I love March! Other than the fall, I think it’s my favorite month of the year. I love the St. Patrick’s Day Parade and I know many of my colleagues look forward to March Madness. A certain kind of energy picks up along with the weather. It’s also the month my son was born.

But hey, nothing against you, February! You weren’t too shabby!

Last month’s Professional Development lunch went really well. I want to thank Justin Meyer for his presentation on marketing the new KCI airport and thanks to the Main Event Entertainment for hosting. Yes, it was s a bit of a departure from our usual venues for PD events, but we are doing our best to make sure that everything is cost effective. To do this, we are using locations that do not charge a room fee. If you have ideas, please let us know.

Later this week, we host our annual student summit and look forward to a great line-up of speakers, panelists and discussions. We know students look forward to this event for gaining valuable insight and information as they approach graduation. It’s also the first opportunity we have to introduce ourselves in person to the next set of PR graduates and hopefully get them involved in our chapter.

A few months ago, we had a terrific PD event where the rewards of volunteerism were talked about by several area professionals. It’s not too early to be thinking about how you will spend your volunteer hours in 2019. There are many ways to do this for our chapter, but one thing to note for experienced pros is that as of right now, we do not have a president-elect on the board. Over the past few years, the chapter has struggled to fill that role, partly due to a lack of growth in accreditation seekers, and partly due to the fact just about every type of organization suffers from lack of volunteering. Until this year, it was a requirement to hold an APR designation in order to serve as president. We’ve removed that requirement so that otherwise highly qualified PR professionals can lead our chapter. The president-elect will spend the rest of the year learning everything possible to take over next year. He or she will also attend the Leadership Rally and Assembly in October. I can tell you more about the inspiration and learning I gained from that event when I went last year if you or someone you know is interested in knowing more about becoming president-elect. Just reach out!


Norita Taylor, APR
GKC-PRSA President