As we finish out the year of 2012 it provides an opportunity to look back at all of the things we all have to be thankful for.  I feel so fortunate to have a caring and supportive family, friends that make life interesting and team members that make work a fun place to be.  One of the things I am most thankful for are the client partners my company serves.
In any service industry it is not always possible to say that you truly enjoy working with each and every client you provide services to but I am very fortunate that I can say that exact thing.  Not only are the organizations themselves important and provide great benefits to their members but all the volunteer leaders that are part of the organizations are great to work with.  Working for people you like and enjoy interacting with is like getting a gift every day.

Something we should all find time to do is give back to the community we live in a consistent manner.  For me that means staying involved with activities my family is involved in.  I am currently Treasurer in the school PTA, a coach for my daughter’s soccer teams and I stay involved in industry organizations such as MASAE (http://www.midatlantic-sae.org/).  For me giving back also means monetary donations to a variety of charities that are centered around the issue of hunger and honoring our veterans.  The hunger related charity I provide a monthly donation to is Feeding America ( www.feedingamerica.org).  Feeding America can provide 8 meals for every dollar donated.  One of my favorite Veteran based charities is the Fisher House Foundation (http://www.fisherhouse.org/ ).  The Fisher House Foundation donates “comfort homes” that are built on the grounds of major military and VA medical centers.  These homes enable family members to be close to a loved
one at a stressful time.

This season my family and I also prepared dinner for the guests of the local Ronald McDonald house ( http://www.ronaldhouse-snj.org/).  Ronald McDonald House of SNJ provides a home-away-from-home to families of seriously ill and traumatically injured children who are being treated at nearby hospitals and operates 11 Ronald McDonald Family Rooms within pediatric units of hospitals across the Southern New Jersey region.  They have a program where families or organizations can come in and prepare dinner for all the families.  If you are interested in getting involved or donating to Ronald McDonald house click the link provided earlier in this paragraph.  Preparing dinner was fun and a great way to spend time with our direct and extended family.  We prepared our traditional Ukrainian Orthodox Christmas Eve dinner for the approx. 70 guests.  Below is a picture of us preparing the food.  My 9 year old daughter had a great time preparing dinner and playing with some of the children that were there.

This holiday season was very busy as it always is for us and I think safe to say that is the same for almost everyone these days.  There were many personal reasons for the family being busy but as always  all the year-end activities for all the client partners my team and I provide services for added to the busy nature of the season.  The busy times provides an opportunity for me to practice something I have been trying to master for years – establishing a work/personal life balance.  I am the first to say that this is a work in progress.  In current times when we are constantly connected though smart phones and tablets it is even more important to take stock of how we are doing in the allocation of our time.  Below are a few links that have some useful information on how to establish that balance.  If you figure it out please drop me an email.  I can use any good advice.

http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/work-life-balance/WL00056

http://www.webmd.com/balance/guide/5-strategies-for-life-balance

http://www.forbes.com/sites/sundaysteinkirchner/2012/10/04/3-tips-for-achieving-your-worklife-balance/

http://workawesome.com/work-life-balance-2/worklife-balance/

As a small services based business owner I almost never stop working but one tip that has really helped me and my family is our “no phone” time.  We make sure we dedicate time as a family to read, play, talk, do homework together or some other family related activities and when we do these activities all the smart phones go away so we can focus on each other. The other item that has helped me recently is closing the home office. And when I say close I mean close – I shut the computers and lights off and shut the doors so it is as if the room does not even exist.

One of the days the office will be closed is New Year’s day.  I plan on spending about 8 hours with my daughter assembling her Lego sets that Santa brought.  I am not sure if 8 hours will be enough but we will try our best.  After this recharge it is back to doing what I love to do – serve my clients to the best of my ability.

Best wishes to all of you for 2013.  Please be good to yourselves and each other.

Tim

The MASAE Annual Meeting occurred on November 28-29, 2012 in Atlantic City, New Jersey.  For those of you that have
not attended – You need to!! This was another great event full of excellent educational events and plenty of networking.  I have been attending this meeting regularly for the last 10 years when it was the NJSAE Annual Meeting and I have always been impressed with the speakers and the attendees.  I always leave the meeting with a few takeaways I can implement. The formal educational sessions are great and worth attending but an equally important part for me is the networking and less formal interaction.  I pick up tips and tricks from my colleagues as we are talking at the social events, in the hallways or in the exhibit hall.  It is a great group of people and that is what separates this meeting form the many others out there.  For more information on MASAE and the events we offer please visit http://www.midatlantic-sae.org/. 

I have always felt that continuing education is very important to the growth of the professional and the association management profession.  If we want to continue to add value for our clients and the associations we serve each of us must keep developing as a professional.  Bower Management Services was pleased to sponsor the MASAE Annual Meeting Scholarship for 2012 and will be sponsoring it again for 2013.  The scholarship winner receives complimentary registration for the event and one night at the meeting hotel.  People interested in the scholarship self submit and need to meet certain qualifications.  After the closing date of the submissions a Scholarship Committee reviews the submissions and selects the winner.  This year’s winner was TC Field-Bobroski.  TC is Executive Director for the International Pediatric Association managed by Association Headquarters.

The meeting this year fell very close to all the devastation that Hurricane Sandy created so we added an additional element so the meeting attendees had the opportunity to give back to the people most directly impacted by the hurricane.  The attendees were asked to bring canned and non-perishable food to the meeting with them and everyone did great and contributed many necessary items.  We filled a complete industrial laundry bin!!!!  Pictured with the donations from left to right are Tim Bower, Victoria Elliott, Dan Lemyre, Erica O’Grady, Pat Koziol and Don Pendley.