The Professional Development Conference is almost here!

Holy Moly! Is it really only six weeks until the 2010 Professional Development Conference? That can’t be right! I still have a ton of things to do to prepare for it. Are you prepared? There is still time to register for the extended rate of $279. This registration extension is only good through February 1^st. This is also the last day to get the NALS room rate of $99 at the DoubleTree Warrenplace, where the conference will be held.

CLE sessions start on Friday, March 12, 2010. Prior to the meeting, a certification cram session for the ALS, PLS, and PP exams will take place on Wednesday, March 10. On Thursday, March 11, you can sit for the exam for which you have been studying. All day Thursday, Top Dollar Jewelry will be shuttling, via a limo, to their store. On Thursday evening, there will be a reception and prize drawing. You don’t want to miss out on this! If you have not seen the Resource Center and would like to see it or want to see it again, contact me at king@nals.org and reserve a spot.

What are you waiting for? If you haven’t registered, you’ll be missing out on great education and a chance to network with friends and others in your profession. If you have registered, I look forward to seeing you!

A Question of Value . . .

What is value and why do we scrutinize and prioritize the value of everyone and everything about us?

Why is it that we will buy the store brand cereal, but wouldn’t dream of buying the store brand coffee? What is it that determines the value of spending more for basically the same thing?

Some would argue that it isn’t the same. That the "store brand " is not quite as good. That the special brand has more value for your dollars. This is also true of NALS membership.

Why is NALS membership valuable now more than ever? In an age where we can access just about anything on the Internet, why do we value our connection to NALS?

Is it possible that membership in NALS, with its education and certification opportunities, has provided us with an edge over other employees during this economy? Could it be that NALS consistently provides the knowledge needed to move forward in our careers?

OR could it be that NALS fulfills something sorely lacking in our professional lives?

No other professional association will support you in your view of who you are in the legal services industry and how your expertise and professionalism matter in your job. It won’t come from your family. Not from your co-workers who will not understand the value of belonging. It probably will not come from your office or your attorneys, so overworked and inundated with the financial concerns of firm or the practice in general that they barely notice your existence (except when you aren’t at your desk).

Only through NALS will you come to know and understand your true value and worth as a legal professional – your rightful place within the law firm structure.

Is NALS of value? Is it worthy of your dollars and your time? I believe that it is. Do YOU?

If you value yourself as a professional, then you will also value what NALS has to offer at its Professional Development Conference, March 11-13, 2010. http://www.nals.org/conferences/professionaldevelopment/registration.html

THINK BIG! Change yourself. Give yourself the value you deserve.

Patricia E. Infanti, PP, PLS
NALS President-elect

Happy New Year!

I know it is well into the New Year but I wanted to make sure you were paying attention. Welcome to 2010 NALS! We have some new and exciting offerings coming your way this year and we want you to take advantage of them. First and foremost we are going to be using a new technology to do surveys that will make them shorter and more enjoyable for you and easier on us as well...a win-win situation! If you have not taken the opportunity to participate in the new Value of Membership Survey please do so. These surveys allow us to get a better grip on the needs of you all and also evaluate the effectiveness of our programs and services.

Click here to take survey

The second new feature for you is a new twist on an old idea. We have resurrected the NALS docket and turned it into a high tech digital newsletter. Hopefully you all were able to check it out in the last e-News issue. The NEW NALS docket will be a more relaxed newsletter for you than @Law and we will be sending it out each month. It will contain some columns on blogs and twitter as well as e-Learn and Leading the Way. It will also have one or two industry related articles and it will probably play host to some member profiles and other news as it evolves to suit your needs. We hope you like the first issue and if you missed it you can check it out by visiting the NALS docket page on our site.

We will continue to be active on all our social media fronts so you will have may ways to keep up with what is ongoing and new with NALS. If you are on Facebook join our group and/or fanpage...if you use twitter be sure to follow us!

We are looking forward to you taking advantage of everything we have to offer to you!

Jay Moore
NALS Communications Manager

The 2010-11 New Year’s Challenge!

New Year’s is always a time of natural beginnings. We reflect on the previous year and resolve to change things in the next. Perhaps it’s the all-time favorite, the promise to lose 10 lbs. or simply to eat healthy. Perhaps it’s a promise to get your financial life in order.


Or perhaps it is the determination that this year you’ll step up to the plate and take on a project worthy of your time, creativity, and energy. I have an outlet for you. A New Year’s resolution you can finish within a year. A project which is worthy of your precious hours, your inventiveness, and your ingenuity.


I challenge you to THINK BIG! and join a national committee for the 2010-2011 year. Other than periodic evening meetings in the Online Learning Center, the work of the national committees is completed on your own time and at your own pace, online or via e‑mail. Physical presence at a meeting is not a prerequisite. You can expend your energy and find an outlet for your creativity at 2 a.m. if that suits you (with your fuzzy slippers on and a quart of your favorite ice cream next to you).


Interested? Because NALS could use your help. Review the Committee Preference Sheet (http://www.NALS.org/download/NALSPreferenceSheet.pdf), complete page 3, and send it me. All of NALS will appreciate your willingness to give of your time and talents to further the mission and goals of NALS.


Happy New Year!


Patti

Patricia E. Infanti, PP, PLS
NALS President-Elect

On Being Snowed In

Snow is so beautiful, covering the ground and making everything, including my rusty old shed, look pristine and clean.

I had the opportunity during the weekend before Christmas to enjoy a major snowstorm – a “record breaker” in my area. Being snowed in always brings out the domestic in me. I make pancakes in the morning, bake cookies during the day, and pop popcorn in the evening, all while watching the silent accumulation of snow. Luckily, my family was safe and snug in the house with me.

