Michigan's Postsecondary broke its record for the sixth year in a row in terms of the number of awards received. Michigan's Postsecondary Division won 106 awards in the top 10, 44 of which were in the top 3. Our Secondary Division won 98 in the top 10, with 39 of those in the top 3. The Secondary Division had one less in the top 10, but one more in the top 3 compared to last year.

Michigan was recognized as the state with the most Ambassador Torch Award recipients. One hundred three (103) students received this award, which is the highest level of the Torch Awards Program.

Ryan Cesiel from Adams High School and State President Nick Partie from Mt. Pleasant Area Tech Center were presented with National BPA scholarships during the conference.

Davenport University-Grand Rapids won 1st place in the Financial Analyst Team event for the fourth year in a row.

Michigan continued its tradition of sweeping at least one event. Usually we have one event where we take the top three slots. This year, we received the top 5 in Information Technology Concepts-OPEN event.

More than 30 industry certifications were given to various students and advisors in both the Secondary and Postsecondary Divisions. Nick Cousino from Bedford High School earned his certification in both Microsoft's Excel 2010 and PowerPoint 2010. As the first place winner in Excel 2010, he will compete in the Microsoft World Wide Championship in Las Vegas in July.

Ken Bourbina from Swan Valley High School received the BPA Hall of Fame Award. This award is presented to individuals who have made significant contributions to Business Professionals of America. Mr. Bourbina has served as a BPA advisor for 20 years. He served as regional advisor for four years. He has attended every Michigan BPA state conference since he became an advisor. He worked at Bay-Arenac Career Center prior to working at Swan Valley High School and was instrumental in chartering the BPA chapter at his previous school. He has attended the national conference at least 15 of his 20 years of being an advisor. Mr. Bourbina is an avid promoter of BPA and his students participate in numerous special recognition awards programs and state service project throughout each year.

Ron Draayer from Davenport University-Grand Rapids was re-elected to a three-year term on the National BPA Board of Trustees

A complete list of winners is available online at www.michiganbpa.org/nlc.

Remember to share your NLC photos with us online at www.michiganbpa.org/share-photos.

Congratulations to all our NLC participants and award winners!

SECONDARY SLC ADVISOR & STUDENT EVALUATION SURVEYS (S)
The state conference evaluation survey for advisors was posted online last week.

Both the advisor and student surveys will be available until April 15, 2012. Please complete the advisor survey and encourage your students to complete the student survey as well. Links are provided below and on our Web site.

Advisor Survey:
https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/WKVWXPC

Student Survey:
http://www.michiganbpa.org/slc-student-survey

(If you cannot click the link above or it wraps onto two lines, please copy and paste the URL in its entirety into your browser's address bar.)

NLC TRADING PINS
NLC trading pins are still available. If you would like to place an order, you may download the order form from http://www.michiganbpa.org/nlc. Orders must be paid and shipped prior to the national conference.

NLC HOTEL PARKING
Please be advised that parking at the hotel for the national conference is $50.00 per night. There is no discount available to BPA registered guests.

ADDITIONS, DELETIONS OR SUBSTITUTIONS
At this time, competitive event registration has closed. Any further additions, deletions or substitutions must be submitted by State Director Maurice S. Henderson. If you notice any issues with your student competition schedules, please let me know.

NAP EXAM
The National Association of Parliamentarians exam will be held at NLC on Wednesday, April 25, 2012 from 12 PM to 5 PM. Details regarding the location of the exam will appear in the program schedule. No one will be permitted to begin testing after 4:30 PM.

The fee for taking the test for full-time students is $37.50 and $75.00 for non-students. Those hoping to obtain the student rate of $37.50 should plan to bring a copy of their school ID to the exam. In addition, state dues vary from $7.50-$30.00. The test administrator/NAP representative suggests that students may bring a blank check made out to the National Association of Parliamentarians to be completed in the correct amount on-site. Credit cards are also accepted at the time of testing.

Anyone wishing to take the test could go on http://www.parliamentarians.org to download the 300 question study guide. The test will be comprised of 100 questions from those provided in the study guide.

APG ASSIGNMENTS AND JUDGING
All advisors attending the conference must fulfill an APG assignment or other conference duty. We offer APG Orientation sessions to acquaint Administrators, Proctors and Graders with their responsibilities. Please plan to attend one of the APG Orientation sessions listed in the conference program schedule.

For those who have not selected a duty at this time, please sign up to serve as a judge for an event in a different division than that which you service. Advisors who have selected another conference duty are welcome to judge in addition to other assignments. Judges receive a light, complimentary orientation meal immediately prior to the event. Many additional judges are needed to make the conference a success. We encourage you to invite your chaperones, conference guests and colleagues to serve as a judge. The Web site for judges' registration is: http://www.bpa.org/nlc/judges.

We are looking forward to another outstanding NLC experience!

POSTSECONDARY SLC PLAQUES & CERTIFICATES (PS)
Plaques for the 1st place SLC winners and certificates for 2nd and 3rd place winners were mailed from the BPA State Office this morning.

This update is completely about competitive event information for the state conference. This information will only be stated in this week’s update. Read carefully and review this information often. Please print this message for your records and further review.

FINALS CANCELED FOR COMPUTER SECURITY AND PC SERVICING & TROUBLESHOOTING
There will NOT be a hands-on component for Computer Security or PC Servicing & Troubleshooting. Therefore, contestants will compete in the preliminary/objective portion. State winners will be based upon the objective test only.

FINALS CANCELED FOR PARLIAMENTARY PROCEDURE TEAM
There will only be one round of competition for the Parliamentary Procedure Team event.

SIGNED ENTRY AND RELEASE FORMS
Contestants who submitted any type of individual or team entry form, release form, job application, etc. for any presubmitted event MUST turn in original signed documents when the student arrives at their competition room on the day of their event. Hard copies of forms with signatures must be given to the event administrator before presenting to the judges. Review the document entitled “Presubmitted Event Materials to be Submitted” from the SLC documents page of our Web site.

EQUIPMENT STUDENTS MUST PROVIDE
Please make sure you review the 2012 WSAP Guidelines Handbook in terms of equipment that students must provide. If an event has equipment listed that students must provide, such as the laptop/printer/paper for the computer programming events, your students will be required to bring this equipment to the state conference. Make sure those contestants have power and extension cords.

Some regions allowed students to use equipment in the computer classrooms at their respective RLC locations for events in which students were supposed to provide the equipment. This will not be an option at the state conference. We are following the guidelines for all equipment which the students must provide. The only exception is that we provide screens only for presentation rooms for events that require the use of this item.

Screens will be provided for the following events:
Financial Analyst Team
Presentation Management-Individual
Presentation Management-Team

Screens are not necessary for the following events:
Digital Media Production

Screens may be used, but are not provided for the following events:
Computer Animation Team
Entrepreneurship
Global Marketing Team
Small Business Management Team
Video Production Team
Web Application Team
Web Site Design Team

HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT
Students can write any notes on their copy of the human resource manual which they are allowed to take into the prep room for this event.

STYLE & REFERENCE MANUAL
Students may take the Style & Reference Manual into all Administrative Support computer events held at Davenport University.

ALL SCHEDULING CONFLICTS MUST BE RESOLVED BEFORE THE CONFERENCE
As indicated on page 18 of the SLC registration booklet, appointment times for judged events will be pre-assigned. Appointment times will be indicated on your school report in a chapter pre-conference mailing. Schools reports will be sent next week.

Any scheduling conflicts of any kind whatsoever (judged events or non-judged events) must be reported to the state office by the chapter advisor no later than March 16 (deadline extension). Absolutely NO RESCHEDULING will be done on site at the SLC. Please carefully read through your students’ contest schedules completely once you receive it via U.S. mail.

NO EXCEPTIONS!!!

NON-APPROVED CONTEST CONFLICTS
Remember, all students who have a conflict with testing times must decide which event they will drop. For events other than Saturday judged events, students who have a contest conflict must decide which event they will take. Students will be allowed to take only one of their events. If you have not notified us which event the student will drop, you must decide on-site at the conference. NO EXCEPTIONS!!!

CHANGING APPOINTMENT TIMES DIRECTLY WITH CONTEST ADMINISTRATORS
Chapter advisors are NOT allowed to speak directly with contest administrators to ask for different appointment times or any sort of rescheduling due to conflicts with other BPA tests, limited computer equipment and sharing, or outside non-BPA activities. Contest administrators are instructed that the only way they can make a contest time change is if they receive written notification from our assessment events headquarters.

PRINTERS FOR COMPUTER PROGRAMMING EVENTS
Printers are not a required piece of equipment for the contestants to bring for the C++ Programming, Java Programming, or Visual Basic Programming. Students will save their work onto USB drives, which will be provided for these competitions. Contest graders will review the students’ work on USB thumb drives as needed. Once the student has finish his/her test, the USB drive will be turned in with their test. These are the only USB thumb drives that should be connected to the students’ laptops during competition.

TEMPLATE FILES FOR PROGRAMMING EVENTS
Students are NOT allowed to use saved templates and files which are on their student laptops during the C++ Programming, Java Programming or Visual Basic Programming events. Students must NOT have any pre-written programs on their computers.

COMPUTERIZED ACCOUNTING CHART OF ACCOUNTS
Students must prepare the chart of accounts in advance and bring their chart of accounts on a USB thumb drive. The thumb drive should only contain the chart of accounts. Once the student has finish his/her test, the USB drive will be placed into a labeled envelope. All USB drives will be erased before they are returned; therefore, make sure these USB thumb drives are indeed blank as instructed here.

IMPORTANT JUDGED EVENTS GUIDELINES CHANGES
In order for some of our popular, more-intensive judged events to stay within a reasonable time frame, adjustments have been made in various parts of the times for some of these events. These time adjustments are made every year at the SLC. Only the times that are modified are listed below.

