine - Bylaws!  It just wouldn't be a Governing Council without me talking about the joys of bylaws and how to avoid getting in trouble.

Okay, technically the evening will end at the bar (they have a great selection of wine - always important for any US Figure Skating event).

As the days pass, please feel free to leave comments on the blog, email me at MEHarty (at) usfamily (dot) net or leave a message on Facebook.  I hope to post on a regular basis (at least a couple of times a day) and share fun things, serious things and, as usual for me, completely random things!

Now, I have to finish my oatmeal before I go to school.