Fellow IPMS Members, 

Happy Presidents' Day! We are all looking forward to a new year for IPMS/USA including the much-anticipated National Convention in Madison Wisconsin July 17-20. 2023 was a challenging year for IPMS/USA for a variety of reasons. But it was also a year of some significant accomplishments. Here are some things we did as a society that we can all be proud of.

• We have initiated the first ever IPMS/USA scholarship program, thanks to the generosity of the Forehand family. The Ralph Forehand Scholarship will award up to two $500 education scholarships per year to IPMS/USA members or their children. The first scholarships will be awarded this Spring. Please visit Ralph Forehand IPMS/USA Scholarship Fund for more information.
   
• We would like to extend a big thank you to Len Pilhofer and the entire San Marcos convention team for another record-breaking convention. All of us who attended were greeted with warm Texas hospitality (and much hotter Texas weather)!
   
• Thanks to the hard work of former 2nd VP John Bonanni, we were able to confirm the next two conventions, 2024 Madison WI and 2025 Hampton VA. Madison is coming along very well and promises some new and exciting changes, and Hampton is in the early planning stages with the Hampton Roads Convention Center already contracted.
   
• We have been using the combined capabilities of our membership system and Google Forms to create surveys to learn what our members really want from their Society. You were sent the results of our National Convention survey, and we just completed the Virtual Chapter survey. The responses to these surveys are telling us many things, and we are getting some great ideas for the future. In fact, we are using some of what we learned to increase the opportunities for members who attend the Madison convention to gather informally at social events and to display models outside of the contest. See Nats2024.com for more information.
   
• In an effort to make volunteer and officer opportunities more visible and easier to apply for, we created a new application process opened up to the full membership. You have all received emails about volunteer openings and more recently the Eboard positions of the 2nd Vice President and Secretary. I’m happy to say we had several good candidates for both positions. After interviews we selected Scott Hackney as the interim 2nd Vice President and Jessica Ivancso for the interim Secretary position. Please welcome both of them to the EBoard.
   
• Social media is becoming a bigger part of all of our lives, and certainly played a big role in 2023 for IPMS/USA in both good and bad ways. In order to help us make the most of social media as a society we created a new Director of Social Media position. Thanks to the new application process mentioned above we have selected a highly qualified member as our first Director of Social Media (DSM), Eugenie Ray. 
   
• 2023 also saw the first revision to the Constitution and By-Laws in almost a decade. Due to our new capabilities in online voting we had a larger than usual voting response and overwhelming support for the updates. Thanks to all who participated in the committee to update the Constitution and By-laws, and to all who took the time to vote.
   
• To better support the host chapters who take on the hard work of running our National Conventions we have established the National Convention Steering Committee (NCSC) to make years of convention management experience available to upcoming convention hosts- or to help those thinking about hosting prepare a bid. As our conventions continue to grow and offer more and more to members and guests, the complexity of hosting grows too, so we want to be sure host chapters have the tools and advice they need to do the job.
   
• Behind the scenes we continue to make updates to our systems. A few that we hope are making things easier are:
  • A new credit card processing company selected to improve service to members and integrate the renewal process in our membership system.
  • Improved vendor management for the National Conventions.
  • A new model registration and contest management system rolling out at the Madison convention.
     

Lastly, the most significant part of the IPMS/USA is in the "S" of its name. We are a society of modelers who love to build, research, and most importantly, share our modeling interests with others. Whether it is going to your local club meeting, learning tips and techniques or connecting through social media or hanging out with friends, both old and new, at shows or the National Convention. We want to continue to explore and improve this essential aspect of our society by creating new opportunities for our members to enjoy our hobby together. No matter how or what you love to build.

We’ll continue sending out surveys to learn as much as possible about where the membership wants us to focus our attention in 2024 and beyond. We expect 2024 to be an exciting year for IPMS/USA. We hope you do too.

Thank you for being a member.

Phil Peterson
President
IPMS/USA #8739
IPMSPresident@ipmsusa.org