Let me begin by saying thank you for allowing me to serve as your President for the year 2009-2010.  Thus far, it has been my pleasure.  This year is lining up to be an exciting one.  I am pleased to see there are many new faces becoming involved in your association. 
   
     Are you prepared?  This was the theme for the 2009 fall convention, held in Kalamazoo, Michigan, October 9-11, 2009.  I wish to begin by taking everyone back eight years ago, when fire destroyed our home.  Let’s ask that question, shall we?  Was I prepared?  Absolutely not.  Not prepared at home, in my office, or my business.  The fire has taught me a lot of lessons, some that have made me completely change the way I live.  Take, for example, captioning.  Ten years ago, if someone had said to me, “Val, you should become a captioner,” my answer emphatically would have been, “No way,” but people can and do change.  With subtle prompting from fellow reporters Becky Russo and Sharon Sweet, once our house was rebuilt and my family stabilized I started to think about that aspect of reporting, captioning.  The thought terrified me.  All of my equipment had been destroyed.  I no longer had a working dictionary, no software, no knowledge of the latest technologies that reporters use every day to efficiently do their jobs.  There was no way in what was that day’s latest in technology could I become a captioner, but, guess what?  I embraced the changes, sat down, pulled open my machine case, started practicing, and worked diligently for nine months to reinvent myself.  Hard work?  Yes.  Extreme changes in technology?  Yes.  Learn a different style of writing?  Absolutely.  Prepared?  Now I am!

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