Conference Time

7AM. Waking up in the morning. Gotta be fresh. Gotta go downstairs.

It's Friday.

Friday.

Gotta get down on Friday.

So I venture downstairs after getting so fresh and so clean, only to find a massive line at Starbucks. After waiting in line to get my 20 oz. coffee I was ready for the day. Our keynote speaker, Kim Novak, gave a rousing speech about living up to the values of our founding mothers and fathers. Normally at 9:00 AM I'm far from ready for the day, but she really brought some energy into the room.
     Our first sessions had us working in small groups of four to six people. We discussed general information about our chapters and/or councils. A lot of positives, and a lot of negatives came up. Hazing was a big theme in my group. Everyone in the group was very against hazing (not every group was), but many of us agreed that the restrictions on new members and pledges was becoming too strict. As a result of the very serious issues that have come up with hazing chapters we have found ourselves hamstrung by rules that now prohibit us from even asking new members or pledges to hold study hours together. As a large group we followed up our discussions by asking how many of the issues we see are out of our control, in the middle, or fully in our control. It really put things into perspective and allowed me to see what I can do immediately to benefit my chapter and the BSU Greek Life community.
     Lunch was rad. I had a sandwich and cookies.
     The post-lunch workshops were very interesting. My first workshop was all about conflict resolution, and used Calvin and Hobbes for examples. I learned not only how to resolve conflicts among friends and brothers, but how to identify the type of conflict, and the style of argument each person involved uses. My presenter was kind enough to give everyone at the workshop a flash drive containing her powerpoint presentation, and notes on the topic.
     another quick seminar that stood out to me was the Man vs. Bro discussion. I learned how to reconnect with alumni of the organization in ways other than standard emails. We were told to really try meeting with them, and treating them more like a new recruit than someone who has been around in the past. when an alumni returns to my chapter I've usually heard of them, and maybe they know an active brother within their lineage, but for the most part they don't know any of us. At the end of the day they are a stranger, who has a common connection to everyone in the chapter. It shouldn't be too difficult to reconnect, but brothers tend to go about it the wrong way.

     Dinner was an awesome chipotle steak sandwich at bear land (I'm calling it that because I forgot the official name already). Fried pickles preceded the sandwich, and were as glorious as they ever. Nighttime activities included a tee shirt swap, mechanical bull rides, and the pajama jammy-jam which earned me a $10 subway card.

Much love to Anthony Legere aka DQ IV aka Greg Jennings the Czech Slayer. Wouldn't have won without you.

Slay the dragon,

DC