PRESIDENT’S PERSPECTIVE

Ithink we’ve officially gotten over the grasp of Old Man Winter and, for many of you, the summer slam is in sight. As the snow melts and the season starts to change, I look back and reflect on our association as we also have changed. I’m pleased with the progress we’ve made so far as we continue to watch things come together.

With the transition to Wisconsin Association Management (WAM), our new association management company, along with a slew of other implementations, we have made some great strides in shoring up our budget. Short- and longterm planning continues to be my top priority over the next several months. While we can all celebrate our shortterm success, we still have a lot of work to do, while ensuring future financial stability, and continuing to strengthen our credibility in the state and Capitol.

The last couple months have kept me busy on the road again: I found myself wrapping up the last of the holiday parties, and continuing to further expand my waistline, and then we kicked off many of your spring caucus meetings.

The eastern side of the state seemed to be my most frequented destination, with multiple trips to the Fourth and Sixth districts, while also making a trip to Sturgeon Bay for its annual Winter Social. Kirk Volkmann, president of the Door County Tavern League, and his group hosted a great event. I even finally broke my losing streak and won a nice bottle of bourbon, which I wasn’t able to taste because I’m pretty sure two individuals from Outagamie County drank it!

During one trip, I decided to break up the monotony of my long drive home and ventured off the interstate. A trip that normally takes five hours turned into a backcountry adventure of 12 hours, where I found myself in many towns I normally would never pass through. Of course, I stopped into a few member establishments to thank them for belonging to our beloved Tavern League. You’d be pretty hard-pressed to pass through any community in this state without spotting either a metal sign, or our shield on the window or door. It exemplifies our footprint, while also showing we are damn proud of who we are and we want to show it!

Aside from in-state travel, my wife and I found our way out to Sin City for the TLW’s annual winter getaway at El Cortez Hotel & Casino. This was my second year attending and, once again, it did not disappoint. Hundreds of members, their families and staff were treated to the red carpet. I would like to thank El Cortez and its staff for their continued support of our association and their wonderful hospitality. If you have not attended in the past, I highly encourage you to consider next year as El Cortez puts together a promotion that is hard to beat.

With a short turnaround, I was in the car jamming to Willie Nelson’s “On the Road Again,” heading to Madison for our 38th annual Legislative Day. As I’ve stated before, this political cycle brought 31 new representatives to our state Capitol, along with many new and emerging issues. We need as many members as possible to help spread our message. We put out the call to action and I’m happy to report it was answered again. I thank all of you who took the time out of your busy schedules to attend. With a great turnout and productive visits to our representatives, our message was heard loud and clear!

We are pushing closer to our Spring Conference & Trade Show in Stevens Point. Planning continues to be in full swing and things are shaping up as we work on some minor changes to help energize the event this year. Registration is open online at tlw.org/spring-conference, or you can also call our office and the staff will gladly help you register. I encourage everyone to preregister to help ensure a speedy check-in and badge pickup.

Remember, if your league is able to donate an item for either the silent or live auction, please do so. (Check out Page 14 for details.) There’s the old saying that “records are meant to be broken” … I’m hoping it happens again this year — with not only attendance, but also political action committee contributions. Either way, I look forward to seeing everyone April 3-6 as we ROCK THE POINT!

Cheers!

Keith Kern TLW President