wouldn't NALTEA benefit from having more regional events throughout the year building momentum towards the conference? Sometimes, I think maybe we are building backwards--from national down, especially in this issue of abstracting. While we all share some major issues, most issues facing us daily is more local or regional.
The main criticism I hear is what does a national organization do for me. That means benefits, which rightly can only come when the organization grows large enough to be competitive in obtaining benefits. But will we grow without them? Probably not.
The only benefit that NALTEA can easily provide is training/networking events. You charge a nominal fee to cover expenses, but certainly far less than what would be expended to attend a national conference. I think if NALTEA focused on smaller, more frequent events (making them easier, less expensive to attend), we might build the membership faster.
And there won't be a better time. Having continued educational training sessions to prepare abstractors for certification. This is something I think ALL abstractors (professional ones) would be interested in--provided it is convenient enough and inexpensive enough to make it worth their while. I think this is an awesome carrot to be extending to get members.
Maybe it is time for NALTEA to have regional officers who can address these local/state/regional issues. While I fully understand that most organizations don't do this until the membership is sufficiently large enough to warrant it, I think NALTEA might be better served by moving away from a national theme and more to a coordinator of regional/state themes. Unless we do, the questions will always be--what's in it for me?
Any thoughts?
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