IGHS51 - InfoCon2024 Recap with Vice Chair, Cindy Chmura

Jim Merrifield (00:01.182)
Hello and welcome to the InfoGov Hot Seat I'm your host Jim Merrifield and with me today is Cindy Chmura Welcome Cindy!

Cindy Chmura (00:09.581)
Hi Jim, how are you today?

Jim Merrifield (00:11.584)
I'm great and I'm even better that I get to interview you on the hot seat this episode. I know we have lots to talk about. So let's get to know you a little better. Would you like to kick us off and provide a brief introduction of yourself, your current role and one fun fact about yourself?

Cindy Chmura (00:30.531)
Certainly, thank you for having me here. My name is Cindy Chmura I am the Vice Chair of the ARMA International Board of Directors. I'm also an advisor on the ARMA International Educational Foundation Board of Trustees, and also the board liaison for the Chapter Advisory Committee, which is the committee that provides guidance and support to our chapters. I joined ARMA back in 1996, so that's what, 28 years ago?

and like many members was appointed or voluntarily told to a local board position at the first meeting I attended. I initially joined the ARMA of Detroit chapter and am now a member of the Statewide ARMA of Michigan chapter after the three Michigan chapters merged last year. So I want to give a nice shout out to my fellow Arm of Michiganders. And in addition, since you've got me Jim during Rivalry Week in the State of Michigan and being a Michigan State alum, go green.

Jim Merrifield (01:25.13)
awesome.

Cindy Chmura (01:26.075)
My fun fact is I grew up in the Chicago suburb of Schauburg, Illinois, and I was a baton twirler. And so I am a past State of Illinois baton champion and also a former Miss Majorette of Illinois pageant winner. So feel free to hit me up if you're seeking any assistance with your window washing or interviewing skills. I'm happy to help.

Jim Merrifield (01:46.914)
That's great. See you learned. I'm telling you this question. Fun fact, you learned some wild things about the people that are interviewed on this podcast. That's great. Maybe we can integrate that and it's in the next conference. Who knows?

Cindy Chmura (02:01.047)
Maybe I can be the talent part of the keynote. You just, you never know what's gonna happen.

Jim Merrifield (02:06.274)
Absolutely. I wish I had this conversation like a couple of weeks ago.

Awesome. So great, Cindy. Thanks so much. So now we're fresh off of Infocon 2024. We've gotten plenty of sleep. I think we're well rested after being in Houston. It was a great event. But what were your key takeaways from the event?

Cindy Chmura (02:28.867)
Sure. The key takeaways that I have is like logistically for starters, I love the proximity of the hotel to the convention center, which was perfect for attendees like me who like to be a five minute walk from my hotel room and the conference itself. And while that doesn't help with my daily step count, as each day of conference progresses and I'm up a little bit later each night, I welcome any opportunity for an additional 15, 20 minutes of sleep.

And of course, the location of the VRC welcome party being right across the street as well this year from the host hotel and the convention center was extremely convenient. You know, I realize also that, you know, there can be some false illusions from an attendance perspective based on the venues we have in the rooms people are sitting in. But I am here to report out that our registration does continue to increase. In fact, I understand it's actually gone up 20 % from last year.

which is wonderful to see us trending upwards to our pre-pandemic numbers. See, I also attended, well, I said, the pre-conference sessions, right? So as the board liaison for the chapter advisory committee, I got to sit in on the volunteer leadership training. And I was excited at the energy and the passion in our leaders who volunteer their time and talents to serve our association.

I got to hear a lot of sharing of both chapter wins and challenges. And there was just a really engaging group of leaders in attendance this year. So again, I really appreciate them taking the extra day out of their schedule to attend and hopefully they got out of this as much as they put into it. I obviously couldn't attend all the industry groups, you know, being with the tight schedules and trying to be in many places at one time. But from what I observed, they were all very well attended. And depending on what industry you're in,

and the schedule of events, those of us who span across more than one industry, we were able to participate in two sessions this year, which was really helpful for me being part of both legal and IT. I got to participate in both instead of just one. A surprise for me, I have to say, was I was taken back by the attendance at this year's first time attendee orientation, which both you and Nate spoke at. I mean, it was a standing room only event.

Cindy Chmura (04:48.375)
which was awesome to see so many of these first timers and I hope to see them in our future conferences. In fact, I even ran across a first time attendee from the state of Michigan. He's actually from my own ARMA Michigan chapter. And he stood out like a sore thumb in Texas. He was rocking the Detroit Lions, Honolulu Blue, when we were all representing our favorite sports team, which is not a common sighting outside of the state of Michigan, I will say. So I approached him and sure enough,

He's a new member of the Arma of Michigan chapter. And so now, you we both made new friends. We've added to each other's network. And it's kind of comical to have to travel so far to meet somebody you live so close to, but that's just the remote and hybrid world we live in these days. So I, it was great to find somebody from back home and meet with them. But for me personally, Jim, there was a different vibe at this year's Infocon as a whole, as I viewed it from a different angle.

not only being an executive on the board of directors, but I'm also somebody looking for a new business opportunity. So in the past, I would participate in networking events and I would help people connect with each other. I would help bridge gaps and even help people find jobs at my former employer. But this year, suddenly I was the one who is in need of assistance and the ARMA community, I dare call ARMA family like many do, couldn't have been more supportive to the cause.

And I really got to appreciate the networking opportunities differently. And I returned back to Detroit last Thursday feeling extremely grateful and just really excited for what might lie next for my own personal chapter. So again, it was really nice to see the many angles of networking and the value that it adds. But a very close second and equally exciting was sharing the stage with you and being able to announce this year's awards at the closing ceremony.

