Gail Kent, President:

I was so excited and expectant in planning VPC’s first strategic planning retreat, not exactly sure would come from the experience, but feeling that if we made a space for magic, it might just happen, and it did.

Members of the board spent a weekend in March examining our organization to determine what is working, what is not and how we can capitalize on our strengths to become a stronger group. Eight of us, plus our facilitator, Dr. Linda Ferguson, ventured into the woods at Airfield Conference Center in Wakefield, where we concentrated our attention from Friday evening until midday Sunday.

As a group, we arrived at some conclusions regarding the future of VPC that I think each of us would have been surprised about individually before we arrived. There is something about a group process that brings about unexpected and unique solutions. There was a cohesion, respect and — dare I use the word, “synergy” — among the members of group that occurred because of the extended time frame, concentrated purpose and love of VPC.

You will be hearing much more about the results of the retreat in coming months. Strategic planning is just beginning. There is still much more to do, and it will involve the entire membership. I feel so privileged to be a part of an organization that has members and officers with the dedication, imagination and verve of those I spent the weekend with in Wakefield.

 

Sue Brinkerhoff Bland, 2nd VP/Communications:

A couple of weekends ago, I retreated into the woods in Virginia peanut country with members of VPC for a planning meeting to set goals and objectives for our association. I joined Virginia Press Women when the name change was already in motion, so I asked the members gathered to tell me why they voted to change the organization’s name. Everyone present answered with the same refrain: “Because we are no longer only press women – we are professional communicators who manage multi-media communications projects on a daily basis; we are organizational communicators who represent institutions and we are independent business owners who offer clients communications expertise.”

In the modest 4-H camp setting in Wakefield, I learned more of what I had already come to know in less than two years. The leaders and members of the Virginia Professional Communicators Association care about the health and vitality of this organization and want it to grow and prosper. VPC members are gifted and blessed with storytelling abilities that help us maintain our strong, ethical roots. These are the communications leaders from whom I want to learn and grow.

Can you guess who of the retreat attendees is a/an:

1. 4-H All Star;
2. home-schooled;
3. motorcycle rider;
4. law school graduate;
5. an active, award-winning member of three national communications organizations;
6. institutional communicator who, as a ‘tween,’ enjoyed tea with Georgia O’Keefe ?

 

Julie Campbell, Treasurer:

On March 29, I drove away from the VPC board retreat in Wakefield pondering three of our discussion topics—Wild Apricot, cypress trees, and 4-H. You may well be wondering what the heck those things have to do with our strategic plan, which will be the outcome of the deep and thoughtful study that we conducted with the able guidance of Linda Ferguson, a professor of marketing at Virginia Wesleyan College. The plan will also benefit from further discussion with all of you.

OK, Wild Apricot comes in because that’s the name of the new membership-management software that helps us process mailing lists, registrations, and the like with efficiency. (Plus, I liked that name.) The cypress trees, moored in the lake that surrounded our retreat location, the Airfield Conference Center, reminded me of grace and endurance, two qualities I attribute to VPC. And I thought of 4-H because that organization, which owns the conference center, is a longtime and respected association that is still contributing value to its members and to its community.

 

Martha Steger, Awards Committee Chair:

How thought-provoking to look at the things in my life that haven’t changed since I began my communications career as well as the things that have changed greatly: our VPC retreat began with this exercise. In examining the events or encounters responsible for changes, we identified specific pivot points.

For me, VPC became a professional organization that made a big difference in my life and career — and it provided a much bigger pivot point than other professional groups because of strong relationships within the membership. Like our members, the VPC has gone through many changes since its formation as the statewide Virginia Press Women, but some things remain constant: our personal friendships and collegiality have been a pivot point withstanding all challenges.

 

Ilsa Loeser, Contest Committee:

Last month’s retreat reminded me of something I have been learning this past year. FOCUS. We live in a miraculous age of information. Daily we are swept up in wave after wave of statistics, opinions, studies and pleas for our time and money. Too often I find myself in places I never intended to be, spending time on things I don’t really want to do, because of knee-jerk reactions I made to this flood of information. How do I swim free of this riptide? (And what does this have to to do with VPC?)

I must focus. It is vital. My life and sanity depends on my willingness to focus on my strengths, choose what I am passionate about, and ignore the rest. I do not have enough energy to focus on other people’s “shoulds,” or, more often, my own self-perceived weaknesses. It is neither helpful to swim against the riptide or to swim with it. It is crucial that I focus on my strengths. It is crucial that I be myself. I cannot define myself by knee-jerk reactions. I must proactively push out from who I am at my core. I must remember the shore from which I came and go my own way. When caught in a riptide, reaction is futile and submission is deadly. My way, sideways. Only there is freedom.

I love being a member of VPC. I love it’s strong, independent spirit forged from the lives of women willing to break the mold and make their own path as communicators in a world that was not ready to accept them. I want to be like those women. I want VPC to continue in that vain of courage, independence and single-mindedness. But, the only way to survive is to escape the riptide. To do so, we must dig into our core, remember who we are, and focus on our strengths. Otherwise, VPC will be just another of the thousands of organizations that are screaming for attention.

This doesn’t mean we continue doing all the same things we’ve always done. This doesn’t mean we lug along the detritus that has built up over the years. Spreading ourselves too thin is one reason we are easily swept out to sea. What it does mean is a willingness to be unique, a willingness to focus on our strengths. We cannot be all things to all people. But, we can fill a niche that Virginia communicators need. Just as in our personal lives, VPC’s survival means more than just swimming. It means being brave enough to focus on our strengths, set our own course, and let the rest go.