DIGITAL MEDIA PRODUCTION
No more than 5 minutes setup time

ENTREPRENEURSHIP
No more than 2 minutes setup time
No more than 3 minutes judges questions

FINANCIAL ANALYST TEAM
No more than 5 minutes setup time
No more than 10 minutes for presentation
No more than 5 minutes judges questions
ALL work MUST be completed during the preparation time

GLOBAL MARKETING TEAM
No more than 2 minutes setup time
No more than 3 minutes judges questions

SMALL BUSINESS MANAGEMENT TEAM
No more than 20 minutes prep time
No more than 10 minutes for demo AND setup
No more than 5 minutes judges questions

VIDEO PRODUCTION TEAM
No more than 5 minutes setup time
No more than 8 minutes for presentation
No more than 5 minutes for judges’ questions

Please plan accordingly so that your students are not caught by surprise by these changes.

DAVENPORT UNIVERSITY BUS PLANS
In order to allow students and test administrators/proctors that need to travel to Davenport University at specific times of the day, we will be identifying which students and advisors are eligible to ride on the Davenport University buses at our peak times. Inside your registration packet, there will be paper, color-coded wristbands which must be worn to gain access to ride a bus traveling to DU. If you or your student do not have the proper color-coded wristband, you will not be allowed on the bus. A shuttle bus schedule has been posted online since January 24, 2012.

Please try to locate a color printer to print the bus schedule. It will be easier to follow in color format.

REMEMBER, we are using the Davenport University-Lettinga campus in Caledonia, Michigan (suburb of Grand Rapids). Directions to this campus are also posted online in case your students get left behind and you want to provide your own transportation.

DAVENPORT UNIVERSITY COMPUTER INSTRUCTIONS AND TENT CARDS
Tent cards for students competing in events at Davenport University were posted online on January 29, 2012. Please print and make the tent card for each Davenport University contestant as well.

Instructions for students competing in events at Davenport University will be posted later this week. Please download and print those instructions to bring to the conference. Each student should bring a copy with them into the competition room. In addition, tent cards are available online as well. These documents (Davenport University Computer Instructions and Davenport University Contestant # Tent Card) are located at http://www.michiganbpa.org/slc-documents.

Good luck as you prepare your students for competition!

NLC REGISTRATION IS OPEN
Registration for the 2012 National Leadership Conference is now officially open. You may want to register as quickly as possible in order to make sure you end up in the main Postsecondary hotel as well as obtain any tours that interest you. There's a lot to read so start planning today. All conference information is available online at http://www.bpa.org/nlc. Registration questions for the national conference can be directed to Shawna Gfroerer at sgfroerer@bpa.org.

FINALS CANCELED FOR PARLIAMENTARY PROCEDURE TEAM
There will only be one round of competition for the Parliamentary Procedure Team event.

ADVISOR CELL PHONES
We will continue using the text message system as we have done in past conferences. If you know for a fact that we do not have your cell phone number on record, please forward it to us. This text message system will be used as an emergency response system as well as a method to send periodic announcements/reminders throughout the conference. If you want to be excluded from receiving these messages, please let me know.

SLC TRANSPORTATION INFORMATION
Please visit and download the four documents from our SLC Web site regarding Sunday bus departures and bus staging information. These documents are available for download from http://www.michiganbpa.org/slc-documents. You will need to obtain the cell phone number of the bus driver who will be picking you up on Sunday. In addition, there is a form you will need to turn in to the hotel's front desk when you check in. Please plan ahead to obtain this information.

HOTEL ASSIGNMENTS
This week, all schools will be contacted by their assigned hotel property with a final invoice of your balance due for your hotel expenses. If you do NOT receive notice of what hotel you have been assigned to and/or have not received your invoice via fax by March 5, please let me know. We will let you know what hotel you have been assigned to and then you can contact them directly for your final invoice.

ADVISOR ASSIGNMENTS
All advisors have been assigned to work as administrator or proctors/graders for our assessments events. The assignments will be mailed to you in the final conference mailing indicated below. In addition, a master assignment list will also be posted on the SLC Page of the Michigan BPA Web site once the assignments are complete. Our goal is to have the advisor assignments completed early next week.

FINAL CONFERENCE MAILING
On Monday, March 5, 2012 we will mail your final conference registration packet. This packet will include the following information:

1. Final SLC Instructions Memo
2. School Report (contestant listing)
3. Advisor Contest Assignments and Instructions
4. Rescheduled Contestant Scheduling Forms (if applicable)
5. Other items specific to your chapter (if applicable)

Just like previous years, we will NOT provide a duplicate copy of your school report on site at the conference. This is in hopes of being able to reduce waste of paper.

If there is missing or incorrect information on your report, please contact us immediately to expedite your registration process. It is best that you fax a note to us at 866.204.4455 as this information will not be processed or handled by anyone here at the state office via telephone. Our staff has been instructed to respond with a "PLEASE FAX" answer if they receive calls of this nature.

IMPORTANT: REVIEW YOUR SCHOOL REPORT. Advisors will be held accountable for reading this information completely. Any scheduling conflicts of any kind whatsoever (judged events or non-judged events) must be reported to the state office by the chapter advisor no later than March 12. Absolutely NO RESCHEDULING will be done on site at the SLC. Please carefully read through your students' contest schedules completely once you receive it via U.S. mail. NO EXCEPTIONS!!!

ON-SITE REGISTRATION
Please note that registration at the conference will take place at the Amway Hotel in the Center Concourse (Second Floor). In addition, schools assigned to the Courtyard Marriott Hotel will pick-up their registration packet upon check-in at the Courtyard Marriott front desk.

Any school that has a balance due at the time of check-in must pay his/her school's registration balance onsite at the conference. Balances that remain unpaid for conference registrations after March 15, 2012 will be charged the late registration amounts ($95 per person).

NAME BADGES & WRISTBANDS
Advisors, please make sure you are also wearing your name badges and wristbands just like the students. Each year, our conference volunteers have to engage in lengthy discussions with some chapter advisors because they don't wear the wristband. Remember, we must lead by example.

We will have alumni and volunteers monitoring the doors to all main events (legacy launchers, opening session, dinner session, and awards session). For security purposes, we are going to take this policy quite seriously and it will be strictly enforced.

Remember, everyone must wear name badges at ALL times while inside a conference facility or hotel. Do not wear your name badges in public (outside the hotel). We will be issuing wristbands to EVERYONE (advisors, chaperones, students, alumni, staff, etc.). Wristbands must be worn at all times. Wristbands are color-coded for each hotel.

PROPOSED BYLAW AMENDMENT
The state executive council is proposing an amendment to our bylaws for a dues increase. This message serves as official notice.
Amendment: Amend Bylaw Article V, Section 3 by striking out "eight dollars ($8.00)" and inserting "nine dollars ($9.00)."
Rationale: Michigan BPA has not had a dues increase in more than 10 years. With changes in the economy and cutbacks of state funding, a dues increase is necessary.
State Executive Council Recommendation: Amendment be adopted.

SATURDAY NIGHT DINNER & DANCE
The dinner session continues to be a highlight of the conference. Students are given an opportunity to don their best attire and engage in a professional dining experience which they will remember for years to come.

There will be a dollar dance to support the Salvation Army of Michigan. The state executive council's goal is to raise $500 at this event. We ask that you encourage your chapter members to bring $1.00 to donate as they enter the ballroom. Northwood University is sponsoring the dance which follows the dinner session.

Please inform your students that they will be escorted off the dance floor and out of the dance by advisors and/or alumni for dancing inappropriately. This will not be tolerated!!!

BPA SAFETY PLAN
The Safety Plan for the state conference is available online on the SLC documents page. You may want to familiarize yourself with the plan to know how Michigan BPA will respond in the event of an emergency.

VOTING DELEGATES/STATE OFFICER ELECTIONS
Advisors, please remind your voting delegates that they are voting for the next leaders of the state association and that they need to take this responsibility seriously. Also, they need to evaluate the candidates as they speak at both the annual business meeting and the opening session. Finally, please inform your voting delegates that they may request candidates' test scores from the officer candidate test.

The voting delegates packet has been posted on our SLC documents page. The voting delegates will vote on a proposed bylaw amendment during the annual business meeting.

SLC COLLEGE FAIR
We are pleased to announce that we will continue to have our college fair during the state conference. Colleges are continuing to sign up for the college fair every day. Please make sure your students visit with the various college representatives. In order to receive a certificate of achievement after the conference, students must visit at least three college fair exhibitors in addition to attending at least four legacy launcher workshops.

Representatives from various colleges and universities around the state will be conveniently located in the Center Concourse Foyer near the Courtesy Corps on Saturday, March 24, 2012, from 10:00 AM to 3:00 PM.

AMBASSADOR TORCH AWARD DEADLINE
The deadline for submitting Ambassador Torch Award resumes is March 15, prior to our SLC in Michigan. As a result, students will not be able to use any points earned at the 2012 SLC on their Ambassador resumes. Please keep this in mind as your students plan and prepare. We encourage your students to be sure and use points they earned at the 2011 SLC, and use 2012's points next year. As a result of the earlier NLC this year, national staff have indicated that there is no room for flexibility in this deadline for Michigan's members. Please contact the National Center directly with any questions or comments; ALL Ambassador-Award-related review, approvals, deadlines, and procedures are handled exclusively by national BPA staff.

STATE SERVICE PROJECT SCHOLARSHIP
REMINDER: The deadline for the state service project chapter scholarship is March 1, 2012. All applications must be postmarked on or before March 1, 2012. The application is available on the documents page of our Web site. Keep up the good volunteer work!

This Tuesday Tipster is for Postsecondary chapters only.

