Dispatches from BMA14: Series of Short Reports from the Tell Your Story Team at #BMA14 in Chicago  

On the eve of #BMA14, we had the opportunity to attend BMA Chapter Leader Day in Chicago as a pre-conference event. There must have been nearly 75 chapter leaders in attendance from cities across North America. Some were there to figure out how to start a BMA chapter in their city. Others were there to share their knowledge on what has worked and what hasn’t. Everyone was there to learn to make their chapter better and more valuable for their members.

Bottom line is that we should all be proud of our chapter leaders. Long time national board members Elton Mayfield (Kansas City) and Greg Olson (Colorado) stressed time and time again throughout the day (and at previous chapter leader days) that the chapter is the heart beat of BMA. Without strong chapters, the national board and organization don’t mean much. It’s at the chapter level that the real work happens, the real relationships form and where the passion is most evident. And having all of these chapter leaders, representing their chapters, in the same room sharing, asking, absorbing, laughing, crying (well, maybe not crying) was and always has been an inspiring thing to see.

Long live the chapters! And long live our great chapter leaders.