Convention Report

I wanted to share with you a Convention report I wrote as part of a recent fund appeal mailing.

If you would like to make a donation to the Society, or the tax-exempt Samuel Eells Literary and Educational Foundation, please let me know at president (at) adps.org.

The Alpha Delta Phi Society just completed its Eighth Convention and Leadership Training Conference in Arlington, Virginia. I believe it was a productive and educational weekend, and so I wanted to share some of the highlights with you.

Society members in attendance discussed our organization’s top priorities and the steps we must take to implement our strategies and reach our goals.

We agreed that we must continue to focus on our literary tradition, to enhance our communications efforts, and to emphasize how the Alpha Delta Phi Society is al lifelong experience. Of course, we also need to expand our organization by adding new chapters.

To help us reach these goals, the Convention and Board of Governors discussed and adopted the attached strategic planning roadmap. As one of the Alpha Delta Phi Society’s strongest supporters, I wanted you to have a chance to review the Society’s objectives, goals, strategies, and current action plans.

The Board of Governors will continue to update this strategic plan as our initiatives move forward. I hope you will review the roadmap and share with me your reactions and suggestions (you can reach me at president at adps.org).

One of the major discussions at the Convention was over the scheduling of the event. Since the Society’s founding, we have held Conventions every two years, largely for financial reasons. Now that the Society is 15 years old, and given the nature of the issues on our agenda, I felt it was time for the Society’s delegates to take a close look at our Convention scheduling to determine the best future course.

Given the importance of expansion activities and the need to strengthen the ties among our chapters—and our undergraduate and graduate members, the delegates adopted a resolution to encourage the Board of Governors to transition to an annual Convention schedule as soon as possible.

I am committed to making this transition happen. Based on conversations I have had over the past year, I know it is important to our undergraduate members. Graduate members from around the country have told me how they wish they had more opportunities to renew their personal ties with other Alpha Delts. I also believe annual Conventions are necessary to help us achieve the Society’s goals and objectives over the next few years.

In other recent developments, the Alpha Delta Phi Society now has a group on Facebook (www.facebook.com) which we use to communicate with each other and announce important events. If you have a Facebook account I hope you will join the Society’s group.

We have also created an Alpha Delta Phi Society group on the employment networking site LinkedIn (www.linkedin.com). LinkedIn allows users to manage their professional relationships and network with each other on-line. Society members have requested a professional networking site, and we believe this free service fulfills this need.

If you would like to join the Alpha Delta Phi Society’s groups on Facebook or LinkedIn, please e-mail me (president@adps.org) or visit the Society’s web site (www.adps.org).

I hope you share my excitement about our recent progress and our agenda for future growth and success. We continue to need your support to succeed.

As you may remember, you may now make donations to benefit the Society’s educational and charitable programs by making a donation to the Samuel Eells Literary and Educational Foundation. In short, if you write your check to SELEF, your donation is tax deductible. The Society will subsequently request grants from SELEF to support our educational purposes.

The Society just completed its first grant request under this new program, so I can assure you that it works to the benefit of the Society and its donors. I hope you will consider making a donation today.