It's been real NGLA!

Time has truly flown this weekend. NGLA is coming to an end and this final day of sessions was pretty enlightening. I especially enjoyed the keynote speakers today... So let me break down my day.

We began the morning listening to two keynote speakers from PhiredUp. Having gone to two Sigma Pi Mid-Year Leadership Conferences in my past, I've had the privilege of listening to Vince Fabra speak on behalf of PhiredUp productions before. The only thing that disappointed me was the fact that these two speakers used more or less the same "personal" anectdotes that Fabra did at MYLC. This just led me to believe that they use generic and similar stories to try and get their point across. Fortunately for me, this session served its purpose. I met a TKE from Manhattan, who was extremely friendly. Our conversation got deep real quick when we started talking about our personal lives and getting past the "name tag conversation." At the end of the keynote, me and my TKE friend added each other on FB. I wished him well on his upcoming Nicaragua trip... Hopefully we have time to chat in later months!

I went to four sessions today... Taking at least one piece of info that I can bring back to BSU. However, there is one session that truly stood out to me - "The Apathy Myth: Real Answers for Unmotivated Members," presented by T.J. Sullivan. This was one of the most eye-opening sessions I've ever been to in my leadership conference history. Not only is T.J. an amazing presenter in terms of content, he truly knows how to engage an entire room right after lunch. During this session, T.J. constantly challenged us to try new things within our chapters because simply, why not? I have a few ideas of changing seating arrangements in my chapter in order to better encourage chapter participation. This session just truly made me think outside of the box and not be scared to try new things. The truth of the matter is, if it doesn't work, we just revert back. It's hard to sum up into words how mind altering this session was - but I'll let my actions speak for themselves when I get back.

The rest of the conference is enjoyable in terms of session content and the final keynote speaker. The final thing I would like to talk about is how awesome it was to network with other Sigma Pi's. I've been to three national Sigma Pi conferences, but I've never had this amount of time to sit and network with high-level executive officers from the International Office. The amount of face time I got with Executive Director Mike Ayalon was awesome! Just having the CEO of your fraternity know your name and location and wanting to keep in contact with you is a great feeling. I'm thankful for having this opportunity to network with the many Greeks in the Northeast as well as my fellow brothers. NGLA was not what I was expecting... I gained a lot more from attending than I thought I would. Thank you for a great time! I can't wait to bring all of this insightful knowledge back to my chapter.