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Fall District Meeting 2024�Governor’s Presentation�Soroptimist is a global volunteer organization that provides�women and girls with access to the education and training they�need to achieve economic empowerment.�

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From SIA HQ

First off, thank you for your continued dedication to providing women and girls with access to the education and training they need to achieve economic empowerment.� �SIA HQ has some important information to support you and your clubs especially those in the role as club president or treasurer. Be on the lookout for the following information in your club email about the following:

Nominations
Electronic Ballots
New! Member Portal
Adding New Members, Roster Review, and Dues Notification
Financial Best Practices
Insurance Information for Clubs in the United States
Reminder for Clubs in the United States Who Hold 501(c) Federal Tax Status

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From SIA HQ

In addition to the Club President Resources and Club Treasurer Resources, you can also find key dates and deadlines for the upcoming year on the 2024-2025 club calendar on the SIA website: www.soroptimist.org

Link: https://www.soroptimist.org/for-clubs-and-members/for-clubs/club-president-information.html

If you have any questions about the information above, or throughout the upcoming year, please do not hesitate to contact SIA Headquarters at siahq@soroptimist.org or 215-893-9000.

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Check that Club Email

SI(CLUBNAME)@SOROPTIMIST.NET

SIA Website: https://www.soroptimist.org/

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SIA Resources

SIA Website: https://www.soroptimist.org/

https://www.soroptimist.org/for-clubs-and-members/for-clubs/club-president-information.html

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SNR Website

SNR Website: https://soroptimistsnr.org/

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How to Find It

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All the things I’ve learned �since July 1^st�

As the new Governor for Sierra Nevada Region, I had a crash course in all things Soroptimist! We had our SNR Board Retreat, The SIA Leadership Roundtable, The SIA Leadership Fellows Program, SIA’s Biennial Convention Workshops and finally our very own Soroptimist Development Retreat. Some might remember that SIA’s Leadership Roundtable used to be called the Governors Roundtable and it was held in person, but since COVID, it went virtual, and then they let us up and coming Governors attend as Gov Elects. SIA then reidentified this as the Leadership Roundtable, it used to be held in person 1 time during each biennium (governors used to attend the Round Table in Philadelphia in the off convention year). Well that has all changed!
It is now open to everyone! For a $50 fee, you are able to get some great training from SIA. We had workshops that included: The focus of Soroptimist International and SIA
SIA’s impact, engagement, philanthropy, and recognition pillars
Best practices for governance
Club Roadmap and metrics
Plus, other leadership skill workshops!

I can’t tell you how much I enjoyed this program, they will be doing this again in June of 2025, so please make plans to attend virtually. As a club leader or just as a member who wants to hone their leadership skills, this is a must.

Soroptimist is dedicated to developing our leaders so we can deliver our programs, attract and retain members,�grow our philanthropy, and build our brand recognition.
Leadership development is so important! Commit to increasing your leadership bench strength and join us for future events.

June 24 and June 25, 2025

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SNR Board Working Retreat June 2024 in Truckee CA

How we can save funds by doing virtual attendance where appropriate for meetings and events.
Limiting paper handouts and electronically storing region documents using a variety of technologies for cost-savings and efficient retrieval/storage such as QR Codes/New SNR YouTube Channel
Reviewing our governing documents and forms. Updating them as needed.
Planning and coordinating six different Fall District Meetings.

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SNR Board Working Retreat June 2024

Preparing for our roles for the next biennium with review of our District Director Handbook and Fall District Meeting Handbook.
How to navigate thru the reports and forms on the SNR Shared Drive and web page.
Planning content for ongoing meetings with our presidents and club visits & doing monthly calls or zooms with our clubs.
Providing relevant content in our Eblast and Social Media.

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SIA Convention in Bellevue WA July 2024

REGION Night 2024!

In July, it was time to travel to Bellevue Washington for the 48^th Biennial- SIA Convention. We had almost 50 attendees from the Sierra Nevada Region. We were spotted wearing out baseball jerseys and even SIA President Ginger Cole mentioned she wanted one, so you know what – we got her one and she is going to send us a picture of her wearing it. This just in!! We were just notified that President Ginger will be our Official Visitor to our Conference in June! You may have met President Ginger when she was our official visitor back in 2022! �I didn’t realize that SIA really speaks highly of the Sierra Nevada Region and holds us up an example to many. We are actually one of the larger regions in SIA. We are what they call a healthy region. I’m so very proud of all that we do and how everyone in Bellevue represented our Region.

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SIA Convention in Bellevue WA July 2024

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SIA Convention in Bellevue WA July 2024

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SIA Convention in Bellevue WA July 2024

Sierra Nevada Region had the opportunity to travel to Bellevue Washington where approx. 698 women met to have an amazing experience meeting like-minded women from SIA’s countries and territories. It was an opportunity to renew friendships and meet new friends – including honored guests from other federations.

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Governor Orientation and so much more!�

The Marshmello Challenge

So as part of the SIA Convention in Bellevue, I was load with more information about SIA and my new role as Governor. As a SIA Governor Orientation was 3-packed hours of fun and learning. We went over the Role of Governor, SIA Procedures, Understanding how to mitigate pitfalls Go over key resources, Modeling the Member Leader Code of Conduct, Risk Management and finally Teambuilding. Here my fellow Governors and I were tasked with the Marshmello Challenge! On my team, We had Patricia Kieswetter the Governor from Mexico, Liz Glowka the Governor from Golden West Region, Bonnie Mendenhall the Governor from Desert Coast Region and Wendy Falkenstein the Governor from Northwestern Region.

