2009 FCCLA National Leadership Conference

From July 12-16 I attended the National Leadership Conference with our state officer Caitlain Bricker for the first time. I was excited to visit Tennessee and the Grand Old Opry. The conference had many opportunities for professional development and I took advantage of many of them. Most importantly Caitain had a great time and grew as a leader because of this well organized conference.

The opening general session was mind blowing. Not only were there thousands of teenagers but the fact that everything ran so smoothly was amazing to me. I really enjoyed the keynote speaker Ken Weichert. His stories of personal and professional sacrifice hit home with most students in the room. His main purpose is to motivate people into healthier lifestyles. However I did not get that out of his speech. The main thing I took away was do everything to its fullest and for a purpose. He spoke of a young man on the middle east that gave his life helping the America Troops free his people.

The Advisor Professional Development training I attended on Tuesday, July 14th was about getting back to the basics and how to help increase FCCLA membership. We played games and were introduced to many activities we can use to get student involved. Most activities were to take place in the classroom which at our school is frowned upon. We do however use the national recruiting video in our classes and have a day where we introduce FCCLA to each of our classes.

A couple of the other sessions I attended were Advisor Recognition Session which in my opinion was very long and hard to sit through. The keynote speaker Phil Lempert made the day when he spoke to the group about different trends in the food industry and how to save money. I also attended the National Connection Team meeting with Caitlian. They discussed how to get FCCLA out in the public eye. Their main focus was public relations and news letter writing.

Over all I felt this conference was worth while. I attend many more sessions but the ones above were the most impactful. I would recommend everyone attend Nationals at least once with students to get the full effect.