The West Houston Association held its Rising Leaders Mini-Retreat and Committee Chair Luncheon on the last week of January 2020. Both meetings resulted in attendees leaving with engagement plans and newer ideas to better the West Houston Association and Greater West Houston.
Heath Melton, WHA’s Chair, and Auggie Campbell, WHA’s CEO, kicked off the Committee Chairs’ luncheon by reviewing organizational goals and updates. WHA’s committee chairs and vice-chairs broke into small groups to focus on committee purpose, membership, programming, resources, and initiatives. Among ideas were suggestions for the 2020 WHA Development Map, an online master calendar, and newer practices for events, to include researching industry needs and bringing in industry experts to address them in upcoming forums.
Committees met back up with their vice-chairs to start work on committee 
engagement plans. Committee chairs provided 3-minute “pitches” highlighting their engagement plans for 2020. Ideas included ways to boost committee activity and cross-promoting events, an initiative introduced by Heath Melton, Chairman of the Board. Melton also discussed the creation of a new “WHA Ambassador” program, which will create opportunities for committee members to play a larger role in WHA’s mission.
During the Rising Leaders Mini-Retreat, Class 3 and 4 attendees received an overview of the ideas that came out of WHA’s Board retreat, including a new diagram on how WHA members, including Rising Leaders, can progress in WHA’s organizational framework. WHA Staff, Tricia Brasseaux, and Class 4 members discussed ideas for programming, including field trips and class projects. Rising leaders learned about mentorship opportunities and organizational progression. Ideas for venues for graduation, such as the Memorial City Tower, and upcoming events were also discussed.
The Committee Chair Luncheon was hosted at the MetroNational Training Center on Monday, January 27th at noon and the Rising Leaders Mini-Retreat was held on January 31st at 7:30am.
