Give the Emp a Fig Leaf

I found out yesterday—from my good buddy Josh—that the local affiliate to AIRS( Alliances of Information and Referral Specialist) is being re-birthed. Our organization is called UAIRS-figure it out. We try to resurrect this group every couple of years. At one point in time we had a viable group going. We met once a month, had a fairly strong Statewide representation and hosted the national conference when the conference was hosted in our state. This event was a multiple day affair and we all worked devilishly hard to pull the event off. However the event seems to have killed the group. We have probably had three meeting since the local national conference. I am not sure the reason for this but I suspect the group realized –maybe not consciously—that there were far more important things these folks should be doing. There I have said it! The emperor is naked.

The National AIRS conference is next month in Milwaukee and I am not going. I could have gone but in light of the fact I have been in Pennsylvania and Georgia in the past couple of months and I really do not relish the idea of out-of-state travel again I thought I would pass. I have gone to two of these events can not justify going again. The expense to my operation is immense compared to our over all budget for not getting anything useful from such an event. The national AIRS conference is not only a forum for spreading information to the masses but also a time of testing for those coveted in-service hours which add towards the hours needed to get certified as an official I&R specialist. Essentially a document which says “you have met the requirements necessary to be in the club”. Sure you have to pass a test and you have to pay for the examination but I sort of think everyone gets certified eventually. Just another level of stress to contend with. I think the organization is clique (clickee). I also got the feeling of trying to make us, the operators more then we are. Hey, I think we are great and we do a great job, I just do not think we need to glorify our selves with titles and illusions we are more then we are.

Yup! We are naked—naked as J-Birds and as we try, once again, to flock to a roost of some sort I am afraid we will notice at some level that we are naked and hide. Oh I a going to the meeting and I am even going to participate. Hey, I like these guys. These guys do what I do—more or less. We all provide information. It’s meetings next week. The conference is in June…July is a waste of a work month and everyone seems busy in August so I predict our next meeting to be in September. We may get a decent turnout for that meeting just because that meeting is on the heels of June national conference. I think this rebirth will have run it’s course by December because everyone knows you gotta have clothes in December.