On November 12-13, Kathleen Cleary and I completed a short tour of the NASPP’s southern California chapters. We presented “NASPP Conference: Cliff Notes Edition,” which features highlights from this year’s NASPP Conference in a game show format for the San Diego and Orange County chapters and a joint LA/San Fernando Valley chapter meeting. Here are pics from the meetings.

What’s a game show without prizes? We didn’t have $1 million to give away, but we had the next best thing: chocolate!

Funny story: Going through security with 30 bars of chocolate in my bag caused TSA to search my bag (I think it was the foil wrappers). And when the agent found the 30 chocolate bars, he actually exclaimed: “Oh wow!” I guess in shock that anyone would eat so much chocolate. At which point I felt compelled to very hurriedly and embarrassingly explain that they weren’t mine, they were prizes for a game and I wasn’t going to eat all that chocolate myself. I’m still not sure he believed me.

Megan Arthur and Michelle Lara of Cooley chat before the San Diego chapter meeting. A big thank-you to Cooley for hosting the meeting.

The San Diego meeting was attended by around 40 people–a fantastic turnout. Kudos to James Tozer of E*TRADE, the chapter president, and the rest of the chapter board members for organizing a great meeting!

From San Diego to LA–which is a long drive when you got up at 5:00 AM that morning to catch a plane to San Diego. Luckily I wasn’t the driver. In this pic, Sandy Hetrick of Riot Games and Kim Barner of Demand Media catch up before the meeting begins.

View from the meeting room in LA (Kathleen and I were glad we had left a little early for the meeting). A big thank-you to Stubbs, Alderton & Markiles for hosting the meeting. Also, thanks to Joanne Wendler of Demand Media and Jeffrey Peak of Schwab, presidents of the LA and San Fernando Valley chapters, and their respective chapter boards, for organizing a great meeting!

The last stop on the tour was First American in Santa Ana for the Orange County chapter meeting. Here are Sean McLaughlin and Dave Mayo from Fidelity and Michelle May from Mallinckrodt Pharmaceuticals. Thanks to First American for hosting the meeting and thanks to Jeannette Wheeler of Solium and the rest of the chapter board for organizing another great meeting!

See more pics from the meetings on the NASPP’s Facebook page.

– Barbara

It’s a big week for NASPP chapter meetings:

Connecticut: Jenn Namazi and Jen Baehr of the NASPP present “NASPP Conference: Cliff Notes edition.”  The meeting will also include drinks, dinner and door prizes to celebrate the upcoming holiday season! (Monday, December 1, 3:00 PM)

Chicago: Mike Melbinger of Winston & Strawn presents “Thirty Changes to Your Equity Plan Documents to Reduce the Risk of Unwanted Outcomes.” (Wednesday, December 3, 7:30 AM)

Florida: Paul McConnell of Board Advisory presents “Total Shareholder Return (TSR) Plans – Pros and Cons.” (Wednesday, December 3, 8:30 AM)

Sacramento:  Kelly Geerts of ISP Advisors presents “How to Finish Out the Year Without a Headache.” (Wednesday, December 3, 1:00 PM Pacific)

Austin: The chapter hosts its first annual Holiday Social and Networking Event.  (Thursday, December 4, 5:30 PM)

Dallas: The chapter hosts its holiday cocktail party, which includes a discussion of the “First Data-Driven Study of the ROI on Equity Compensation.” (Thursday, December 4, 3:00 PM)

Houston: The chapter hosts a presentation on “What’s Trending in Equity Compensation.” (Thursday, December 4, 11:30 AM)

Ohio: Jenn Namazi of the NASPP presents “NASPP Conference: Cliff Notes edition.”  (Thursday, December 4, 9:30 AM)

San Diego:  The chapter hosts its annual holiday social and networking lunch at Cozymel’s Mexican Grill. (Thursday, December 4, 11:30 AM)

Twin Cities: Don Drybrough of Solium presents “Employee Mobility and a World of Challenges: Steps to Take Control of a Mobile, Global Workforce.” (Thursday, December 4, 7:30 AM)