President's Message

Presidents Message: Honored serving you this past year

It has definitely been an honor serving you this last year as the president of WWOA. Serving on the board was such a great experience that I encourage you (if you haven't already), please volunteer to serve on one of the regional boards or consider running for election to the state board. Getting more involved in WWOA would be the one thing in your life that I can guarantee you will not regret. The WWOA board that I have served with for the last seven years has been one of the greatest learning experiences I have ever had. Everybody that I worked with during my tenure on the Board of Directors has been outstanding. And all Board members share the same goal… to continue to make WWOA the best organization it can be.

Our annual conference is coming up October 22nd through the 25th in Appleton WI. I encourage all of you to make it you can. This is the first time that we will be at this venue. We’ve held this year’s Board meetings there and we think you will enjoy the new site. We are definitely looking forward to your feedback on this site, as it is getting increasingly harder to find affordable conference locations that meet our growing needs.

It all kicks off on Tuesday October 22nd with the golf outing, sporting clays, and bike ride. Now, as a lot of you know there has been a great competition between the golf outing and sporting clays as to which can get the largest attendance. Sporting clays has had a slight edge lately, with the largest attendance, but participation in both events is outstanding and great to watch. Back at the conference site, we are also offering a workshop on lab basics that will be informative for both veteran and the many newer lab analysts. Finally, there is the annual “Meet and Greet” from 6 to 9 PM

Wednesday morning kicks off at the grand ballroom with keynote speaker, Larry Weaver. Larry will be presenting a motivational talk sprinkled with a bit of comedy. After that, the exhibit center and the technical sessions will begin. We have an awesome set of technical talks lined up this year. The Operators Competition will start at 3:15 PM and it will again be in the center of the Expo. Please come and join the teams and cheer on your favorite team. This is a great event and team participation is growing every year. There will also be a social hour starting at 8:00 PM to 11:00 PM at a neighboring sports pub which is just a stone’s throw away from the Convention Center. The social hour is for everyone so please join us

On Thursday October 24th the Expo will start again at 8:00 AM in the exhibit center. Technical sessions will also continue all day long. Please note the annual Operators Lunch and Business Meeting will start at 12:00 PM and we'll finish up by 1:30. You do not need to purchase a lunch ticket to attend the Business Meeting. The day closes with the awards banquet at 7:00 PM, followed by the new tradition of bean bag competition right after dinner and the awards are complete. Friday morning we'll start off with the farewell breakfast at 8:30. This year, we will have not one but two great speakers.

Again, I cannot say how incredible an honor it has been to serve you guys as the president this past year. I'd also like to express my appreciation to all the vendors that show up at the conference to help make this one of the best. We could not hold a conference without the support of our vendor partners. I also like to remind all operators that will be coming to this convention to try and meet as many vendors as you possibly can. And I guarantee you that if you spend a little time at an unfamiliar vendor’s booth, you might just learn a little something more to help you with your day-to-day operations.

Finally, I encourage you to submit articles to the Clarifier…perhaps an update on what’s going on at your facility. Or just submit a whole bunch of recent hunting or fishing pictures. We love seeing them all and we would love to share them in the Clarifier. The Clarifier is a great publication; it’s YOUR magazine, and we want to include things to keep YOUR interest. Pictures don’t have to be just about hunting or fishing. They could be about some place you went exploring… or biking… or swimming. You can show off some of your accomplishments. I know some of you even participate triathlons and marathons and it'd be great to see an article on some of that.