NALS is like that too, a special family that worries about its members, particularly when economic storms set in. NALS supports you in a way no other professional association supports its members. Have you utilized the NALS Career Center www.careers.nals.org? If you are out of work, have you applied for the one-year waiver for your national dues www.NALS.org/download/NALSdueswaiver/pdf?

Have you taken advantage of the one year national dues waiver offered when you recruit five new members (of your class of membership) within a one-year period beginning November 1, 2009 www.NALS.org/download/waiverduesfiveNMs.pdf? That's a $98 savings just for recruiting five new members!

What about the free Online Learning Center sessions and the free Online Study Group (beginning January 5, 2010, to prepare for the March exams)? Have you taken advantage of the WebEd offerings? NALS webinars are provided to you at a reasonable price (check around – NALS’ webinars are a bargain!). The next WebEd on Federal Rules of Civil Procedure presented by Chris Gierymski (DLA Piper, LLP) is scheduled for January 13, 2010, at 7 pm CT.

This is just the tip of the snow drift. As you dig through the layers of NALS services and products, don’t forget that NALS is there for all of us, supporting us while the storm of life rages all around. Don’t break your back shoveling the stuff that is of no use to you in your professional life. Be safe and snug in your NALS family.

Happy Holidays Everyone! Be safe and warm.

President-Elect Patricia E. Infanti, PP, PLS

(Feel free to leave a comment to this post.)

Happy Holidays! Don't Miss These Important Dates

I along with NALS want to wish each of you Happy Holidays and safe travels. The NALS family is so special and I want to thank each of you for being a part of it. You are what makes it so special. I had a vendor once comment on how loyal and giving our NALS members are, how they are always there to help each other and support each other. I think that is only one of the many reasons why our NALS family is so special. We here on the NALS Staff want to thank each of you for your support, and we want you to know that your comments are important to us. So please let us know what we can do to make your NALS experience even better this coming year.

We are already hard at work on some new opportunities for our members so be watching in the months ahead. We do hope you are planning on being in Tulsa this coming March and in Branson in October for our NALS Conferences. Both conferences are going to be great! We already have a very special Leadership Training Session with David Horowitz planned for Thursday morning, October 21st, in Branson. You won't want to miss it! For those of you that were at this past year's Region 7/8 Conference you know what a great motivational and educational speaker David is and we would love it if any of you would like to share in the comments below what you learned or enjoyed about David's session this past summer.

The registration deadline for the March conference is January 15th so don't delay make your plans today to join us. Pam Hemann, CAE will be joining us and will be delivering the keynote address as well as holding a special session with our membership chairs and our presidents. Pam has worked with NALS in the past and is a powerful speaker. Pam is also a past Chairman of ASAE, in NALS terms the past president of ASAE.

For those of you planning on setting for a NALS Certification exam remember your registration deadline is: JANUARY 1st. And you can even register for a special cram course being held in Tulsa right before the NALS Conference on March 10th and take your exam the following day right before the NALS PD Conference begins. This is a great opportunity for you to combine your cram course, testing and NALS Professional Development Conference in one trip. And you can celebrate your completion of the exam with a trip to Top Dollar on Thursday evening or with a special dinner with friends.

Jan 13th at 7:00 pm Central there will be a special webinar on changes to Federal Rules of Civil Procedure. Have you taken part in one of NALS new webinars? Is this a subject you would like to learn about? Register and attend this special session. Additionally, if there are other subjects you would like to see special webinars offered on please comment and let us know what those subjects are so we can include them in the plan for the coming year.

Don't miss out on the NALS Professional Development Conference

The 2010 NALS Professional Development & Education Conference is rapidly approaching. It seems like just yesterday current NALS President Julie Abernathy, PP, PLS was being sworn into office and I was working my second Tulsa conference. In just three short months, Patricia Infanti, PP, PLS will be the new NALS President and I will add another conference to the list.

Those who have been to the Professional Development Conference know what is in store for them when they arrive in Tulsa. Those of you who haven’t been to Tulsa, get ready for a lot of fun and networking with exceptional CLE offerings.

New this year is a certification cram session on Wednesday, March 10, 2010. This will include study sessions for the ALS, PLS, and PP certification exams. The price for the cram session is $99. On Thursday, March 11, there is the opportunity to sit for the exam of your choice. Once the exam is finished, hop on a shuttle to go the Top Dollar Jewelry! Top Dollar Jewelry will be shuttling attendees from the DoubleTree to Top Dollar Jewelry throughout the day with a private after hours wine and cheese reception that night with a prize drawing.

The conference starts on Friday, March 12, 2010 with our opening keynote speaker Pam Hemann, CAE. Professional Development and Education sessions run throughout the day with a break for lunch and the installation of the new NALS board and president that afternoon. On Saturday, March 13, more Professional Development and Education sessions kick off the day as well as the popular NALS University. That evening is the Networking Dinner where a DJ has been booked, so get your dancing shoes ready!

The DoubleTree Warren Place is once again the host of the conference and rooms are $99 a night for singles, doubles, and triples. The room block is filling up quickly so make sure to book your room soon. The deadline for reservations at the NALS rate is February 1. (918) 495-1000

The next registration deadline is January 15, 2010. If you haven’t made your conference registration yet, the rate is $279. This includes two days of CLE, networking and lunches. The networking dinner is a ticketed event and can be purchased for $45.

Register now for the NALS Professional Development & Education Conference and be ready for a fun and enjoyable time with the people around you!