30
Chapter Chair Breakfast and Chapter Engagement By Kofi Antobam
C
SMFO Chapters serve as the bedrock for the organization. Chapter Chairs and Vice Chairs are often closest to CSMFO members and coordinate local training events that drive ongoing engagement with CSMFO. At the 2022 Annual Conference, Chapter leaders met for breakfast to share ideas, network, and discuss engagement at the local level. The meeting opened with Marcus Pimentel (CSMFO’s immediate Past President) welcoming all attendees and thanking them for their service to CSMFO at the Chapter level and beyond. Chapter Chairs were asked to introduce themselves by addressing the following: who they are, what chapter they are representing, and what was the craziest or most memorable moment in their Chapter experience. Below are some highlights from the meeting!
“…the craziest Chapter experience is forgetting about the type of vendor that you’re soliciting from for commercial sponsorship and the vendor that is presenting; they may be competitors which can be awkward…” –Rich Lee, “Recovering Chapter Chair for Peninsula” “…took over during COVID and first virtual Chapter meeting was on Zoom. Everybody was on mute, and some guy got on who was not on mute and started saying some weird things…” “…one of the craziest moments that comes to mind was a scheduled Chapter meeting, got there and realized there was another meeting going on and had to scramble to find an alternative site…” –Craig Boyer, Former Chapter Vice Chair, East Bay. “…most memorable part about COVID and Chapter meetings is being able to sit at my patio and work the meetings…” –Barbara, Chapter Chair, East Bay. “…had an awesome experience of getting to drive Michael Coleman from our venue to the Burbank airport to pick up his rental car because his flight had been re-routed to Ontario…my boss saw him last week, he introduced him at a session and said his Uber driver said hello…” –Jennifer Becker, Vice Chair, San Gabriel Valley. “…took over when the previous Chapter Chair left…our first Chapter meeting had to be virtual, on Zoom, and that was quite an experience since I had never used Zoom before…” –Kim Scott, Chapter Chair, Desert Mountain.
