Good morning. I'm one of the probably many flies on the wall reading the 
Listserv emails more or less regularly but quietly, which I really enjoy by 
the way. But I had to give my 2 cents to this subject as well. 

As for the conferences: I have never attended one and probably won't any 
time soon due to budget and time restraints. So I have no experience in 
that arena. 

I'm one of those "newbies" many are talking about. I got into records 
management ("document control") over 10 years ago by accident. I was a 
secretary from Europe who just had come to the US trying to get on my 
feet. A few years later I was blessed to work for a wonderful boss, who is a 
CRM. You know who you are, when you read this and I know she does. :-)
I learned immensely from her. Without her I wouldn't even know that this 
Listserv existed. 

Recently I have reactivated my ARMA membership and local chapter 
membership and just put in for a volunteer position in my chapter. The last 
part of Donda's post struck a chord with me and I can relate very much. As 
I said, I'm one of those newbies and I always had the impression that the 
ARMA community is very cliquish. It's hard to network and get to know 
people or into a group, which communicates regularly. Yes, you talk to 
people at local events, but that's it - one conversation and off we go our 
separate ways. Even the local chapter meetings can be awkward, because 
there are mostly these groups of people, who work in the same company 
and naturally congregate amongst themselves. 

I also agree with another poster, that change, adaptation, innovation are 
all necessary. But how do we make a change? Well, it starts with each one 
of us. So that's why I finally kicked my own behind and volunteered, so I 
do learn more and get to know people. 

One other thing that somewhat irked me when going to events and listen 
to presentations is the "language". Let me explain. I knew nothing about 
records management and I still know very little today. The "language" at 
presentations/events from subject matter experts in general tends to be 
like Chinese to me. It seems that the audience is expected to know a lot of 
things already about RIM etc. and sometimes I feel lost and quite frankly 
stupid. That's probably why I had the impression that ARMA was an elitist 
clique when I first joined several years ago. I let my membership lapse, 
because I felt disheartened. No offense to anybody, and I'm sure nobody 
has that intend to come across as said above, but those were just my 
feelings at the time many year ago. 

And then I saw a quote again that I used to have under my personal 
emails. "Opportunity is missed by most people because it is dressed in 
overalls and looks like work." (Thomas A. Edison)

So I took the opportunity to volunteer in my local chapter and put in for a 
position. It's the least I can do and I'm excited to hopefully make a little bit 
of a change for somebody down the road. 

There you have my 2 cents. 
Greetings from floating Texas. Y'all stay safe and dry. 
Sylvia Ehret

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