Mile High Madness!

Welcome back for the second installment of Mile High Madness.  As we head into the annual March Madness of the NCAA Basketball Tournament, it’s a good time to get this month’s events on your calendar before you get caught up in the frenzy.

First, let’s recap the Month of February.

2012-13 Chapter Officers:

The first item of the month of February was the announcement of the January election results for the 2012-13 officers.  Our officers for the new Board year are:

Jerry McPeake – President

Ann Wilson – President-Elect

Stacie Hedrick – Vice President

Roxanna Krueger – Immediate Past President

Karla Rude – Secretary

Mark Richey – Treasurer

Linda Gross – Treasurer-Elect

The 2012-13 Officers and Board of Directors take office on April 1, 2012 and serve until March 31, 2013.

Chapter Board Retreat and February Board of Directors Meeting:

The current Chapter Board of Directors and incoming members met at the offices of Taylor | Anderson, LLP for 4 hours on Thursday, February 9, 2012, to begin planning for the upcoming Board Transition.  We discussed a number of issues relating to each Committee and goals for the 2012-13 Board Year.  Additionally, we discussed general topics such as leadership, project management and inclusiveness. 

February Educational Luncheon:

Marion K. Jenkins, PhD presented It Sometimes Rains in “The Cloud” – A Critical Look at Cloud Computing for Businesses at our educational luncheon on February 16, 2012.  The Program, held at the downtown Marriott Courtyard, covered a vast array of cloud computing issues including: 

• Why moving to the cloud does not eliminate the two biggest risks that businesses face
• Which business models make perfect sense for cloud services, and which ones may not
• Why it is that when you Google “cloud outages” you get over 3 million hits
• Why getting rid of all your servers and data storage systems might be a big (and irreversible) mistake
• Why some of the biggest cloud providers such as Amazon, Google and Microsoft have suffered major outages, and what impact those outages had on their business customers
• How much effort and attention your cloud provider is paying to critical things like data backup, user security and uptime
• What are some of the major risks of cloud services – and how to avoid or mitigate them
• How Fortune 1000 company IT departments are not rushing to move their data to the cloud (in spite of what you might have read)
• What some of the legal and regulatory issues are with having someone else store and control your data

 February ALA Webinar:

 On February 22, 2012, Welborn Sullivan Meck and Tooley, PC hosted the ALA’s monthly webinar.  The topic was entitled Employee Handbooks for Law Firms – Careful, Careful! And was presented by Michael S. Cohen, JD.  This two hour brown bag lunch session covered such issues as:

•         Why having an employee handbook is essential for your law firm

•         Essential handbook policies for all employees

•         Identifying and creating specific policies that are unique to a law practice

 Annual Chapter Retreat:

 One of the Chapter’s favorite events of the year was held on Friday, February 24, 2012 and Saturday February 25, 2012 at the St. Julian Hotel in Boulder.  The Chapter Retreat and Annual Meeting of the General Chapter Membership kicked off on Friday at 1:00 pm.  The speaker for this event was Stevie Ray who brought down the house with is antics and fun-filled exercises that taught members how to engage their “whole brain” and covered essential communication skills and styles using the tried and true methods of improv actors. 

 Stevie’s Friday session ended at 5:00 pm and was followed by a cocktail hour and dinner.  Following the “official” festivities of the day there were various activities (including salsa dancing in the hotel lobby and a night out on the town courtesy of our Mile High and Mt. Elbert business partners) while others retired to their plush rooms for a nice long soak in a sunken bathtub stocked with bath salts and a loofah.

 The session with Stevie Ray continued Saturday morning, after a continental breakfast, where we learned how to put the newly learned communication skills to work in a persuasive manner.  Once again, there was no sleeping in this session as Stevie kept everyone engaged. 

 The day ended with the annual meeting of the general chapter membership.  This is the annual “State of the Chapter” address by the Chapter President with a brief synopsis of each Committee by the respective Committee chairs.  Members in attendance were able to ask questions and make suggestions for Chapter activities.

 A big THANK YOU goes out to the Professional Development committee for all of their hard work and time to put together the retreat!  IT WAS AWESOME!

 2012-13 Business Partner Program Rollout Meeting:

 The rollout of the 2012-13 Business Partner Program was held on February 29, 2012, at the offices of Moye|White, LLP.  With 70+ people in attendance, incoming President-Elect and Business Partner Committee Chair, Ann Wilson, presented the Program to both long-time Partners and some potential new Partners.

 Please remember that our Business Partnering Program is a huge part of the Mile High Chapter’s success and our ability to provide educational programs such as our monthly luncheons and the Chapter Retreat at the most affordable cost to our members.

 WOW, February was a busy month!

 Get Involved!

 Ever wonder how you can get more involved in Chapter activities?

Ever wonder how to meet new people and make lifelong friends?

Ever ask yourself what you can do to get the most out of your Chapter membership?

 The Answer:  Join a Committee! 

 If you are interested in joining a Committee and contribute to YOUR professional association, please let me know and I will get you connected with the right Committee for you based on your interests and time commitment.  Don’t say “maybe later”, there’s no time like the present.  Just hit the reply button and get started!

Don’t Forget:

The Mile High Chapter is now on facebook.  Please follow us on facebook for the latest in breaking news and information about the Chapter.  http://www.facebook.com/pages/Mile-High-Chapter-ALA/372370489446677

March Events:

3/15/2012 - Educational Luncheon – Crossing the Digital Divide: New Marketing Models for Law Firms

3/21/2012 - ALA Webinar – The Art of Active Listening

Important Future Dates:

04/22-26/2012 – ALA Annual Conference and Exposition – Honolulu, HI

6/5/2012 – Mile High Chapter Business Partner EXPO – Hyatt Denver Convention Center

10/4-6/2012 – ALA Region 4 Conference – Denver, CO (Sheraton Hotel Downtown Denver f/k/a Adam’s Mark)

ENJOY THE MADNESS!

Jerry G. McPeake, MSLA

President Elect and

Business Partner Committe Chairperson

Mile High Chapter, ALA