Volume 22, Issue 4 1

Please Mark Your Calendar and Plan to Attend!

January 9, 2019 – Hilton Downtown Richmond

February 6, 2019– Homewood Suites/Hampton Inn &

Suites Downtown Richmond

March 5-6, 2019 – Delta Hotels by Marriott

Chesapeake and the Chesapeake Conference Center

www.sgmp.org www.olddominionsgmp.org

What’s Inside

President’s Message

Committee Updates

Treasurer’s Report

Industry News

Local Chapter News

Membership News

Cardinal Calls

Professional

Development

Chapter Board

SGMP National News

Volume 22, Issue 4 2

President’s Corner Winter 2018 Marilee Tretina

As I write this, I’m watching 13 inches of snow melt away.

Yes, winter has truly arrived! I hope everyone has had a

warm and wonderful holiday season. Our chapter once again

made the holidays brighter for the children staying at the

McGuire Veterans Hospital Fisher House. Our members’

giving spirit was evident by the impressive display of toys

donated at our December meeting.

This is an election year for the National Board and Old

Dominion. The chapter election process begins in early spring

once the National elections have concluded. While all

positions are open, some Old Dominion board members are not eligible to run for their current position,

specifically President and 2nd Vice-President. Please consider running for a board position. Having new

perspectives on the board helps keep the chapter growing and improving.

We need planners! There are many state agencies and state organizations that are not represented in

our chapter – do you know of a planner who would benefit from joining? Suppliers and Planners can join

the Superheroes Circle by bringing in new members and having them list your name on the online

membership form as the referral. We have one member in the Superheroes Circle – Hope Adams. Let’s

see how many more Superheroes Old Dominion will have in the Circle by April 30th!

Mark your calendars for the 2019 chapter conference on March 5-6 in Chesapeake at the Delta Marriott

and the Chesapeake Conference Center. The conference is being chaired by Michelle Hawkins and Anita

Yearwood and they are putting together a top-notch agenda of education and dynamic speakers.

Registration is now open.

More education coming your way is in Detroit at the National Education Conference (NEC) June 25-27.

Have you heard that Detroit is back? They have a reinvigorated downtown scene and great

entertainment. Make your plans and we’ll see you there!

We hope to see you at the meetings for the education and networking. We want to hear from you! I

encourage you to contact me or any board member with your ideas, or questions. You can also add your

comments to the monthly program survey; your voice is important!

Happy New Year!

Marilee Tretina

president@olddominionsgmp.org

Volume 22, Issue 4 3

Committee Reports

Hospitality & Mentoring Committee Dasha Runyan, CGMP

PLEASE BE SURE TO STOP BY THE REGISTRATION DESK

TO HAVE YOUR ATTENDANCE NOTED AT THE MEETING.

Thank you to my committee for all the assistance at the

registration desk during our monthly meetings. We appreciate

your help.

New to SGMP? Ask us about having a mentor help you get

started with chapter activities.

Fundraising Committee

Michelle J. Hergenrother, CMP

Fundraising Committee:

Chair: Michelle Hergenrother, CMP

Co-Chair: Tiffany Joyner

Members: Sandy Brashear, Jeff Bunn, Wayne Callis,

Wendy Evalle, Valarie Gardner and Mary Clair O’Hara

If you would like to join the fundraising committee, we

would love to have you! We are always looking for more

people. Contact Michelle Hergenrother at

michelle@hamptoncvb.com or (757) 728-5337 to let me

know you want to help.

For future fundraising efforts, this is what we will be doing

each month at our meetings to raise money for

scholarships and education: Our fundraising goal is $6,300

September: Regular 50/50.

Raffled ½ the cash collected and had a drawing for a

$5.00 Lottery Scratch off Card. (Raised $66.00)

October: Wine & Beer Pull.

Bring in a bottle of wine, 6-pack of craft beer or two 6-

packs/12-pack of domestic beer, estimating approximately

$10.00. Make sure it is in a brown bag or other type of

bag, so you cannot see what type of beer or wine it is.

Tickets will be sold for $10.00 each. Only enough tickets

will be sold to equal the number of items brought in.

Everyone is a winner! (Raised $120.00)

November: Silent Auction. (Raised $836.00)

December: BIG 50/50.

First ticket drawn wins half the cash and additional tickets

will be drawn to win items donated by our chapter

members. (Raised $790.00)

January: No Fundraiser planned.

February: Culinary Silent Auction.

Come see all the wonderful things for auction! Baked

goods, cook books, wine, anything having to do with a

culinary theme.

March: Live Auction during the education conference.

CVB destination packages with help from our hotel

partners.

April: Regular 50/50 raffle.

May: Board Baskets: The Old Dominion Board put

together individual gift items. Tickets were purchased and

then placed in the bag in front of the item(s) you wish to

win. This was a lot of fun!

June: Silent Auction.

