By Renee Hoekstra, CVS – President, SAVE International
We are getting close to welcoming Spring. I only have a few more months as your President and am looking forward to transitioning to my new duties as Past President. I will be working closely with the new incoming President, Mike Pearsall, to continue to meet all our established goals for SAVE International. But we are not there yet, and I am still on a roll…
I was honored to be a part of kicking off our new SAVE Australia & New Zealand chapter. It is exciting to see us grow, and I am hoping we can continue to focus on strengthening all our chapters. Reach out to your chapter and get involved – this could be providing a presentation and attending an event. We all talk about how much we love what we do, so let us try and reach out to a co-worker or peer and invite them to an event.
Look for ways to Spread the Word and word of mouth is the best way to do that. Get on social media and share events, news, and articles about the Value Methodology (VM). When you see a post from one of our members, re-post it and say a few things about the post. If we all focus on sharing information, success stories, positive results and truly Spreading the Word, we can make a difference.
Most of us in SAVE belong to several other professional organizations. This is one other way that you can get involved. Get a hold of your other organizations and volunteer to do a presentation about the VM. Remember, we are trying to educate individuals about what we do and the benefits of SAVE – it is not about selling yourself. The old adage “If you talk about it, you must be the expert”, often applies. We do not compete with these other professional organizations; I truly believe that we offer complimentary services, opportunities, and activities. Let me give you an example. We should have a strong alliance with the American Association of Cost Estimators (AACE), as many of us use professional cost estimators in our value studies. I think that we could very easily compliment each other, share activities and memberships where we could all benefit.
Talk with the organizations you belong to and see about some joint meetings – with virtual platforms it is even easier. If each SAVE member takes an active role and really reaches out and engages, I believe we can continue to grow and be the organization that everyone looks to when we talk about “value”. Jump on the band wagon.
As I mentioned last month, we continue to focus on supporting all of you who are trying to work towards your VMA and CVS certifications as well as maintain your current certification. There have been many changes to the certification process to accommodate the virtual environment. To that end, we have sent out all the information to our licensed instructors about the VMF 2 course that can now be offered virtually until December 31, 2021. The Certification Board has been very supportive of all these efforts. Be sure to go on the SAVE website to get the most up to date information. Take advantage of these new virtual opportunities.
Speaking of virtual opportunities, do not forget to save the date for the 2021 Virtual Value Summit this June. As I had mentioned last month, I am a little disappointed that once again I do not get to see all of you in person, but we let you, the members, make that decision. I will, however, look forward to seeing all of you virtually at our President’s reception. It will be my last official role; however, I might talk with your incoming President and see if we cannot have a joint reception at our next in-person Value Summit that will be held in my home state of Arizona in June 2022. We will see what sort of exciting things we can dream up for that very special Summit. Stay tuned and plan for an extended stay to visit many of our beautiful areas, like Sedona, the Grand Canyon or put on your cowboy boots and hat and take a trip to the “real” west and visit Tombstone and relive the gun fight at the O.K. Corral, or just relax and enjoy the pool.
Just a quick reminder to check out all the articles in Value World to stay up on the news of the organization from your various Board of Directors. We have some exciting news happening around the globe from Dorine Cleton, educational updates from Javier Masini, updates from the conference committee, as well as important dates.
Have you wondered how to get a paper published in Value World? This is a great opportunity to share successes and maybe new approaches to tools and methods. If you have got an article or paper, please visit www.value-world.org for submission requirements and the online submission form. We would love to hear from you and remember, Value World is shared world-wide.
Hoping you are all staying healthy and busy. We want to continue to support you and hope that you will do your best to support SAVE. A second reminder to get involved, engage and be an active participant to Promote and Advocate, engage with Certification and continue your Education. PACE is important to all of us, so keep up the good work and continue to Spread the Word, and the Word is VM.
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