UPCOMING DEADLINES
March 15, 2012: Special Recognition and Ambassador Torch Awards Deadline
March 26, 2012: Pre-submitted Event Entry Deadline

NLC TRADING PINS
If your chapter is attending the national conference, please visit our Web site at www.michiganbpa.org/nlc and download the NLC Trading Pin Order Form. I’m sure your students will want to participate in the ever-so-popular trading pin excitement during the national conference. Trading pins sell fast, so don’t delay!

This year’s pin is a 1969 Ford Mustang with a 1969 red historic Michigan license plate.

GUIDELINES AND SOFTWARE
Please carefully review the WSAP Guidelines Handbook for your competitive events, including deadlines for submission of materials and software listings. For a complete list of software provided at NLC, please review the software listing in the WSAP Guidelines Handbook.

CONTESTANT NUMBERS & CHAPTER NUMBERS
Contestant numbers will be the same as what was used at the state conference. Your chapter # is the first six digits of your contestant numbers (ex. 04-9999).

NLC REGISTRATION
All information and registration information is available online at http://www.bpa.org/nlc/. I strongly encourage you to go online and download the various documents in preparation for the online registration system to open. Online registration will open on February 24, 2012. Registration questions for the national conference can be directed to Shawna Gfroerer at sgfroerer@bpa.org.

PRESUBMITTED EVENTS
Remember, the events listed below have materials that must be sent in to National BPA by 11:59 p.m. Eastern Time on March 26, 2012. You may revise these materials from your state conference entries. However, they must be sent via email in PDF format. Please read the guidelines for the events in which your students are competing.

The presubmitted events are:
Advanced Interview Skills (including the job application)
Entrepreneurship
Global Marketing Team
Graphic Design Promotion
Interview Skills (including the job application)
Web Application Team
Web Site Design Team

NLC LEADERSHIP ACADEMY
Remember, the NLC Leadership Academy is open to postsecondary students as well. In addition, postsecondary students may sign up to be a conference intern. Click on the national leadership academy and intern links on the NLC Web site for more information.

UPCOMING DEADLINES
February 16: Team Member Substitution Deadline (Only if you are changing the team members you entered on BPA Scheduler, we need such changes on or before this date)

February 24: SLC Housing Change Deadline (Complete the housing change form immediately upon discovery of a change. Contact your assigned hotel directly. Preferably submitted online no later than this date.)

February 24: SLC Registration Refund Request Deadline (Submitted online on or before this date)

March 1: State Service Project Chapter Scholarship Deadline

March 15: Ambassador Torch Awards and National Special Recognition Awards Deadlines

AMBASSADOR TORCH AWARD DEADLINE
The deadline for submitting Ambassador Torch Award resumes is March 15, prior to our SLC in Michigan. As a result, students will not be able to use any points earned at the 2012 SLC on their Ambassador resumes. Please keep this in mind as your students plan and prepare. We encourage your students to be sure and use points they earned at the 2011 SLC, and use 2012's points next year. As a result of the earlier NLC this year, national staff have indicated that there is no room for flexibility in this deadline for Michigan's members. Please contact the National Center directly with any questions or comments; ALL Ambassador-Award-related review, approvals, deadlines, and procedures are handled exclusively by national BPA staff.

STATE SERVICE PROJECT SCHOLARSHIP
To clear up any confusion, the deadline for the state service project chapter scholarship is March 1, 2012. All applications must be postmarked on or before March 1, 2012. The application is available on the documents page of our Web site. Keep up the good volunteer work!

PARENTS ATTENDING THE AWARDS SESSION
Information regarding parents attending the awards session was sent via a separate e-mail message last week entitled, “Parents Attending the Awards Session.” Advisors should check their e-mail for that message.

THIS IS BPA WEEK: FEBRUARY 12-18
What is your school doing in honor of BPA Week? If you conduct an exciting activity of some kind, please let us know. Submit your chapter news to us online at http://www.michiganbpa.org/web-article-submission.

TEAM MEMBER SUBSTITUTION
If you need to change your team members from the members that are presently registered via the BPA Scheduler Web site, you must send an e-mail to the state director on or before February 16, 2012.

MAKING REGISTRATION CORRECTIONS, ADDITIONS, ALTERNATES, AND SUBSTITUTIONS
As necessary, visit http://www.michiganbpa.org/slc-documents and download the "Delegate Addendum Form" in order to submit corrections, additions, alternates, and substitutions to your state conference registration paperwork.

HOTEL FITNESS CENTER/POOL
Please note that all hotels have a pool and/or fitness area. Students must have adult supervision while in the pool area at ALL hotels. Guests are only allowed to use the pool and/or fitness area in the hotel where they are residing. Everyone must be properly attired (completely covered from head to toe) when going to and from the pool area. This includes sports attire with appropriate shoes (no thong shoes or flip-flops or bare feet) and absolutely NO towels being worn around one's body. Students can wear their bathing suits underneath their clothes and leave their clothes poolside by their towel.

Be advised that ladies cannot wear bikini swimwear. Neither gentleman nor ladies can wear any other type of revealing swimming attire.

There is a charge to use the pool and fitness center at the Amway Hotel. Up to four (4) guests per room can use the services for the daily charge.

HOTEL INTERNET ACCESS
The Amway Hotel has free areas throughout the hotel for wireless Internet access. These hotspots are typically in the lobby areas, Cornucopia restaurant, and their business center. Internet service is available in the guestrooms for varying rates. Complimentary wireless access cannot be provided to our group throughout the entire hotel because the Amway Hotel subcontracts the Internet service from a private company. However, wired access in each hotel room will be provided complimentary. Repeat…WIRED Internet access will be available in each hotel room free of charge. You will need to connect using an Ethernet cord that you may bring OR located in the closet of the hotel.

At the Courtyard Marriott Hotel, wireless Internet access is complimentary throughout the entire building.

HOTEL BEHAVIOR
Let's keep up the tradition of having well-behaved students at our conference. I cannot stress enough that we must continue to make a good impression on the hotels and the Grand Rapids community. Let's show them that we do have class and we're top notch.

Please, please, please make sure you communicate the importance of proper behavior and review the delegate code of conduct with your students. The delegate code of conduct will be strictly enforced and there will be zero tolerance in terms of implementing disciplinary action.

NO TOLERANCE & CELL PHONE POLICIES
Michigan BPA prides itself in having well behaved students who follow our delegate code of conduct. I would like to highlight our "no tolerance policy" and "cell phone policy." I issue an important plea for all chapter advisors to review these policies and review them with your members.

No Tolerance Policy:
Business Professionals of America-Michigan Association will not tolerate any type of inappropriate behavior from any BPA conference participant. Inappropriate behavior includes discrimination, sexual harassment, bullying, inappropriate photography, any illegal action, etc. Anyone found violating this policy will be expelled from the event or conference and his or her membership will be terminated. If necessary, appropriate legal actions may be taken. Michigan BPA reserves the right to modify the consequences, as appropriate.

Cell Phone Policy:
All cellular telephones, pagers, PDAs, and other electronic communication devices must be turned off during all meetings, sessions, and assessment event testing. Any student who disrupts a testing session with a mobile telecommunications device will be disqualified from his or her event.

In addition, the picture or video recording feature available with some models of cell phones or other electronic devices cannot be used in any public restroom or locker room. If necessary, appropriate legal actions may be taken. Michigan BPA reserves the right to modify the consequences, as appropriate.

Any questions regarding these policies can be directed to the Michigan BPA State Director.

ELEVATOR USAGE
Please make sure you speak with your students about proper elevator courtesy. The elevators at all the hotels are quite small and it will help make life easier for all of us. Students should wait for guests to EXIT the elevator before they try to get on the elevator and end up knocking people down. In addition, they should refrain from load, inappropriate conversations on the elevator.

BELLMAN ASSISTANCE
Please remember to instruct your students to appropriately tip any bellman they allow assist with chapter luggage. Remember, the heavier/larger the package, the more the tip should be. Using a bellman is not required.

DRESS CODE
Please be aware that all advisors are accountable to their students and must ensure that they follow the dress code. It makes life quite challenging to those advisors who have their students follow the dress code and their students see other students inappropriately dressed. One way to prevent this is to tell your students to leave their jeans, shorts, or other unapproved attire at home. Don't even bring it! This will definitely help everyone and guarantee that we are all on the same page.

Also, please use good judgment in terms of monitoring dress code. If a room is extremely cold and student needs to wear his/her coat, and you can absolutely tell that they have met the dress code otherwise, please do not be harsh. We should not force someone to be subject to adverse room temperatures while trying to take a test.

REMINDER: The Dress Code applies to ADVISORS as well.

DRESS CODE FOR THURSDAY ONLY
Last year, Joint Council approved that students will be allowed to wear casual Business Professionals of America shirts with business casual pants (including khakis or chinos) on Thursday only at the SLC. Jeans are NOT allowed at any BPA event during the conference.

DELEGATE CODE OF CONDUCT
Please make sure you review the entire delegate code of conduct with your students. We want to make sure our students are on their best behavior. We do not want to get any type of reports from any hotel staff that our students are misbehaving. Please make sure your students are making a positive impression on everyone. Any infractions of the delegate code of conduct can result in disqualification of the individual and/or chapter from competition and/or expulsion from the conference.

We want to make sure we continue to receive positive feedback from ALL the hotel employees in terms of how well behaved our students are.

UPCOMING DEADLINES
March 15, 2012: Special Recognition and Ambassador Torch Awards Deadline

SLC THANKS!!!
A very special thank you to the team at Northwood University for hosting a very successful state conference. They did a great job hosting the event this year. We appreciate all their hard work in making sure everything was well planned.

There were 178 people registered for the conference representing 9 Postsecondary chapters. I hope everyone enjoyed the conference.

THIS IS BPA WEEK: FEBRUARY 12-18
What is your school doing in honor of BPA Week? If you conduct an exciting activity of some kind, please let us know. Submit your chapter news to us online at http://www.michiganbpa.org/web-article-submission.

