American Society of Women Accountants: New Orleans

The Value of a National Conference

by Diane Allison

Attending an ASWA national conference provides value to you personally and professionally, as well as to your employer. In November Cindy Kessler, Rita Borne, and I joined about 400 other ASWA members, including some AWSCPA members, in Chicago for the return of the Joint National Conference. The conference offered up to 26 hours of CPE. Is the value of attending a national conference in the CPE? Not entirely.

Wednesday evening, while many of you were attending Student Activities, Rita, Cindy and I were walking down Michigan Avenue on the fourth annual Forrest A. Kessler Walk for Humanity, which raised over $12,800 for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society. Cindy has planned this event for four years now at the ASWA national conferences since her husband passed away. ASWA members have walked in a botanical garden in Scottsdale, to the D-Day Museum in New Orleans, around the resort in San Diego, and down Michigan Avenue in Chicago to raise money to one day find a cure. Is the value of the national conference in the T-shirts and door prizes for the walkers, or the funds raised for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society? Not entirely.

Thankfully, Chicago was experiencing a mild November. The thermostat on the outside balcony of the John Hancock Center, 94 stories high, read 28 degrees! Since Rita and I weren't cold, and Rita was carrying rather than wearing her coat, our first reaction was that the thermostat was wrong. But, it wasn't - it was that dry cold. we hear so much about! Shopping in Chicago was enjoyable, as Rita and I walked in and out of fancy stores like Macy's, Tiffany, and Neiman Marcus on world-famous Michigan Avenue, and bought souvenirs and Christmas presents from shops in a downtown mall and Walgreens, which seem to pup up every three blocks (Walgreens is headquartered in Chicago). We ate famous Chicago pizza for dinner one night, and ribs another night. On the Forrest Kessler Walk we walked from our hotel to the John Hancock Center and then caught a bus past Soldier Field to the shores of Lake Michigan to the Shedd Aquarium, where we enjoyed the aquarium exhibits (especially the beluga whales), and networked with ASWA members from all over the country while we feasted on delicacies. Is the value of attending a national conference in experiencing a different city? Not entirely.

Rita and I shared a room, while Cindy roomed with Regina Rose, also a past national President and her sister, Chris, a nurse living in Tulsa who is a regular national conference attendee. Rita and I laughed and talked and shared our secrets, frustrations, hopes and dreams. We talked about our CPE, our careers, and how to improve our chapter. We got new ideas, made new friends, and gained new technical knowledge. We grew. Is the value of attending a national conference in the lasting friendships that are formed? Most definitely!

The ASWA national conference experience is one-of-a-kind. I started attending them in 2000 in Baltimore, when Cindy was national President, and haven't stopped. I've shared rooms with Richelle Richoux (Baltimore), my husband (Scottsdale), Sandra Scillitani (San Diego), and Rita. I've met women just like us from all over the country. I encourage all of you to gain the ASWA national conference experience.