We are so fortunate to have some of the most talented and generous professionals among us serving on the NSA Virginia board this year. In addition to some new and continuing members of our chapter, we are grateful for the continued contributions of past presidents Gloria Thomas and Cathy Lewis as well as our official Past President on the board, Coleen Kenny.

Some of the accomplishments of this awesome group during their short tenure (and they are just getting started) are:

• Jim Gordon has been busy helping us put together a wonderful speaker lineup this year and continue to enhance our organization. He was amazing at the national convention promoting our chapter to speakers you will be hearing this year.
• Liz Garrett started a new NSA Virginia sponsorship program that provides the opportunity for members and other vendors to get visibility on our association website and newsletter and at meetings
• Joan Bowling hit the ground running with her new membership initiatives and publicationsto bring more members into our chapter and more attendance at our NSA Virginia workshops
• Winston Bersch and a host of volunteers have a fantastic Pro Track program for 2012-13 which is NOW ENROLLING and begins in September! Winston has an amazing team of support and presenters which includes Ron Chapman.
• We have an amazing lineup of speakers and workshops confirmed through June of 2013
• Jayme and Dave Miles are rolling out items that will help us get the word out to our members with Jayme's newsletter and Dave's publicity
• Jim Gordon and Shirley T Burke have our finances in excellent order and are working on our annual tax return and coordinating with the rest of the board on association and financial development
• Kittygayle McMoon is getting our NSA Library ready to open for business and putting out an all points bulletin for CD's that are missing in action.
• Gloria Thomas is keeping us on track with organizational development issues while keeping our history in mind as we move forward.
• Our secret weapon this year is the team of Barb Upchurch (Richmond), Lori Hopson (Peninsula) and Cathy Lewis (South Hampton Roads), each of whom have a geographical region to encourage toward meeting attendance through meeting promotions and announcements. If you sometimes miss a meeting because of the meeting location, check in with this dynamic trio. Someone in your region is dying to carpool with you!

Some of the projects underway in the near future include the revision of our current bylaws to match national bylaws, John Lewis helping us to develop a strategic plan for the growth and development of our chapter and Nancy Giere is helping us develop our communications plan for board meetings and committees.

Last but certainly not least of our blessings this year is our Chapter Liaison from NSA national, Greg Williams. Greg came to the board retreat and led our afternoon brain storming session. We'll see more of him this year and benefit from his guidance.

Although we have an amazing working team this year, success requires the efforts of all of our members. Our request to you this year to is share the magic and blessing of NSA Va with your friends and colleagues. Please invite everyone you know who would be interested in one of our workshops to join us. Our workshops are open to everyone. Some may attend and join and some may just benefit from our workshops from time to time. Whatever the case, everyone is welcome at NSA Virginia.

Just an email from you to people you know who are working on something (they'd like to achieve) or who have an idea (but have not gotten started yet) could make a big difference in their lives if they spend just one morning with our August speaker, Steve Lishansky. Steve will show us all how to move forward on those visions and make them a reality. I've been inviting people like that and getting great responses from them. If we all do that, we'll need a bigger room J

NSA Virginia is the gift I am sharing with everyone I know who could benefit. Who do you know whose life might be changed exponentially by attending one of our workshops or enrolling in Pro Track? Pro Track gets underway in September and is enrolling now. I've been sharing the merits of Pro Track with my friends and telling them what it did for my career. Several are considering enrolling this year!

Thank you for being a member of the NSA Virginia Community. You bring so much to the table and I am grateful to get to work for you this year!

See you August 17th!

Pam

Pam Rambo, Ed.D

NSA Va. President 2012-13

Allow ProTrack To Raise You Up To New Heights!

Did you know that there are ways to join and benefit from the National Speakers Association before qualifying as a full 'Professional' member? One of the affiliate memberships available is an 'Aspiring Speaker' membership which enrolls you in NSA's 'Academy for Professional Speaking'. One of the features of 'Academy' membership is the monthly teleseminar training.