STATESMAN TORCH AWARDS
With weather-related issues that resulted in the conference starting late, the day got away from us and I neglected to recognize our three Statesman Torch Award recipients from Davenport University-Kalamazoo. Therefore, I would like to give special recognition to the following individuals: Eric Sisco, Rita Smallcombe, and Dave Williams

NEW CHAPTERS
In addition to neglecting to mention the Statesman Award recipients, I neglected to announce and recognize our two new Postsecondary chapters. I hope our new chapters at Baker College of Muskegon and Grand Rapids Community College enjoyed the conference. It was nice to see both of those chapters win some awards in the various competitions.

SLC CONTEST RESULTS
Congratulations to all the SLC winners. A list of winners from the state conference was posted online yesterday. Remember, the first place winners will receive plaques and the 2nd and 3rd place winners will receive certificates. Please note that the winners list includes all the students eligible to compete at the NLC. Although the top three teams are listed on the winners list, only the top two teams are eligible to compete in team events at the NLC. Students cannot compete in more than three main events at the NLC. Students may compete in an unlimited number of Open Events.

NLC REGISTRATION
All information and registration information is available online at http://www.bpa.org/nlc/. I strongly encourage you to go online and download the various documents in preparation for the online registration system to open. Online registration will open on February 24, 2012. Registration questions for the national conference can be directed to Shawna Gfroerer at sgfroerer@bpa.org.

PRE-SUBMITTED EVENTS
As mentioned during the awards session, there are certain events which require students to submit their contestant materials in advance. This information is submitted via e-mail at the e-mail addresses identified on the WSAP Guidelines page for each event. Each event has a different e-mail address to which the files should be sent.

Students are allowed to make changes to their materials, Web sites, designs, etc. prior to submitting the materials for national competition. You do NOT have to submit the exact same materials you submitted for state competition. Students may make changes to improve their work as they desire.

UPCOMING DEADLINES
February 16: Team Member Substitution Deadline

February 24: SLC Housing Change Deadline

February 24: SLC Registration Refund Request Deadline

March 1: State Service Project Chapter Scholarship Deadline

STATE SERVICE PROJECT SCHOLARSHIP
To clear up any confusion, the deadline for the state service project chapter scholarship is March 1, 2012. All applications must be postmarked on or before March 1, 2012. The application is available on the documents page of our Web site. Keep up the good volunteer work!

PARENTS ATTENDING THE AWARDS SESSION
Information regarding parents attending the awards session was sent via a separate e-mail message earlier today entitled, “Parents Attending the Awards Session.” Advisors should check their e-mail for that message.

ADVISOR YEARS OF SERVICE AWARD RECIPIENTS
Recipients of our advisors years of service awards are posted online on our SLC page. Review this list to see if you will be recognized at the State Leadership Conference.

STATESMAN TORCH AWARD RECIPIENTS
Recipients of the Statesman Torch Award are posted online on our SLC page. Students who are receiving their Statesman Award will be recognized during the opening session at the state conference.

CTE MONTH
February is Career/Technical Education Month. What is your chapter doing to promote business education throughout your school and in your community? I strongly encourage you to plan some sort of activity or multiple activities to promote business education. Make sure your school administrators, students' parents, school counselors, and legislators are aware of the positive impact business education and career/technical education has on student development. Although we aren't part of "traditional" academics, we play an important role in establishing a foundation for success in ALL careers. Visit http://www.ffbe.org/ps1.html for promotional strategies for your program. Click on each business educator's name to read his/her idea.

BPA WEEK: FEBRUARY 12-18
BPA week is next week…February 12-18 and it is the best time for your chapter to promote your chapter and conduct fundraising projects. If you go to http://www.bpa.org, you can see the opportunities and which days hold certain events.

TEAM MEMBER SUBSTITUTION
If you need to change your team members from the members that are presently registered via the BPA Scheduler Web site, you must send an e-mail to the state director on or before February 16, 2012.

MAKING REGISTRATION CORRECTIONS, ADDITIONS, ALTERNATES, AND SUBSTITUTIONS
As necessary, visit http://www.michiganbpa.org/slc-documents and download the "Delegate Addendum Form" in order to submit corrections, additions, alternates, and substitutions to your state conference registration paperwork.

HOTEL ASSIGNMENTS FORTHCOMING
The hotel is in the process of putting all the pieces of the puzzle together to assign everyone to the various hotels. Please be patient as they continue this process. You will receive your confirmation and final invoice directly from your assigned hotel. Once I know the hotel assignment process is complete, I will let everyone know.

ADVISOR RESPONSIBILITY AND CONDUCT
Remember, all advisors have signed an advisor code of ethics form and must adhere to the policies stated in that document. In addition, I must also address four important matters separately from the code of ethics document.

1. Advisors or chaperones are not to leave their students unattended after curfew hours. This is a huge liability that you are putting on yourself and your school district.

2. Advisors and chaperones must refrain from drinking any alcoholic beverages during the entire conference. Our delegate code of conduct applies to all registered attendees at the conference and that code states that there is no use of alcoholic beverages or illegal narcotics. This is not only a huge liability that you are putting on yourself and your school district, but I'm most certain that employment disciplinary action can be taken upon returning to school.

3. Advisors and chaperones must treat one another and all students and conference staff and delegates with respect, dignity, and free of any air of superiority or discrimination of any kind.

4. Advisors must adhere to and follow the dress code for their own attire as well.
We are conducting a school-related event for high school students. We are all role models and must put forth a positive image of our schools, our organization, and ourselves.

ADVISOR ASSIGNMENTS
Advisor contest assignments have not been completed yet. Please stay tuned for more information.

SPECIAL NEEDS FORMS
Remember, if you have any delegates that have special needs of any kind, you should have submitted a special needs request form with your SLC registration. If you have not done so, please do so immediately. Business Professionals of America will **NOT** be held responsible for providing special needs accommodations if this form is not completed and submitted right away. We cannot make any accommodations for anyone if we are not aware of special arrangements that may be required. Please do not put us in jeopardy of not fulfilling our civil rights obligations.

The special needs request form is submitted online at can be found in your conference registration booklet or online at http://www.michiganbpa.org/slc-special-needs-request.

UPCOMING DEADLINES
The following items must be postmarked on or before tomorrow (Wednesday, February 1, 2012):
1. SLC Registration

2. Special Needs Request Form

3. SLC Hotel Reservation Listing

4. Pre-submitted Contestant Materials (See previous Tuesday Tipsters for more details)

CTE MONTH
February is Career/Technical Education Month. What is your chapter doing to promote business education throughout your school and in your community? I strongly encourage you to plan some sort of activity or multiple activities to promote business education. Make sure your school administrators, students' parents, school counselors, and legislators are aware of the positive impact business education and career/technical education has on student development. Although we aren't part of "traditional" academics, we play an important role in establishing a foundation for success in ALL careers. Visit http://www.ffbe.org/ps1.html for promotional strategies for your program. Click on each business educator's name to read his/her idea.

BPA WEEK: FEBRUARY 12-18
BPA week is next week…February 12-18 and it is the best time for your chapter to promote your chapter and conduct fundraising projects. If you go to http://www.bpa.org, you can see the opportunities and which days hold certain events.

FILE UPLOADING AFTER SUBMITTING SLC REGISTRATION
You do not have to wait to click the "Submit Conference Registration" link if you think you will not be able to upload student files after you have done so. You will still have file uploading privileges even after clicking the link and submitting the registration. Don’t delay clicking that link and submitting your conference registration just because you’re waiting to upload files.

PRE-SUBMITTED EVENTS
The following is a list of events that must be pre-submitted. The contestant materials must be submitted on or before 11:59 PM tomorrow! Review to previous weekly updates and the SLC Documents page for details.

The pre-submitted events are as follows:
Administrative Support Research Project-Individual
Advanced Interview Skills
Desktop Publishing
Economic Research Project-Individual
Economic Research Project-Team
Entrepreneurship
Global Marketing Team
Graphic Design Promotion***
Interview Skills
Web Application Team
Web Site Design Team

***Sent via U.S. mail postmarked on or before tomorrow!

NEW SLC REGISTRATION PROCESSING PROCEDURES
Since the payment section of the BPA Scheduler Web site is now set up in such a way that you can enter and save your registration dollar amounts, you no longer need to mail anything to the state office UNTIL you are ready to submit a check for payment. Once your check is ready, please mail the SLC Registration Payment Summary/Student Listing printout and your check or money order to the State Office.

If you are paying via credit card, you do NOT need to mail any sort of hard copy documentation of your SLC Registration Payment Summary/Student Listing printout.

We no longer need you to mail hard copies of your hotel reservation listing. We will print those documents from the BPA Scheduler Web site.

STOP: Please read this section again so you can make sure you understand if you do or do not need to mail anything to the state office in terms of SLC registration.

SLC SHUTTLE BUS
Visit http://www.michiganbpa.org/slc-documents for the SLC shuttle bus schedule to help determine if your students have any schedule conflicts.

FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
Save your time and the time of the very busy state office via visiting the frequently asked questions page of our Web site at http://www.michiganbpa.org/slc-faq.

STUDENTS MUST ATTEND ENTIRE WEEKEND
Remember, the Michigan BPA policy is that in order for a student to compete at the SLC, he/she must be a registered and paid hotel guest for the entire conference weekend (minimum Friday and Saturday nights). This conference is about more than just competition. The entire conference includes leadership workshops, networking, service projects, the general sessions (opening, dinner, and awards), and much more. This applies to ALL students. There should not be any back-and-forth travel because this makes you, your school, and BPA liable if anything unfortunate may happen. As stated on page 6 of the SLC registration booklet, anyone who is registered for the conference and discovers they cannot stay at the hotel for the entire weekend will be eligible for a partial refund only. We appreciate everyone's cooperation in this matter.