The marshmallow challenge is a simple design exercise and team-building activity for small groups.
The groups have to build the tallest free-standing structure from some spaghetti sticks, tape, and string and place one whole marshmallow on the top.
We were given 20 minutes to accomplish this task.
The exercise teaches essential lessons about the creative product development process and the nature of collaboration.

Here you can see the Korean, Japanese and Korean Governors won the challenge. The bottom right is my team’s structure however it did not do well and collapsed shortly after this picture was taken.

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SIA 2024-2026 Governors �Class Pictures

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SIA 2024-2026 Governors �Class Pictures

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What Would Poco Do?!

Our own Past SIA President and Past SNR Governor Poco was unable to attend Convention, but she gave me strict instructions to pass along a special gift to some of the past SIA Past Presidents for her!

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Way to Represent �Sierra Nevada Region!

I was so proud of our Region. We are one of the larger Regions and we were mentioned several times as a benchmark for other Regions! Our very own Julie Kaye, President of Metropolitan Sacramento even spoke about their Dream It Be It Mural Project.

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SIA Leadership Roundtable �& Fellows Program

Out of 50 applicants for this inaugural program only 32 graduated and we had 3 from our Region! SIA is also now offering the Leadership Roundtable to all SIA members. Save the dates now for the 2025 Leadership Roundtable June 24 & 25 and information about the upcoming Fellows program is coming in December!

Another big moment for me was the graduation from the Inaugural SIA Leadership Fellows Program. This program is brand virtual, and you had to apply to the program with letters of recommendation. Of the 50 applicants, only 32 of us graduated. Here you can see SNR Past Governor Lisa Fitzgerald, and SNR Endowment Coordinator Kathy Erickson and myself as we graduated in Bellevue. This program was a year and half/2year commitment. The first 3 session were virtual, and the final session was 8 hours in person in Bellevue. The next Fellows program will start taking applicants in January with more information coming out in December of this year. Topics discussed included: Leadership in a Litigious World, Reframing Your Leadership Style: The Gift of Self-Care, UnScripted Leadership: Leading Through Uncertainty,

The Soroptimist Leadership Fellows Program is a multi-year commitment and is a certificate program that gives members an opportunity to further and enrich their leadership skills in an engaging and interactive way. To ensure each participant gets the most benefit from the Fellows Program, this opportunity will only be open to the first 50 applicants.
This program is a multi-year commitment whereas a participant, you will have the opportunity for a more immersive experience. Participants submit a brief application, two letters of recommendation, and a signed statement indicating their commitment.
Endeavor to experience heightened training in an exclusive setting with the opportunity to connect with other leaders and share provoking thoughts.
Note the Fellows Program will convene twice virtually (June and December 2025) and once again face-to-face in Incheon, South Korea, in July 2026.
Alongside the completion ceremony in July 2026, participants will receive a certificate of completion and be spotlighted by SIA prominently.

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Soroptimist Development Retreat Aug 2024

We hit it out of the ballpark with our baseball themed SDR! Having fun while learning and playing as a TEAM!

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Soroptimist Development Retreat Aug 2024

We hit it out of the ballpark with our baseball themed SDR! Having fun while learning and playing as a TEAM!

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More ways to learn about Soroptimists�SIA’s YouTube Channel @SIAHQ

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More ways to learn about Soroptimists and what we do…�SIA’s YouTube Channel @SIAHQ

SIA has put together some great content to help clubs!

Learn more about the UpliftHER incentive
The new member portal
Meet new SIA President Ginger Cole
SIA Convention 2026 in Korea

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Soroptimists UpliftHER

SIA has an exciting new member engagement initiative called Soroptimists UpliftHER! We got to hear all the details during an exclusive webinar that was held recently on September 10 .

SIA HQ has made the video of this webinar available on their YouTube channel.

Just search YouTube and enter @SIAHQ

Look for the language you would like to view. It has been translated into all the languages our Federation supports

My hope is that all our SNR Members have checked out the “Soroptimist UpliftHER” video on our SNR YouTube channel or on the SIA YouTube Channel. Just go to @SIAHQ or @sierranevadaregionsoroptimst search on YouTube. Be sure to like and subscribe while you are there. “Soroptimist UpliftHER” is an exciting new member engagement initiative from the program department of Soroptimist International of the Americas.
Once a quarter, SIA will focus on an obstacle that women and girls face on their path to formal education and economic empowerment. SIA headquarters, (SIAHQ), will share information about the obstacle, as well as suggested projects related to that obstacle that also counts towards our Big Goal!

Clubs can participate in the quarterly project focus by sharing SIA posts on social media and posting their own projects with the hashtag #SoroptimistsUpliftHer.

One of the focus areas and suggested topics for the month of October is: Intimate Partner Violence. It is suggested that clubs may partner with a local shelter to provide professional dress clothing for women who have experienced violence and provide training on interview basics, resume writing and career advancement. Be sure to report it as a Big Goal Accelerator Project. This is a completely voluntary initiative, but we do hope members and clubs will be excited to participate.

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Did you know SNR now has a YouTube Channel?

@sierranevadaregionsoroptimist

Subscribe & Share our SNR Channel with your club!

Lots of great information and we’ll be adding more and more to it every two weeks! If you missed SDR…now you can catch up on what your club missed!

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