Come to Assets 2013 and see for yourself

Are you planning on coming to Assets 2013?  ISA’s annual conference is something I look forward to every year. I am constantly surprised when I hear a colleague tell me they aren’t planning on attending conference.  I’ve heard all the reasons – “can’t afford it this year”, “too busy and can’t get away”, “already attend the regional meetings”, “I’ve heard it all before - nothing new”….blah blah blah. Really?

I couldn’t disagree more with all the excuses I hear and let me tell you why. The first conference I attended was held in Baltimore. I had recently completed my Core course.   I only knew a couple of people from my North Texas chapter who were in attendance but after five days at conference I had met many wonderful new friends and colleagues who not only appraised fine art but also many other types of personal property all across the country. The networking opportunities and friendships that I have developed over the years from the contacts made at conference have brought so many benefits and pleasures to my personal life as well as career.

The education gained at conference has been well worth the time and effort of attending. In addition to the wide variety of educational breakout sessions and general topic speakers, there have been many opportunities to learn new tricks from fellow appraisers. We learn from each other in Committee meetings, sitting on buses during the tours and casually over dinner and drinks at the end of the day.

Attending conference regularly gave me an opportunity to get involved with ISA and play a part with programming.  As Fine Art Chair, I was able to have a direct impact on which speakers and topics came to conference to speak to the Fine Art members. Through the contact I had with other appraisers at conference I was able to ascertain what types of topics would be most interesting to the group and areas we all had an interest in learning more about. My involvement opened many doors which would have been closed otherwise.

Conference is also a great place to find out what is new and happening in the organization first hand. It is also the place to meet with the decision makers and ask questions.  If you have a specific issue, the appropriate folks to speak with are there. You can ask questions and get answers.  It’s where changes occur.

There are many great things that have happened this last year in ISA and many great things that are about to be announced at conference. It truly is a good time to be a member of ISA and is only getting better. It is worth a couple of days out of your schedule to invest in growing your professional network, education base and to learn what’s going on in your professional appraisal organization. If you took the money allocated for conference and spent it on something else instead of conference – would that something else bring you the same kind of returns? And really……. will your business miss you that much that you can’t take off 4 days?  You’ll never get these same kinds of benefits from only attending regional meetings. (Appraisers from other parts of the country share much more freely than the competitor down the road).

Come to conference this year and find out what all the excitement is about.  I’ll see you there.

Christine Guernsey, ISA CAPP