Acronym

It feels almost surreal to be writing this, but this is my last Acronym post. At least it's my last Acronym post as an ASAE staff person.

I'll be tying up some loose ends Monday and Tuesday, and then on September 26, I'm thrilled to be starting a new adventure as the senior director, communications and marketing at the Association of State and Territorial Health Officials. All of you from health-related organizations that I've met through the years, I hope you'll help indoctrinate me into this new world - I look forward to being part of it.

This whole journey started because of a practice I started a dozen years ago: giving myself at least a couple hours every week to randomly search the web. In early 2004 I ran across a spectacular website that reported in opinionated, colorful short articles the goings-on at a conference. (It was Ad:Tech, the conference continues, though the blogging surrounding it ended a few years ago.) The conference blog inspired me, and I wanted to try to do the same thing. GWSAE, my employer, was merging at the time with ASAE, a deal that would be consummated at the 2004 ASAE Annual Meeting & Exposition in Minneapolis. Because such big things were happening, I was able to fly under the radar. "I want to write a conference blog," I would say to all the senior staff members I could. "A conference what?" was the universal response. And they'd stop me two minutes into my explanation and say, "Sure. Whatever."

It was fun, so we did it again the next year in Nashville, which was the grandfather of the modern ASAE annual meeting--truly buzzworthy. It was leading up to the next conference - 2006 - that I worked with Scott Steen, now the executive director of American Forests, to shape the foundation of Acronym and then launch it. I'm proud of what Acronym has become. We never wanted to own the association blogging space; we wanted to be a vibrant part of something larger. I give my gratitude to all Acronym readers and especially those moved to comment--you made Acronym. Thank you to all of the wonderful guest bloggers through the years, you made Acronym great. And thank you to those ASAE staff through the years who have volunteered their time to help me keep Acronym running.

I've loved being a part of the association blogging community. My apologies as I'm sure I'm going to leave people out, but I want to give some shout outs. To the early inspirations: thank you Ben, Jeff, Jeffrey, and David. Jamie: I'm smarter because of you. Maddy and Lindy: you changed the playing field. Cynthia, Deirdre, and David: you bring such unique and different perspectives. Maggie: your ruthless honesty inspires me. KiKi: you bring the fun. And to so many others, thank you! Please keep it going.

And finally, if Scott Steen and I are Acronym's creators, Lisa, you were its heart and soul.

Joe, it's been great working and planning Acronym with you the last year or so. I can't wait to see where you take it (no pressure or anything!).