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Every year, our Regional representatives to the International stage make Region 11 members so proud, and this year more than ever because we were able to live every moment with you whether we were actually there or not! Being there is best, but the webcast was so exciting for those who were unable to attend!
The membership of this Region knows and appreciates the hard work, dedication and personal commitment it takes to step out at that level and from the bottom of our hearts, we would like to thank CELEBRITY CITY CHORUS, RIO and SHIMMER! for your efforts in Calgary this year. Not only was it great to see you all onstage, but there were some webcast breakout stars, which was awesome!
And, for the first time in many years, one of our very own quartets finished in the TOP TEN!! A special 'shout out' to Patty, Missy, Mary and Judy – we are so happy for you. The Region 11 Management Team is truly humbled by all of our members participating at International 2007 – thank you. And to our new International Champion Chorus sisters, HARBORLITES CHORUS, and the dual members of Region 11 – YOU ROCK!!
Enjoy your Fall Festival experience as we learn, love and SING together. |
Carole
Sundeen
Events Coordinator
seeess@roadrunner.com
 As usual, the weekend promises to be wonderful. With faculty like Kathy Carmody and Bonnie McKibbon, how could we go wrong? The classes will be varied and have something for everyone. Also, don’t forget the celebration dinner/reception for our fabulous International competitors … CELEBRITY CITY CHORUS, RIO and SHIMMER! While I didn’t get to go to Calgary, I did watch the webcast. The Region 11 quality comes through even after going through the air and through computers. CELEBRITY CITY and RIO, we were very proud of your outstanding performances. And … congratulations to the Region 11 dual members who now have a huge, shiny medal around your necks after singing with HARBORLITES. Last, but not least, SHIMMER! Wow, I am so excited for you! 9th place International quartet!! These things don’t happen by accident – I know that, besides being 4 very talented ladies, you worked hard and smart. Hooray for you!!!!
This is my last Fall Festival as your Events Coordinator. It has been a great ride and I am sorry to see it going, but it is time to bring in some “new blood”. We are currently taking applications for Events Coordinator so if you are interested, contact me or Erin Lunn, who is the Nominating Committee Chair. Have a great weekend. – Carole |
Cathy
Lee
Communications Coordinator
voiceslee@aol.com
 As I settle into my new job as Communications Coordinator for Region 11, I’ve been trying to decide what I can contribute to the position and the region. There are a couple areas I’d like to explore.
I would love to have a “members only” page on our website where we could publish our regional roster and share information for our members. I know that many of our members would prefer to have our regional roster available in this format. We may still want to print a hard copy of the roster for those who like that format, but we could considerably cut printing costs and save many trees by offering the information on the website. We would need to have a secure site so that our personal information is protected but the International website offers this kind of information so I don’t know why we couldn’t do the same on a regional level.
I’ve also been thinking about all our regional positions and the difficulty we have filling some of the positions. Sometimes I think the fear of being under qualified for a position makes people hesitant to step into a position for which they may be a perfect fit. In an attempt to make our job transitions easier, I would like to consider adopting a body of computer programs that we, in Region 11, use to run the region. I think if we all were to use common programs it would be easier to share information. It would also serve to make transitions easier from person to person. We might also offer classes at our seminars to teach our members how to use these programs. I understand that there will be some challenges caused by the Mac vs. the PC, but I think we should be able to overcome this issue.
If you would like to be a part of either of these projects, please come and see me I’d love to hear your opinions and ideas.
Have a wonderful seminar weekend!! – Cathy |
Linda
Wong
Finance Coordinator
lmwong@bak.rr.com
 Welcome to Fall Festival! Congratulations to our wonderfully talented International competitors – RIO, CELEBRITY CITY and SHIMMER! You did us proud in so many ways. Thank you for your commitment and dedication to our great hobby.
We are well into our 2007-2008 fiscal year and I would ask that chorus Management Teams and Boards of Directors please take time in your meetings to assess and evaluate your annual budget at this half way point. It will serve your chorus well if you take a good look at your current income and expense items and make sure you are staying on point. As operating expenses in our every day world continue to rise, the Regional Management Team works hard at keeping expenses in line with the current budget and making sure they are being fiscally responsible to you, the member.
