The NACE Board, with support from the Foundation of NACE, is immediately instituting a Membership Dues Support Program for those members who have lost their jobs, have been furloughed or otherwise impacted by the pandemic. All current members will be able to renew their membership at a lower dues amount. In order to obtain this membership rate, please call (410-290-5410), chat at http://www.NACE.net, or email membeship@nace.net. These membership dues rates are additionally eligible for the payment plans.
This program is available to renewing members only.
Members who want to use the support plan are eligible for payment plans.
Members must request the discount code by contacting NACE by phone (410-290-5410), chat (www.nace.net), or at membership@nace.net.
Members who have already renewed and paid are not eligible for a refund however they can renew ahead of time and receive a full year of additional time at the support program dues level.
Members still have a 120 day grace period. Their membership will remain active for 4 months following their expiration date. When they renew, their anniversary remains the same, so a 3/31/2020 expiring member will renew to 3/31/2021.
Members currently on payment plans can retroactively add the dues support.
The dues relief program will run until further notice.
All NACE members are invited to attend the virtual Town Hall on August 20, 2020, at 5:00 PM Eastern.
This annual event will provide an update from the NACE National Board and Foundation of NACE on the state of NACE including strategic initiatives, operating metrics, the ongoing response to Covid-19 and other topics of interest to members. Results from the 2020 NACE National Elections will also be announced.
It’s that time of year when we elect our NACE National Board for the next year! Each year our National Board elections are held in the Summer months at the Annual Meeting during the National Experience Conference which is historically in July or August. The elected board serves a one year term from January to December.
Members should have received an email announcement from NACE National announcing the 2021 candidates, however, you can also find the information here: https://www.nace.net/elections2020/.
The NACE National Board is the governing body of the association to regulate networking opportunities, showcasing for companies, and job opportunities for the community. They set the strategic direction of the association, help monitor progress on initiatives for each chapter, and work to strengthen and help grow our NACE community. The National Board will also give support to newer chapters in how to set up their boards, how to conduct a meeting, etc. And, let’s not forget the awards program! They have provided a platform for all NACE Chapters to showcase their achievements!
The National Board also searches for resources that would benefit individual members that they normally would not qualify for on their own such as rental car rates, shipping, etc. They also focus on certification access, speakers and education, and a central community for our industry. Some of the member resources can be found on the NACE website here: https://www.nace.net/connect/memberbenefits/
Our NACE National Election board is elected by delegates. Each chapter is allotted 1 voting delegate for every 25 Professional Members in good standing. The voting delegates must be NACE Professional members in good standing and not subject to suspension at the time of election and at the time of the meeting. Our DFW NACE Chapter delegates are chosen by the President and are suggested to be a mixture of active members who are attending the National Conference (where the elections are held annually) and board members attending. It’s nice to have a mix of perspectives on the incoming leadership. The delegates will vote on behalf of their chapter and will vote with one voice, meaning they must be in agreement with their voting (per chapter).
This year our DFW NACE chapter delegates are:
Don Mamone (Immediate Past President)
Kimberly Rhodes (President)
Angie Moors (President-Elect)
Lauren Twichell (Vice President)
Jennifer Burns (Treasurer)
Christopher Harmon (Director of Community Service)
Amber Knowles (Director of Communications)
Rebecca Wright (Awards Chair)
Here is a breakdown of the election process: Once the Voting Delegates have been selected, each Voting Delegate is certified and authenticated by the Executive Director (Lawrence Leonard, CAE, CMP) that they meet the qualifications of membership. The ED will then notify each Voting Delegate of their approval as a certified delegate. A printed list of the certified delegates signed by the Executive Director is forwarded to the Governance Committee.
The Governance Committee coordinates election efforts, reviews all potential candidates for elections to ensure they meet the minimum criteria required for each position, and they conduct the election process at Experience Conference where elections take place every year.
The Chair of the Governance committee will appoint inspectors: a Judge and two Tellers – these inspectors cannot be a candidate for office, a certified voting delegate, or assigned as a certified proxy. The Judge and Tellers are responsible for processing & certifying the elections by determining the voting power of the certified voting delegates, the existence of a quorum, the validity and effect of proxies with fairness to all members. The Judge and Teller must be professional members in good standing and appointed (15) days prior to the election.
The Tellers, after collecting and counting the ballots, will determine the result of the election. The judge and tellers will certify and report the results of the election to the chair of the Governance Committee, who will be responsible for announcing the results to the membership. You can find the Governance Committee information on the NACE National website, along with other National Committee information (http://www.nace.net > “About NACE” > “National Standing Committees”).
This year, due to COVID & the postponement of the National Conference, the ballots were mailed to the delegates and a virtual Q&A was set on July 19th. Each delegate is responsible for mailing, faxing, or emailing their ballots to the NACE National office no later than August 17th. The Governance Committee will meet on August 18th to count ballots, and there’s a virtual Town Hall meeting on August 20th at 4:00pm CST where the 2021 Board will be announced.
