The 1st Annual NSCS Oregon Conference took place on April 16, 2016. This event was planned and hosted by current students at our Oregon Chapters.
How did this start?
NSCS Members are very active on their individual campuses, but not so familiar with other members. Kevin Loder, the Chapter President at the University of Oregon, wanted to get to meet with other members from other chapters. After meeting NSCS Members from across the country, he wanted others – who may not be as outgoing – to utilize the access that they have to the NSCS Network. He imagined a day where members could share their experiences, connect, and collaborate.
How was this organized?
Kevin visited other chapter’s induction ceremonies to connect with other members and officers. After a few years of visiting other chapters, the officers got to know Kevin and each other on a personal level. The next step was to get the entire membership of Oregon together, which took an incredible level of teamwork!
Social media: This was used for coordination and getting everyone on the same page. When planning the messaging, you have to be very detail oriented. An “NSCS in Oregon” Facebook Group was made just for talking and getting to know the members in the area.
Logistics: This was planned to be a regional event for the Pacific NW, as some members on this side of the country are not able to make it to ScholarCon. The VP of events coordinated the creation of all the promotional materials: packets, name tags, and staff stickers. The officers collaborated to fully plan out the agenda.
Who was involved?
All 6 Oregon chapters were represented: Southern Oregon, University of Oregon, Oregon State University, and Lane Community College. About 55 people were in attendance. The event was entirely student led!!!
Students
Jade Lazaris: VP of Events – University of Oregon, Kevin Loder: President – University of Oregon, Ashley Watkins: President – Southern Oregon University, and Taryn Lowes: President – Oregon State University.
Speakers
Keynote Speaker – Kemy Joseph: President & Lead Kindness Coach of U R Awesome
Daniel Pascoe Aguilar – Director of the Career Center at University of Oregon
Andrew Weiss – Lead of Toastmasters on Campus
Breakout sessions with chapter leaders on the subject of learning to play and win.
What did you learn?
Jade: “I was able to experience exactly what it is like to design, plan, execute, and evaluate a small Conference. It was valuable experience that taught me so much about the requirements of planning, creating a timeline, and reaching out to your resources. I walked away with an experience I’ll be able to draw from and talk about for the rest of my life. I hope that the attendees had fun and learned from our sessions. We were able to harvest new officers from Conference attendees and I can’t wait until next year’s officer board gets in motion.”
Kevin: “I learned from the Oregon NSCS conference about ways to bring teams together to form a bigger team. The event started off with each chapter in their own groups. Throughout the interactive sessions I was happy to see more networking and discover that a friend of mine was already friends with another chapter president. Members of our chapter built stronger connections with their peers and fellow Oregonians.”
Ashley: “At the first Oregon Conference, I was thrilled to see so many young individuals come together for a common purpose; bringing leadership back to their campuses. And that’s the beauty of NSCS members and the community we are all a part of.”
NSCS Members impact their community and have access to an amazing network of over 1.1 Million Members! Trust your crazy ideas!