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TOCA President
Jared Bodnar |
By Jared Bodnar, TOCA President
For those of you who’ve never been to the great state of Arizona, I urge you to join us this year in Tucson for the TOCA annual meeting May 5-7. A lot of people who have never visited my home state have preconceived notions about the desert southwest. People think that it’s always unbearably hot, it never rains, there are many indigenous critters that are poised to attack you, and it’s basically flat and lifeless.
I think that you’ll find that these misconceptions couldn’t be further from the truth. When you visit Tucson this year and experience the beauty of the Sonora desert, I assure you that you will marvel at its beauty, enjoy the mild weather and most likely won’t get bit by a rattlesnake or stung by a scorpion.
If you have any preconceived notions about the new format of this year’s TOCA annual meeting, I promise you will be pleasantly surprised. This year, we’ve changed the program due to feedback from our members. We’re having two sessions focusing on the issue of water scarcity, a panel discussion on new media, followed by a breakout session where multi-generational groups will discuss the information presented. Our keynote workshop is by media expert Bob Sacks, who will discuss the future of media—both print and electronic. His award-winning column and his presentations before publishing organizations nationwide have been met with great enthusiasm.
There will also be fewer tours—so we will all gain skills that will help us be better communicators.
There are so many exciting things going on with our organization, I can’t wait to share them with everyone. Our new strategic plan is coming together quite nicely, we have plans for more frequent communication with our members and we’re thinking of new ways to add value to your TOCA membership every single day. And, TOCA Talk will get a facelift in the coming months!
While we’re on the subject of preconceived notions and misconceptions, I want to hear about yours. Did you have any misconceptions about TOCA when you joined that you found to be incorrect? Are you getting more out of the organization than you expected when you joined? If so, please let me know.
And, in the extremely unlikely event that you do get bit or stung during your visit to Tucson, I promise to accompany you to the hospital—and I’ll tell you my iguana story from last year’s TOCA meeting on the way there.
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