President's Message
I would like to start out by congratulating our 4 new TRASA Board members. Suppliers: Pat O'Hara from WC Bunting and Jennifer Edwards from Leed's. Distributors: Gary Gwynn II from Gwynn Advertising and Tim Wingert from Bulldog Office Products. We are excited to have you on the board!
Last month, board member Jake Huffmyer and I attended the PPAI Leadership Development Workshop (LDW) in Texas. As expected, this event was worth the time and effort involved to attend. Hopefully you will appreciate the improvements we will be making to TRASA and its offerings for 2019. It also continues to remind me of how good we have it with TRASA and I am thankful for the opportunity to be a part of this great organization. For example:
- not every regional association has a tradeshow. We offer THREE a year. (Yes, I said THREE. Keep reading to find out where this 3rd one is)
- Not every regional association has had an executive director for a long term, or even currently have an ED. We have been blessed with Patti Ward for 16 years!
Two BIG improvements for next year will be our new venues for the Spring and Fall shows. Our Spring show (March 5) is moving to the Printscape Arena in Southpointe. If you have attended our Spring show at the Hilton Garden Inn, this new venue is only 1 mile down the road. Our Fall Show (Sept 20) is moving across the river to the Wyndham Grand in downtown Pittsburgh. These new locations will provide us with more space and better amenities, adding to the value of your TRASA membership.
In an effort to continue to grow our membership, TRASA is traveling outside the greater Pittsburgh area to hold an end user show in the Altoona area. This event will be held on April 4 at the Blair County Convention Center. If this show turns out to be a success, we will add it to our calendar to make it an annual event. More details to come in the following months.
Finally, our TRASA Holiday party (Dec. 14) also has a new location this year at The Teutonia Männerchor, a members-only German club. (Thank you to Jake Huffmyer for sponsoring us) It is the oldest German Club in Pittsburgh and has been around since 1854! Come experience authentic German food as the menu will feature an all you can eat buffet including:
- 3 types of bratwurst
- Chicken
- Schnitzel
- Sauerkraut
- Mashed potatoes
- Red cabbage
- Vegetable medley
- Fresh garden salad
- Fresh rolls, bread and butter
- German cakes
For the first 50 members that sign up, we will be giving you a specially designed 12 oz glass beer mug donated by our friends at Moderne Glass, Inc. For only $35 a person, you just can't beat this deal! We will also have a German Accordionist playing throughout the night and a Christmas Trivia contest to win prizes! We promise you a great time when you come and look forward to seeing you there.
Cheers!
Stephen McWilliams
TRASA President
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