An email invitation for the Town Hall has been sent to all members, so if you are available to join, please do! You will also hear from our 2020 National Board & Foundation of NACE on the state of NACE including strategic initiatives, operating metrics, and the ongoing response to COVID-19. Log in to your NACE account here to register for the Town Hall.
In 2019 for our Community Service project, DFW NACE provided over 30 students from Project 16 education on how to be successful after High School! We spent the day teaching them the value of networking, dinner etiquette, interview tips, dressing for success and more at Truluck’s in Dallas. After the luncheon event, the students joined our chapter at The Joule for our NACE monthly meeting which allowed them to network with our members and other DFW event industry professionals.
Project 16 is a non-profit organization based in Dallas, Texas, and founded by Jade “Lady Jade” Burrowes. On their website, they state: “Our mission is to equip and inspire youth ages 10-16 to realize the broad spectrum of educational paths and career options available to them beyond what they may see in their immediate surroundings. Through our programs and community partnerships, we seek to offer up-close access, eye-opening experiences, and educational tools to help children and teens aspire higher than their circumstances, and to dream big.”
This community service project allowed our NACE members to be involved in several ways. For our evening monthly meeting, NACE members had the opportunity to sponsor the meeting fee so that each of the students could attend. And also to serve as their mentor and host during the evening by introducing them to other members and professionals, and also making sure they enjoyed their time and understood each part of the program. At the luncheon, our NACE members helped by hosting panel discussions, as well as breakout stations for the students to be able to have interactive education and discussion on various topics that would help them to be better professionals in their future.
After the full day and evening of programs, the Project 16 teens left motivated and excited with all of the new knowledge they learned. Some of the students even received internships from our NACE Members! It was definitely a huge success and extremely beneficial for the teens to learn about things that they don’t have the opportunity to learn about in their school curriculum.
Our 2020 DFW NACE Community Service project is in the works and we can’t wait to share more info about it with all of you soon!
Chris Harmon CEO & Videographer of Harmland Visions and High School Hype DFW NACE Director of Community Service
For active members, it’s important to keep your contact information updated with NACE national so that you will receive communication from our local DFW NACE chapter.
If any of your contact information has changed recently – such as your email, phone number, or mailing address – you will need to update that information with NACE National so that we can update our local DFW NACE roster and member email list. Log in to your account at http://www.nace.net to update your information ASAP and our local roster will be updated. If you are having issues logging in or recovering your password, email chapters@nace.net with your updated information.
As a reminder, if you have created your DFW NACE member directory profile, you can email communications@dfwnace.com to update your information on your profile. And if you don’t have a DFW NACE member profile yet, you can create your own! Just follow the instructions on our Member Directory page.
Our theme this year is DFW’s Got Talent and we are proud to announce that applications are NOW OPEN!
Please put together your best talent video between 2-3 minutes long and email that to fundraiser@dfwnace.com by August 1st. We will put together a panel of judges for the video submissions and will pick 10 to participate in our September competition! We look forward to seeing your submissions!
Once we finalize the 10 participants, the fee will be $75 to perform and all others will be used as commercials in between acts.
The submission fee is $20 to submit a video. All submission fees are a donation to the overall fundraiser.
How long have you been a NACE member?On the board? 5 years a member, 4 years
What is your personal motto? I am the kind of person you can only truly love when I’m dead and gone… Meaning that I have to raise the bar so high and leave an impact so heavy on this earth, that generations after me will mimic the Chris Harmon model.
What is your guilty pleasure? Popping Bottles in the club…. always making bad financial decisions
Which actor or actress would play you in the movie about your life? Omari Hardwick
What does true leadership mean to you? Leadership is being able to lead a team and not having anyone do anything that you wouldn’t do. Constantly demanding greatness and nothing less. Realizing that you don’t have to be a leader because someone said so, but you do it because that’s just who you are.
What is in the trunk of your car right now? A whole bunch of bull…. naw just kidding… but it’s a lot of trash and broken pieces of something. I don’t even think the spare tire is screwed in right.
I am the regional Director of Private Dining for the Truluck’s Restaurant Group. I plan and execute private events that range in size from 8-300 people at our Dallas area locations and am proud to have been happily employed at Truluck’s since 1999. It truly is a dream job. I keep showing up to do work that I love and they keep paying me (which I also love) – what more could I ask? I do not own Truluck’s but they treat me like I do!
How long have you been a NACE member? On the board?
I have been a member of NACE for 10 years (since 2010) and have served on the board in various capacities for 6 years. I served as the Treasurer and most recently as the Awards Chair where my duties are to submit our chapter’s body of work for national award recognition.I am proud that our chapter has won “Chapter of the Year” while I have served in this role.
What is your personal motto?
