Dear COPAS Members and Prospective Members,
Membership in COPAS of New Orleans is just the beginning of tremendous opportunities in our dynamic industry. Your membership provides educational and networking advantages, along with the opportunity to participate in establishing guidelines and procedures utilized in the oil & gas industry.
September begins our 2006-2007 year, and with that comes renewals and applications of membership. Attached you will find a membership information form/application, a schedule of meeting dates and an invoice for membership dues. If you prefer, an online membership application is available for you to fill out or download from our website, www.copasnola.org. Our forms may be reproduced and distributed to prospective members who can also take advantage of this local and national membership. Please return the information form and payment by September 15, 2006.
This year we are raising the membership dues from $210 to $230 per member. We regret the need to do this, but we continue to experience rising costs. The national COPAS assessment fee has increased $20 per member and luncheon costs have risen. Rather than cut back on the quality or the frequency of our activities, the Board has chosen to increase our dues by $20. We hope that this doesn't present an undue burden on any of our members, for without you, our society would not exist.
This year, our main focus will be on rebuilding. Rebuilding our lives, our homes, our community, and our organization. We have lost approximately 30 percent of our membership due to relocations after Hurricane Katrina. We therefore, are kicking off an all-out membership drive. We seek your assistance in this endeavor. We ask that each of you try to sponsor one new member. Just think, if everyone does that, our membership will be doubled quite easily. Feel free to bring your prospective member to our September general membership meeting (with no guest fee) so they can “try us out”. They will be able to meet other society members, eat a good meal, hear an interesting speaker, and have a great COPAS experience before officially joining.
In addition to our regular lunch forum, we hope to offer technical sessions with the opportunity to earn CPE credits in the upcoming year. However, our Education Chair position is vacant at the moment. If anyone would be interested, please call me for more information.
We, the board, will be working hard along with you to keep the New Orleans Chapter of COPAS a vital link to the industry. Please do not hesitate to call upon any one of us. We encourage your active participation throughout the year for the betterment of our profession, individual companies and the petroleum industry.
Be sure to visit www.COPAS.org to keep abreast of national information and our local website, www.copasnola.org. If you have any questions, please give me a call me at (504) 728-6124.
Sincerely,
Barbara Giangrosso
President