I wish you a great weekend with the fun-filled, educational and exciting classes with Kathy Carmody and Bonnie McKibben. Let’s not miss a minute of it! – Linda |
Erin
Lunn
Marketing Coordinator
lunnone@bak.rr.com
 What a contest! What a year! What a Region!
Each and every year brings new and exciting changes to our lives. Some are so exciting … like having CELEBRITY CITY, RIO and SHIMMER! represent us so admirably at International this year. And how exciting for us to have our dual members onstage bringing home the gold with HARBORLITES – that “Phantom” number sent chills up my spine.
For me, Fall Festival 2007 is bittersweet in that it is my last as an RMT member, but I'm excited about my next challenge with the organization as co-director of VOICES UNLIMITED and can't wait to attend classes without worrying about whether the air conditioning is on or the sound system is just so! Serving this region has brought me such joy and getting to know many of you on a personal level has been the topping on the cake – I hope that doesn't stop. I just can't imagine a time that I'll be able to stop tooting this Region's horn – we are truly a tremendous group of ladies.
With that said, I encourage each and every one of you to step forward and become a part of the leadership of this region – in this case, the old adage, “many hands make light work” absolutely holds true. If you have a heartfelt desire and a bit of determination (and often, patience!) you will find your volunteer contributions rewarded by a deep sense of personal satisfaction while propelling your region to the next level by your involvement.
Enjoy your weekend, enjoy the music and education and enjoy each other, I can’t wait to ring a chord (or two) this weekend! – Erin |
Cathy Tautkus
Team Coordinator
cdm291918@aol.com
 A huge congratulations to all of our Region 11 dual members who now proudly wear "the gold"!!! HARBORLITES CHORUS did a "phantom-astic" job! SHIMMER! – way to go!! Finishing in the Top 10 at International – how many of us can only dream that! We are so proud of CELEBRITY CITY CHORUS and RIO for their accomplishment in reaching International and for doing such a great job representing Region 11! Now that International Competition in Calgary is over, I bet a lot of us are already making plans to attend next year in Hawaii!
I am really looking forward to seeing everyone at Fall Festival. It was just a few months ago that we were together for Summer Sizzler, but I just can't seem to get enough of this exciting hobby and the wonderful women who feel the same way I do. The poet and author, Berthold Auerbach, said it so well – "Music washes away from the soul the dust of everyday life." And, with Region 11 being soooooo creative, I can hardly wait to see all the double quartets compete on Friday night! On Saturday, after our special dinner together, YWIH will have their competition. I can only wish that I had heard about barbershop when I was in high school. A big thank you to Dede Nibler for taking this program under her very capable wing! She has some great things planned for our YWIH attendees. We all know that these young women are the future of our organization (trite, but oh so true), so let's make an extra special effort to show them our love, interest, and support this weekend. – Cathy |
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Linda
Kelly
Education Coordinator
walkstallwoman2000@yahoo.com
 Welcome to the fantastic Fall Festival of 2007 and welcome from Calgary to all of our International Competitors! It was an awesome week with some steep competition. A special shout out to SHIMMER! who broke into the Top 10 quartets! Congrats to RIO and CELEBRITY CITY for their fine showing. And we have several dual members from our Region who sing with HARBORLITES and we want to especially congratulate them for bring home the HEAVY MEDAL. Gold is grand, eh?
We are so excited that, in addition to our fabulous guest faculty duo of Kathy and Bonnie, we are hosting a special YWIH Festival/Contest this weekend. Take a moment to say hello to these special young women throughout the weekend to let them know how supportive we are of YWIH. This is definitely a wonderful organization that recognizes the POWER of the youth. Thanks, Dede NIbler, our YWIH Coordinator, for making all of this possible. If you'd like to get more involved with the YWIH program in your area, please see her this weekend.
Have a great time this weekend as we listen to our super double quartets and learn from two of the finest faculty in our organization! Thanks for coming! – Linda |
Monica
Tautkus
Directors' Coordinator
gtasing2@aol.com
 So what's new with our Directors you ask?
Well, did you realize Region 11 had a total of 6 directors competing on the International stage this year in Calgary?! Wow! How many regions can say that?
