A Message from your RTB President
Hello RTB MEMBERS!
Thanks so much for taking the time to read yet another email. I’m sure we are all inundated with new electronic communication, and it’s just as easy to scroll on by… so thank you. Our Newsletter Committee – Allison Geiner and Emily Butler have worked really hard to put together this newsletter, in a new and improved (we think) format. There’s even a contest mixed in there for prizes. Please let us know what you think.
Kudos to those of you who managed to pass your AALAS certification exams over these last few months! I’m proud of you for taking on a new challenge and making it happen… now let’s get you ready for the next one!
While we haven’t been able to host any in person events, your RTB Executive Board has been working behind the scenes to plan ahead for some exciting events over the next couple of months. Coming soon is a T-shirt contest for RTB AALAS Members, so get your creative minds going. We’re also gearing up for upcoming elections and a virtual award show in lieu of our annual banquet. You read that right, a show! 😉 Get excited…
Speaking of awards, please please please take some time to think about one person you could nominate from your current or past role – that one person who made a difference for you. Chances are, you aren’t the only one, and if you ask around, maybe others would join you in writing a letter or two. This year you will be able to nominate non-members, so anyone (who meets the qualifications for the award) could be nominated! We had no nominees for Technician of the Year in 2019 so the prize money is doubled this year!!
While you’re in the nominating mood, let us know if you are interested in joining a committee or running for Secretary this year! I’d love to expand the reach of our Board to other institutions across our Branch. If there’s anything we’ve learned this year – we can do a lot of things remotely. With an active Board, the workload is manageable, from a couple hours a month to daily tasks depending on the position and activities planned.
With regard to awards and elections, I want to thank the many of you who took a minute to reply to our call for feedback! We took each one into consideration and truly appreciate your engagement with RTB AALAS operations. I think we made the right choice to open our awards to those who’ve yet to join our great Branch and I personally want to thank you for trusting your current leadership to continue in our positions for another year. We were bummed to have to cancel things this year, but we’re energized to see what the new year brings.
What would an AALAS President’s letter be without a shameless plug for the AALAS National Convention?!? Going on right now, with most content available through December, and FREE for members, what’s not to love? I’ve been browsing all the vendor pages and have been super impressed with the creativity it took to bring us these awesome ‘booths’ and mini sessions, some of which are interactive and going on at certain times during this week. It is an overwhelming amount of material – but in a great way- so I urge you all to login this week and meet the vendors, join their communities, and really lean in.
Last but not least – we need your help! Please click here and ‘Like’ the RTB Plane in the Bi-Plane Contest on Facebook to benefit the AALAS Foundation! Instead of getting together to build like we do each year, each of the 12 board members were sent a piece of the plane to decorate however they wanted. We decided not to talk about a theme – other than 2020 was uncoordinated, yet coordinated, and also somehow incorporate a dumpster fire… Well we did it… and ended up with about 8 different varieties of glitter, a mustache, a nod to Potter, and even some sand from Kitty Hawk (where the Wright Brothers made history – First in Flight)!
Cheers to keeping things going, and continuing to ‘overcome the challenge’ that 2020 brought us!
Happy Fall!!
Emily Weston
