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Tuesday, June 25, 2013

Call for Nominations

The Nominating Committee is pleased to announce that we are accepting applications from members wishing to be considered for the ISA Board of Directors. Three vacancies must be filled and we are seeking candidates who will lead and inspire our membership.

Our members look to the Board to do their utmost to encourage enhanced opportunities for the membership such as quality educational opportunities and the promotion of the appraisal industry so that each individual member can benefit professionally and personally from their connection to ISA. The membership will count on your energy and commitment to these objectives. As a Board member you will have direct input into these important priorities. It is a position of responsibility and great opportunity. Don’t you want someone like that on your Board, too?

While the effort is a serious one, the Board meets just four times per year with two of the sessions in teleconference. Two meetings are in person with one meeting to be held at the annual conference and the other at a meeting in the headquarters office in Chicago.

Here is your opportunity to lead, to inspire others, to work for the good of your profession and the benefit of the membership.

Candidates for director must have been members of ISA for at least three (3) years and must currently be an Accredited or Certified member in good standing.We will be most pleased to accept letters of intent to run for the Board along with your resume. Kindly let us know how your accomplishments can best serve the Board and the Society. Please submit all letters of intent to Marian “Mo” Aubry no later than Wednesday, July 17. If you would like additional information we will be happy to send it to you.

Please contact:
Marian “Mo” Aubry ISA CAPP
Chair, Nominating Committee
941-544-6806
Marianaubryappraisals@comcast.net

Tuesday, June 18, 2013

Interested in being a Guest Blogger?

Have you had an interesting or unique appraisal experience that you want to share with the readers of ISA Now?  To share your experience, just send it to ISA and we will post it.  Did you learn something interesting or new on a recent appraisal? Have you come across something unique or rare? All of these experiences make for a great blog post. 

Contact Tom Radde at tradde@thesentergroup.com, to submit your story or experience for the ISA Now blog.

Tuesday, June 11, 2013

Why Volunteer?

Volunteer - a person who voluntarily offers himself or herself for a service or undertaking. A person who performs a service willingly and without pay.

Why would anyone volunteer for anything if they are not going to be paid? This is a question I often ask myself and am often asked by members of different groups.

I think I have always volunteered for things and groups. Perhaps it was my mother’s lead of working with a group called Caritas when I was a child. Or maybe it was having all those cookies arrive at our house because she was the Cookie Chair when we were in Girl Scouts.

Then when my own children were young, there was always Girl Scouts, Baseball Leagues, Cub Scouts, Church, PTO, and all those other groups that needed a chair person, a hotdog seller or just an extra pair of hands that were free.

But the real reason I volunteered was to make friends and to better understand the workings of whatever group I was with.

Then there is ISA.

When I first joined ISA, I would go to my chapter meetings and just listen and get to know the players. The first conference I went to in Boston, I only knew one person there before I arrived. I didn’t know there would be committee meetings so I didn’t go to them – I went shopping (after all I had three pre-teens at home and I was free to do what I wanted for three whole days). But through that first conference I met members and started to network with them. I still know exactly who the first person I met at that ISA conference in Boston was and I still have her as a colleague and friend to this very day.

As time passed, the local chapter asked me to do a little of this and a little of that. I started to get involved and began to feel a real part of the group. A conference or two later, I decided to attend the ARC Committee meeting and I was somehow appointed their Vice-Chair. The exact details of how this happened are a bit hazy to me but I do remember that the Chair told me my job was to make sure that the needs of the committee were fulfilled. I already had a lot of leg work that needed to be done for the Chicago Conference that I had volunteered for as well as everything in my personal life. They were certainly asking a lot of me and I just wasn’t sure I had the time. That's when the "What was I thinking getting involved with this group!" thoughts began to run through my mind. Despite my reservations, I buckled down and made the time. It was a lot of work, but led to the tremendous side benefit of  getting to meet and getting to know a lot of local experts that I might not have if I hadn't been so involved. Those connections have proven incredibly useful as I have worked with a number of those individuals throughout the years for help in my appraisal business.

During that particular conference – I volunteered to be the guide for the ARC Pre-Conference Tours – I had set up the venues, had been raised in the city and area all my life – and I have never been one to keep my mouth shut so it was a natural fit. That little bit of volunteerism was where one of the CORE instructors saw me in action and said – “you should be an instructor, get your CAPP and we can talk about it” I took that advice and the rest, as they say, is history.

Through my volunteering I have met and worked with some fabulous people. I have been able to see some of my vision for ISA come to fruition. And through it all I have learned so much about the profession I live and work with on an everyday basis.

Volunteering can start with small steps , a single piece of a project, a leader of a task force, a local chapter officer, a chairman of a committee, a member of the BOD – all it takes is your time and talents, you will be surprised how much you will get in return for your effort. Certainly more than money can buy!

~Judy Martin

Tuesday, June 4, 2013

ISA Moves Forward with New Advertising Campaign

During the member business meeting at our annual conference last month, the ISA Board of Directors announced the development of a new advertising campaign to promote the International Society of Appraisers and the valuable services our members provide. In concert with our design firm, Bates Meron Sweet Design, this marketing venture will comprise several components:

Ad #1: to promote the importance of hiring a qualified ISA appraiser to targeted segments of the general public

Ad #2: to serve as a recruitment tool to enhance the growth of ISA

Ad #3: to generate opportunities for ISA appraisers in specialized markets such as museums, galleries, institutions, wealth managers, financial planners, and dealers. There will be two different versions of this ad, one for fine art appraisers and one for appraisers of antiques, residential contents, and decorative arts.

We’re pleased to launch the first ad, which can be used by ISA and our chapters, as well as by each of you as individual members to reach an audience of potential customers of appraisal services.

This ad is now available in the members-only section of the ISA website by clicking HERE. You can download the artwork files, and take them to your local designer or print shop and have them edited with your own logo and contact information to use in your regional publications and on your websites. This coop ad is meant to offer a significant benefit to you as a member – a professionally designed ad that can be customized and used to promote your appraisal services.

We’ll launch the second and third ads in the very near future, and we’ll also provide a blog post on how to use these important marketing tools to promote your appraisal business.

Download the files HERE

Please note: Some of the artwork file was created in Adobe Illustrator and is vectored and you may not be able to open the .ai file on your computer. Your graphic designer or print shop will be able to assist you.