IABC fosters the opportunity to connect

Last week Thursday, Executive VP of IABC T&T, Maria Rivas Mc Millan, and VP of Membership, Giselle La Ronde West and I shared a wonderful Thai lunch with the incoming chair of IABC Canada East Region, Rawle Borrel and his wife Abiola. Both are of T&T parentage but spent the majority of their lives in Canada.

We spent some time talking about IABC but most of it was spent chatting about our families, spouses, and our homes, what I like the call the real life stuff. Directly after our lunch, I told Maria that I felt as if I just had lunch with some old friends.

One of the real strong bonus points for me as a Chapter leader is the quality of global relationships I have struck up through IABC. When my husband and I vacation in Canada later this month we will be staying at the charming apartment of an IABC friend who is out of town for that very same week.

I met my friend Katherine Shelley from Toronto through IABC. Katherine, who comes to Trinidad every year for our world famous Carnival emailed me two years ago because she wanted to connect with other local IABC members. We hit it off immediately.

When I journey to New Orleans for the international conference in June, I am looking forward to attending the majority of the seminars on measurement & ROI but I am equally excited about connecting with the friends and colleagues I met earlier this year at IABC’s Leadership Institute in San Diego

When people ask me what drives me to continuously work at leading such a wonderful chapter, my answer is very simple...it really is all about the opportunity to connect.