CSA News Issue 50 Spring 2004 - Winter Information Meetings

Winter Information Meetings

It was quite a journey. After it was all said and done we had stayed in 13 hotels, taken eight flights and transferred our luggage into different vehicles up to six times each, all in the interest of getting out there and meeting snowbirds.

This year was a great one. We followed our format of meet, present, question and entertain at each of the seven venues we visited. The difference this year was the initiative spearheaded by the director in charge of special events, CSA President Gerry Brissenden.

John Bressler can really "keep them in their seats" when he uses duct tape!


Hey guys, this is serious business!		Winter Information Meetings are a great place to share ideas and perspectives		James Sherb, CSA Director from British Columbia working with the members in Yuma, Arizona

We visited our strongholds in Yuma, Arizona and Indian Wells, California, then headed back to Florida to see who we could find there. We have visited the Panama City Beach area for years, but never really found a comfortable venue to run the show. This year we started off the Florida tour at the Boardwalk Beach Resort, and it was a hit.

We headed back to Titusville for the second time and managed to triple our attendance from last year. Stopped by Port Charlotte, where we always have a great crowd, and then we tried something a little different.

CSA Legal Counsel Wallace Weylie helps the membership with "the tricky stuff"

Crystal Gauthier opens up the show at the Florida Winter Meetings

W.I.M. Tour

Seven cities in three states in 28 days. Hundreds of people and sometimes even thousands attend these one of a kind meetings. It is truly a moving experience to start an afternoon with Canadians in corners of America singing
O Canada. The snowbirds join us for a taste of Extravaganza Entertainment, hear presentations from the Canadian Snowbird Association, get a Medipac Insurance Update and pose questions to the panel right from the audience.

Gerry wants us to meet new people, find new members, and go where the CSA has never gone before. So we took a shot at the Harborview Center in Clearwater and The Coliseum in St. Petersburg.

Clearwater was a "great show" (in the words of CSA Treasurer Don Gardiner, who was part of the CSA Information Tour for the first time this year), and the Coliseum is such a fantastic venue we can't help but work on increasing our attendance for 2005.

Be sure to take note of our calendar of Snowbird Special Events for 2004-2005.