Heck yes we partied,
but we also learned a lot.
Here is a report from last year that I put on our forum as the activities officer.
It tells all about our 07 trip to P.O.T in Milwaukee.
This year three of us are going to Pittsburgh. See ya there!
Primary Officer Training 07.
We left Thursday morning the 22nd 9:30 am headed toward Milwaukee Wisconsin,
The birth place of Harley Davidson Motorcycles.
It was raining cats and dogs T-Dubb snoozed on and off as he had worked all night and didn’t get any sleep.
It was an easy trip the traffic was not bad and it was real comfy in the leather seats.
We cruised the day and ended up near our destination around 3:30 pm. Since we could not check in till 4:00 pm we decided to stop at Milwaukee Harley-Davidson and get our souvenir T shirts and pins.
As we were going in, we asked a gal to take our Picture who was out front. We went in and did our shopping and then made our way to the Hilton to check in.
After getting a primo parking spot, we went to check in and went through the process with other Chapter Officers from all over the country, WOW was this place nice.
We finally made it up to our room on the 12rh floor, it was a corner room with views from each side of the building.
The room was nicely appointed with all the amenities.
After unpacking and cleaning up we went down to Registration gave them our names and received our name tags, custom leather tote satchels with all the books, fold up cooler, P.O.T. Tee shirts pins and patch’s , we took our new stuff up in the room and then went to dinner .
Since we were walking we decided it would be OK to enjoy a few ginger ales with our dinner, it seemed we sampled pretty much all that "Old Milwaukee" had to offer that night at one place or another, but we were back in our room early enough to rest and get ready for Friday.
Friday morn 23rd:
We awoke at 5:30 and got ready for the 6:30 breakfast call, made our way downstairs and was soon swallowed up by a sea of Harley chapter vests and shirts, from all over the United States.
There were smiles and “Hey where are you guys from” popping up everywhere.
H.O.G. had this thing going ON. just a beautiful layout of yummy foods.
We chatted with other members while we ate, comparing notes on Chapter operations and the reasons why we all came to P.O.T.
When we finished we assembled in the great hall to await the opening ceremony .
There were three large screens showing video clips, in between scrolling messages, and quotes, from great leaders, Harley's up on Pedestals, H.O.G. and P.O.T. insignias projected on the walls with special lighting, rock music in the background. I was overwhelmed by all that was happening you could feel the brother and sisterhood in the room it was so thick you could have cut it with a knife.
The U.S. Marine Recruiting Station Milwaukee kicked off the opening ceremonies,
Mike Keefe VP and Director of H.O.G. started by welcoming all the dedicated Chapter Officers to P.O.T.
This was followed by a brief address from Jim Ziemer, President and CEO of Harley-Davidson, INC.
We were introduced to the host Paul Raap, the instructors and our regional managers.
There were over 600 Chapter Officers attending in Milwaukee, WI.
H-D Execs Discuss Engaging Events.
At Friday’s general session, Jim McCaslin and Steve Phillips talked to Chapter Officers about creating engaging events. These events are key in pursuing the Harley-Davidson mission to fulfill dreams through the experiences of motorcycling.
They emphasized the five points of focus:
Educating, Elevating, Evaluating, Entertaining and Exploring.
As H.O.G. we often end up teaching others what we are about, so educating comes naturally.
Elevating causes others to sit up and take notice as we embrace the things that stand out about us.
Continuing to develop quality events involves lots of evaluation of what went well or poorly, and what can be done better in the future.
Entertainment and exploration are what riding and having fun are all about.
The ceremony ended on a rousing note everyone was pumped.
Then it was off to the races T-Dubb and I split up and headed for our class’s it was interesting right out of the gate as we shared our concerns and challenges with each others Chapters, some were similar, some were off the wall, many people were there as new leaders just getting started. Yearning for that spark that would help them Ignite their chapter, keep their members involved and having fun, or just plain Unite their Chapter and come to terms with their differences.
Many wanted to learn how to deal with a stubborn rude member, some a shy and quiet member.
Some were dealing with dictatorships and close minded leaders who were not open to new ideas, or change. some wanted to learn about the legal challenges within the chapter, some wanted to see how to put together a newsletter, I ran into a Chapter who just lost all of the Primary Officers because of the alcohol policy and they had NO rides scheduled not one for the season, and one Chapter that was so heavily involved in fund raising that there was no time left for riding.
It was a real mixed bag of concerns and challenges, but as the instructors spoke they were great at guiding us to find the solutions from within ourselves.
Friday night the party:
After cleaning up and heading down T-Dubb and I spied our spot where we had a good view of the room
The food was lavish all the H.O.G. attendees were in their finest biker duds. We were one of the first in the food line, Salmon stuffed pastry, fancy salads and veggies , Beef loin, Turkey, Pasta’s and every dessert you could possibly want. drinks were included, all on the house, as we ate, the band started and they were good, many of the couples danced it was a really nice time, but I missed my AR, don’t get me wrong, T-Dubb was a fine pardner we had a great time together, one that we will remember forever, but I missed my Lady.
The night wound down and we went up to the room to rest, anticipating the next day.
Saturday 24th:
Up and at em with breakfast again, we were in the groove. Off to class and more learning.
Today seemed easier I could focus better and realized my goals as to what knowledge I had hoped to take home with me to share with my Chapter.
It was told to us to share all that we have learned here at P.O.T with our Chapters, do NOT keep them in the dark, even go as far as setting up mini P.O.T.,s and educate our membership, and to our regional manager Ben Weeks we asked if it was OK to put P.O.T. information on our website and he said by all means through a password protected area, it is open to all members to learn and grow through the teachings of H.O.G. and P.O.T
What we took with us from P.O.T. was empowering, a feeling of brotherhood , A great awareness that as Officers of the H.O.G. Chapter “We are Keepers of the Proud Tradition” and we shall do so with Compassion, Communication, Integrity, Encouragement, and Respect.
Here are some of the quotes that were scrolling across the screens.
We as Officers of the H.O.G Chapter, T-Dubb and Griz, shall abide by these thoughts.
“Leadership is Action, not Position”
“Leading is based on Inspiration not Domination, on Cooperation not Intimidation”
“Leadership has a harder job than choosing sides, It must bring sides together”
And as was said earlier “We are Keepers of the Proud Tradition”
It is good to be back home “Let’s Ride”
Griz.
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