Thank you to all of our chapter members who donate items

for our raffles and silent auctions. We cannot do it without

you! I know I continuously ask for items, but please know it

is greatly appreciated! Without you our chapter would not

have the ability to offer scholarships to our chapter

education conference and national education conference

and to help support our wonderful educational sessions.

If you have something you would like to donate, please

contact Michelle Hergenrother at (757) 728-5337 or

michelle@hamptoncvb.com.

Communications Committee

Chris Bunting, CGMP

Social Media Chair: Michelle Hawkins Committee Members: Sandra Brashear, Wendy Evalle, Joyce Fogg, Kay Springfield, Lisa MacArthur, Mary Clair O’Hara & Laura Lange. Volunteers are needed to write articles on the monthly meetings. Please sign up at the next meeting. We are always looking for committee members. Please contact Chris Bunting if you are interested in joining the communications team.

Education Committee

Hope Adams, CGMP

The Education Program for 2018-2019 is complete, however the

Education Committee is soliciting members to work on the 2019-

2020 committee and program. The Chapter is looking for a new

Education Chair for next year if interested, please contact Hope

Adams, adamsh@vcu.edu for details.

Volume 22, Issue 4 4

Community Outreach Committee Board Liaison: Joyce Fogg Co-Chairs: Harold Kretzer & Mary Kay Campbell

The Community Outreach Committee has collected for two charities. Mutts with a Mission was the charity chosen for the year. As reported earlier, over $1,500 in cash was collected at the NEC.

As seen in this picture, the Old Dominion Chapter generously collected dog toys at the October meeting in Williamsburg.

In October and November at the meeting in RIchmond, toys were collected for children of families at the Veterans Hospital. This has been an ongoing charity that the Chapter has supported. A picture here shows the toys.

Thank you to all of our members who made both of these projects successful!

Quarterly Treasurer’s Report

Ending Balances

September: $7,036.91

October: $8,088.14

November: $9,843.80

A reminder to everyone: Please be sure that all checks have

the MEMO section filled out so that payments can be

expedited quickly.

Andrew Marks, Treasurer treasurer@olddominionsgmp.org

MEMBERSHIP COUNTS!

Help us achieve and maintain a 50/50 ratio

by recruiting new members and renewing

your own membership on time!

Old Dominion Membership Report

As of November, 2018

TOTAL CHAPTER MEMBERSHIP: 88

Total Planners 38

Total Suppliers 46

Retired/Other 4

Current Ratio 45.2%

Volume 22, Issue 4 5

October Monthly Chapter Meeting By Wendy Evalle

From Both Sides: The Site Visit

October’s meeting found us at the beautiful Woodlands Hotel & Suites in Williamsburg, Nadja Borta and her team did a great job promoting her event space and wowing us with their amazing scenery. Everyone knows the site visit is a critical piece of event planning. The planners need to know their vision for the event, so it can be made a reality, and the supplier needs to know they can make that vision come to life. At this meeting we heard from both planners and suppliers to get a better understanding of what each are trying to accomplish and gained a few tips to incorporate into the site visit. A couple of items are making sure you do your homework and create a site visit check list, so nothing is missed. Here are a couple of things to consider when you go for a site tour. Planners: Suppliers: Can the hotel handle the meeting? Do you know all the details? Has the property had major changes? Have you established needs versus wants? Are you really considering the venue? Can you accommodate their technology needs? Answering some of these questions will make sure no one is wasting anyone’s time and will ensure a successful site. Other things to think of from a supplier’s side is to not feature dump, be respectful of the person’s time and always follow up after the tour. Remember a hotel site tour is an essential aspect of an event. Without a tour, you don’t get to see all the intangibles that can’t be viewed online and you can’t make that personal connection.

Volume 22, Issue 4 6

November Monthly Chapter Meeting

Our November chapter meeting was at The Commonwealth Hotel in downtown Richmond. The property and staff were

very accommodating to all the needs of our group. The topic of Cyber security was presented by Ryan Neilson of VCU

Technology Services. The subject of the presentation was tech based, but Ryan told stories to keep it interesting for

listeners. He identified the primary areas where most establishments can be vulnerable. The first area that he noted was

in technical maintenance or dated software as he reminded everyone of the importance of updating software and

equipment. He continued to note that procedural vulnerabilities were next on the list. Ryan stated many establishments

do not have proper standards of training to help keep their network environment safe from hacking. The final and most

dangerous vulnerability was the disgruntled employee or insider that shares content or exposes the establishment

network in some other way.

Some important tips for office/home computer use include the following:

• Keep your computer software updated

• Report suspect emails

• Use safe browsing habits

• Lock workspace and home computers

• Be aware watching for Phishing emails

• Remember - Hover Over a Link and Verify…Don’t Click!

The Fundraising Committee’s

Fall Silent Auction took place

at this meeting and raised

$864.00 to go towards chapter

education.

