Women's Leadership Conference: Key Take-Aways
- Brooke Boyd
- Mar 14, 2016
- 3 min read
My first experience at the Arkansas Tech University Women's Leadership Conference was inspiring! I thought I would take the time to articulate my reflections of the workshops as well as the exceptional students and presenters who attended.
Session 1: "I Am...the Good Woman Speaking Well" - Dr. Virginia Jones
I started my workshop experience with Dr. Jones' presentation about public speaking. She is an Assistant Professor of Speech here at Arkansas Tech. Her hook at the beginning immediately had my interest: "Part of being a leader is being able to speak well." As she continued, however, I was reflective of the advisor-student relationship.
The Speaker/Audience Dynamic should shape The Message, and you should know how to "KARE" for your audience. To me, this was very reflective of counseling and student development objectives: Know your audience (values and demographics), Address their needs (issues, requests, and contributions), Respect their intelligence (level of education, language, and development), and Emphasize what they want to know (organize message strategically and provide effective visuals and resources). The end of her workshop provided strategies for getting over speaking jitters: Get focused, positive, and active, as well as focus on the audience not on yourself.
Session 2: "Personal Branding: Create Your Own Ending to 'I Am...'" - Brooke Boyd
My materials for this workshop are in this blog post, but I do want to mention how exciting and invigorating it was to hear students tell me how this workshop impacted their goals and perspectives about the future. One student realized that she was limiting her options by only pursuing pediatrics as a nursing specialty. Another pulled me aside afterwards and thanked me: She became inspired to start a personal health and fitness blog so that she can educate others about simple ways to incorporate healthy habits into their lives. One student confided in me that she was not sure how to tell others about her interest in educating others about sexuality and gender identity, and we found that her goal was to come up with an interesting way to immediately engage others in the topic without eliciting discomfort. Last, one student explained that she is the president of the Panhellenic council and asked that I help her develop a values-based recruitment workshop after reading my bio in the program. I cannot wait to hear more from students as time passes and learn about how they have grown and achieved their goals!
Session 3: "Leadership Lessons from Leslie Knope (Parks & Recreation)" - Kara Johnson
I really appreciated that Kara, another CSP student, discussed the Social Change Model of Leadership in her workshop about Parks & Rec's Leslie Knope. She broke it down into 10 lessons and had videos demonstrating each from the show. Lesson #1: Leadership is a Process, which translates to "elected v. effective." I also loved Lesson #4: Know Your Values, AKA create your own "Swanson Pyramid of Greatness."
The biggest take-away for me, personally? *Bonus* Lesson: Remember What's Important. For me, it can be easy to focus on the small details that didn't go as planned, but pulling myself into the present and thinking of broad goals or long-term plans gives me the motivation to stay positive.
Keynote: "Dorm Room to Board Room" - Kristen Hadeed, CAMPUSPEAK
Kristen Hadeed's keynote contained three core lessons: Create Actionable Values, promote Mutual Accountability, and have the Conversations that Make a Difference.
Actionable Values is translating a short value like, "We care," to a value that requires involvement like, " We always praise one person before walking out the door." This is an easy concept for students to grasp: it's not just a word or two telling us how to live. It's a phrase that tells us exactly how to follow through on the value. I would love for this to be incorporated into a goal-setting retreat or motivating groups of students.
Not only should we keep others accountable, which is a major responsibility in student affairs, but we should leave the door open for others to keep us accountable. This provides students with the confidence to approach others with their concerns as well as remind them that they should be receptive.
Last, she gives a formula for having the conversation that would help a student grow: FBI: Use "I statements" to convey the Feeling, identify the Behavior, then describe the Impact of this action. The most important aspect? It always ends with, "Can you help me?" This formula can be used for both accountability and recognition (without the "Can you help me?" ending, of course).
I really loved this three-step process to developing an encouraging, values-based working and learning environment!
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