NACA day 3 part two

The last ed session I went to at NACA was on Toy Box Leadership. This session listed out important lessons that children’s toys can tech us about leadership. Below is my annotated version of the presentor’s annotated version of a book on these concepts.
Legos: building begins with connections.
Slinky Dog: vision for an organization is a pull then waiting. You have to pull the organization and give it direction to move forward.
PlayDoh: Leaders resemble what makes an impression on them.
Yo-Yo: Creativity, it only happens when you let go.
Mr. Potato Head: Communication is key and having the “right face for the right place” is important for every leader. Some times even when everything is crumbling around them a leader needs to be strong and have an air of confidence, that’s part of being a leader; knowing when to put the serious face on, when to take it off and adapting to different situations
Rubix Cube: remember to be an ethical leader, making the right turn and decision at the right moment.
Rocking horse: Efficiency, all show no go. Make sure not to just rock in place.
Army Men: represent strategy. Success is in the set up but a leader who is not willing to revise his plan will rarely reach his destination.
Light Bright: make sure the message that you are trying to convey is clear, don’t leave room for ambiguity.

All of these lessons were really interesting and good reminders for all types of leaders. There is a lot more to it then we had time to cover so im hoping to one day get ahold of the book and check it out. Its sad that this is my last ed session, but I have learned so much at NACA now its time to put the learning to action!

Naca Day 3 part 1

The first ed session I attended today was Marketing your Experience to Employers. The presenter did a good job laying out how to actually take your campus experience and turn them into things that you can use for your resume and in interviews when you go to apply for a job. She explained that many people find themselves facing the “campus bubble” effect; which is students not being able to properly articulate what exactly they do in their organizations. For the first part of this presentation the presenter spent time drawing out examples of how to talk about student leaders experiences then showed us how to put them in a resume. The biggest advice she gave us was making sure that we used action words to describe what we did. Making sure to use words such as: collaborated with, organized, advised, etc. In focusing on resume writing she also taught us the rule of three. The rule of three is under each of your topics on your resume to have three or six bullets describing what you did in those positions. She said that each bullet should cover one of the following: what you did, how you did it, and why you did it. She also said that it was important to actually using numbers instead of spelling out the numbers because they stick out well on resumes because of all the text. The last thing we talked about was interviewing and to remember to always be a STAR when telling stories in an interview:
Situation
Task
Action
Result
Remembering to hit these points and not rambling will help make sure you are actually answering the questions being asked of you during an interview but also making sure you give enough information to really grab the interviewers attention. Overall this was a really good session and I felt like I learned a lot of neat little tricks to help when I actually write my own resume.

NACA day 2

Day two of naca did not disappoint. The expectations from day one were high but I wasn’t let down. The day started with an ed session on your “profile”. We talked about the profile of individuals as well as organizational profiles. The presenters did a good job of presenting the important of reflecting your true values and beliefs with you social media profile as well as in face-to-face interactions. I particularly enjoyed the quotes the presenter gave, she said “Character is who we really are” and that “our profiles should be a representation and extension of that character. They ended the session by discussing some tips on how to create and identify your organizations profile. One of the easiest and simplest ways…one which I think students are usually hesitant to do and often overlook is to simply read the organizations bylaws, constitutions, and mission statement. If those documents are done well they should tell you everything you need to know about your organization and what you want to reflect to your audience. The Mission Statement in particular should really guide an organization to establishing its image.

Saturday Photo Blog! An Amazing Weekend, An Amazing Experience!

Saturday was my favorite day at NACA.  I liked the Ed Sessions the best, and the spotlights were my favorite!

For my 5 pictures I chose:

A picture of us with one of the comedians! She was by far the funniest, with her impression of Britney Spears spot on.  She could even sing like Britney!  This picture features Chris, Lisa, Megan, Brooke, Nicole, and myself!

The second picture was of us after the banquet.  We were looking good in our buisness casual garb! Up front is Brooke, with Nicole, Rob, Shannon, Katie, and Kendra in the Background!

The Third Picture is my personal favorite of our whole time at NACA!  We stopped to take a group photo before going to lunch and it was just such a beautiful day out!  Great group photo!

The fourth picture I chose is us actually at lunch at the firehouse! The food there was great, and we were all looking forward to the next showcase!

