NAUG Annual Conference a Capitol Success

[Herndon, VA] The National AMS Users’ Group’s (NAUG) Tenth Annual Conference was held November 9-11, 2005 at the Doubletree Hotel in Washington, D.C. With over one hundred attendees, it was a great opportunity for customers to network with one another and meet with gomembers’ staff from all areas, such as IT, Customer Support, and Executive.
Attendees were treated to sessions that provided learning opportunities about shortcuts, database methods, and other useful information. Each breakout room was packed with eager attendees.

Steve Wiley from gomembers’ Operations staff thought that it “was a very productive NAUG. [Operations] is in the process of formulating strategies for addressing questions brought up during the conference. I also was able to network with both staff and customers to learn more about them.”

Joel Loughman, a gomembers’ Implementation Manger, who facilitated several sessions said, “I thought the sessions went very well. The conversation always seemed to get going with an easy flow resulting in a lot of great information being exchanged.”

In addition to the specific topic sessions, there were several general sessions over the three-day conference for all participants. The welcome speech by Eric Blendermann, NAUG President, kicked off the conference on Wednesday afternoon. He introduced the NAUG Board members and gave brief overview of the sessions.

On Thursday morning, Paul Plaia, III, gomembers’ President and CEO, spoke about where gomembers has been, where it is today, and where it is headed. He emphasized that the future is Q™. Paul also presented an iPod Shuffle™ to each Board member in appreciation of their hard work in organizing the event.

“It was good to have the opportunity to connect with our customers and let them know how gomembers is working for them,” said Plaia. “Staff and attendees alike enjoyed the learning and social aspects of the conference. The gomembers’ sponsored dinner aboard the Spirit of Washington was especially a hit with all.”

At the NAUG Business meeting, the Officers and Directors provided reports on membership, communications, financial, and meetings. The 2006 Officers and Directors were announced. The Officers are: Mark Lowry, President; David Evener, President-Elect; Jeff Gonzales, Treasurer; and, Brian Lovellette, Secretary. The Directors are: Liane Gaspredes, Communications; Diane Fryer, Membership; and, Lori Dunnell, Meetings.

A highlight of the conference was the sessions presented by ASAE representatives who spoke about the current issues facing association management, such as CAN-SPAM and recent legislative rulings. In addition, the sessions included information about policies and procedures for disaster recovery. This is hot topic these days as a result of a very active hurricane and tornado season.

Tom McGourty, gomembers’ Vice President of Sales and Marketing, gave the attendees a Product Update of Q™, gomembers’ latest enterprise system. The attendees were treated to a demonstration of some of the new features available in version 1.5, which leverage the Microsoft .Net architecture.

“The group had many questions and enjoyed the opportunity to see the software in action,” said McGourty. “Our GO2Q program will allow many of our customers to upgrade easily.” McGourty added, “This was a very successful event put on by our customers for our customers. We were happy to be able to participate during the sessions and provide a great network experience with our dinner on Thursday evening.”

For more information on becoming a member, visit http://www.naug.net/.

For more information on gomembers' Solutions, please visit the Solutions section of our website: www.gomembers.com/.

For any questions, please do not hesitate to contact gomembers via email at: gomembers-inc@gomembers.com or by phone at (571) 262-5171.

About gomembers, Inc.
gomembers uses modern tools to build solutions to manage members, meetings, fundraising campaigns and much more. From large organizations to small grass-roots groups, gomembers has the answer to helping organizations function more effectively.

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