Sunday kicks off the Conference
Today was a very long day. Of course, some of it is self-inflicted (I stayed up way past my bedtime), however, there was a lot going on today. The morning started at 6:30am with the second part of the ideas to action gathering. There was a lot of great sharing. I had the opportunity to meet Sylvia Garcés Soria, and she said that she would blog on the conference on her Spanish blog - mission accomplished. At the end we had to make a committment to do something before the next meeting in the fall - I committed to share the "good" stuff from WCQI and the rest of my trip with my home section, and to continue blogging after the conference.
After lunch with the Lean Enterprise Division (I learned that Cliff Moser is a surfer dude), I got to attend some division meetings. I went to Lean Enterprise, EED and ECD. Lean Enterprise is looking at pairing up with the Six Sigma Forum for a conference. EED discussed the need for better control and understanding of their conference planning. ECD is working on documenting their BoK.
The annual meeting was next. I was disappointed to discover so few members had voted. Approximately 4,600 members voted. Dennis alreay blogged the presentation itself since he beat me here again tonight.
The conference opening reception was fun and filled with pirates. I got to see Michael Dreikorn from the Aviation, Space and Defense Division. I met him at the reception at my first conference in Philadelphia. I must have looked totally lost, and he took pity on me and had a conversation with me that evening in Philly. I didn't even go to the annual meeting that year because I thought it was not for people like me. It was nice ot see him again. Next was the certification board reception followed by a visit to the FD&C suite. It was a very full evening to cap a very full day.
One thing that we discussed at the cert. board reception was ASQ and friendships. I feel lucky to have the friendships I do within ASQ. The networking is important, especially since it leads to the exchange of information. The training is important, since it helps me do my job better. However, the thing that I have come to value the most is the friendships. I hope that this is something that you too can find within ASQ.
Aimee Siegler
