May 2017
By Marcia Hall – INA President
It was my pleasure to see so many of you at our Annual Conference in Chicago, May 18-21. I hope you had a wonderful time. For those of you that were not able to make it, I hope that we see each other soon. It has been an honor to serve the INA as your President this past year and I look forward to the year to come.
It has been a year of strengthening our finances, our staff, and our association’s direction. The Board of Directors has been hard at work for you over the last 12 months with projects like the implementation of the Associate Membership, hiring new staff, development of membership drives, creation of the Premium Posting Job Board, increasing committee volunteering, improving our blog and social media, moving the Basic Skills Assessment to our member platform, editing our website content and strengthening our membership ethics.
We have a lot going on. However, we don’t just want to be an association that has a lot of committees. The Board wants to direct our energies on the things that are most important to the association and its members. In order to do this, the Board has agreed to four strategic goals to move us into the future. With every project and every decision, we will ask ourselves how it will help us achieve one of these goals.
- Clarify Membership Value
We have often been asked by both our members and from non-members, what value does INA membership give? First and foremost, we are committed to improving membership value and better explain why people should be involved in this organization.
- Enhance Financial Health of the INA
We will continue to make fiscally responsible and wise choices when it comes to what we spend. Remembering that the goal of the association is to inform, educate, and guide the industry.
- Elevate the Conference Experience
This has been an assumed goal since the beginning of the INA but by naming it we can begin to fine-tune the processes and value that conference adds to the industry. Look for exciting improvements in the future.
- Inspire Community Involvement
Achievement of this goal will mean that the INA is the voice of the industry to local and global communities. It means that we want to be forward thinking in our approach to the programs, activities, and actions taken by the Board.
In addition to our current projects, we will also be moving forward with a few programs that we feel will help us achieve one or more of these goals.
2017 Salary Survey
Look for the 2017 Salary Survey to be going out later this summer. Our salary survey is one of our most used publications and it is time to update it. It is one way we can continue to lead the industry to higher standards. I would like to thank HomeWork Solutions for Co-Sponsoring this survey with us.
Ambassador Program
This program would select individuals to represent the INA in local communities and at conferences around the world. The purpose of this new program is to support the various local, regional, and global events that happen in our industry and encourage our current members to be a part of growing our organization on a large scale.
Member Advantage
This project would enable INA members to get discounts on products and services from companies that our industry finds valuable. If you are a business and would like to offer INA members a discount, contact the INA office to learn more about how you can become an INA Member Advantage Provider.
Your continued membership and support of the INA are what keeps us going. If you want to know how to get involved more in the INA, please reach out to us. And join us on June 15th at our next Facebook Town Hall Event.