The final picture chosen was a picture of us dancing to “I’m Sexy and I Know It.” by LMFAO at the final showcase.  I was amazed that we found this kind of energy, but then again just being at NACA is enough to keep you awake and excited!

Well, that was Saturday afternoon in pictures! Later Ya’ll!

NACA: Loryn’s Perspective

I chose to interview Loryn Moynihan.  Here were her responses:

Q1: a. From another school, I learned about “mini-treats”. These are little sessions, 10 to 15 minutes, during member meetings where the group completes some sort of energizer or ice breaker. The VPM or the equivalent organizes them and has a specific goal or learning outcome in mind when they decide on the activity. After the activity is completed, the group debriefs the activity.

b. From the BSU delegation, I would say really learned a lot about what other organizations are planning for the Spring Semester. This gave me some really awesome ideas about co-sponsorship for events. Additionally, I really learned a lot about how other organizations function, such as SGA. Now when I work with them, I know how we can work together better to produce an even better product.

Q2: a. I will be bringing back the “mini-treats”. Additionally, from one of my ed sessions, I have a new perspective and approach to working with a team and holding each other accountable. This idea is essentially just to be direct with each other and improve the “buy-in” quality of the group, so then people will understand the consequences when they do not complete a task. However, it may be a little too blunt for some people and might need to be adapted for our group.

b. NACA had a tremendous impact on me personally. I feel as though I really was able to bond with both members of PC and other organizations. I think this really helped me to grow as a person because it helped me be more true to myself around these people. Also, as much as I don’t like to believe that I have a shell, this conference definitely helped me step out of my comfort zone in so many ways. For example, I have never felt comfortable talking to agents because I feel very pressured; so, last year, I mainly just focused on novelties. This year, however, I talked to at least one agent every CAMP session, so that I could better get to know the performers I liked during the Showcases. So I feel that I actually used the Showcases and CAMPs for their intended purposes.

Q3: To future delegations, I would say to definitely be more prepared for the school spirit aspect of the conference. I know the school spirit stick was not given out this year; but I hope it will be next year. While we were able to come up with a lot of cheers on the spot, I would say there is definitely room for improvement. I think that next year, the delegation should come up with three cheers that they can rotate throughout the conference and practice them, so that everyone feels comfortable doing them at the conference.

I agree with the point about having rotating cheers.  Framingham’s delegation was loud, but they did have about 10 different cheers that they rotated through.

Anyway, that’s all for now!

Day 3!

Hey Everyone! Jason here with another post!

Day 3 at NACA was probably my favorite, becasue there was so much to do and in terms of showcases they saved the best for last, with performances like Mieka Pauley, and Blessed Union of Souls!

In terms of Ed Sessions, I attended 2 that day.  The first was called The Power of Positive Thinking, and it stressed the importance of staying positive, even when an event is going wrong.  If one can learn to have grace under pressure, then events run more smoothly.  This really is true, as I remember my first event, I panicked, and things went wrong because I didn’t have a clear head.  Now, should something go wrong, I keep my cool and things tend to run much smoother.

The second Ed Session was called More Than a Feeling: Ownership and Pride in Organization.  This was my favorite Ed Session by far, because it got me thinking about how I can build a better team out of my subcommittee. It also made me think about how I could create an identity for myself within my organization and an identity for my subcommittee itself.  Points were made about having pride in every event one hosts.  This is important to me because speaking as a programmer if I can’t have pride in my events then who can?

Anyway, that’s all for now folks!

Intro!

Today, I realized that my intro post is only on my personal wordpress and not the BSU one, so here it is:

Hi everyone! My name is Jason Alan and I am a sophomore here at BSU studying Psychology and Criminal Justice! This year at NACA I am representing Program Committee. I am the chair of the Bridgewater Entertainment at Night subcommittee this year and I am so excited for NACA! I am definitely most excited for not only the ed sessions but also for the opportunity to learn new ideas from members of other schools! It is an incredible networking opportunity and I cannot wait to make new connections! Can’t wait to see you all there!

I commented on Hannah Pancak’s post here: http://nacane.wordpress.com/2011/11/10/hannah-pancak-scholarship-volunteer/#comment-113

She shares my thoughts on the importance of networking.