Why Do We Gather? Why TEBG?

The pandemic has profoundly changed us. At least this is how it feels to me. We have struggled to keep some sense of normalcy during the most impactful periods of COVID outbreaks, gathering together educational content for our attendees, meeting virtually instead of in-person, masking up when needed, looking to our inner circles for support, information and ideas as opposed to reaching out to our peers in the community as we have been accustomed to do in the past. It’s been hard…and depressing, quite frankly.

Now that we’re emerging from our sequestered “new normal”, I am hopeful that we can once again come together in support of each other in this brave new world. Our last season was not as well attended as I would hoped, so we reached out to our friends to see how we could better serve them. The comments we received have inspired some changes to our meeting structure and cost sharing arrangements.

For 2022-2023 we will offer 4 in-person meetings at the Tulsa Country Club with lunch included, 4 Zoom only meetings, 1 half day seminar provided jointly with HoganTaylor and 1 evening event at the offices of HoganTaylor (free of charge) designed for us to meet new peers and reconnect with others who’ve been shrouded by the pandemic all this time.

An annual fee of $150.00 will cover all meetings, events and meals, a per in-person meeting of $40 per meeting will cover the meeting and lunch, and a Zoom only meeting fee of $10 will cover each meeting via Zoom. These cost sharing options allow TEBG to have a venue at which to meet, host this website and pay the fees to provide HRCI and SHRM credits for our attendees.

In addition, we will be exploring other venues in order to be more accessible to attendees who find our current venue a significant drive. Our primary focus will be on a central location that can accommodate a group of our size, is affordable and can provide a meal.

I am extremely optimistic about this new season and welcome any and all feedback from our friends and colleagues. Welcome, all!

Jill Lingle, President/TEBG Steering Committee