The last two weeks have been very busy for me. I had a conference in Charleston, West Virginia to attend for work. The conference was called Faces of Leadership. A very good conference I must say. The conference was from July 20-22. Even though this conference was mainly for West Virginians, it was still great to go too. Tori, myself, our one other person from our organization were the only three out of state conference attendees. Which we thought was funny. Plus, it seemed like it rained every day we were up there.
On July 20, 2010, my office mate Tori and I drove to West Virginia in the morning. We started at 7:00 am and after a few wrong turns and missed exits, we finally got there around at 11:30 am. We registered and went to lunch. Our first workshop was at 1:30 pm that day. I took a workshop on “Organizing your workspace”. I very much like the presenter in this workshop. His name is Timothy Johnson. He is the President/CEO of Leadership 101. He is a must see person if you or your organization gets him or has a chance to go to where he is presenting. This guy is just amazing. A personal favor of mine. The second workshop I attended was “Community Partnerships and Linkages”. Both Tori and I signed up for this workshop. The workshop was a little confusing because the presenter set up the workshop around the different regions of West Virginia and the organizations within the state. They worked on problems involving what’s going on in there community. So, Tori and I had to think of this workshop more as a conceptual and how those concepts would relate to what’s going on here in the Northern Kentucky area. After these two workshops were over, we had dinner with the West Virginia’s VISTAS that were there at the conference. Then after that we were finally able to check into our hotel rooms. We got situated and then Tori and I went out to see the movie “Inception”. Which is a very great movie.
On July 21, 2010, the second day of the conference. I slept in on this morning as our workshops didn’t start until 1:30 pm. I got up around 10 am and got ready. Around 11 am, I walked over to the Civic Center and walked thru the exhibits that were setup and got several good informational stuff. Then at 11:30 am, I went to lunch and listen to a great speech by Timothy Johnson. He talked about it it means to “Lead” and be a “Leader”. I think I would enjoy working for this guy. He would be a great leader and be able to inspire me to be great under his supervision. Then our workshop started at 1:30 pm. On this day, I signed up for a two part workshop called “Financial Fortress”. For this workshop it was about implementing a financial piece within your community. This financial piece was modeled from the Dave Ramsey’s Financial Peace. What I love about this workshop was I’ll be getting the whole financial folder that is used to teach this piece. One of the reason I decided to take this workshop. After this workshop, Tori and I went to a local restaurant called “Fifth Quarters Steak House”. It was a very great steak house. Tori and I ended up staying there for like 4 hours as we ate dinner, drank a little at the bar, and was outside on the patio talking about different things enjoying the beautiful evening after it stopped raining. Just chatting away and relaxing before heading back to the hotel for the night.
On July 22, the last day of the conference. Things switched up a little. The last two workshops were first thing in the morning basically. At 9 am, the first workshop I had was “Technology used by West Virginia Youths” was mainly about an E-mentoring program being implemented in the school’s of West Virginia. It gave various overview of the program and how it will help the state. I think it’s something we here at Kentucky can used. Which reminds me I have to e-mail the lady and talk to her because I have yet to hear from her. The last workshop was “Social Media for Non-Profits”, which was ran by Emily Bennington. She went over various social media that non-profits could use and ways to use them. So, it was more of a refresher workshop for me in a way. Then after this workshop was lunch at 12:30. They had some kind of entertainment during lunch but Tori and I left right after we ate lunch. We got back on the road at 1:45 pm and ended up back in Newport 5:30 pm. We met Amy and her mom at Mokka’s for dinner right at 5:30 pm.
So, basically that was our whole conference and mainly our week at work. Yes, we had to return back to work on Friday but this conference gave us the necessary rest and energy that we needed for the last month of our VISTA service year. I have really enjoyed this year of my VISTA service. Yes, I’m doing it again that is for sure for another year. More on this later in the month.
As for this last week, July 26 through 30, it’s been hectic. One of VISTA’s important job is outreach. Outreach is very important when creating partnerships and working with other agencies. This week was very busy as Tori and I attended several meetings for outreach. Not to mention, I started a few new outreach projects with other departments within Brighton Center. Also, re-packaging the packet that I created. Plus, I had my first supervision meeting under my new supervisor. Which I loved very much. I like when a supervisor gives you ideas and bounce things off you. So, the 1.5 hour long supervision was just perfect for me. Then to end the week, I attended the company picnic. The picnic was a nice distraction. I played cornhole for three different teams and lost. I held my own I thought. But still lost. But it was good to catch up with employees. Which leads me to the weekend where it is nothing but rest and relaxation. Gotta love my life!
TL
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