Phalaenopsis Journal Third Quarter 21(1), 2011

INSIDE THE IPA I encourage you to take a few minutes to read our Symposium report from Indianapolis 2011 found elsewhere in this issue. See page 15. When you do, you will know, only partially, what you missed. We had a great location at the Union Station Hotel in downtown Indy (Anyone for sleeping in an official rail car sleeper?). Sure there were excellent lectures, superb selec- tions in our sales area, friendly competition among bidders at the auction, AOS judging easily accessible to all, good food and good friends, and the “unique magic” of our symposium. Yes, the meeting was a great time had by all. So, what is that “unique magic” I speak of? It is simply about the camaraderie and togetherness of our group, from old friends not seen in a year or more, to new ones just made over coffee. Our group has a unique quality about it. Our focus is all about orchids, and particu- larly, all about Phalaenopsis. Sure we love our Phalaenopsis, and yes, we had our fill of them during our meeting, but true Phalie growers will recover quickly and head right back to them. Yes, the joy was certainly apparent! After each symposium, I always bring home new ideas. They may originate from a casual conversation with others, or specific details from one of our pre- senters. No matter, they are ideas I can use to become a better orchid grower. Yes, these are truly unique learning experiences for everyone, and you can begin now to make plans for our next one. It is targeted for central Florida in the Orlando area August 24-27, 2012. Our local chair, Frank Smith, promises us a great meeting. More details to follow in upcoming issues of the Journal. For our Indianapolis IPA Symposium, Dick Wells and Carlos Fighetti put together an excellent meeting and should take the credit for its success. What a treat to attend Dick and Sandy’s get together on Thursday at their Hilltop Orchids in nearby Cloverdale. Their plants looked superb (lots blooming in July), and their home was a warm and inviting place to host our group. The catered food was excellent with all of us eating way more than our fair share. And was it true, a bottle of Cloverdale Farms wine was presented to Dick and Sandy? As I travel to our symposia and to my various speaking engagements around the country, I am proud to promote the IPA wherever I go. In a recent trip to Sacramento and the speaker’s day sponsored by the California Sierra Nevada Judging Center, I had a great time being hosted by IPA Region 2 representative Vivian Sellers and her husband, Chuck. As all reps, Vivian is responsible for a sizable geographical area, which includes a large chunk of central California all the way to its northern border. This includes the towns of San Francisco and areas both north and south of Sacramento then eastward to the Nevada border. Vivian hosted our IPA membership table throughout the meeting, recruiting several new faces to join our ranks. And, we received help from Alan Koch who promoted the IPA in front of my audience just before I spoke. They are indeed dedicated, true friends of IPA. Thanks Vivian and Alan! Our IPA Regional Representatives are the key to effective communications with all of our members. Thanks for all of your hard work and for promoting the IPA. Presently Barbara Noe (our 2nd VP and Director of our regional rep program) and I are working on two projects: first, to redraw our geographical lines to our regions to better serve our members, and, second, recruit new faces to bring new energy to our regional rep program. We want all of our regional directors to continue to host IPA regional meetings each year. This becomes a difficult task as we have regions with large geographical territories and few . . . continued on page 27 Phalaenopsis - Vol. 21(1), Third Quarter 2011 5

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