We are now well into the new year – I hope it is going well for you, your loved ones, friends, colleagues, and of course your patients if you have a front-facing role in nursing.

I would like to share with you some of the great things KSNA has been working on and will be working on in the coming few months:

In December, KSNA Board President Linda Adams-Wendling and had the opportunity to attend the ANA Leadership Summit Conference in Maryland at the ANA Headquarters. It was an incredibly informative conference, and the Executive Directors and Presidents from our Constituent State Nurses Associations were able to glean valuable information to bring back to our states at the conference. Expert speakers and 4- to 6-member panels presented at the conference on a variety of topics, including the top insights from the 15th annual MGI Membership Marketing Report, focusing on the membership journey, leading trends in association membership, and the drivers for membership growth—including defining a compelling value proposition and maintaining a culture of innovation in nursing. Marketing General Incorporated (MGI) is a firm that partners with associations to raise new membership counts, increase dues revenue, and boost non-dues revenue streams. Also, an author of several books, Sarah Sladek, presented Engaging Future Nurses (Project MZ) to the conference attendees. The presentation provided us with compelling information to take back to our states regarding the changes in how the various generations through time view the world and its workings, more specifically from the viewpoint of what is needed to engage and retain the younger generations in membership associations and organizations. A lot has changed over the years, Sarah provided such great insight into what that means.

KSNA’s Legislative Committee’s Legislative Advocacy Conference Planning sub-committee and KSNA’s Lobbyist have continued their diligent work in bringing KSNA’s first-time-in-20 years Nurses Day at the Capitol to fruition! Please make plans to join us on the afternoon of March 13th! We are sending the invitation to nursing schools in Kansas as well and are hoping to have a great turnout from nursing students as well. Our MSD Events staff recently emailed the brochure regarding the specifics of the Legislative Conference, which will include not only the Nurses Day at the Capitol event, but also an excellent CE offering that will be available On-Demand from March 1 through March 31. The On-Demand presentations will cover information related to important legislative topics. It’s great stuff! Also, in the legislative realm, I wanted to let everyone know that KSNA’s Advocacy Tool Kit is now available for members to utilize online. The Legislative Committee’s Tool Kit sub-committee did an amazing job in getting our association’s Advocacy Tool Kit up and running just in time for the 2024 Legislative Session! Please check it out when you have some time. There is excellent information available in the Advocacy Tool Kit regarding nurses advocating for nurses from a legislative perspective in Kansas.

KSNA’s Board of Directors will be holding their New Board Member Orientation in Topeka on January 27th from 9 am – 1 pm; the first board meeting of the year will begin at 1 pm. The Membership Committee has been meeting each month to discuss a number of items, including the Member-Get-A-Member Campaign. We have had several members refer new members to us and we are very thankful to you for that! Two free annual memberships will have been awarded by the time you receive the Kansas Nurse for the members whose referrals resulted in the highest number of new memberships. The Membership Committee is continuing to decide on the specifics of how we will proceed with the Member-Get-A-Member Campaign throughout 2024, so please keep the sharing our great association with others and be sure to have them include your name on the referral line of the application. While we won’t be awarding annual memberships beyond those awarded for November and December referral winners, we are discussing plans as a committee for some type of prize for the most referrals as a ‘thank you’ going forward.

So much more is happening at KSNA than I can include in this article, so please be sure to read your emails—they contain pertinent information about the activities taking place through and for the great members of KSNA. As always, please reach out to me with any questions or comments that you may have. Until next time, stay safe, healthy, thankful, and humbled knowing you are a part of the most respected profession in America!

All my best,
Dana