Jim Merrifield (06:41.73)
Thank

Cindy Chmura (06:45.655)
You know, seeing so many long standing and some new ARMA of friends receiving the awards and from where I was standing, you know, catching a glimpse of their smiles as they walked up the stairs behind me to accept the award from you and just sharing and the pride they felt was, it was just infectious. There was such a great vibe in the room when these, you know, hard earned and well deserved awards went out. A few of them have since reached out and said it meant a lot to have me announce their name.

which really warms my heart and again, really illustrates the connections and the community feeling that we have at ARMA, whether it's a local chapter, you know, working on a committee with somebody, being part of a panel with them or just meeting them once or twice or three times a year at our conferences. We really do have a positive impact on each other.

Jim Merrifield (07:36.662)
Yeah, for sure. I mean, it was great to share the stage with you, Cindy, and all the awards that we were able to give out to our members that have worked so hard over the years in this past year. And you mentioned the first time attendee reception. I mean, that was a packed house, standing room only, like you mentioned, and a lot of first timers, a lot of young faces, maybe newbies in our industry. So that's really exciting.

And we'll see where that takes us. So there's a lot to be excited about from Infocon 2024 and definitely appreciate your takeaways. I know we could talk for hours about these takeaways. so let's look ahead to 2025. What are you most excited about? I know there's lots to be excited about, but what are you most excited?

Cindy Chmura (08:32.907)
Yeah, there is a lot to be excited about with the association. And depending on who you ask, you know, from a board position, a committee position as a person, you know, me myself, what am I looking forward to is, you know, a new year is bringing a new database to help the ARMA staff and the chapter leaders be successful in their roles. There's a new website, which everyone will benefit from and new logos. And, you know, people are

questioning why a new logo, why now, what's going on, what is the importance? And I don't know if everybody knows this, but if you Google ARMA, there are quite a few ARMA organizations that exist. And with no disrespect towards any of the other ARMAs out there, it would really be unfortunate for people trying to locate our association and confuse us with each other. So this is where the importance of the brand recognition and the standardization

helps us become one association and one community, if you will. We want to make sure our members see us for who we are. And don't confuse us with the Asphalt Roofing Manufacturers Association. I think another one I saw was the Army Maintenance Application, which thank you for your service, but that's not what we do. So I look forward to the New ARMA website, New ARMA Look.

as everybody rolls out their logos, which if I remember correctly, will all be in place by February 2025. And I also think our continued involvement with the AIEF in regards to promoting the professional development and higher education, as well as being able to offer scholarships for our members is going to be another exciting area that continues to evolve. And coming off a conference, I would be remiss to not be looking ahead to our next conferences, of which we have three.

We've got three great conferences beginning with InfoNext in Savannah, Georgia in April. The following month we've got ARMA Canada in Montreal, Quebec in May. And then InfoCon's going to be in Phoenix next October. And I believe Danny from VRC on a recent episode just shared that VRC has been waiting for an opportunity for a specific themed welcome party in that part of the U S. So we have a lot to look forward to in 2025 from the industry wise, from a conference perspective.

Cindy Chmura (10:52.039)
And really our future is bright and I just continue to be so appreciative of and in awe of all the volunteer time and talents we have contributing to our ARMA success.

Jim Merrifield (11:02.754)
Yeah, 100%. I couldn't have said it any better. I mean, we have a lot to look forward to. Branding is certainly something that's very important. you're right. Danny is really pumped up about that party in Phoenix. He certainly wet our appetites, I think, on his last, it was episode 50, the last podcast about what that's going to entail. He wouldn't give me any hints, but we'll see if we can pry some of the hints out from Danny.

over the course of early 2025.

Cindy Chmura (11:35.373)
Well, Danny and VRC always set the bar very high with their welcome parties. They're very well received and everybody looks forward to them. So yeah, with the teaser he dropped, mean, minds are just going a mile a minute trying to see how they're going to top themselves in Arizona.

Jim Merrifield (11:49.142)
Yeah, no, absolutely. And again, listen, Cindy, right? It's great being on the board with you. we have a lot of work to do, but we do all have fun as well, right? We're all part of a great industry. And we get to collaborate with each other and learn from each other. And that's what our networking and relationships in our industry and ARMA is all about. So thanks for.

for sharing your insights into 2025. So I know we've talked about a lot here. We could continue to talk for like hours, like I mentioned, but is there anything else you'd like to share with the audience before I let you go?

Cindy Chmura (12:31.775)
That's pretty much it. I like I said, I'm just really grateful for everybody's continued support of the association. we've had a lot more volunteer opportunities open up with committees throughout the past couple of years and a lot of takers for people to serve on these committees to get more involved. And like any good organization, you get out of it what you put into it. And so it's really nice that everybody has such a good positive outlook on the association and wants to be involved. So again, just thank you to everybody out there for

continuing to renew their membership, recruit new members, get involved, and just thank you.

Jim Merrifield (13:08.265)
sure and we're growing. got lots to do. Yeah, for sure. So, so yeah, if you'd like to be a guest on the InfoGov Hot Seat like Cindy here, all you gotta do is submit your information through our website InfoGovHotSeat.com. This is the first of several episodes takeaways from InfoCon 2024. So, stay tuned. With that, you'll have some

some episodes of maybe some business partners, some speakers, maybe even some board members as well. So we're gonna continue the conversation, so to speak, from Houston. And again, I just wanna thank everyone for listening today to the episode today and also to Cindy as well for taking the time out of her busy day to share her insights and takeaways with our community.

Cindy Chmura (13:57.731)
Thank you for having me. Take care.

Jim Merrifield (13:59.392)
You got it. Take care, Cindy.