News From USITT's President:
Members, Take Advantage!
One of my primary reasons for accepting the nomination and subsequent election to this office was to protect and improve the benefits afforded to our members.
When
David Grindle was hired as Executive Director, he and I had
a conversation -- he wanted to know what my priorities were
and how he could assist in accomplishing them. My reply was
that I wanted to improve the quality of membership benefits.
While we enjoy the opportunity to gather and network during Conference activities,
how many of us have really taken advantage of the Hertz Car Rental discount
that has been available to us for as long as I have been
a member and probably longer?
I have done a little research and learned that, at one time, members had
access to insurance through USITT. Apparently there weren’t
enough members who took advantage of the opportunity to make
it worthwhile to maintain as a member benefit, so it was terminated. That
has now changed, with several different types of insurance available through
Fractured Atlas.
Are you aware that as a member of USITT, no matter what level, you have access to a number of discounts from a variety of sources? Have you paid attention to the fact that, since June, three substantial discounts have been negotiated on your behalf?
If you visit the Members Only section of the USITT website, you will find the most current list of discounts available to you. You will find that you are eligible for discounts for books and multi-media; car rentals; employment services; equipment and supplies; magazines and publications; and seminars and classes.
Just
recently discounts were negotiated for our members with Sally Beauty
Supply, Fractured Atlas, and FedEx.
The FedEx agreement should be especially beneficial to those
members who work as freelance designers and need to ship
materials across the country. The enrollment process for
the FedEx program is relatively painless. It took me less
than five minutes and I was done. You can expect final confirmation
within seven to ten working days after initial enrollment.
We are continuously researching new opportunities
for our members to save money and hope to have more in the
near future. If you have ideas or knowledge of businesses that might be
willing to negotiate discounts or benefits for the membership, contact me
at joe.aldridge@unlv.edu or David Grindle at david@office.usitt.org.
Thirteen weeks as President, and beginning to feel really comfortable!
