Howdy to all professional and student members of the Institute of Management Accountants Dallas – Fort Worth Area Chapter aka IMA DFW,
Are you having fun yet? The next IMA DFW chapter event will be a networking social meet-up at Doc B’s near the Dallas downtown Harwood District at 2021 McKinney Ave on Thursday, July 25, from 5:00 PM to 7:00 PM. If you’re feeling confident about being able to attend and you’re reading this President’s Message, then you’re not far at all from the chapter website’s Events page to read more about it. Then, go right ahead and click the RSVP button to let us know we can count you in. These meet-ups are relaxed and casual, but they do call for donning business casual attire. So, for you fully remote DFW-area pros, think about upgrading from PJs to “business casual” for once that week, spruce up with a little cologne or perfume and have some good live conversation with us. Everyone needs in-person interaction from time to time, and you’ll be glad to have gotten out of the work cave for a while. And if you’re already officed in downtown Dallas, you’re practically already there at Doc B’s, so what’s there to think about?
Spoiler alert 1: While we’re speaking of in-person events, our IMA DFW chapter will soon host a half-day in-person CPE event which is en route to becoming scheduled for Thursday, August 22. Stay closely tuned in for this one because August is just around the corner, and the event will be announced soon on the Events page as well.
Spoiler alert 2: How many of our chapter members are based in Fort Worth? I’m not certain about the accuracy of the IMA network directory, but supposedly there’s more than just a handful of IMA DFW members who are based in that lovely city. We aim to find out by hosting our August networking meet-up event in Fort Worth. Stay tuned for an announcement concerning the date and venue of an IMA DFW August networking event. We’re psyched about it and look forward to mingling with the members who call Fort Worth their universe.
The June IMA DFW networking meet-up was fantastic. The IMA DFW chapter shouts loudly “thank you” to Larry Pettit of Carillon® ERP of McKinney, for sponsoring the June social meetup at Thirsty Lion Pub in Las Colinas. A few IMA DFW professional members stopped by for a couple of hours to chat and mix with a couple of the chapter’s administration team members and virtual education presenters.
If you didn’t attend IMA Global’s annual flagship event, you really missed out on inspiration and knowledge depending on how far along you are on your accounting/finance career journey. People are still talking about it because of the engaging and hands-on nature of the live sessions demonstrating the practicalities of Business Intelligence and artificial intelligence. Personally speaking, only one or two of the sessions in that three-day window were theoretical snoozers, and by and large I was very pleased with it all. Everyone is looking forward to next year’s IMA25 conference which will be in Scottsdale AZ in June 2025. IMA Global will probably begin promoting and announcing IMA25 in January 2025. A little further in time you will read more about IMA25 on the IMA Global website as well as here on the IMA DFW chapter website.
The IMA DFW chapter’s administration team is starting to formalize its 2024/2025 plan. Assuming the chapter board and admin team will adhere to my spoiler alerts, it looks like we may be off to a good start for the new IMA fiscal year which runs from July 1 through June 30. I personally am looking forward to a productive chapter year, meeting as many of the chapter’s members and students as possible in person or virtually and helping the chapter in its service mission to members and students.
James Lehman
IMA DFW Chapter President 2024-2025
IMA® (Institute of Management Accountants)
CMA® | It Makes All the Difference