MAKING REGISTRATION CORRECTIONS, ADDITIONS, ALTERNATES, AND SUBSTITUTIONS
Visit http://www.michiganbpa.org/slc-documents and download the "Delegate Addendum Form" in order to submit corrections, additions, alternates, and substitutions to your state conference registration form.

SLC REGISTRATION CONFIRMATIONS/RECEIPTS
All conference registrations are being processed at the present time. Confirmation/receipts will be sent via e-mail once your registration is processed. These confirmation messages will be sent to only ONE of advisor's e-mail addresses listed on your registration form (if you listed more than one e-mail address). Please be patient in terms of receiving your confirmation/receipt. There are more than 130 chapters that attend the SLC and each registration is processed one at a time.

DRESS CODE
Don't forget to remind your students about the Michigan BPA dress code. Please follow these guidelines as published in the pre-conference registration booklet. Remember, attire at Saturday's dinner and dance is professional or formal attire.

SPECIAL NEEDS FORMS
Remember, if you have any delegates that have special needs of any kind, you should have submitted a special needs request form with your SLC registration. If you have not done so, please do so immediately. Business Professionals of America will **NOT** be held responsible for providing special needs accommodations if this form is not completed and submitted right away. We cannot make any accommodations for anyone if we are not aware of special arrangements that may be required. Please do not put us in jeopardy of not fulfilling our civil rights obligations.

The special needs request form is submitted online at can be found in your conference registration booklet or online at http://www.michiganbpa.org/slc-special-needs-request.

NLC VIRTUAL COMPETITORS ELIGIBLE FOR SLC
Students who are officially registered to participate in national virtual competitions sponsored by National BPA are eligible to attend the state leadership conference. Please make sure you have a clear plan of activities such student(s) will participate in during the conference (i.e., open events, legacy launchers, college fair, etc.)

CONTESTANT SCHEDULE CONFLICTS
As mentioned at the FLC and as published in the SLC Registration Booklet, we will **NOT** be rescheduling students due to contest conflicts. As printed on page 18 of the SLC registration booklet, students who quality for multiple events that have conflicting times will be allowed to take only one of their events. The next regional qualifier will be permitted to take their spot in the contest they decide to drop. This does **NOT** apply to the following: Saturday’s judged appointment events or the Parliamentary Procedures Concepts-Open Event (for team members only).

PLEASE review all your students contest times now so we can notify the alternate of the event they plan to drop. Please notify your regional advisor AND state office if you have a student dropping a contest because of a particular event might even be someone at your school. Michigan BPA is **NOT** responsible for notifying you of any schedule conflict prior to the conference. If you relied on the state office to catch every single conflict, students who fit this scenario could end up being notified as late as the first day of the conference.

CHAPERONES
Our policy as published on the advisor code of ethics form is that a minimum of two advisors/chaperones is required for ALL chapters. In addition, one advisor and/or chapter is required for every ten students or major portion thereof. (Example: After the 15th student, an additional advisor/chaperone is required, so on and so forth.) During the conference, one chaperone must be designated to remain on your assigned hotel guest room floor at all times. We will contact any school throughout the registration process if they don’t meet this requirement. It is important that we have sufficient supervision at the conference.

Although we appreciate the extra adult supervision, do NOT register an excessive number of chaperones in comparison to the number of students you are bringing (example: two students and 4 adults). Please be conservative, yet follow the policy stated above when making chaperone arrangements.

1. SLC Registration
2. Special Needs Request Form
3. SLC Hotel Reservation Listing
4. Pre-submitted Contestant Materials (See previous Tuesday Tipsters for more details)

FILE UPLOADING AFTER SUBMITTING SLC REGISTRATION
You do not have to wait to click the "Submit Conference Registration" link if you think you will not be able to upload student files after you have done so. You will still have file uploading privileges even after clicking the link and submitting the registration. Don't delay clicking that link and submitting your conference registration just because you're waiting to upload files.

SLC SHUTTLE BUS
Visit this site for the SLC shuttle bus schedule to help determine if your students have any schedule conflicts: http://www.michiganbpa.org/state-leadership-conference

BPA TV…SEE YOUR CHAPTER ON THE BIG SCREEN!
For the first time ever we will have constant streaming of BPA news in the hotel rooms at the Amway Grand Plaza Hotel and on a large TV screen in the Center Concourse during the state leadership conference. Does your chapter want some screen time? Please send in photos and videos of your chapter or students at the regional leadership conference, completing community service activities, conducting fundraisers, and more. Look at the information sheet entitled "SLC Video Submission" on the documents page of our Web site. The deadline to mail your entries to the Michigan BPA's State Office is January 27, 2012. Schools may submit more than one video.

***IMPORTANT*** WSAP GUIDELINES FOR STATE COMPETITION
The WSAP Guidelines and ancillary documents have been updated quite a bit this year. In order to make sure everyone is on the same page for state competition, the official version that will be used for the SLC is posted online at http://www.michiganbpa.org/documents. This is the version you should provide to your students as they prepare for competition. (See note below regarding "Pre-submitted Events.")

NEW SLC REGISTRATION PROCESSING PROCEDURES
Since the payment section of the BPA Scheduler Web site is now set up in such a way that you can enter and save your registration dollar amounts, you no longer need to mail anything to the state office UNTIL you are ready to submit a check for payment. Once your check is ready, please mail the SLC Registration Payment Summary/Student Listing printout and your check or money order to the State Office.

If you are paying via credit card, you do NOT need to mail any sort of hard copy documentation of your SLC Registration Payment Summary/Student Listing printout.

We no longer need you to mail hard copies of your hotel reservation listing. We will print those documents from the BPA Scheduler Web site.

STOP: Please read this section again so you can make sure you understand if you do or do not need to mail anything to the state office in terms of SLC registration.

SLC PRINTED PROGRAM BOOKLETS
Since many students do not use the program booklets during the conference, all of the information for the SLC will be posted on a mobile Web site. Therefore, schools must indicate the number of printed program booklets when registering online at the BPA Scheduler Web site. There is a statement in the payment section of the site requesting you to enter the number of printed program booklets you need. Some students and advisors may not have Smartphones and may still wish to have a printed program booklet.

SLC FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
Visit the Frequently Asked Questions page (www.michiganbpa.org/slc-faq) to help save some time as you prepare for the conference.

STUDENTS MUST ATTEND ENTIRE WEEKEND
Remember, the Michigan BPA policy is that in order for a student to compete at the SLC, he/she must be a registered and paid hotel guest for the entire conference weekend (minimum Friday and Saturday nights). This conference is about more than just competition. The entire conference includes leadership workshops, networking, service projects, the general sessions (opening, dinner, and awards), and much more. This applies to ALL students. There should not be any back-and-forth travel because this makes you, your school, and BPA liable if anything unfortunate may happen. As stated on page 6 of the SLC registration booklet, anyone who is registered for the conference and discovers they cannot stay at the hotel for the entire weekend will be eligible for a partial refund only. We appreciate everyone's cooperation in this matter.

ATTENDANCE ELIGIBILITY
A frequently asked question right now is whether or not a chapter can bring extra students to the conference. Please review the "Attendance Eligibility" section on page 5 of the SLC Registration Booklet for the answer to that question.

RLC AWARD WINNERS ELIGIBLE FOR SLC
Please review Tuesday Tipster #12 (December 13, 2011) for a list of the number of students recognized at the RLCs varies by region. Only the students that fall into the number allowed per region will be allowed to compete in the various state competitions. Any student can compete in open events at the SLC.

NLC VIRTUAL COMPETITORS ELIGIBLE FOR SLC
Students who are officially registered to participate in national virtual competitions sponsored by National BPA are eligible to attend the state leadership conference. Please make sure you have a clear plan of activities such student(s) will participate in during the conference (i.e., open events, legacy launchers, college fair, etc.)

CONTESTANT SCHEDULE CONFLICTS
As mentioned at the FLC and as published in the SLC Registration Booklet, we will **NOT** be rescheduling students due to contest conflicts. As printed on page 18 of the SLC registration booklet, students who quality for multiple events that have conflicting times will be allowed to take only one of their events. The next regional qualifier will be permitted to take their spot in the contest they decide to drop. This does **NOT** apply to the following: Saturday's judged appointment events or the Parliamentary Procedures Concepts-Open Event (for team members only).

PLEASE review all your students contest times now so we can notify the alternate of the event they plan to drop. Please notify your regional advisor AND state office if you have a student dropping a contest because of a particular event might even be someone at your school. Michigan BPA is **NOT** responsible for notifying you of any schedule conflict prior to the conference. If you relied on the state office to catch every single conflict, students who fit this scenario could end up being notified as late as the first day of the conference.

CHAPERONES
Our policy as published on the advisor code of ethics form is that a minimum of two advisors/chaperones is required for ALL chapters. In addition, one advisor and/or chapter is required for every ten students or major portion thereof. (Example: After the 15th student, an additional advisor/chaperone is required, so on and so forth.) During the conference, one chaperone must be designated to remain on your assigned hotel guest room floor at all times. We will contact any school throughout the registration process if they don't meet this requirement. It is important that we have sufficient supervision at the conference.

Although we appreciate the extra adult supervision, do NOT register an excessive number of chaperones in comparison to the number of students you are bringing (example: two students and 4 adults). Please be conservative, yet follow the policy stated above when making chaperone arrangements.

ADVISOR SLC CONTEST ASSIGNMENTS
If you are a chapter advisor and you are **NOT** attending the SLC, please contact State Director Maurice S. Henderson. We don't want to assign an advisor to an event if they are not attending the conference. Furthermore, if you did not attend the SLC last year, but are attending this year, please contact us as well. ALL chapter advisors must work a contest at the SLC. More volunteers are needed since we have so many events; therefore, if you have chaperones attending the conference that want to volunteer, please let us know.

