2011 National Grange Masters Conference

I just returned from the 2011 National Grange Masters conferfence held February 25-27, 2011 in Henderson, Nevada.

This was my first Masters conference so I really didn't know quite what to expect. I was pleasantly surprised and impressed with the overall conference and workshops.

We started out Friday evening with the workshop "Overview - Where we are/Where we are going" presented by our own Ed Luttrell, National Grange President. He explained the National Grange financial status, comparing 2009 with 2010, including all income, expenses and funds. He also talked about membership statewide and nationally. He introduced some of the National staff in attendence (Jessie Cope, Rusty Hunt and Grace Boatright) and told us who else was on staff, letting everyone know that we have a new Junior Director, Diane Skutak, from Massachusetts. He then explained to us his vision on where we are going:
Long Term: 50 state Granges
250,000 regular members
500,000 E-Members
Short Term: Increase membership
Increase in number of Granges
New Granges in non-Grange states

Ed introduced those National Officers in attendence. We finished Friday evening with some fun and games (shoot 'em up) with National Lecturer (Program Director) Pete Pompper and National Membership/Leadership Director Rusty Hunt.

Saturday morning we started bright and early with a workshop "Your Grange and Traditional Media" by Dick Weis. He stressed the importance of community Granges working with their local "traditional" media - newspaper, T.V. & radio. "The old ways aren't dead yet." He taught attendees how to write press releases and even did a practical "press practice".

In my estimation, the HIGHLIGHT workshop of the weekend was Saturday afternoon when Grace Boatright presented "Social Media and the Future of Communication." Grace passed out a "Social Media Kit" and explained the benefits as well as how to set up acccounts with Facebook, Twitter, Blogger, YouTube and LinkedIn. Here at the PA State Grange we have been utilizing these social media sites for a few years and it was great to hear Grace verify what we have been doing, but more so, she convinced a lot of State Grange Masters how important social media is in today's high-tech world. Thank you Grace!

After dinner at the Station Casino buffet, we all sat back down with Ed and discussed the new "E-Memberships". More information will be available on this electronic membership program within the next two weeks. (People can sign up as an E-member on line by going to the PA State Grange web site at http://www.pagrange.org and clicking on the E-membership link on the home page).

We finished the conference Sunday with a Worship program led by National Grange Chaplain Phyllis Wilson followed by the closing workshop by Ed Luttrell, "The challenge facing us."

Many of us who attended, stayed Sunday afternoon to help Rusty Hunt and Randy Lewis who are working to open new Granges in southern Nevada. One group went with Randy to Pahrump, west of Las Vegas and the other stayed in Henderson with Rusty Hunt. Those in Pahrump had 10 prospective new members show up for an organizational meeting. Two potential members showed up at the informational meeting in Henderson. In my estimation, these two at Henderson are the "spark plugs" needed and there will be a new Grange in that area within 2 months. Randy reported that Pahrump will probably complete their organization of a new Grange in that area within a month. Outstanding job!

After a great weekend of workshops and "social networking" my trip home was a bit of a let-down...No, it was outright miserable! I left Las Vegas airport at 10:30 p.m. (1:30 a.m. eastern time) and had an uneventful flight to Newark, N.J. Then it started. We arrived in Newark at 6:00 a.m. (eastern) and I was to fly to Harrisburg at 7:45. After boarding the plane, at about 8:00, they canceled the flight (due to weather in PA) and herded the 7 or 8 of us off the plane. They re-ticketed us on the next flight to Harrisburg - at 12:30 p.m. No problem...until they changed the departure gate twice in the next three hours...but then things were looking up...so I thought. We were supposed to board at 11:50...at 12:20 I overheard the pilot tell the lady at the counter that "he's working on the problem..." NOT GOOD. But at 12:25 we boarded. Now I worked for an airline at one time so when I sat in the seat in the very back of the plane and noticed outside my window, a guy working with a screwdriver in an open compartment in the pod behind the right engine...hmmmm....I had my doubts how far we were going. But finally, around 12:45 p.m. we were able to take off...into a terrible thunderstorm. The hour and a half flight was probably the bumpiest flight I have ever been on...but we landed safely at Harrisburg around 1:30 p.m. (eastern), just about 12 hours after I took off from Las Vegas.

I am certainly looking forward to the 2012 Masters conference...