Recently, one of our National members, Sandy Dumont was featured in the April 2012 NSA's 'Academy for Professional Speaking' Teleseminar. We wanted to ask her a little bit about the experience in a new segment for the newsletter highlighting some of our members' significant accomplishments. This month I asked Sandy a few questions about her experience with the Academy teleseminar and about the chapter she wrote for NSA's new book "Speak More" that was particularly noteworthy. Hope you enjoy.

Dave: Sandy, I understand that you were recently a special guest for the NSA's Academy for Professional Speaking's monthly Teleseminar. Could you tell us what the teleseminar was about?

Sandy: It was about professional image tips for speakers. I was asked questions about what to wear on the platform as opposed to when speaking at a weekend retreat, for example. Also, what are the biggest image mistakes speakers make.

Dave: What was the process involved in doing the teleseminar? Any suggestions or take-away points for the chapter members in doing teleseminars?

Sandy: I was asked to make suggestions for questions in areas I deemed important. This is typical when I'm interviewed, because the interviewer is not an expert on the subject and counts on the person being interviewed for help. The moderator went deeply into some questions and touched briefly on others. At the end of the program, callers asked questions. This was the most fun for me because I could interact with listeners.

Dave: For those NSA-Virginia members who are not familiar with the Academy for Professional Speaking, could you talk a little bit about that?

Sandy: The Academy is basically an online educational series for new speakers. They can find more information at www.nsaspeaker.org/join/types-of-membership/aspiring-speaker .

Dave: What value do you see in Academy membership for those NSA-Virginia members who are not eligible yet for full NSA membership?

Sandy: It is a good alternative to our Pro Track, year-long school for emerging speakers, since you can take the classes online. Ideally, you may wish to take both.

Dave: Tell us about your recent book chapter in NSA's "Speak More" book?

Sandy: I read the full-page ad in Speaker Magazine calling for submissions for the book. I wrote the editor and asked if she was interested in receiving a submission about professional image for speakers. It was a 5,000 word article that was requested, so I didn't want to write an article had no chance of being published. The editor said she would like to have me submit the article. I learned several months later that my article had been accepted and was told that it would be launched at the July 2012 convention. It is quite an honor to be chosen from among all the incredible speakers in NSA.

Dave: Thank you Sandy for the book chapter, we're all looking forward to reading it and for your contribution to aspiring speakers with your recent NSA-Academy teleseminar.

Have you recently written a book, published a book chapter or article in a professional journal, won an award, or some other significant achievement? Please let us know so we can highlight you! We would like to begin highlighting our members' accomplishments in the newsletter and in the local media. Just email your info to daveamiles@gmail.com

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By Pam Rambo

Sheryl Buckner is our newest NSA Virginia member. Sheryl joined the chapter this spring after watching what NSA Virginia did for the career of her friend Pam Rambo. Sheryl has attended two of NSA Va. meetings so far in 2012. Like many NSA Virginia members, Sheryl's passion is helping people. She has been a successful business manager for an electrical contractor for many years and is beginning to move toward a career in which she can help others using her speaking skills.

Sheryl's interests include promoting financial and physical health and encouraging people to make the changes in their lives that will allow them to soar. She has an excellent sense of humor and loves travel, motorcycles and NASCAR. Like most new members, she is not entirely sure what her speaking topic will be.

Whatever she decides to speak about, we know she will be spectacular. Welcome to NSA Virginia Sheryl!

President- Pam Rambo
President-Elect- Jim Gordon
Immediate Past President- Coleen Kenny

Vice President- Ron Chapman
Secretary- Nancy Giere

Treasurer- Shirley T. Burke

Member at Large for Planning- John Lewis

LOGISTICS TEAMS

 Chapter Growth:

Membership Chair- Joan Bowling
Hampton Roads Liaison- Cathy Lewis

Richmond Liaison- Barb Upchurch

Peninsula Liaison- Lori Hobson

   Member Education:

ProTrack- Winston Bersch
Newsletter- Jayme Miles

Librarian- Kittygayle McMoon

CLICK HERE to VIEW their profiles and see contact information on the NSA Virginia Website.