The NEACCE Board is currently working on an agreement between State Associations and NEACCE for cross promotion of the State Association Conferences through NEACCE. As each month goes by it seems another state steps up and signs on the dotted line, which is great. Massachusetts, Maine and New Hampshire have signed the agreements so far. The agreements are between NEACCE and the State Associations to help promote workshops offered by the State Associations. The partnership is called the New England Conference Consortium Program. NEACCE will act as a central clearinghouse of State Association conferences, promoting those conferences to chamber executives throughout New England. The goals are identified: State Associations may increase attendance at conferences and workshops; Greater networking occurs at conferences/workshops with a more diverse attendance; More quality programming becomes available to chamber executives throughout New England at affordable prices; A NEACCE central clearinghouse could avoid program duplication and schedule conflicts in New England.

In order to make the Consortium work, NEACCE suggests that participating State Associations simply make registration to their conferences available to members of any other State Association at the same cost. Conference/workshop registration information would be provided to NEACCE, which would then promote to State Associations throughout New England. NEACCE would also maintain a central calendar on its web site for conferences/workshops happening throughout the year.

Individual Chambers must belong to their own State Associations in order to participate.

The NEACCE web site continues to be changed. This newsletter represents the first in a series of changes that will take place over the summer. The overall effort is to allow NEACCE members to find out what is going on in State Associations represented by NEACCE members. The newsletter format is also being revamped for easier reading. The newer look is a second step in a process begun in January when NEACCE contracted with TreeTop Solutions to create a new web-page. The newsletter continues to evolve. Expanded is the area of Speakers and Seminars coming up.

Chambers who have not yet paid their dues have received second notices. A third notice is in the mail. There will be a new online directory which should be easier for NEACCE members to see what others are doing with their homepages. Following that, an effort is underway to get additional information from members about themselves, their areas of expertise, and the communities their chambers serve.

The NEACCE Annual Meeting Conference location and meeting dates have been set. The Annual Meeting Conference will take place at the Andover Country Club, October 24-26, 2004.