Great Plains Chapter Shares its Know-How of Chapter Building at KnowledgeLab 2025

ASCP’s Great Plains Chapter will bring Nebraska’s can-do spirit to Arizona when it hosts KnowledgeLab 2025 on April 7 and 8 in Scottsdale, Arizona. The Great Plains Chapter’s leaders will share their know-how of how to build a thriving chapter. 

“We are honored to be invited to host KnowledgeLab 2025,” says Great Plains Chapter President Shanan Fuhrman, MLS(ASCP)CM.  

Arizona doesn’t have a chapter at present and the Great Plains Chapter has been very strong for a long time.  

“The mantle of strong leadership has been handed down by previous presidents of the Great Plains Chapter over the years,” Mr. Fuhrman says. “This is an opportunity for our members to share what we are doing and help other chapters get started. We are helping to grow the profession.”  

Mr. Fuhrman and several other board members of the Great Plains Chapter, including President-elect Linsey Donner, PhD, MPH, CPH, MLS(ASCP)CM, who served on the KnowledgeLab planning committee, and Jaime Perry, MBA, MLS(ASCP)CM, will participate in the KnowledgeLab opening ceremony to welcome attendees.    

“We’ll have a Chapter Meet-up session on day one during lunch, where there will be round tables with discussion topics to help attendees build and grow their local chapters while making connections with other members to encourage networking with future collaboration,” Mr. Fuhrman says. “To help raise chapter awareness and interaction, there will be chapter stickers handed out at registration.” 

The Great Plains Chapter leaders will be on hand to answer questions and talk about how to start a chapter. A key to maintaining a strong chapter is to have current leaders mentor up-and-coming leaders and to have a succession plan in place.   

“Succession planning is something our chapter has done really well,” Mr. Fuhrman says. “When you have a succession plan in place, you don’t lose institutional knowledge for how things are done. That is what builds your chapter up. Starting a chapter is the first step.” 

Register for KnowledgeLab 2025 here.