Volume 22, Issue 4 7

December Monthly Chapter Meeting By Chris Bunting, CGMP

The chapter meeting was at Omni Downtown Richmond. Decorated for the holidays, the Omni provided a great backdrop

for our December meeting. The subject of the session was Gmail and using G-Suite presented by Dan Thomas of VCU

Collaboration Services. Since so many state agencies are converting from Outlook to Gmail this topic was relevant to our

members.

The tools of G-Suite could be found useful to any person that needs to collaborate with a team on a project. Dan went

through the presentation touching on the topics of Chrome, Gmail, Calendars, Google Drive, Google Docs and Hangouts.

Take the time to visit the G-Suite Learning Center, Dan mentioned it was a great resource for users. He reminded us of the

importance of setting up an account for each user you have and suggested using Chrome as your browser. Dan walked us

through the basics of Google Docs, Drive and Hangouts. He noted the option of creating special Groups and using Google

Meet for business purposes.

The session was informative and left me considering changing from Drop Box to Google Drive for my committee and

collaboration tasks.

Volume 22, Issue 4 8

Membership Report Karen Sullivan, CGMP

Membership Renewal Reminder If your name is listed, this is a reminder that your anniversary date is approaching. Please renew online, by mail, or over the phone by the last day of your anniversary month to prevent your membership in this great organization from dropping! You will now receive reminders by email only from national. They will send them to you 90, 60 & 30 days before your anniversary date. Make sure your email with SGMP is correct and emails from SGMP do not go to your spam mail. Mark your anniversary date on your calendar.

MEMBERSHIP UPDATES & CHANGES Remember to keep membership information up to date. If you have a change in your contact information, you can go online at www.sgmp.org and update your information. If your organization has a change in personnel and the membership changes to another person, fill in a membership change form and submit it directly to SGMP. You can find membership information on Old Dominion’s website at www.olddominionsgmp.org under the membership tab, or feel free to contact Karen Sullivan at Membership@olddominionsgmp.org.

It is preferred that you process your renewal online. If you renew your membership by mail,

please send your payment to the following address:

Society of Government Meeting Professionals (SGMP)

3337 Duke Street, Alexandria, VA 22314

2017-2019

Old Dominion Chapter

Board of Directors

President Marilee Tretina President@olddominionsgmp.org

First Vice President Hope Adams, CGMP Programs@olddominionsgmp.org

Second Vice President Michelle J. Hergenrother, CMP Fundraising@olddominionsgmp.org Secretary Joyce Fogg Secretary@olddominionsgmp.org Treasurer Andrew Marks treasurer@olddominionsgmp.org

Supplier Director Dasha Runyan, CGMP Hospitality@olddominionsgmp.org

Planner Director Karen Sullivan, CGMP Membership@olddominionsgmp.org

Supplier Director Chris Bunting, CGMP Communications@olddominionsgmp.org

Immediate Past President Mary Clair O’Hara PastPresident@olddominionsgmp.org

Approaching Membership Anniversary Dates

January 2019

Anita Arron

Beatrice Anderson

Judith Campbell

Valarie Carter

Artonda Cheeseman

Sylvia Edwards

Terry Hudson

Cynthia Lockwood, CGMP

Dawn Whittaker

February 2019

Marquietta Alston

Betty Cannon

Jane Lissenden

Kathy Sledd

Tiffany Smithson

Kris Tudge

Volume 22, Issue 4 9

Professional Development

Certified Government Meeting Professional

The Certified Government Meeting Professional designation

("CGMP") is designed for planners and suppliers whose work

is governed by the rules and regulations of the federal

government. Individuals who have earned their CGMP have

obtained the highest designation available that is specifically

for government meeting professionals. Below are the next

courses scheduled. New courses are added periodically, and

the information can be found on the SGMP website HERE.

CGMP Class

Richmond, VA

April 9-12, 2019

From the National SGMP Headquarters

SGMP Event Calendar (National Headquarters)

Government Connections Magazine

********************************** SGMP Mission & Objectives

Our mission is to enhance and promote the knowledge

and expertise of government meeting professionals.

Our objectives are to improve the quality of, and

promote the cost-effectiveness of, government

meetings. SGMP was founded in 1981 and is the only

national organization in the U.S. dedicated exclusively

to government meetings.

Volume 22, Issue 4 10

SGMP NEC 2019

Detroit Marriott at Renaissance Center 400 Renaissance Drive

Detroit, Michigan 48243 June 25-27, 2019

Registration opened on

December 1, 2018

For details go to: https://www.sgmp.org/conference

Please Save the Dates!

The Old Dominion Chapter of

SGMP Education Conference

March 5-6, 2019 at The

Chesapeake Conference Center &

The Delta Hotels by Marriott

Chesapeake

Thank you to our Fall 2018 Host Hotels

Embassy Suites by Hilton Richmond The Woodlands Hotel Williamsburg

The Commonwealth Hotel Omni Richmond Hotel