1. Barbara Chambers Outstanding Advisor Award Nomination Deadline
2. Chapter of the Year Award Application
3. Michigan BPA Scholarship Application
4. State Executive Council Candidate Application
5. State Service Project Award Application (located in the Michigan Guidelines Supplement)
6. Statesman Torch Award (see info. below)

OTHER UPCOMING DEADLINES
January 23: Visit http://www.michiganbpa.org/national-anthem-singer-at-slc1
January 27: Deadline to receive the BPA TV video clip (see below)

BPA TV...SEE YOUR CHAPTER ON THE BIG SCREEN!
For the first time ever we will have constant streaming of BPA news in the hotel rooms at the Amway Grand Plaza Hotel and on a large TV screen in the Center Concourse during the state leadership conference. Does your chapter
want some screen time? Please send in photos and videos of your chapter or students at the regional leadership conference, completing community service activities, conducting fundraisers, and more. Look at the information sheet entitled "SLC Video Submission" on the documents page of our Web site. The deadline to mail your entries to the Michigan BPA's State Office is January 27, 2012. Schools may submit more than one video.

***IMPORTANT*** WSAP GUIDELINES FOR STATE COMPETITION
The WSAP Guidelines and ancillary documents have been updated quite a bit this year. In order to make sure everyone is on the same page for state competition, the official version that will be used for the SLC is posted
online at http://www.michiganbpa.org/documents. This is the version you should provide to your students as they prepare for competition. (See note below regarding "Pre-submitted Events.")

SLC REGISTRATION PROCESSING CHANGES
Since the payment section of the BPA Scheduler Web site is now set up in such a way that you can enter and save your registration dollar amounts, you no longer need to mail anything to the state office UNTIL you are ready to submit a check for payment. Once your check is ready, please mail the SLC Registration Payment Summary/Student Listing printout and your check or money order to the State Office.

If you are paying via credit card, you do NOT need to mail any sort of hard copy documentation of your SLC Registration Payment Summary/Student Listing printout.

We no longer need you to mail hard copies of your hotel reservation listing. We will print those documents from the BPA Scheduler Web site.

STOP: Please read this section again so you can make sure you understand if you do or do not need to mail anything to the state office in terms of SLC registration.

SLC PRINTED PROGRAM BOOKLETS
Since many students do not use the program booklets during the conference, all of the information for the SLC will be posted on a mobile Web site. Therefore, schools must indicate the number of printed program booklets when registering online at the BPA Scheduler Web site. There is a statement in the payment section of the site requesting you to enter the number of printed program booklets you need. Some students and advisors may not have Smartphones and may still wish to have a printed program booklet.

SLC FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
Visit the Frequently Asked Questions page (www.michiganbpa.org/slc-faq) to help save some time as you prepare for the conference.

BPA SCHEDULER REGISTRATION LOCK OUT
If your chapter still has not resolved the issue of submitting any past due advisor code of ethics forms, payment for regional conference registration, payment for state dues, or payment for national dues, your school is still locked out of the BPA Scheduler Web site. Such chapters will NOT be able to register for the state conference or make hotel reservations until the missing items are RECEIVED. Furthermore, please note that if these items are not resolved before the February 1, 2012 registration deadline, late fees will apply to state conference registration. Being locked out of the BPA Scheduler site due to missing previous deadlines and not resolving previous issues does not qualify for
exemption from missing the state conference registration deadline.

STUDENTS NOT ATTENDING THE SLC
If you have students that were regional winners and they are NOT attending the SLC, please notify your regional advisor AND the state office immediately. We want to contact the alternates for those applicable events.

STUDENTS MUST ATTEND ENTIRE WEEKEND
Remember, the Michigan BPA policy is that in order for a student to compete at the SLC, he/she must be a registered and paid hotel guest for the entire conference weekend (minimum Friday and Saturday nights). This conference is about more than just competition. The entire conference includes leadership workshops, networking, service projects, the general sessions (opening, dinner, and awards), and much more. This applies to ALL students. There should not be any back-and-forth travel because this makes you, your school, and BPA liable if anything unfortunate may happen. As
stated on page 6 of the SLC registration booklet, anyone who is registered for the conference and discovers they cannot stay at the hotel for the entire weekend will be eligible for a partial refund only. We appreciate everyone´s cooperation in this matter.

ATTENDANCE ELIGIBILITY
A frequently asked question right now is whether or not a chapter can bring extra students to the conference. Please review the "Attendance Eligibility" section on page 5 of the SLC Registration Booklet for the answer to that question.

RLC AWARD WINNERS ELIGIBLE FOR SLC
Please review Tuesday Tipster #12 (December 13, 2011) for a list of the number of students recognized at the RLCs varies by region. Only the students that fall into the number allowed per region will be allowed to compete in the various state competitions. Any student can compete in open events at the SLC.

NLC VIRTUAL COMPETITORS ELIGIBLE FOR SLC
Students who are officially registered to participate in national virtual competitions sponsored by National BPA are eligible to attend the state leadership conference. Please make sure you have a clear plan of activities such student(s) will participate in during the conference (i.e., open events, legacy launchers, college fair, etc.)

CONTESTANT SCHEDULE CONFLICTS
As mentioned at the FLC and as published in the SLC Registration Booklet, we will **NOT** be rescheduling students due to contest conflicts. As printed on page 18 of the SLC registration booklet, students who quality
for multiple events that have conflicting times will be allowed to take only one of their events. The next regional qualifier will be permitted to take their spot in the contest they decide to drop. This does **NOT** apply to the following: Saturday´s judged appointment events or the Parliamentary Procedures Concepts-Open Event (for team members only).

PLEASE review all your students contest times now so we can notify the alternate of the event they plan to drop. Please notify your regional advisor AND state office if you have a student dropping a contest because of a particular event might even be someone at your school. Michigan BPA is **NOT** responsible for notifying you of any schedule conflict prior to the conference. If you relied on the state office to catch every single conflict, students who fit this scenario could end up being notified as late as the first day of the conference.

JOB APPLICATIONS FOR INTERVIEW SKILLS & ADVANCED INTERVIEW SKILLS
The electronic version (Word format) of the job application for Interview Skills and Advanced Interview Skills are posted online on the documents page of our Web site. Please note that even though the files may say Regional 2012, the form has not changed and therefore, the students can use the form and won´t be penalized.

Contestants must download, complete, and save their job application in PDF format. This job application must be uploaded to the BPA Scheduler along with their other documents required for the event.

The job application can be a separate PDF and does NOT need to be saved in the same PDF file as the cover letter and resume. Any job application documents should be saved appropriately as "IS_APP_XX_XXXX_XXX" or "AIS_APP_XX_XXXX_XXX." Obviously, the X´s indicate the student´s contestant number.

If you wish, you can indeed include the job application as a part of the one single PDF document containing the resume and cover letter.

The application must be submitted by the same deadline as the other materials for this event. In addition, a signed copy of the job application must be turned in on site at the SLC.

PRE-SUBMITTED EVENTS
As you know, there are 11 competitions that are considered mail-in events because they have materials that must be mailed to us prior to the state conference.

Instructions for submitting these events online via our BPA Scheduler Web site can be found online once you logon to the BPA Scheduler site and go to the Competition Listing page.

The Desktop Publishing information was posted online via a password-protected Web site on January 12, 2012. In addition, a memo with instructions for submitting the Graphic Design Promotion material is posted online at http://www.michiganbpa.org/state-leadership-conference.

The pre-submitted events are as follows:
Administrative Support Research Project-Individual
Advanced Interview Skills
Desktop Publishing
Economic Research Project-Individual
Economic Research Project-Team
Entrepreneurship
Global Marketing Team
Graphic Design Promotion ***
Interview Skills
Web Application Team
Web Site Design Team

*** Due to the nature of the materials the contestants prepare, these events will be submitted via U.S. mail. Details will be posted on our SLC Web site

Make sure students are following the guidelines in the SLC edition of the WSAP Guidelines when preparing materials for these competitions. (See message above regarding "WSAP Guidelines for State Competition.")

COMPETITIVE EVENT DOCUMENTATION FORMS
Mail-in Event Documentation/Entry Forms (in Word Format) are posted online at http://www.bpa.org/compete.aspx?div=ps&go=eventdownload. You will need the following documents:
*** Individual Event Entry Form and Statement of Originality
*** Team Event Entry Form and Statement of Originality
*** Release Form

Handwritten forms will NOT be accepted and will result in disqualification. Obviously, if there is an area where it tells the student to print or sign his/her name, handwriting is allowed in that spot.

REPEAT: Handwritten forms will NOT be accepted and will result in DISQUALIFICATION.

Remember, if you want to look up your student´s contestant numbers to include on these forms, please logon to the membership registration system at http://www.registermychapter.com/bpamem/ and click on "Enter/View Your Members" and then "List All." The 10-digit number that is next to the students´ names will be their contestant # for the SLC.

SLC TEAM MEMBER CHANGES
Team members may change from each level of competition as long as one original team member remains from the regional level. You will enter all of your team members via the BPA Scheduler Web site by registering the students for their respective team events.

The state office does NOT need to know any team member changes from regional to state at the present time.

CHAPERONES
Our policy as published on the advisor code of ethics form is that a minimum of two advisors/chaperones is required for ALL chapters. In addition, one advisor and/or chapter is required for every ten students or major portion thereof. (Example: After the 15th student, an additional advisor/chaperone is required, so on and so forth.) During the conference, one chaperone must be designated to remain on your assigned hotel guest room floor at all times. We will contact any school throughout the registration process if they don´t meet this requirement. It is important that we have sufficient supervision at the conference.

