Greetings CAHN Members, I hope this message finds you all well. 

 

We had to say Good-bye to Rose Herrera, your conference chairperson for this year.  Rose has been transferred to a new unit and will have numerous training classes to attend and did not feel she would be able to give her full attention to the conference.  Thank you Rose for your time with us and good luck with your new assignment.

 

Robyn Boersma (Berlin) had told me several months prior to Rose's announcement that she was interested in becoming involved with the board again.  So I am happy to report Robyn has accepted the Conference Chair position and is once again working with us.  Please join me in welcoming Robyn back to the board.

 

Let me first address the issue of our Conference in South Lake Tahoe not coming to fruition.  We began speaking with the Western States Hostage Negotiations Association (WSHNA) about the possibility of joining our conferences together this coming year.  WSHNA is having their conference in Reno again this year.  The idea was to have a conference where two associations could benefit with training and networking.  We had a meeting in November with representatives of WSHNA, CAHN, the Embassy Suites, and Harvey's hotel to discuss the possibility of combining conferences and meeting the needs of the space and rooms that would be needed.  We would use the Embassy as our host hotel and the smaller meetings rooms there for breakouts and use the large meeting room at Harvey's for the general sessions.  This of course was all dependent upon the number of rooms booked at respective hotels by each association.  When we left that meeting in November it appeared as though we would join forces and be able to provide a conference for both associations.  However, WSHNA reps took the information back to their board and it was decided to wait and look at joining forces in 2014, as they did not want to move their conference to September this year.  When that decision came down, Rex Osborn and I where in contact with the hotels to see what impact this would have upon us for our conference.  Harvey's could only provide two time frames for the reduced number of attendees, Labor Day week and the week of Halloween.  Some of you responded to a poll and indicated a strong desire to move our conference away from the Holiday Week.  This input coupled with the fact that school starts after Labor Day week in southern California and I did not want to impact those members in the south who may have children starting the new school year, we decided against having the conference during Labor Day week.  The second date provided was Halloween week.  This time of year in Tahoe is unpredictable with the weather.  We would have to gamble (no pun intended) with being able to get our speakers into Reno then down to South Lake for their presentation, then back out again.  This could prove to be too big of a challenge and I also did not want to impact those members who spend time with their children during Halloween.

Having the above information Rex and I began looking for another venue as we were running short on time.  Thanks to Rex he was able to suggest a hotel he has used in the Berkeley area for other conferences, The Double Tree Berkeley Marina.  Rex was able to facilitate a contract to secure this location for this year's conference.  I know some of you don't think this may be an ideal location, but keep in mind this is a transitional time and we are still looking for another location for future conferences in the Northern Region.  I thank you for being patient in this transitional time and am sure this conference will be as successful as years passed.  Thanks again to Rex Osborn for his help in securing this location.  There is plenty to do in Berkeley and the Giants will also be in town while we are there. 

 

Remember, your membership is still due on 07/01/2012 and not at the conference this year.  The conference will be from Monday to Thursday this year, not half day Monday and a half day on Friday.  We will have four full days this year. The majority of registration will be done on Sunday so please plan on being there in time to get registered without missing any presentations.

 

The regional trainings appear to be going well.  Each Regional Director is looking at adding an additional training in the summer time this year due the conference being moved to September.  This was done, hopefully, to increase attendance as the conference will be at the beginning of the budget year and not the end.

 

As always, this is your association, please don't hesitate to call or e-mail any executive board member with your ideas or concerns.

 

 

Matt Thomas

President