Chapter Chats

Jeff Grieder - the new OSSN Houston, TX Chapter Director

Jeff Grieder entered into the Travel Industry in May of 2003 and has been hooked ever since. It was in May of 2003 that Jeff joined a host agency to get his foot in the door. He eventually ended up working for the host agency as an Administrative Assistant for a short time in which his Manager taught him the ins and outs of the Industry. By July of 2004 Jeff took the big plunge and joined OSSN as an Agency Member, obtained his TRUE code and was finally in business for himself. It was also within that same month that Jeff obtained his CLIA code and bills himself as a Cruise Specialist. He has completed many training programs and has earned specialized certificates with several Cruise Lines, Hotels and Destinations. He is currently enrolled in the ACC program with CLIA and will be enrolling into the CTA program with The Travel Institute this spring. He looks forward to working with his Chapter and making a big difference for his Houston Members in the Home Based Travel Industry. OSSN welcomes Jeff Grieder as the new OSSN Houston, TX Chapter Director.

Meet Kelly Chiusano, OSSN TRUE Administrator

Many members have talked to Kelly in the OSSN office. Kelly is OSSN's TRUE Administrator. She is responsible for all TRUE code facilitation for OSSN TRUE applicants. In addition Kelly issues TRUE/OSSN Photo ID Cards and provides new and renewing OSSN members with their membership kits. Kelly is fully versed in all the OSSN benefits and services and she may be contacted at: info@ossn.com

Desiree Sakow

I have been in the travel business for 15 years. I guess I always wanted to be in travel because when I was a child I would go to all the travel agencies and collect brochures and cut out all the pictures. I love to travel and have been many places, some of them including Japan, Thailand, Europe, Canada, Mexico, Caribbean and Hawaii, just to name a few. Cruising is one of my favorites, I have been on 15 in my years. I moved my business into my home 3 years ago and haven't looked back.

The OSSN Dallas Chapter Meeting

The OSSN Dallas Chapter Meeting, February 2005. We had a panel discussion with three of our members serving on the panel. The chapter director acting as the Emcee for the evening. The two topics of discussion were Office Set Up and Closing the Sale. Questions were asked and each panelist gave the answer as it pertained to their agency. Those in attendance also got to share their ideas for each question. It was amazing how everyone in attendance had something to share. It is rare that everyone at a meeting will actually contribute to the conversation, but this meeting was not the norm. Even the visitors made contributions. Ideas were flowing this evening, making this one of the best meetings our chapter has ever had. Our chapter has been meeting regularly for over five years now. Most in attendance are comfortable sharing ideas and thoughts at the meetings, but you know some people are not great speakers so they keep quite in large groups. But the February meeting helped bring everyone into the conversation.

Our chapter will plan one to two meeting per year with this format. We had done this type of panel discussion a few years ago with good results, but hadn't done it since. We have had round table discussions but not with the same results.

Thank you to all of the members that attended February's meeting.

Lu Ann
OSSN Dallas Chapter Director
972-530-3649