Two-Twelve It! That is a quick way to remind me to give it my all. This comes from a concept book by Sam Parker called 212 Degrees. It essentially says that at 211 degrees water is very hot but at 212 degrees water boils. With boiling water you get steam. With steam you can power an engine and with an engine you can move mountains. The difference between 211 and 212 is only 1 degree. However, 1 single degree makes ALL of the difference. Can I commit to giving it 212 degrees? You bet I can!
What is your guilty pleasure?
Macaroni and cheese from EatZi’s and sleeping late.
Which actor or actress would play you in the movie about your life?
Because she is one of my all-time favorites, I pick Meryl Streep! If it has to be someone a little closer to my actual age, I pick Debra Messing.
What does true leadership mean to you?
True leadership is leading by example and having an ego-less approach. A true leader cultivates and develops future leaders by providing the appropriate support to allow each to learn and succeed in their own way.
What is in the trunk of your car right now?
A set of Tiffany champagne flutes and my nephew’s stroller. Yeah, I’m that kind of aunt!
At some point in my DFW NACE presidency, I’m going to have the opportunity to send out the traditional and, dare I say, fluffy message that you’re used to seeing from past presidents. It definitely wasn’t my last newsletter, where I focused on Covid-19 and the effects it was having on our event industry. And it certainly isn’t going to be this one either.
There’s no denying that 2020 has been tough. For all of us. And for some members of our community, it hasn’t just been a rough year. It’s simply a life that has been made more difficult because of the color of their skin. Regardless of where you stand on the political spectrum, I think (or dare I say, hope) that we can all agree that our country has a long way to go when it comes to racial equality, fairness, and sometimes just plain decency. It’s a shame that there has to be another trending hashtag in order for the world at large to see what those of us in the black community have known for a long time. Things aren’t equal.
But here’s what I do know…
The Dallas-Fort Worth Chapter of NACE can be a safe space. A place where we can avoid naively saying things like, “I don’t see color” as a way to show solidarity and togetherness, but instead can embrace and celebrate our differences, including race. While it may be well intentioned to think that being blind to color is a good thing, let’s not fool ourselves into thinking our backgrounds and experiences are the same. Our chapter is more diverse than it’s ever been. Ever. And the only way we keep it that way is by fostering a welcoming, inclusive environment. Not just with Instagram messages and Facebook posts.
I want to encourage you to take a look around you. At your friend group. At your children’s friend group. At your network. At your workplace. Surrounding yourself with people who don’t look like you, who don’t worship where you worship, and maybe don’t even love who you love makes us all better. And pretending like we’re all the same, well… that’s so 2019.
I’ll be attending this webinar tomorrow to continue the conversation, “Healing Wounds & Bridging Gaps: An Honest Conversation About Race & Allyship in the Wedding Industry.” I hope you’ll join me.
Kimberly Rhodes Owner & Event Planner at Hitched Events DFW NACE President
A CPCE designation signifies your mastery and knowledge of 8 core competencies as a professional in the catering and events industry. CPCE stands for Certified Professional in Catering and Events. It is a nationally recognized program and you receive the certification through NACE. It truly is the mark of excellence for catering and event professionals!
The 8 CPCE Core Competencies are:
Accounting
Beverage Management
Catering Services
Contracts and Agreements
Food Production
Event Management
Human Resources
Sales and Marketing
I believe that your education doesn’t end after school. Continuing to further your education as a professional is what sets you apart from all the other event professionals out there. The CPCE program allows you to become a trusted events and catering vendor partner and gives you a competitive advantage in the job market.
For me, earning my CPCE is about more than JUST my years of experience and my job title. Having earned my CPCE, I am not only demonstrating my expertise in these 8 subjects of the event industry and food and beverage, but I am also proving to myself, my employers, and my clients that I am an essential and versatile resource when planning and managing an event.
Preparing and studying for the CPCE is definitely something you want to make time in your schedule for. I received my bachelor’s degree from the University of Houston Conrad Hilton School of Hotel and Restaurant Management, so I have had a thorough education in food and beverage safety, policies, and guidelines. But this was over a decade ago! Guidelines and protocols for the catering and events industry have evolved over time. So, I decided to take a Fast Track Course that NACE offers to freshen up my knowledge and I also used the CPCE handbook as a study guide.
On the morning of the test, like anyone else might feel, I was equally calm and nervous at the same time. I knew I was well-prepared, but I was anxious and ready to take the test! I was able to take the test during the NACE Evolve Conference earlier this year that was hosted in Dallas. And sweet Kevin Brant was my proctor.
If you’re interested in receiving your CPCE or you want to learn more, reach out to myself or another board member. As a chapter, we can set up a study group, and plan our own test date in DFW with a local proctor. It’s an incredibly easy process to set this up for our members, and the DFW NACE Board is always happy to facilitate the planning! Also, I want to note, that it was incredibly helpful to have a supportive group of friends and colleagues to study with and to be able to cheer each other on through it all. We were also able to quiz one another!