- Jim Halvorson – CELEBRITY CITY
- Dani Avalos-Prigge (CENTRAL COAST CELEBRATION) – singing with RIO
- Lee Hays (SOUTH VALLEY SOUND) and Monica Tautkus (AGOURA HILL HARMONY) singing with HARBORLITES
- Judy Ashmore (CHANNELAIRE) and Mary Ashford (SOUTH VALLEY SOUND) singing in SHIMMER!
More exciting news to share: we have 2 new directors, 2 new CO-directors, and a new Certified Director among us! Maybe you caught the announcements out on the R11NG? FYI – that now makes 6 sets of co-directors for R11!
The first new co-director is Erin Lunn, joining Dede Nibler as co-director of VOICES UNLIMITED! Big Congratulations to Erin and to VU! The newest exciting announcement is Adrienne Cluff joining Cheryl Tobin & CALIFORNIA HEARTLAND as a co-director! Welcome back, Adrienne! Hooray for CHC!
And we have 2 new directors as well. Honestly? They're not really new at all ... just to their new choruses! Linda Kelly, one of our Region's Master Directors is now directing GOLDEN SANDS CHORUS, and Monica Tautkus is again directing AGOURA HILLS HARMONY CHORUS. Congrats to everyone!
And finally, kudos to Jim Halvorson – director of CELEBRITY CITY CHORUS – on achieving the status of "Certified Director" after completing the Director Certification Program (DCP) recently!
On Friday of Fall Festival, your directors are gathering once again for a full day of Front Line Director Only (FLDO) educational classes with our guest International faculty. This new program has turned out to be a "mini-directors seminar" each time we gather in Bakersfield. As always, make sure your chorus does whatever they can to help your director(s) attend this highly productive, battery-charging day!
So as I land again in what I always call "the best seat in the house", I am reminded of how vital and important YOUR input and random (or planned?) acts of kindness are to the life-blood of our directors. Having been there and back again, I’m planning to develop a class on how a chorus can help their director avoid burnout. There are so many little things you can do at any time, on any week, to help keep your director "happy" – because we all agree with what they say don't we? “If mama ain't happy, ain't nobody happy!”
Did you know that YOU personally could make a difference in your chorus in a very subtle, behind-the-scene way? It could have a very LARGE impact on the overall chorus and it's journey! So … under that title … here's a beautiful, small act of kindness I saw a few weeks ago that was so amazing! At the end of rehearsal, when your director is wiped out and sweating, make sure someone in the chorus has an ice cold bottle of water and a cold, damp, face cloth for your director(s) to cool off with. This singer brought the cold water and face cloth in a small, insolated lunchbox. I hear she does it every week. Little things mean a lot. – Monica |
Lisa Miller
Membership Coordinator
MorganRDH@aol.com
 It's great to be back together again in Bakersfield for Fall Festival!! Calgary was wonderful and all of our International competitors represented Region 11 in an amazing way! Congratulations to CELEBRITY CITY CHORUS, RIO and SHIMMER! It was so exciting to see SHIMMER! make it into the finals round (loved your patter!!!) and we are so proud of your 9th place finish!!! It will be so exciting to see all of your DVDs this weekend and relive it all over again!!
This weekend, the Presidents & Team Coordinators will be joined be the Membership Chair from each chorus as we network, brainstorm and share ideas regarding member retention!! We will also be revisiting the great ideas that were shared at Summer Sizzler regarding new member recruitment! Our last gathering was great and I'm confident that we will continue to build relationships as we continue to share ideas!!
We are also going to be offering an exciting opportunity for all of our Presidents & Team Coordinators this weekend!!! Bea Knaapen will be available, with a laptop at the ready, to help those TCs and Presidents who are having difficulty with the Yahoo Group!!! It will be a hands-on chance for those that are not able to get signed on, have challenges sending messages or any other issues you may have with the R11NG!!
Our faculty this weekend, Kathy Carmody and Bonnie McKibben are great!! The Double Quartet Contest is always a blast, the Dinner & Reception for our International competitors is sure to be lovely, and the YWIH Contest is always inspiring!!! It should be a great weekend for everyone!! – Lisa
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