Dear APRA-Carolinas Members:

On behalf of our organization’s Board of Directors and the members of our Communications Committee, I welcome you to the new APRA-Carolinas blog. For those of you who are, like me, long-time members of this community, you may remember a time when we communicated primarily by newsletter….and I’ve been around so long, that I can remember when the newsletter was a hard copy, printed and mailed! Today, our communications are in step with the times, and this blog on the APRA-C website is one way in which we’re updating how we can readily share information with each other.

In general, we hope you’re regularly visiting the APRA-Carolina' website; there you will find information on who’s leading our organization, a schedule of events and meetings, information about job openings and resources used in our work, and, perhaps most important, contact information for your fellow APRA-Carolinas members, so that we can more easily interact with each other, support one another and share information that can help each of us to work more effectively and efficiently.

As we move forward with our new blog, we anticipate you may eventually see lots of different types of information shared in this space, from opinion pieces and writings that share thoughts and ideas about our profession to case studies that detail others’ experience from which we can inform decision making in our own research offices. We've gathered a team of volunteer writers who come from research operations large and small and in different types of organizations; our plan right now is that they’ll be sharing, at least once a month, information with you that they think you’ll find interesting, entertaining and helpful. And though we have a group of volunteer writers, we welcome submissions from anyone in the APRA-Carolinas community who has information she/he wants to share; simply contact me or one of the members of the Communications Committee to participate (our contact information is on the website). We plan on soon sending a short survey to the membership to also ask for your input into what topics we should address, so you’ll also have an opportunity there to tell us what you’d like to see in this space.

Among the things I've enjoyed about being a part of the Prospect Research community is observing how giving a community it is; read the responses to questions and requests for help on PRSPCT-L, watch how many hands go up at an APRA International Conference workshop when a colleague asks for assistance or guidance, or reach out and directly contact an individual colleague at another institution or organization and see if you don’t get, as I always have, a warm welcome and a helpful exchange of information. As APRA-Carolinas continues to change and grow, I hope we continue to also grow in our local chapter that sharing and supportive community, and I believe our communications with each other play a big role in making sure that happens. So I invite you to visit this space regularly and join us in the conversations here!

Tania