SMA is continuing its efforts to be a more socially responsible professional organization. This year we will be introducing a service to allow conference attendees to make ride-share connections with others for travel from the airport to Asheville and vice versa. Specifically, a “bulletin board” will be made available on the SMA website on which attendees interested in ride-sharing can identify others who will be arriving at or leaving from the same airport at similar times. Once attendees have identified potential ride-sharing partners, they can independently make arrangements for the group travel option of their choice—e.g., shuttle, rental car, etc. We hope this initiative will not only save attendees money and make travel to and from the conference more convenient, but we also hope it will benefit the environment by reducing the total number of automotive trips to and from the conference.

Of course, we also will be continuing social responsibility initiatives from recent years. Once again, we will be hosting a clothing drive to benefit the local Goodwill. We ask that all members attending the conference in November go through their closets and identify no-longer-used suits, shirts, blouses, dresses, ties, skirts or shoes and bring them to the meetings. There will be a collection container at Registration which you can use to deposit your contributions. Once again, you can clean out your closet and do a good deed at the same time!  Receipts for your donations will be available at Registration.

Feedback indicates that last year’s introduction of the customizable on-line program was a big hit with attendees. As we get closer to the conference, you can look for this feature to return to the SMA website. It will allow you to search the program and create a personalized version. Our hope is that significantly less paper waste will be generated when you print only those sessions which you plan to attend.

Finally, we are once again working with the conference hotel to place recycling bins for materials such as office paper and plastic water bottles in prominent conference locations (e.g., registration area). Please look for these bins before throwing recyclable materials into the garbage.

Hettie Richardson
SMA Board Member