Although we appreciate the extra adult supervision, do NOT register an excessive number of chaperones in comparison to the number of students you are bringing (example: two students and 4 adults). Please be conservative,
yet follow the policy stated above when making chaperone arrangements.

ADVISOR SLC CONTEST ASSIGNMENTS
If you are a chapter advisor and you are **NOT** attending the SLC, please contact State Director Maurice S. Henderson. We don´t want to assign an advisor to an event if they are not attending the conference. Furthermore,
if you did not attend the SLC last year, but are attending this year, please contact us as well. ALL chapter advisors must work a contest at the SLC. More volunteers are needed since we have so many events; therefore, if you have chaperones attending the conference that want to volunteer,
please let us know.

UPCOMING DEADLINES
The following items must be postmarked on or before Wednesday, January 18, 2012:
Most of these forms are located in the Michigan Guidelines Supplement OR can be downloaded from the documents page of our Web site
1. Barbara Chambers Outstanding Advisor Award Nomination Deadline

2. Chapter of the Year Award Application

3. Michigan BPA Scholarship Application

4. State Executive Council Candidate Application

5. State Service Project Award Application (located in the Michigan Guidelines Supplement)

6. Statesman Torch Award (see info. below)

OTHER UPCOMING DEADLINES
January 23: Visit http://www.michiganbpa.org/national-anthem-singer-at-slc1

UPCOMING EVENTS
January 13, 2012: RLC - Region 4
January 14, 2012: RLC - Region 3

SLC WEB SITE IS AVAILABLE
Visit http://www.michiganbpa.org/state-leadership-conference to view and obtain all the information you need for the SLC. Visit the Frequently Asked Questions page (www.michiganbpa.org/slc-faq) to help save some time as you prepare for the conference.

SLC REGISTRATION BOOKLET & ACCURACY CHECKLIST CORRECTIONS
If you downloaded a copy of the SLC Registration Booklet or the Registration Accuracy Checklist prior to reading this message, please download the revised version from http://www.michiganbpa.org/state-leadership-conference. There have been changes made to the document and the changes are highlighted in yellow.

STUDENTS NOT ATTENDING THE SLC
If you have students that were regional winners and they are **NOT** attending the SLC, please notify your regional advisor AND the state office immediately. We want to contact the alternates for those applicable events.

CONFERENCE REGISTRATION IS OFFICIALLY OPEN
Schools may start registering for the state leadership conference and making hotel reservations via the BPA Scheduler Web site. Conference registration, hotel reservation, and tax exempt status confirmation will be managed through the BPA Scheduler Web site. Make sure you read pages 26-28 of the 2012 SLC Registration Booklet before using the online conference registration system. Failure to do so will result in numerous errors and unnecessary frustration.

All chapters must use the BPA Scheduler registration system in order to sign students up for state competition. The system is located at at http://www.bpascheduler.com. You will need your chapter ID # in order to log in. The chapter ID # serves as your password. If you don't know your chapter ID #, please log into the online membership system at http://www.registermychapter.com/bpamem/ to obtain your six digit chapter ID #. The number begins with "04-XXXX." NOTE: If your school has any outstanding balance for membership dues or regional registration, you will be locked out of BPA Scheduler until your school’s balance is paid in full.

When you go to the BPA Scheduler site, make sure you select the appropriate state (Michigan) and region for your school.

ATTENDANCE ELIGIBILITY
A frequently asked question right now is whether or not a chapter can bring extra students to the conference. Please review the “Attendance Eligibility” section on page 5 of the SLC Registration Booklet for the answer to that question.

RLC AWARD WINNERS ELIGIBLE FOR SLC
Please review Tuesday Tipster #12 (December 13, 2011) for a list of the number of students recognized at the RLCs varies by region. Only the students that fall into the number allowed per region will be allowed to compete in the various state competitions. Any student can compete in open events at the SLC.

NLC VIRTUAL COMPETITORS ELIGIBLE FOR SLC
Students who are officially registered to participate in national virtual competitions sponsored by National BPA are eligible to attend the state leadership conference. Please make sure you have a clear plan of activities such student(s) will participate in during the conference (i.e., open events, legacy launchers, college fair, etc.)

STUDENTS MUST ATTEND ENTIRE WEEKEND
Remember, the Michigan BPA policy is that in order for a student to compete at the SLC, he/she must be a registered and paid hotel guest for the entire conference weekend (minimum Friday and Saturday nights). This conference is about more than just competition. The entire conference includes leadership workshops, networking, service projects, the general sessions (opening, dinner, and awards), and much more. This applies to ALL students. There should not be any back-and-forth travel because this makes you, your school, and BPA liable if anything unfortunate may happen. As stated on page 6 of the SLC registration booklet, anyone who is registered for the conference and discovers they cannot stay at the hotel for the entire weekend will be eligible for a partial refund only. We appreciate everyone’s cooperation in this matter.

GENDER ON HOTEL RESERVATION LIST
When completing your hotel reservation list, please make sure you indicate the gender of all your participants. This is crucial information. This information will be used to help avoid guests of the opposite gender being placed in adjoining rooms with a connecting door.

CHECK INFORMATION ON HOTEL RESERVATON LIST
Please make sure you include the check # and the payor’s name of the check that you send to the hotel. Space to record this information is at the top of the hotel reservation list printout.

SLC PRINTED PROGRAM BOOKLETS
Since many students do not use the program booklets during the conference, all of the information for the SLC will be posted on a mobile Web site. Therefore, schools must indicate the number of printed program booklets when registering online at the BPA Scheduler Web site. There is a statement in the payment section of the site requesting you to enter the number of printed program booklets you need. Some students and advisors may not have Smartphones and may still wish to have a printed program booklet.

PRE-SUBMITTED EVENTS
As you know, there are 11 competitions that are considered mail-in events because they have materials that must be mailed to us prior to the state conference.

Instructions for submitting these events online via our BPA Scheduler Web site can be found online once you logon to the BPA Scheduler site and go to the Competition Listing page.

The Desktop Publishing information will be posted online via a password-protected Web site on January 12, 2012. In addition, instructions for submitting the Graphic Design Promotion material will be posted on our Web site next week.

The pre-submitted events are as follows:
Administrative Support Research Project-Individual
Advanced Interview Skills
Desktop Publishing
Economic Research Project-Individual
Economic Research Project-Team
Entrepreneurship
Global Marketing Team
Graphic Design Promotion ***
Interview Skills
Web Application Team
Web Site Design Team

*** Due to the nature of the materials the contestants prepare, these events will be submitted via U.S. mail. Details will be posted on our SLC Web site

COMPETITIVE EVENT DOCUMENTATION FORMS
Mail-in Event Documentation/Entry Forms (in Word Format) are posted online at
http://www.bpa.org/compete.aspx?div=ps&go=eventdownload. You will need the following documents:
*** Individual Event Entry Form and Statement of Originality
*** Team Event Entry Form and Statement of Originality
*** Release Form

Handwritten forms will NOT be accepted and will result in disqualification. Obviously, if there is an area where it tells the student to print or sign his/her name, handwriting is allowed in that spot.

REPEAT: Handwritten forms will NOT be accepted and will result in DISQUALIFICATION.

Remember, if you want to look up your student’s contestant numbers to include on these forms, please logon to the membership registration system at http://www.registermychapter.com/bpamem/ and click on "Enter/View Your Members” and then “List All.” The 10-digit number that is next to the students’ names will be their contestant # for the SLC.

SLC TEAM MEMBER CHANGES
Team members may change from each level of competition as long as one original team member remains from the regional level. You will enter all of your team members via the BPA Scheduler Web site by registering the students for their respective team events.

The state office does NOT need to know any team member changes from regional to state at the present time.

CONTESTANT SCHEDULE CONFLICTS
As mentioned at the FLC and as published in the SLC Registration Booklet, we will **NOT** be rescheduling students due to contest conflicts. As printed on page 18 of the SLC registration booklet, students who quality for multiple events that have conflicting times will be allowed to take only one of their events. The next regional qualifier will be permitted to take their spot in the contest they decide to drop. This does **NOT** apply to the following: Saturday’s judged appointment events or the Parliamentary Procedures Concepts-Open Event (for team members only).

PLEASE review all your students contest times now so we can notify the alternate of the event they plan to drop. Please notify your regional advisor AND state office if you have a student dropping a contest because of a particular event might even be someone at your school. Michigan BPA is **NOT** responsible for notifying you of any schedule conflict prior to the conference. If you relied on the state office to catch every single conflict, students who fit this scenario could end up being notified as late as the first day of the conference.

CHAPERONES
Our policy as published on the advisor code of ethics form is that a minimum of two advisors/chaperones is required for ALL chapters. In addition, one advisor and/or chapter is required for every ten students or major portion thereof. (Example: After the 15th student, an additional advisor/chaperone is required, so on and so forth.) During the conference, one chaperone must be designated to remain on your assigned hotel guest room floor at all times. We will contact any school throughout the registration process if they don’t meet this requirement. It is important that we have sufficient supervision at the conference.

Although we appreciate the extra adult supervision, do NOT register an excessive number of chaperones in comparison to the number of students you are bringing (example: two students and 4 adults). Please be conservative, yet follow the policy stated above when making chaperone arrangements.

ADVISOR SLC CONTEST ASSIGNMENTS
If you are a chapter advisor and you are **NOT** attending the SLC, please contact State Director Maurice S. Henderson. We don’t want to assign an advisor to an event if they are not attending the conference. Furthermore, if you did not attend the SLC last year, but are attending this year, please contact us as well. ALL chapter advisors must work a contest at the SLC. More volunteers are needed since we have so many events; therefore, if you have chaperones attending the conference that want to volunteer, please let us know.

This is the first Tuesday Tipster for the new year. During the months of January through March, the Tuesday Tipsters will be separate for both the Secondary and Postsecondary Divisions.

