Last minute preparations for Convention!

Dear Alexander Graham Bell Community,

With less than 10 days to go until Convention, I want to take this opportunity to praise the people who have been working throughout the past year to make our convention the success it is destined to be. This is particularly important this year because of the innovative programs and marketing we've built into the experience. From learning labs to accelerated sessions to interactive discussions, the AG Bell staff has been laboring to bring you the best experience possible.

Gayla Guignard, M.A., CCC-A/SLP, LSLS Cert. AVT, is not only an outstanding professional in our field, but also as a strategic leader. In directing the Convention, she has reached out to countless professionals and families to help them bring the best of their knowledge and experience to share at the conference. Most remarkable is that she has done such a wonderful job while also leading a programs department that is engaged in numerous new initiatives you will hear about when we return from Denver.

Robin Bailey single-handedly coordinates the AG Bell Academy, helping more than 50 specialists seeking credentialing each year - and 100 more preparing for certification. We tease her that she has been working here since Dr. Bell built the Volta Bureau, but her calm, gentle demeanor and her knowledge of the history of AG Bell have truly been a gift to me in my first two years with the association.

Judy Klein joined AG Bell at the end of last year, jumping in to the vastly detailed work of planning the convention and the LOFT program with enthusiasm and creativity. Judy has a smile and a compliment for everyone, and I appreciate her focus on serving people, especially children.

Speaking of children, Alexsandra Mubarak, who is charged with organizing our Legacy of Innovation Gala and building up corporate relationships, has taken the lead with our Children's Program at the convention. She can always be counted on to be composed and dexterous with the details.

Supporting Alexsandra will be Shirley Chipana. Shirley is an outstanding partner and embraces every task we ask her to take on. In addition to serving as our Staff Accountant, lately she has been serving as AG Bell's voice to Spanish-speaking callers. Shirley is sweet and dependable, and I know you'll enjoy meeting her.

I want to thank Paul Monarch who serves as our Chief Operating Officer. Paul and I knew each other in Florida, and it was fun for us to find each other again in Washington about two years ago. Paul came out of retirement to work with AG Bell in improving all of our systems and making the Volta Bureau shine. I'm grateful for the gift of his experience and his conscientiousness, but most of all, his ability to chuckle when things are stressful.

Gary Yates has been managing convention exhibitions for a long time and is very familiar with our sponsors. His attitude is jovial and welcoming, and he is focused on ensuring that our board members, sponsors and participants are comfortable and have all the information they need.

Every registrant is probably familiar with Trenita Dickey. She not only manages registration before the convention, but she'll be the smiling face you see right up front. Honestly, I believe she knows the name of every attendee, how long they've been members, and all their special requests. This year, with so many new international attendees, Trenita has been particularly helpful. Her sense of courtesy and service to others is an example for us all.

Not an actual staff member, but a committed counselor is Susan Schmidberger, our Chapter Advisor. Sue brings ten years of chapter leadership to her work of establishing new chapters and revitalizing others. She has the practical expertise as a chapter leader to guide us and the professional experience as an organizer to keep us on track. I appreciate her sense of humor and her sense of duty. You'll find her in the Exhibit Hall at the convention, supporting chapters and promoting information sharing.

Holding it all together is Lisa Chutjian. Her title is Chief Development Officer, but she takes on so much more. Lisa sees the big picture for AG Bell and where all the parts fit, making connections between donors and programs, and helping scholarship and financial aid recipients connect back to AG Bell. Working with Sue, Lisa is leading our work to strengthen chapters. But what I most appreciate is that she helps every staff member make the best possible decisions and manage their time, and more importantly, understands my cryptic messages, answering texts at any hour with intelligence and humor.

Last, but certainly not least, is our communications team. Led by Susan Boswell, they have launched into many new initiatives from creative landing pages on our website to a huge expansion of very active social media. Susan has the mammoth task during convention of being in charge of all scripts from opening session to closing. Rita D. Lewis, our newest staff member, has managed in just a few months to multiply our social media communications to reach far beyond our traditional audience, and I'm grateful for her endless energy. Daniel Ors, our Dartmouth grad, surprises us every day with the speed of his ability to creatively videotape, edit, update websites, create new pages and address every request I make with a can-do attitude. What's remarkable is that two-thirds of our communications team are CI users, and all three are committed to getting out the messages that advance listening and spoken language.

Keep an eye out for our communications team during convention. Rita and Daniel will be videotaping "man in the street" interviews for posting on our social media platforms. Susan will be working with professional photographers and videographers to capture special stories we will share with you. All around, it's going to be an exciting event.

As for me, well...I'm just very excited to meet all of you in Denver and very proud that I am blessed to come to work with all these wonderful people every day. I hope you enjoy dancing with all of us at the LSL Celebration!

Sincerely,

Emilio Alonso-Mendoza
[email protected]

The strength of the team is each individual member.
The strength of each member is the team.

Phil Jackson

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