China trip

[gromaine3 at comcast.net]

My two cents:

My wife is on the board of directors for the Special Libraries Association, and went on a People-to-People visit to South Africa in 2007. The cost was in the $4800 range for about 12 days, so a little cheaper than the China trip but in the ball park. Overall, she had a wonderful visit, and met many, many professional librarians there. The trip seemed to have a nice balance between touristy stuff (Parliament, Nelson Mandela's jail cell) and serious, business-type stuff. She thought P-2-P did their job and earned their money. She encouraged me to go on the China trip, but it could just be to get me out of the house. 

It looks like for the cost of one participant, about $5,000, STC gets a good return. We send our president, who is always going to be our most able ambassador, to hob-nob with the Chinese and proselytize for our cause. If we get an additional 20 Chinese members who stay in the Society for two years, her costs are covered. Even without a surge in membership, our global messaging gets added luster. 

If it turns out that Ambassadors Group makes a profit, I think that's permitted. I wouldn't want to see them turn around and peddle our membership list, and hopefully there are safeguards against that. Our members are free to pick and choose for themselves, and if the whole effort falls apart, we can try something else. But I do favor reaching out to members who are outside North America, and I think the spirit was right on this one.

-Garret Romaine
Willamette Valley chapter