Even in Southern California, there are signs of fall evoking the question, “where did summer go”? Honestly, I’m not sure. It seems like just a week ago we all left Atlanta, energized from a great event and inspired to embark on a new set of projects. And then just like that…here we are, ready to start a new fiscal year.
While our busy summer may seem like a blur, there are a number of progress points and accomplishments to remind us where the time went. So in true elementary school fashion, I thought it appropriate to give a “what we did last summer” report (or, some of what we did report anyway):

• Planning began (well, continued) for an even bigger and better 2010 Annual Conference (aka The Event). The entire team is working hard, but a special mention to Cindy, Vennicia, and Laura who handle much of the advance work
• Marcus and Mel were busy mapping out and expanding our regional training programs and barista competitions and even though it fell just after the equinox, we’re proud to report a sold-out skill-building workshop in NYC
• Roaster’s Guild Retreat moved to a new location attracting a new crop of inspired professionals to the community
• Ellie Matuszak, Board of Directors, rocked hard putting together SCAA’s new Instructor Development Program (IDP)
• Ric continued to work with the Ethiopian coffee sector, addressing the needs of the specialty coffee industry (meeting scheduled in October, more information will follow later in the month)
• Maria Hawkins was hired as our Membership Services Coordinator and she immediately began organizing and updating our records so members will soon be able to track coursework and certifications on-line
• Tara Shenson joined the team as Marketing Manager and quickly expanded our presence in the social media world, making it easier to access information about various SCAA events and programs
• After suffering a bit from lack of attention, the Golden Cup Award program underwent a make-over including new processes to improve our service levels
• We finalized two new studies – the 2009 Retailer Survey and Roaster Ratio Study
• Mansi led a major database overhaul, shifting to a much more user-friendly and feature-rich system (aka The Member Portal, Avectra, or the Wizard) with a tremendous amount of support from Irma and Adra to clean-up and transfer data as well as streamline our internal processes
• Lily transitioned all resource center items to the new system (in The Store), making it much easier to order on-line
• scaa.org redesigned and re-launched!!!!!