What A Celebration!

Well, the conference is now over and the excitement is of next year is starting. If you were not able to attend, you missed a great weekend of learning, collaboration, and fun.

We had 115 attendees from all over the United States. We started off the weekend with greetings from the O'Fallon Chamber of Commerce and a ribbon cutting. Then a fun evening of snacks and a fashion show sponsored by Dillard's. There were 10 models who showed off the latest fashions in casual ware, business attire, and formal ware.

Saturday morning was the exciting auction. Because we received so many items for auction, the items were split into two actions. A silent auction as well as a live auction. Some of the items that were up for bid are on the WPEA website. There was a lot of fun trying to outbid each other on the more popular items like a beautiful quilt and the Nike Statues.

The first speaker of the day was Martha Rohlfing from the Illinois State Treasurers office. She gave us some interesting information on the new Credit Card laws that went into affect earlier this year. I know that when I was trying to pay off my credit cards I had a balance on a 0% interest for 1 year. I accidentally charged an item on that credit card. Well my payment went toward the 0% balance so I was charged extra for the higher interest balance. With the new laws, the credit card companies have to pay off the higher interest balance first.

3 Ladies that are members of the Enterprising and Professional Women - USA spoke about BPW International. It is amazing how many countries participate in this organization. The first EPW-USA conference will be held in Las Vegas September 26 - 27, 2010. Early bird discount registration end on August 16th, hurry and register and book your hotel now.

The Speaker Series Spotlight gave us an opportunity to listen to the great speeches from the speak-offs held in each state. There were some dynamic speeches on many topics this organization is passionate about.

Then there was the Honorable Susan Tungate who is always good for a laugh and gave some great information to help each State, Region, and Local organization reach their full potential. She is the kind of speaker that you can't get the full impact of her message unless you were there.

Susan Solovic has a great program to help women to start and grow their own business into a billion dollar corporation. She is a member of Women Impacting Public Policy, who are inline with IFBPW views on pushing legislation that improve woman's rights. She also has a TV show that helps women in small business.

A Panel Discussion was held to discuss the future of each State organization and how we can help each other move forward. Next years conference will be held in Minnesota - Twin City area. I hope that we see all of you there.

The Dinner Speaker and the last speaker of the day was Susan Sablan. She was an officer in the Navy when very few women were in the military. She talked about the history of women in the military and some of her own experiences. It is interesting that women were only allowed to fill supportive rolls in the military until the late 1980's. I do remember when that was a big deal and in the news for months. I was really upset that if I had only stayed in the Navy for a couple more years I would have been able to fill positions that I wanted but I was not allow to be in because they were considered combat positions.

There was a short presentation by SOY that is helping support our youth in discipline and growing their talents through music. To learn more about SOY contact Johna Whitener at 618.772.5214

We finished off the weekend with a party that lasted well into the late hours.

The official photographer for the weekend was Share The Image. To view some wonderful pictures of the weekend go to www.sharettheimage.com and click on Event Gallery. You may also purchase some of the pictures for your scrapbook.

I want to thank all of those who worked hard to put on the programs and keep everything running smoothly.