A Brand New World

Although it pains me to wake up any time before 10am on an average day, today I woke up and was ready to start the first day of sessions. The only thing I needed to start my day off was a coffee... Unfortunately the one I bought was lukewarm.

The opening keynote speaker was Professor Corey Ciochetti from CAMPUSPEAK - who came in with a really genuine and insightful message. Professor C talked about how to build and maintain an authentic life according to our values and ideals. I really enjoyed the messages he relayed to us during his time, as I wasn't expecting that from somebody outside of the Greek Life system. In his ending notes, Professor C talked about hustle and laughter being two key themes to living an authentic life. His message was different than one I would've expected to hear at 9am in the morning - but I'm glad NGLA gave us this opportunity to hear his story... One that isn't as related to Greek Life in its entirety.

For my first session of the day, I attended "Why Do We Expect Members to Do a Job They Do Not Know?" presented by Cory Bosco. I decided to go to this session because I wanted to find ways to better enhance the transitions process in my chapter and potentially learn ways to better motivate the membership that don't know how to do their roles correctly (even if it's not their fault). From this session I took away a lot of key things such as setting the expectations of the Chair and Committees as well as teaching these roles during the new member process... Something I would definitely like to bring back to my chapter. One of the biggest problems in my chapter is people not knowing how to do their position because they're more or less thrown into it immediately after pledging. In order for our committee structure to be effective, we must bring forth efforts to implant change in the way that is being handled.

My second session of the day was "Sexual Assault Prevention, Consent, and the Bystander Effect," presented by Sigma Pi CEO Michael Ayalon. Mike is coming to BSU for Greek Week to present the same presentation, so I was looking forward to getting a sneak peek! The presentation was awesome and Mike really drove home the points that connected with the room about Greeks needing to step up and lead the charge on this. I think this is a solid presentation that the BSU community will enjoy when Mike comes. After the session, I talked with Mike for a little bit about Sigma Pi stuff and really enjoyed networking with one of the highest executives in Sigma Pi Fraternity, International. Through talking with him and the numerous other Sigma Pi's at this conference, I'm reaffirming my belief that I want to go into a Student Affairs and eventually work for Sigma Pi as an executive office staff member.

The third and final session I went to was called "Leading at The Edge," presented by Kevin Pons and Brittany Mahann. This is the third session in a row I went to where a Sigma Pi was presenting... Totally unintentional. This session revolved around the idea of leadership styles and how we lead our chapters while sometimes stretching ourselves thin and essentially 'leading at the edge'. The concepts themselves were pretty simple, but I enjoyed the format of having the 9 methods laid out for us... Plus I took away a neat handout (I enjoy tangible takeaways)! This session helped me outline changes that I want to make in my chapter, even though sometimes I feel stressed trying to get these things done.

The day concluded with dinner at a great pub & restaurant... Where I finally got a burger AND pulled pork all in one magnificent sandwich. After the restaurant, we all headed down to evening entertainment where we briefly enjoyed the green screen photo booth and a glow dance party. The conference is offering some nifty things in terms of what to do in our spare time... But Yik-Yak is still on fire. Once we got back to the rooms, we had the long awaited "pajama jammy jam." All in all, this was a fantastic day 1 to NGLA! I'm enjoying all of the bonding with the delegation and actually taking things away from the first day of sessions.