On April 22-24, 2008, President Sherry Farson, Alice Moore, and Chris & Cheryl Kinberger attended the 2008 Southeast Regional Conference in Sevierville, TN.

We had a great time throughout our conference stay. Joanne Schuetz and the Knoxville FF chapter did an excellent job with all the arrangements. The Oak Tree Lodge Conference Center was in an excellent location and perfect for the conference. During the three day conference we dined on a prime rib dinner and very tasty buffet lunch. The group Boogertown Gap provided excellent entertainment with their Old Time Appalachian Music.

Our opening speakers, Brenda McCroskey & Scott King from the Chamber of Commerce and Mayor Bryan Atchley, set the tone for a great experience that was to come.

On day two, Patti George of Groups by Design provided valuable insight into traveling for a successful exchange, and Dr. Bernard Strenecky, a Western Kentucky University professor, gave excellent thought provoking ideas on introducing a public service project into an exchange.

It was great that our FF President, Dr. George Brown, was able to attend and speak to the group. He also made himself available during the conference with one on one discussions and answering of questions.

During the conference, the workshop presenters did a good job and presented a large amount of valuable and useful material. We all learned a great deal from them. Cheryl was especially interested in Tom Laggy’s "Inbound Exchange Director" program, and left with some useful information.

The conference also incorporated free time into the schedule which gave us an opportunity to talk to the other members and catch up on what’s been going on with them and their chapters. It was nice to sit back and socialize a bit.

We don’t know how the organizers squeezed so much into such a reasonably priced package but they did it, and we appreciate all their hard work.

The conference ended after a successful three day run, topped off with donated lunches to go.

We know we are leaving out many large and small details in this report, but we just wanted to tell everyone what a great job the FF of Knoxville chapter, and especially Joanne Schuetz, accomplished in planning, setting up and administering the conference.