Question about the VST training...
 

Sigh...I've learned of a possible conflict with the Pittsburgh training. Looking for some insight from those of you who might have a better idea how the agenda is shaping up...

(First, the conflict - my husband's childhood friend passed away in a car accident at the beginning of February. He had a daughter. My husband and his friends decided to host a memorial golf tournament to raise money for an education fund for her - to be held on Brian's birthday. My husband is the primary organizer of the event and wanted me to assist with things that day - checking golfers in, helping to oversee the dinner afterwards, etc. Since the guys had been talking about it being "on Brian's birthday," I just realized that the date of the event is June 30th - the Saturday of TLC weekend for advisors in Pittsburgh.)

I'm trying to figure out some sort of compromise - I don't want to miss Pittsburgh (looking forward to meeting everyone, and also of course as a new CA I need all the training I can get :) ;) ). But, I also know how much my husband was counting on me to be at this tournament to help, and how much it means to him.

I believe the training is scheduled for 6/28 through 7/1...would it be terrible to go for only half the weekend, returning home for the tournament on 6/30? Without a copy of the agenda, I don't know what parts I'd miss. Is there enough business to be covered on Thursday/Friday where I'd still get some benefit out of the trip? (Not as much benefit as making the whole weekend, of course, but again...I'm desperately trying to figure out a compromise!) I'm not concerned about the actual travel part - I was planning to drive to Pittsburgh anyhow. (The drive from Toledo to Pittsburgh isn't bad) But I wasn't certain whether actual training would occur on Friday, or if we were getting down to the nitty gritty on Saturday? If I miss Saturday/Sunday, am I going to be missing the bulk of the information?

Any suggestions? I feel stuck between a rock and a hard place here. :( I know my husband would be a trooper if I told him no way, no how...I absolutely have to go to Pittsburgh no matter what. But I also know how much this event means to him and how hard he took his friend's death - I'm sure that (even though he'll never admit it, being a guy) aside from needing my time to do tasks at the event, he needs my emotional/moral support too.

I PMd you...

I don't know what the pm said but... a few options.

A. You skip this year and just attend Convention next year, with him understanding that NOTHING will stop you from attending convention.
B. You promise to help get everything organized for that day and find someone to fill in for you on Saturday.
C. You just tell him this is my thing, that is your thing.
D. You stay with him and help him through this time.

I like all but C. Sorry, I can't help more, I'll keep you in my prayers.

Susan, check your email. There should be something in there today...if you didn't receive it, PM me your email address and I'll forward it to you. :)

Thanks so much for the heads up - I did receive the e-mail!

I'm encouraged by the tentative agenda on the memo - looks like all the training specific to Alpha Gam and the new VST structure will be on Friday. Saturday is general leadership development concluding with a group dinner.

Ordinarily, I'd welcome the opportunity for leadership development ideas and a chance to mingle with everyone at dinner. But, in light of my conflict, sounds like at least the agenda is shaping up where I'd be able to make all the critical Alpha Gam specific training. :)

Thanks again for your input ladies!

Got Registration Package today
 

Looks like fun and informative!:)

Got my registration packet today too!

I'm fairly certain that I'll attend at least through Friday evening. Trying to figure out which of the workshops I should attend. Since I'm a new CA, I'm thinking Chapter Management might be a good one.

For my other option, I'm thinking perhaps Recruitment. I always feel like that's a weak area for me. I dropped out of formal rush after the first 2 days, and ended up COBing. So, I never attended Phase C or Preference as a PNM. And I only participated in rush on the chapter end one time, and I didn't pref anyone that year. (I ended up being a Rho Chi, then on Panhel exec board, so that's why my recruitment experience from the chapter end is so limited.) Some of the other topics I can investigate and try learning on my own just by reading the materials/manuals, but Recruitment is a huge mystery to me since my personal experience with it is so limited! Given that the chapter I advise is having some recruitment issues, I'm thinking it would behoove me to get some training in that area? :confused: :confused:

Hopefully mine will be there when I get home today, then!

I won't get home till late tonight... I want to see what workshops I want to attend. I have HA Annual tonight at GC. Fun times!

