Welcome to the September 2020 chapter newsletter. Let us know what you think, and remember, you can also read it on the chapter website. You can find previous newsletters on the website as well. And we always welcome suggestions for newsletter topics.

In this issue:

CHAPTER EVENTS

• Book Club: Monday, September 28^th, 2020 via Zoom

NEWS

• Urgent need for a candidate for chapter president-elect!
• Take an Active Role! Please consider volunteering!

FEATURES

• CAC Quarterly Report

CHAPTER EVENTS

Book Club hosted by Paul Mamula

Topic: Bad Blood: Secrets and Lies in a Silicon Valley Startup by John Carreyrou

When:  Monday, September 28^th, 2020 at 11:00 am Central Time via Zoom

Details:  It traces the fraud perpetrated by Elizabeth Holmes with her diagnostic company, Theranos. See you there!

See below for how to join the Zoom meeting

Join Zoom Meeting
Meeting ID: 831 0959 7513
Passcode: VC7XNm +1651-372-8299 US (St. Paul)

NEWS

Take an active role in AMWA – Volunteers needed!

AMWA North Central is a volunteer-based organization. If members don’t take an active role, the chapter will cease to function, and members will lose access to programming, news, and networking opportunities. Consider taking your turn to lead (or join) a committee or serve as a chapter officer.

The following position is open:

• President-elect: The president-elect position is critical to our status as a chapter!  Without a volunteer to fill this vital position, we will not be able to continue as a chapter. Please volunteer! The new president-elect role will serve a one-year term beginning in February 2021 and ideally will transition into the role of president in 2022. As president-elect, you will attend the monthly AMWA NC chapter board meetings, take minutes, and chair the meeting if the president is unable to attend. Other duties may be assigned by the president or board on an ad hoc basis. Please submit your nominations by October 30, 2020 to president (at) amwanorthcentral (dot) org.

Not ready or able to lead a committee? All our committees welcome members to share ideas and keep the workload light.

In addition to keeping our group viable, volunteering with AMWA is a great way to network with your fellow members. It’s also a good way to fortify your C.V. with an extra line showing how you give back to your profession! If you can volunteer a few hours a month to help, contact our president, Michele Cleary: president (at) amwanorthcentral (dot) org

FEATURES

CAC Quarterly Report

By Paul W. Mamula, PhD

The Chapter Advisory Council (CAC) held its third quarterly meeting on August 20, 2020 via Zoom with Kim Korwek, chair, and Sharon Ruckdeschel, Directory of Membership and Systems opening the meeting and leading the discussions.

Most of the meeting was dedicated to the upcoming National AMWA Conference that has been rescheduled as a virtual meeting and moved up a week to October 20-22, 2020. Registration is currently underway, and early registrants receive a discounted rate through September 21. The registration cost is about half of that of an on-site conference.

The National conference will have a live Plenary session each day and have 10 simultaneous presentations with up to 20 people able to attend. A chat feature will be included in some of the sessions. No workshops will be held at this conference, and they will be delivered virtually next year. Registrants will receive log-in information and access to the virtual platform one week before the conference. No additional fees are charged for roundtable meetings. Registrants will also be able to access all meeting sessions and content through December 22, 2020. This aspect of the conference represents a nice feature, since one will be able to view all sessions, something usually not possible at an in-person conference. Additional details about the conference, features, and registration can be found on the AMWA website ( American Medical Writers Association )

The National AMWA organization has extended allowance of virtual events to count as activity events through the end of the first quarter of 2021 (end of February 2021) because of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. Chapters must not have activities directly compete with AMWA National programming; however, the Board of Directors is discussing how to support chapters and increase communications among interested parties.

AMWA National will send out a summary of Chapter Reports later this month, and for our chapter, this may provide some additional ideas for future meetings.

The last portion of the meeting was dedicated to discussing whether chapter LinkedIn groups were helpful. Some CAC representatives noted that their chapter members found out about events on LinkedIn, but the discussion produced no consensus on its usefulness.

The last CAC meeting for the year (and for my tenure as CAC representative) will be held in October or November. The date is currently not yet finalized. Previously, the last CAC meeting was held at the annual conference.