Refocus and Reset

August 2021 – EAA AirVenture Oshkosh 2021 is behind us and what a year it was! We certainly enjoyed interacting with many of you at the Blue Barn and elsewhere throughout the week. After a year off, you’ve finally gotten your “Spirit of Oshkosh” fix and have returned home to carry that spirit back to your chapters for another year. August is a good month to reset, refocus, and channel the energy of AirVenture into planning and preparing for your fall and winter chapter events. Here in the chapter office, we are doing just that as we prepare for the distribution of the chapter service awards, upgrading and testing the chapter online renewal tool, and perhaps most exciting of all, Chapter Leadership Boot Camps and Academies! More details on these is forthcoming so stay tuned!

There is still enough nice weather left in the year (or, depending on your location, perhaps some of the best weather of the year) for you to take advantage of with a fly-in pancake breakfast, Young Eagles rally, or Flying Start event. There are also a number of events that would be great to host as temperatures drop and weather deteriorates. Winter may seem a long way off but it’s not too early to begin planning for something like a Young Eagles Build and Fly Program or a Young Eagles Workshop. Now is also a great time to get speakers for your monthly gatherings for the rest of the year lined up. Be sure to make use of EAA’s Speakers Bureau for this. If you were in the Blue Barn, you saw the collection of creatively decorated chapter Adirondack chairs we have there. Perhaps your chapter could build one of your own over the winter to donate for next year, so your chapter can leave your own mark on the Blue Barn as well. There are plenty of opportunities to share The Spirit of Aviation with your community. Choose one or two and begin preparing today.