2023 COLUMBIA BASIN ASQ SECTION RECAP – AND 2024 PLANS
by Jo Haberstok
We submitted our Annual Report to ASQ last month, in which we provide information about how we did in the past year. This includes membership/recruiting, meetings, our myASQ Community site, and more. Here is a recap of our 2023 activities/efforts.
Membership/Recruiting Efforts: Membership in our section declined just slightly last year. This is due in part to retirements and relocations. On the bright side, however, we gained six (6) new members!
Meetings/Offering Learning Opportunities: We held eight (8) virtual (via MS Teams) meetings and one site visit/tour in 2023. Many thanks to the great presenters who volunteered their time to share their knowledge and insights! Most meetings were well-attended; interestingly, the majority of attendees were from other ASQ sections (including Hawaii, Montreal, and Ann Arbor). We also provided information (via our monthly newsletters and website) about 58 other ASQ section and division meetings and events and about 33 non-ASQ affiliated meetings/events so members would have a variety of topics to choose from each month.
Our myASQ Community: Our myASQ Community continues to provide a great area for news, networking, and discussions. We posted 35 “blogs” (news items, newsletters, etc.) and 14 discussion items in 2023. We hope to see more members visiting this area and becoming more active there in 2024.
2023 Business and Budget Plans/Actions/Goals: We performed well within our planned budget for the year. Holding virtual meetings helped keep expenses down. We completed ‑ and in most cases exceeded ‑ all planned activities/goals on our 2023 Business Plan. We completed and submitted all required ASQ reports/activities on or ahead of the due dates.
2024 Plans: Our 2024 Business and Budget Plans are approved, and our section leadership team is actively working on the planned actions. These include recruiting new members and retaining current ones, providing interesting meetings and site visits, and more. If you have ideas for future meeting topics, presenters, or site visits, please let us know.
Our section operates solely on volunteer support, and I encourage all members to consider stepping up to contribute your time and skills in the coming year! Our continued success relies on our ability to broaden our leadership pool and integrate newer members. There are many ways to contribute and become involved even without taking on an official leadership role. Please reach out if you are interested in opportunities to pitch in. It is truly rewarding and a great way to expand one’s professional network.