Expanding Our Reach Through Education

It is no secret that NAP’s mission is to teach parliamentary procedure to the world. As this biennium moves ever closer to its conclusion, we have taken intentional steps to ensure that this mission is achieved through as many different methods as possible.

Traditional approaches to this have included unit and association workshops, national webinars, and district conferences . Most of our learning opportunities have been for either those seeking membership or members seeking certification or recertification . While this serves a great many of our members, we can do better .

One of these new approaches includes NAP University . This platform offers a multitude of coursework and programs geared toward all our members (credential and non-credential) and nonmembers with a need to learn more about parliamentary procedure . In the coming weeks, you will begin to see announcements about the first annual NAP Spring Conference . Rather than just offering training at our Fall in-person membership meetings, we will try something new—a Virtual Spring Conference . It’s an opportunity for us to offer additional training for our members, especially members that are unable to attend the membership meetings in the fall . It is my hope that the Spring Conference will become a tradition that members look forward to attending .

The Education Program Exchange encourages units and associations with programming to share with other units or associations who may lack the resources to create their own programs from scratch or lack presenters .

With a grant from the NAP Education Foundation, the Professional Development Committee is working on a new initiative to develop two of our most requested programs to be delivered to the wider membership . The Presiding and Serving (as a parliamentarian) practice labs were quite successful when first offered at our national events and will be offered to Districts and Associations in conjunction with their meetings . The grant will cover the travel and lodging for the facilitators and the districts and associations will provide the venue and setup .

Don’t forget June brings with it our 93rd Anniversary Celebration . Be sure to check your new e-mail and follow NAP on social media for more details as June approaches . As ever, should you have any concerns, comments, or suggestions, I welcome you to reach out to me, any member of the Board, or our headquarters staff . We appreciate your input as we continue to work toward our mission . The educational reformer John Dewey said, “Education is not preparation for life, education is life itself!” It will take all of us to create a world-class education program as we continue the journey, from good to great, together .

Wanda M . Sims, PRP 2021-2023 NAP President