As our annual TLA conference in Houston quickly approaches, I want to again remind every vendor representative (whether you are yet a member of TLA or not) about our annual business meeting/luncheon on Thursday, April 3 at 12:00PM. WE NEED AND REQUEST YOUR PRESENCE at this year’s meeting, and we are doing everything possible to encourage your attendance by making it easy to do so. We will also have TLA application forms available at our business meeting.

First, our meeting will be held in the exhibit hall in the Exhibitor Lounge, so you will not have to leave the convention center. Secondly, by having our meeting during the regular lunch hour when booth traffic is slower, nobody will have to make an early morning 8:00 AM meeting time, which has been difficult for many in the past.

We apologize to those who must attend the Bluebonnet Luncheon, which coincides with our business meeting, but this time was really our only option. Have other thoughts for next year? Come to our meeting and be heard. (For those companies with multiple reps attending the Bluebonnet Luncheon, we sincerely hope one rep may be able to attend our TPALS meeting.)

As stated, this year’s meeting will be a luncheon format, which we have not tried previously. For a nominal $10 payable at the door, TPALS will provide lunch as detailed herein. While $10 will not cover the entire cost of the lunch, TPALS will cover the remaining cost. But, feel free to make a donation to assist in the overall cost of the luncheon if you are able and would like to do so. Meanwhile, we must have an estimate of attendees for our meeting to coordinate in arranging food with the convention caterer. Your lunch selection:

Please take just a moment (yes, right now!) to RSVP via the link provided to our TPALS Secretary, Pam Weinberg. PWeinb9903@AOL.com All we need to know is:

Hopefully, those of you who are not yet members of TLA or TPALS may now begin to see the importance of becoming a member as we strive to become a more vital and active support organization to TLA as well as those issues important to the vendor community as a whole. Please remember that TPALS is the only professional association to represent your concerns to TLA. Without an active membership, we cannot exist as an effective professional organization.

To become a TPALS member you need only to join TLA, a nominal $30 annual fee, and then designate TPALS as your professional support round table of choice. There is no other fee required to become a TPALS member. All this is easily accomplished through online application at: http://www.txla.org/html/memoptions.html. If you have been a TLA and/or TPALS member previously but have not yet paid your dues for 2003, please take this as a reminder to do so as soon as possible. A current TPALS membership directory will be posted to our TPALS website shortly: http://www.txla.org/groups/tpals/index.html