UPCOMING DEADLINES
The following items must be postmarked on or before Wednesday, January 18, 2012:
Most of these forms are located in the Michigan Guidelines Supplement OR can be downloaded from the documents page of our Web site
1. Barbara Chambers Outstanding Advisor Award Nomination Deadline

2. Chapter of the Year Award Application

3. Michigan BPA Scholarship Application

4. State Executive Council Candidate Application

5. State Service Project Award Application (located in the Michigan Guidelines Supplement)

6. Statesman Torch Award (see info. below)

OTHER UPCOMING DEADLINES
January 23: National Anthem Singer contest (See below)

UPCOMING EVENTS
January 6, 2012: RLC - Regions 1, 2, 5, 6, 7, and 9
January 7, 2012: RLC - Region 8
January 10, 2012: RLC - Region 10
January 13, 2012: RLC - Region 4
January 14, 2012: RLC - Region 3

SLC PLANNING UPDATES
This is the first Tuesday Tipster that will contain some SLC information. Future updates will become longer. In addition, future SLC weekly updates should be read and printed for easy reference.

If you ever discover that you and/or your entire chapter are **NOT** attending the SLC, please let me know right away.

Also, please pay close attention to the competitive event information mentioned in this and future weekly updates. Any information posted in these updates supersedes what is published in the WSAP Guidelines Handbook 2012.

STATE OFFICE COMMUNICATION
As you know, we receive 10 times more e-mail during the SLC planning time. Please be patient as we respond to the many e-mail and telephone messages that we receive at this time of the year.

MEMBERSHIP VERIFICATION & DUES PAYMENTS
Schools with any outstanding balances for state membership dues, national membership dues, or regional registration will not be allowed to compete at the SLC. If your school fits this category, you will be notified via e-mail on a weekly basis. Please continue to handle these matters expeditiously.

STATE EXECUTIVE COUNCIL CANDIDATES
There are numerous students out there with exceptional leadership abilities. Serving as a state officer is a wonderful opportunity for students to improve their leadership skills and to grow socially and professionally. We receive many testimonies from past state officers in terms of how it changed their lives so early on.

We have had an increasingly low number of candidates at the past few state conferences. Do you have a student you can encourage to run for office? If you have a student who you feel is an outstanding leader, encourage him/her to run for state office. If he/she is interested, a candidate application/handbook can be downloaded from www.michiganbpa.org/documents. The application deadline is January 18.

CHAPTER SCHOLARSHIP/STATE SERVICE PROJECT
The chapter scholarship application for participation in the state service project is March 1, 2012. Please view www.michiganbpa.org/chapter-scholarship-opportunity for more details.

SLC REGISTRATION BOOKLET & FORMS
All of the SLC information including the SLC Registration Booklet and related forms will be available on the documents page of our Web site by the end of this week. The documents will be placed there temporarily until our SLC Web site is available.

The entire SLC Registration booklet must be reviewed by all chapter advisors. Do **NOT** just download the forms and fill them in. READ THE ENTIRE BOOK!!!

BPA SCHEDULER REGISTRATION IS NOT OPEN YET
The BPA Scheduler Web site is not open at the present time. Once it is available, advisors will be notified via a special e-mail alert.

JUDGES REFERRALS

Since it’s early in our planning process, we still need more judges. If you have recommendations of any judges, please direct them to our Web site to download a BPA Judge Volunteer Packet and sign-up online at www.michiganbpa.org/slc-judges.

NATIONAL ANTHEM SINGER AT SLC
The Michigan Association is continuing its tradition of having a contest for students who are interested in singing the National Anthem at the opening session of the state leadership conference. Any student who qualifies to attend the SLC as a regional event winner or statesman award recipient is eligible to submit an entry for this contest. Students must submit their performance singing the national anthem on audiocassette or CD, a current photograph, and short bio to the state office. Please note that these items will not be returned. The performance at the SLC will be a cappella; therefore, it’s best that the audition performance be submitted in that manner. All entries must be postmarked by January 24. Send entries to: Business Professionals of America, Eastern Michigan University, 208 King Hall, Ypsilanti, MI 48197.

TORCH AWARDS SUBMISSION
Everything for the torch awards program is done online. Do **NOT** mail any torch awards information to the state office.

More information about the torch awards program can be found online at www.michiganbpa.org/torch.

CONCLUSION
Thanks for your attention to all these matters. Please share this information with all your co- advisors.

Good luck as you prepare to attend the SLC!

This is the first Tuesday Tipster for the new year. During the months of January through March, the Tuesday Tipsters will be separate for both the Secondary and Postsecondary Divisions.

UPCOMING DEADLINES
January 18: Statesman Torch Award deadline
January 30: Enter all dues-paying student members in online membership registration system
February 1: Dues payment deadline
February 1: State Leadership Conference registration deadline

UPCOMING EVENTS
February 11: State Leadership Conference (Northwood University, Midland, MI)

CHAPTER STATUS
If you and/or your entire chapter are **NOT** attending the SLC, please let us know.

Also, please pay close attention to the competitive event information mentioned in this and future Tuesday Tipsters. Any information posted in these updates supersedes what is published in the WSAP Guidelines Handbook 2012.

STATE OFFICE COMMUNICATION
As you know, we receive 10 times more e-mail during the SLC planning time. Please be patient as we respond to the many e-mail and telephone messages that we receive at this time of the year.

MEMBERSHIP VERIFICATION & DUES PAYMENTS
Schools with any outstanding balances for state and/or national dues or other items will not be allowed to compete at the SLC. If your school fits this category, you will be notified via e-mail on a weekly basis. Please continue to handle these matters expeditiously.

SLC LOCATION
We are pleased that Northwood University will be hosting the 2012 state conference. I’m certain that their team will do a great job planning a successful event. More details about the conference will be sent in future weekly updates.

SLC REGISTRATION BOOKLET & FORMS
The state conference registration booklet was posted online on December 6, 2011. The BPA Scheduler Web site for registering for the conference is not open at the present time. Please stay tuned for more information.

COMPETITIVE EVENT DOCUMENTATION FORMS
Event Documentation/Entry Forms (in Word Format) are posted online at
www.bpa.org/compete.aspx?div=ps&go=eventdownload. You will need the following documents:
*** Individual Event Entry Form and Statement of Originality
*** Team Event Entry Form and Statement of Originality
*** Release Form

Handwritten forms will NOT be accepted and will result in disqualification. Obviously, if there is an area where it tells the student to print or sign his/her name, handwriting is allowed in that spot.

REPEAT: Handwritten forms will NOT be accepted and will result in DISQUALIFICATION.

Remember, if you want to look up your student’s contestant numbers to include on these forms, please logon to the membership registration system at www.registermychapter.com/bpamem/ and click on "Enter/View Your Members” and then “List All.” The 10-digit number that is next to the students’ names will be their contestant # for the SLC.

NOTE: Events are not pre-submitted in advance for the Postsecondary SLC. You will bring everything with you to the state conference.

TORCH AWARD MAILING ADDRESS
Everything for the torch awards program is done online. Do **NOT** mail any torch awards information to the state office.

More information about the torch awards program can be found online at www.michiganbpa.org/torch.

CONCLUSION
Thanks for your attention to all these matters. Please share this information with all your co- advisors.

Good luck as you prepare to attend the SLC!

UPCOMING DEADLINES
*** December 9: Corrected Diplomat Torch Awards Deadline (S) *** Deadline extended
December 15: Membership Dues Payment Deadline (S)

UPCOMING EVENTS
December 9: BPA Pistons Event
December 9: BPA Prepare for Success Session (at Davenport University-Livonia Campus) (S)
December 16: BPA Prepare for Success Session (at Davenport University-Grand Rapids Lettinga Campus) (S)

POSTSECONDARY SLC REGISTRATION BOOKLET (PS)
The registration booklet for the Postsecondary SLC is available online at http://www.michiganbpa.org/postsecondary. Please download this information in order to start planning for the Postsecondary SLC. The Postsecondary BPA Scheduler Web site and forms referenced in the registration booklet will be available in January.

DIPLOMAT TORCH AWARDS STATUS
Due to numerous technical glitches with the National BPA online Torch Awards system, the deadline for submitting corrections has been extended to Friday, December 9.

WSAP GUIDELINES--REGIONAL EDITION (S)
Due to several major updates to the WSAP Guidelines, the Michigan BPA Joint Council decided that whatever version of these guidelines is posted online as of December 1, which will be the absolute final version/set of rules that will be enforced during the regional leadership conferences. The regional edition of the WSAP Guidelines and Style & Reference Manual have been posted online on the Documents page of our Web site.

Make sure you download the version that is online and do not download another version until further notice from Michigan BPA.

STATE THEME GRAPHIC WINNER (S)
Congratulations to Danielle Unrein from Swan Valley High School for being selected as the winner of the 2010-2011 state theme graphic contest. Danielle's design will be used on the cover of the state leadership conference program. Great job!

STATE MEMBERSHIP DUES PAYMENTS DEADLINE (S)
All state and national membership dues invoices must be paid in full no later than Thursday, December 15, 2011. Reminder statements will be sent via e-mail to all chapters that have outstanding balances for state membership dues. The e-mail will be sent to the advisor who receives the invoices tomorrow.

MICHIGAN BPA SCHOLARSHIP (S)
The Michigan BPA Scholarship Application form is available online on the Documents page of our Web site. Encourage your students to apply for the scholarship. The deadline is January 18, 2012.

CREDIT CARD PAYMENTS
Please visit http://www.michiganbpa.org/credit for an important announcement regarding credit card payment processing for payments to Michigan BPA. This new procedure takes effect immediately. Effective immediately, credit card payment forms and credit card numbers written onto invoices will no longer be accepted. Credit card payments must be made via our new procedure as stated on our Web site.