Thank You, Chapters, for Helping Create Strong Societies!

Did you get a chance to read the most recent American Suzuki Journal yet? There’s an article just for you. Bridges and Bonds in the Suzuki Community—and Beyond focuses on how the strong networks that are built in volunteer organizations have great benefits to us personally as well as to our whole society. Feel free to re-share in your Chapter Newsletters!

	SAA News

Leadership Retreat

Join us May 25—28 at Deer Creek Lodge, Mt. Sterling, OH, for the 2017 SAA Leadership Retreat!
We are returning to the same beautiful location as our successful 2015 retreat, with some new updates to enhance our stay. We invite you to a weekend of community, learning, and relaxation. We will have special sessions just for Chapters on leadership, organization, and communication. Feel free to let us know if there is someone from your state who can attend if none of your Chapter Leadership can join us.

Registration closes when space is filled, or April 10 at the latest.

	Spotlight

New website for Suzuki Association of Colorado!

Congratulations to Suzuki Association of Colorado on their new website! Their new design is useful to current members and attractive to prospective members as well.

SAC decided a few years ago that their website needed an upgrade. They knew they wanted to administer and edit the website themselves instead of hiring an IT specialist, and knew they wanted their website to give information about the great things their organization was doing as well as receive, sort, and store information from their members. The board didn’t want to spend a lot of money on the changes but were ready to learn a few skills in order to have the site they wanted. They researched a number of different website template platforms and decided to go with Wix in the end. It fit their criteria of needs with an “imbedded Dropbox link, PayPal interface, forms that generated a database, and ease in editing.” This change gave them a website that was inexpensive, attractive, easy for users, and also will be able to manage their member’s applications to graduation, scholarships, and membership into the future as well.

Check out their new site here!

	Solution Finder

The Transition into Being Chapter President…

The Suzuki Association of Utah had a new president in 2016. Stacy Smith felt a little overwhelmed by the scope of the needs and responsibilities to her organization, as many new chapter presidents have felt. In order to wrap her head around what needed to be done, and what her particular focus in the organization would be, she contacted the SAA office for advice. After a productive phone call, Stacy categorized the activities of her organization into Chapter goal categories: Connect, Educate, Support, Celebrate, and Respect. Many activities filled more than one goal. For example, a play-in for students with a simultaneous parent lecture could connect students to each other, educate parents, and celebrate the student’s abilities. She could quickly see what categories were already strong, which could be strengthened, and then she targeted what she wanted to focus on.

She chose to focus on connecting and building community in her large chapter—connect across all geographical regions, instruments, and generations. She had each of these demographic groups in mind as she planned the year’s SAU conference and graduation recitals. It looks like her focus is paying off with over 200 parent and teacher attendees to this year’s conference!

As many chapters face the challenges of serving a large geographical area just like SAU, the SAA is curious about results of using technology to connect with chapter leadership in distant areas. Have you tried “go-to-meeting,” “Skype,” or “Amazon Chime?” Which sites were clearest? Cheapest? Best sound? Join the conversation in the Teacher’s Corner area of the discussion forums on the SAA website, or write to chapters@suzukiassociation.org with your stories or suggestions.

	Leadership Link

Invite all Generations

In the fall of 2016, the SAA held a survey of its Suzuki community. Who was the most responsive demographic group? Our younger members between 26-35! Many organizations these days struggle to attract, engage, and retain newer members. Perhaps the SAA is successful because our community strives to make a difference in the world, allows a great deal of personal freedom while offering a supportive community, and has the potential for personal growth. Whatever the case, think about how to attract, engage, and retain people of all generations into the leadership of your organization. A range of ages ensures a variety of points of view as well as develops a strong pool of leaders into the future.

Here are some talks for you on the strengths of younger members as well as inspiring actions of everyone in your organization.

	End Note

Have a great picture to share?

We are looking for photos of students performing in their community. Did your chapter invite the public to a graduation recital? Are there studios that played in an assisted living facility, street fair, or mall? Send a picture our way and we will share favorites in the Short Score monthly newsletter!

Reaching Everyone?

Everyone in your chapter leadership should be on the mailing list to receive Chapter Wise, but if there are potential leaders waiting in the wings, former leaders you would like to keep informed, or (horror!) people in your leadership we have missed, they can add themselves on their personal SAA member page, under “email preferences.”

We would love to hear from you about info you would like to see highlighted, solution-finding suggestions, and what is working for you.

Chapter Goals:

❦ Connect: Build community among all students, parents, and teachers.

❦ Educate: Provide resources and/or support to teachers and parents, new and current, concerning Suzuki teaching and ideals.

❦ Support: Financially benefit teachers and students for further enrichment (conferences, institutes, workshops).

❦ Celebrate: Arrange Concerts, Graduation, Celebration, Cross Instrument Recitals, Honors Recitals to rejoice in music together.

❦ Respect: Support the Suzuki name/ brand/legacy by assuring SAA membership for teachers, broadening membership, and providing grassroots feedback to the SAA.

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Suzuki Association of the Americas
PO Box 17310, Boulder CO 80308
Phone:1-888-378-9854
https://suzukiassociation.org