2009 has been an exceptional year for ICA. As I look back on where we were a year ago, I see how far we’ve come. But as I look at my vision for what I believe ICA can be, we still have a lot of work to do.

First, some of the highlights of the past year:

The speaker programs were revived through the amazing energy and dedication of our VP of Programs, Mary Ann Bella. She not only arranged an interesting and varied series of speakers, but was able to find an excellent substitute when a speaker took ill at the last moment...twice. Meeting attendance has been good, even during the summer when it’s tough to get people to attend business events. Feedback from attendees has been very positive.

We are getting the word out about ICA and ICA events. Cindy Turner, our VP or Marketing, has been making sure that our events are posted to local media, and that press releases about all notable activities are disseminated. Our secretary, Maria Mauriello, has not only kept up with meeting minutes and ICA documents, but has also put together a P.R. plan, and collaborated with Cindy on an article profiling the life of an independent communicator.

We also started charging membership dues again, after a hiatus while ICA was reorganized. We were happy to find that most people wanted to continue as ICA members; most that declined had either left the area, left the field, or were no longer independent. Treasurer Cynthia Mallard has kept track of our income and expenditures so that we can spend wisely as we grow the organization. VP of Membership Nancy Oates has reviewed applications by new members and welcomed new members into our association. 

Last March, we launched our new and improved website. The new site includes more detailed member profiles, plus the ability to post news, events, and jobs more easily. It includes a forum for discussions and a blog for every member. Our newly-formed website committee will be meeting later this week to embark on our next round of improvements.

As we begin the new year, we are in much better shape as an organization than we were a year ago, in terms of our membership, finances, organization and outreach. We have ambitious plans for 2010, including improvements and additions to the website, more programs, such as portfolio roundtables and how-to seminars, and a more aggressive outreach both to potential new members and potential clients for our members.

Similar to our members’ businesses, ICA is a small, independent association, not a local chapter of a much larger organization. The biggest obstacle ICA faced in 2009 was simply one of the bandwidth of the members of the board. There is so much more that we want to do in 2010, and we encourage all ICA members to get involved in any way you can. I will be writing up a list of specific projects we would like to tackle in 2010, as well as particular tasks, both large and small, that could use the energy and expertise of our membership.

It’s cliché to say that you get out of something what you put into it, but like most clichés, it’s true. I have personally benefitted from increased business that has come directly through my fellow ICA members. ICA becomes a more valuable association because of the input of every individual member.