Help your marketing career by joining the Triangle AMA trade association board

Savvy networkers know that volunteering with a trade association is a great way to help your career, especially if you’re in marketing. You can give back to the community and help yourself — but it’s up to you to take that first step.

If you’re in the marketing industry in the Raleigh area (or relocating to the Triangle in the near future), I’m recruiting volunteers to join the Collegiate Relations committees on the Triangle AMA board. And if you’re not interested in the new scholarship program, student engagement, or collegiate-professional events, TriAMA has other volunteer positions available, too.

Ready to get involved? Please call or email, and mark your calendar for Collegiate Relations committee meetings (2nd Tuesdays at 6pm at the hesketh.com office in Raleigh, NC, and via Google Hangout video conferencing).

Want to learn more? Read on!

What we’re going to do this year

I joined the Triangle AMA board as VP of Collegiate Relations under new President Ted Seward. We’re focusing on three areas for Collegiate Relations in 2012-2013:

1. Scholarship Program
2. Collegiate Engagement
3. Joint Collegiate-Professional Events

We’ll award $5,000 in scholarships to Triangle-area students. We’ll connect with college and grad students in the area, including AMA collegiate chapters. And we’ll organize a signature spring event to better connect students and professionals.

I need your help in three areas

To achieve our goals in 2012-2013, I’ve created three committees — Scholarship, Collegiate Engagement, and Collegiate-Professional Events. I need your help in meeting our three goals:

1. Award our first scholarships by June 30, 2013.
2. Connect Triangle AMA with marketing-minded students at collegiate AMA chapters in the Triangle.
3. Organize a signature collegiate-professional event to occur in spring 2013.

1) Scholarship Committee

The Scholarship committee will create our Triangle AMA scholarship program, recruit sponsors (endowed and pass-through), and award our first scholarships in spring 2013. The Scholarship Chair is long-time volunteer Anna Rzewnicki from NC State.

We’re recruiting Scholarship committee members. It’s a great opportunity for you to create something new and leave a legacy in the Triangle marketing community.

2) Collegiate Engagement Committee

The Collegiate Engagement committee will communicate with Triangle collegiate chapters. We’ll also reach out to marketing programs that don’t currently have AMA collegiate chapters.

The Collegiate Engagement Chair position is currently open, and we’re also recruiting committee members. It’s a perfect match for people who recruit new employees at work, or who want to help students develop in their careers.

3) Joint Collegiate-Professional Events Committee

The Joint Collegiate-Professional Events committee will organize a signature event this spring to connect students and professionals. The Collegiate-Professional Events Chair position is currently open, and we’re also recruiting committee members.

The committee chair gets to drive what our first event becomes, and to expand to more events in future years. If your friends make fun of you for being “too organized,” this might be a great match.

Benefits: Why marketing folks should volunteer with Triangle AMA

In the immortal words of the Triangle AMA’s “Why Volunteer” page:

Volunteers are the power behind any successful association. Attain or brush up on skills, expand your professional potential, and network with your peers — learn about opportunities and become a volunteer!

Develop Competencies

• Attain transferable skills for career development
• Try out different skills
• Exercise leadership, problem-solving, and creativity

Obtain Knowledge of Work Environments

• Explore careers
• Acquire a sense of career direction
• Determine if an interest is temporary or long-lasting

Personal Development

• Gain confidence and self-esteem
• Fulfill your need to achieve
• Meet new people

Networking

• Make new contacts to locate jobs
• Have fun!

Ready to volunteer with Triangle AMA, or want more information?

If you’re a Triangle AMA member or a member of a collegiate AMA chapter, you’re eligible to volunteer. If you aren’t a member yet, you can join online. We have big discounts for college students and recent graduates.

• Want to volunteer on a Collegiate Relations committee (Scholarship, Collegiate Engagement, or Collegiate-Professional Events)? Let’s talk.
• Mark your calendar now — Collegiate Relations committee meetings are after work on the 2nd Tuesday of every month (a week after the exec board meeting). The next meeting is Tuesday, August 14th, at 7pm in Raleigh, NC.
• Want to volunteer elsewhere in the Triangle AMA? Read about current opportunities and fill out the volunteer registration form.

Question: What’s been your experience working with trade association boards? You can leave a comment by clicking here.

Tagged as: career advice, marketing, trade associations, Triangle AMA, volunteering