April 2018 April 2018 - Page 14

Region 1 Assembly April 2018, Tarrytown NY “Making Connections” By: Michael Bogue The week or so before the Region 1 Assembly was scheduled to happen the brake shake on my car got to the point where I was no longer comfortable taking it on long trips. Between work, family, and ASCE I simply did not have the time to replace my brakes and rotors before I needed to hit the road to Tarrytown. Therefore I decided to rent a car for the trip. the day. We gathered in the hotel conference room at 7:30 Saturday morning and got straight to work while we munched on bagels and sipped coffee. You know a trip is going to be great when you get the car rental location and they offer you a free upgrade! The sales associate was kind enough to put me in a 2018 Jeep Wrangler, and immediately began showing me how to take the roof off! The Region 1 Director Tony Cioffi 2018 Jeep Wrangler weather seemed to be cooperating but it wasn’t quite warm enough to hit the highway like that, so I told him I would take it down later on. I left Concord around 11:00 Friday morning with the hopes of missing morning, lunchtime, and evening traffic at the various locations where it would be troublesome. I must have timed it just right, as I made it to NY with minimal delays. I was checked into the hotel and started connecting with the other regional representatives that night. As with all regional gatherings, we had more things to get accomplished than there were hours in This was the first meeting with the new Region 1 Director Tony Cioffi. He was on point and kept us on schedule for the duration. Director Cioffi began with the typical regional updates, the financials, a reminder of the societies Vission Mission and Goals, and then split us up into smaller groups for some strategic work sessions. The work session topics covered Leadership Development, Communication, Student Member Support, Section and Branch Support, Region 1 Awards, and Member Engagement. Solutions and ideas were shared, and summarized. The majority of the conversation was about effective communication that needed to be concise and limited to be effective.