Hello Kansas Auctioneer Friends,
Wow, how this year has flown by. It’s hard to believe the holidays are coming and soon I’ll be finishing up my year of presidency. It’s been a great ride and I am so thankful to be having this experience and be working with an incredible Board of Directors.
Just last week, we conducted a board meeting and our Annual Livestock Auctioneer Championship. It was a fierce competition. Congratulations to Russele Sleep, our new champion. We had 12 contestants and the contest was conducted at the Emporia Livestock Auction. This committee included Wayne Wischropp, Charly Cummings, Justin Banzhaf and Mike Bailey. These men did a great job and represented our association well.
I am excited to announce to the membership that not only are we completely in compliance with our state and federal taxes, but we also recently received the news that the KAA officially has our non-profit status current and active. Last year we encountered some issues regarding our status and taxes due to reporting changes and have been working tirelessly to come in compliance ever since. We now look to the future as we are in good standing and a strong association. Our membership is climbing, our value in membership is growing, our financials are strong and it’s a great time to be a member of the Kansas Auctioneers Association. I would like to thank Cindi for embracing this challenge as she joined our association and guided us through it.
We are currently gearing up for Winter Convention, it is right around the corner. It will be held January 22nd-25th at the Drury Broadview Plaza in Wichita. This historic hotel has been recently renovated and has gorgeous views of the river. We are excited to have Paul C. Behr, CAI, BAS (Past NAA President and Past IAC Champion), Christie King, CAI, AARE, BAS (Past NAA President) and Mike Brandly, CAI. We plan to have sessions on auction law, benefit auctions, competitive auctioneering and many other topics for our wide variety of auction professionals. Please review the schedule which is also in this edition of the Sunflower. I’m confident there is something for everyone. Register early for the early bird special!
Also at the Winter Convention will be the preliminary round for the Kansas Auctioneer Championship and a Rookie Bid-Calling contest. Challenge yourself to enter. It’s a challenge for personal improvement and has side benefits of comradery with contestants and a great time. I’m looking forward to seeing some of the outstanding auctioneer talent that we have here in Kansas.
I hope to see you all in Wichita this coming January. I am available at any time to members with questions or concerns and am honored to serve this year as your President.