I'll attend Chapter Management. Not sure what Fraternity Programs will cover so we'll see. My FA is going (at least she told me she was) so she'll go to Finance and HA. The Recruitment Advisor can't go but I'm trying to see if I can get someone else to go.

I still don't know what I'm going to do because my mail box was blocked by construction equipment.... we have cluster boxes for a reason. URRRRG

The workshop choices are
Chapter Management
Finance
Recruitment
Alumnae Development
Fraternity Programs
House Associations

You get to choose 2.

There are other info sessions but these are the ones that you get choices on, lol.

Hope this helps. PM me if you have specific questions and I'll see if they are in the mailing.

So greeklawgirl and I have been wondering about this and I figured I'd put it out here to see if any of y'all know the answer:

I noticed the packet didn't say anything about providing sheets, pillows and towels. Does anyone know if this is the case or should I just plan on buying some cheapo sets and bring them with me?

Hey Lynn, thanks... I'm so mad... I was home yesterday and asked the construction guys to move their truck from in front of our box... and they did. So we got our mail for the first time in 4 days... but alas... there was no packet. I'm hoping that they send me one... the website had my address wrong a few months back (right street address, wrong town) but I do get the Q... so i'm hoping that it will be in the mail tonight!!!


Mu_AGD... since it is a dorm room... I'm thinking that it will be B.Y.O.B. (Bring your own bedding).

ETA: I know I have to go to HA but I don't know which other one... I really like recruitment (it is so creative and pref is my favorite night... if I could do it all over again I would have chaired this night in college), finance would be good to have since you all told me that VST need finance people, and I'm active with the alumnae and lord knows we need to work on development... so I don't know which one... we can only choose two????

Yes - there are 2 "Fraternity Topic Workshops" scheduled for Friday afternoon. So, you'll attend one of the available options for each.

I feel like I still need to learn everything, so I don't know what to pick. :o Our Finance Advisor is planning to attend also, so she'll be covering Finance and one other. I guess as long as she and I don't duplicate a session, then we'll get the benefit of more information!

P.S. I'm still trying to work out the details of my attendance. I'm certain that I'll attend through Friday - my husband's plans for the golf tournament are progressing more smoothly now, so we'll see about Saturday.

Still nothing... I am going to check the website to see if there is anything on it about it... sorry for the its.

I am so new that I want to learn about everything, I wish there was time to choose more than two. Finance and AD would be more in my realm of AGD but recruitment would be so much fun.

Day 5... still nothing.

I know IHQ is behind on updating information... I would be willing to input some information for them... if they would send me the stuff... I'll do it from home!

I don't know how to scan and email but I can copy and email. PM me your address and I'll send you a copy.

Arin, this is a dumb question and I'm sure you have already thought of this but here goes: is it possible you haven't received the registration packet because you are not officially appointed to one of the positions below?

o Chapter Advisors
o Finance Advisors
o Recruitment Advisors
o Alumnae Club and Chapter Presidents
o Presidents of Incorporated House Associations

Those volunteers are invited to attend, but those attendees will be responsible for their own travel expenses.

Shot in the dark, I know, but I thought I'd put that out there just in case. :confused:

Hey Maria,
It was a good question but no I am the president for Epsilon's HA (at least I just signed my name to a whole bunch of contracts as that). I'm just thinking that IHQ is so far behind on addresses or/and I haven't been on an official report yet... so I'm thinking that that is the reason. I've emailed IHQ but I haven't gotten anything back yet. It's okay... I'm sure it will work itself out. I'm just really excited about this because it will be my first official IHQ trip (I know I'm a dork... I'm okay with it.)

Oh well... I'm not going to be sitting on my computer next week because I'm going to be in Family Mediation Training (so I will have other things to think about) but I hope to hear something before the 15th.

Also, I'll get to finally meet all my GC sisters! Well most of them!

PM me your address. The deadline is May 15th or you could get in touch with the Epsilon folks and have them make you a copy, lol.

BTW, the Atl. Alumnae Chapter Prez is from Epsilon!

