On
behalf of all the Staff and Faculty of the IFPA, I wish to extend my
most heartfelt appreciation to all the attendees of this year’s IFPA
“Fitness By the Bay” Conference. Without exception, all of my Staff and
Faculty were overwhelmed by your professionalism, courtesy, dedication,
attentiveness and your kindness. Your expressions and comments of
gratitude to my Staff and Faculty were deeply appreciated.
There
was a common refrain from you that showed that all of us here at the
IFPA accomplished our goal. We were told over and over again that the
atmosphere at the conference was more like a “Family Reunion” than an
educational conference, and that is precisely the attitude we were
looking for.
When
you passed your IFPA Certification Exam, that was the beginning. You
made a decision to join the IFPA Team with the intent of helping men,
women and children live better and healthier lives. You have made much
progress by staying on the IFPA Team, by continuing to learn and
perfecting your skills.
Some
of you have been on the IFPA Team since the very beginning eleven years
ago and I marvel at the progress you have made. And, I admit, I am very
emotional about the loyalty and faith you have placed in us by staying
with us so long.
You
already know me well enough to know that I judge the success of the IFPA
by YOUR SUCCESS!
I know
that if you are still progressing in your Fitness Career, now, eleven
years after beginning with us, that we are doing our job, and that is
the singularly most gratifying accomplishment of my tenure as president
of your association.
You
have probably experienced times in your career when you felt that you
were alone, that it was you against the world, but that has never been
the case. When you became a member of the IFPA, you become a member of
an association. Henry Ford once said, “Coming together is a beginning.
Keeping together is progress. Working together is success.”
You
realize now that the conference is designed to enable all of us to work
together to fulfill your destiny of achieving success. You have control
over which courses you will select, which Faculty Instructor you will
learn from and what valuable knowledge you will take with you on your
own personal journey toward success. But I now ask you to decide on one
more, extremely valuable goal…what action are you going to take with
your new-found knowledge and skills to progress you on your journey of
success?
Now is
the time for you to THINK! Take the time, right now, while the
information is fresh in your mind, and develop a written action plan and
precisely detail the steps you will take to maximize you new-found
knowledge. All of the IFPA Faculty reported that you had the utmost
appreciation for all the knowledge that we shared with you. Many of you
are highly experienced conference attendees and you told us many, many
times how different our courses are from the “infomercials” you get from
other conferences where the speakers are always trying to sell you
something. We are all pleased by your expressions of appreciation, but I
am asking you to demonstrate your appreciation by using what you have
learned to benefit the nation, our communities, our people, and our
children.
The
IFPA Faculty is the finest group of fitness, health and nutrition
educators on the planet, and your comments and evaluations are proof of
that statement, but none of the IFPA Faculty teaches you for fame or
fortune. All of us do this out of our sheer passion for wanting to help
everyone live healthier and happier lives. We teach you so you can teach
others. Please show your appreciation by using what you learned to help
others.
Please
don’t let us down. Please don’t let our nation down. You are capable of
accomplishing anything you set your mind to do.
