It was a sunny day as a small but mighty group of COS patriots made their way up the hill to the ‘haunted’ Hassyampa Inn in cool, historic Prescott, AZ. Not only was it the annual planning meeting, but it was an opportunity to socialize and to learn with the Arizona team.
We did pre-work completing the Personality Traits Profile, and DC Randy Frank kicked off the session with an explanation of Meyers-Briggs and the insights that can be gained from each person’s profile. It was fun, and as you can imagine, we referred to our own and each other’s types all weekend.
One of the main topics of the day was a renewed focus on coalitions. Mark Spoon, Texas Coalitions Director, joined us by Zoom to explain how to create a successful coalition structure within the organization to address critical issues that require special attention and significant effort. Pam Tittes then spoke to us about how she is building the AZ Veteran’s Coalition and the successes she’s had in the past year.
We finished off the session with a legislative review from Marty Brown, our very experienced Legislative Liaison. Marty was also instrumental in coordinating COS with the AZ Free Enterprise Club to prevent the “AZ Free & Fair Elections” initiative (AZ version of HR1) from becoming a ballot proposition. Thank you Marty!
Pizza and concert on the green was next in the courthouse plaza. Well, it was actually pizza on the green and then the monsoon suddenly rolled in and we all got wet!
Ginny Rapini started off our second day by Zoom with a great session on COS culture and servant leadership. Ginny is such a role model and we all love her! She was followed by Dwayne Hull, our State Director, who showed us how the District Captains are the backbone of COS. Next was Bart Anderson, State Grassroots Coordinator. He talked about the importance of growing the grassroots and gave us tips to help us in our quest. David Keckta, our new Communications Coordinator, sent a video with his plans going forward.
Our next guest was Andrew Barkman, National Block Walking Coordinator, via Zoom. He has a very interesting approach to creating teams through block walking. We saw that it’s a great way for inactive or new Volunteer Activists to get involved. It doesn’t require much training and is not difficult, and can serve as a great introduction to COS. His message was to buddy up and get busy!
Kevin Fuhrman and Dave Wardle were up next and showed us a sample town hall. Mike Kapic, former State Director, followed with a Zoom presentation on countering the myth of a runaway convention. As Mark Meckler said, Mike is likely the premier expert on historical conventions in the US, and his session was very interesting.
One of the highlights of the summit was a Zoom appearance by Mark Meckler. Fifteen minutes was scheduled, he spoke for 50 minutes and every moment was amazing. He spoke of the history of Arizona COS and how difficult it was to become a passed state, among many other topics. He is a great leader and we appreciate the time he took to speak with us and answer our questions.
Finally, Dwayne Hull recognized individuals who went above and beyond with Patriot Pins and Certificates.
The final event was a team dinner. It was sad to see our time together end, but we all learned a lot and had a great time.
Special thanks to Brenda Karlin, Passed States Regional Director, who flew in from Florida to attend. We appreciate her leadership and voice of practicality, and it was great to meet in person.
Thank you, Dwayne, David Wardle, and Bart Anderson, for setting up the summit, and to all of the attendees and contributors, as nothing is better than face-to-face. I would recommend this itinerary as a best practice for setting up state planning sessions. Link to Agenda