KSP, the CA for E, is going to get me the stuff, but it is just the fact that I didn't get the paperwork in the mail... it is a little sad.

Off topic, but since you mentioned Epsilon's HA I had to share my Epsilon story...

During my sophomore year, 3 of us decided to go visit University of Kentucky for a long weekend to kick off our Spring Break. (Long story short, the 3 of us couldn't afford a whole weekend in an exotic locale like our friends...we were picking up extra shifts at work while everyone else was out of town! Kelly's brother was an SAE at UK. He invited us to visit him for the weekend so that at least we did something for Spring Break...even if it was just a couple of days in Lexington.) :)

Imagine our surprise when we arrived to discover that he had arranged for us to stay at Epsilon's chapter house for the weekend. When the Epsilon sisters found out that 3 Alpha Gams were visiting for the weekend, they welcomed us with open arms. They gave us a key to the side door for the weekend, so that we could come and go as needed. They invited us to brunch at the chapter house on Sunday morning. It was really amazing - my first experience seeing how sisterhood goes so much deeper than just your own campus!

Yeah E is a special place, that is a true thing.

Another question off topic, how many of you all work with your initiation chapter?

MOI
 

:D
Me.

Until June 1st, Me.

Not me.

(I'd love to be able to do something with my initiation chapter again one day...it just has to reopen. :) But I probably wouldn't be able to serve in an advisor capacity due to geography - as much as I love Chi, it would be hard to justify the hour and a half drive, when Alpha Kappa is 20 minutes away and needs alumnae support too.)

Back to VLC, FA and I are booking our flight tomorrow night. I think it will be early bird from Atlanta:)


ETA: Delta 1560 at 9:40 am to
Delta 4759 at 9:54 from ....assuming they don't change the schedules like they kept doing for Convention.

Since we all know that I am clueless still (fixing the issue is happening as we speak) help a sister out... what time and day do we have to be there? Thanks!

Diinner starts at 6:00 p.m. on June 28th. Other than that, I'll have to try to find my handout.

Registration Deadline May 15
Thursday June 28 Registration 9am-6pm
Dinner 6pm-7pm Duquesne Univ. cafeteria
Intro and Welcome 7:15 pm. - 8:30 p.m.
Meet and Greet Team Members 8:30 p.m. - 9:30 p.m.

Mapquest says it's about 19 miles to the university. If you are flying, ground transport available between 9 am and 6 p.m on the 28th. Then on Sunday, only available until 2p.m. (No activities on Sunday).

That's all for now.

FINALLY!!
 

So I got my paperwork today!!! Yeah... so I'll be seeing everyone in June!!!
I listed my 1 as house association and 2 as finance and then recruitment for the fun of it... yeah!!!

Today I filled out the registration form and put it in the envelope.

Maybe tomorrow, I'll actually getting around to mailing the envelope, lol. ;)

Deadline Extended to May 18th
 

Mailed mine last week!:cool:

Got my confirmation packet!!

Gotta bring bed stuff...just like camp!;) Glad they gave a checklist!

HA! This is the $64,000 question mu_agd and I have been tossing around for weeks now.

I wonder if Target will have the extra long twin sheets out by then? And I assume we need pillows and towels and flip flops too? Holy moly, there's a lot of shopping to do between now and Pittsburgh.

Okay, I re-read it and didn't realize that they provided 1 blanket, pillow & case, 2 sheets, 2 bath towels, 2 washcloths and soap. You can bring more towels, soap and blankets if you want.

Bring your own iron, steamer and hangers, lol.

Think dorm showers;)

Glad I don't have to be at the airport until June 28th, lol.

Before I saw Lynn's next post I was going to say, "Looks like we'll be taking a Target run next weekend!"

Yeah, I'm definitely bringing my own sheets and towels. And an a few extra blankets. Nicole likes to sleep cold but I'm always freezing!

We are definitely doing a Target run next weekend.

Yeah I definitely opened my window when you made me turn the heat on!

And don't most sheet sets come with two sets? we should be able to split a cheap one.

Hmm, I'm not sure. All the sets that I've bought have had one in them, but if they have any with two sets I'm totally up for splitting them.