NCLC 2011 Conference Recap

February 24 2011, 11:58am

This past weekend I had the pleasure of attending my third National Collegiate Leadership Conference (“NCLC”) at the University of Arizona (“UA”). I am so impressed by what just 15 students were able to accomplish, and believe their success story is one that needs to be shared with every institution across the country. NCLC is an annual student-run conference providing 600 students, from 50+ campuses around the nation, a weekend filled with leadership training and personal development experiences.  The conference is jam packed with workshops, service projects, team building exercises, and excursions to local Tucson attractions.  The workshops covered a range of themes including: Personal Leadership Development, Leadership Best Practices, Issues in Leadership, and Leadership Transformation. Here is a short clip from NCLC 2011:

The NCLC Planning Committee, which is part of the Center for Student Involvement & Leadership, consists of 15 students who spend the entire year strategically planning, preparing, registering and executing the conference each February.  This year’s team was exceptionally prepared and their operations were flawless, which is why I am extremely proud to share this video from conference leaders, Alyssa Martinez and Samantha Bass, who discuss how they used OrgSync to manage and organize NCLC.

Furthermore, I can attest to the high satisfaction levels of the student participants based on my direct interactions with the 200+ people who stopped by our booth and attended our workshop.  As a conference attendee and sponsor, I was able to ask the students about their experiences and how the conference was going.  The responses were extremely positive and most of them had at least one impactful experience or conference highlight they were eager to share.

As a way to encourage students to fully get involved, the Planning Committee awarded students who completed a minimum of 8 hours of workshops and service projects a Leadership Enrichment Certificate. Conference overachievers, who went the extra mile to complete 10+ hours, were awarded an Excellence in Leadership and Service Certificate. In addition, to help students’ understand and appreciate the value of all of their leadership and involvement experiences, OrgSync provided every NCLC attendee with a personal ePortfolio website to reflect on and showcase their involvement, academic and employment experiences. Students were extremely enthusiastic and excited to continue building their ePortfolios once they returned to their respective campuses. In summary, this was one of the best run conferences I have ever attended, and even more impressive is the impact that NCLC makes on 600 student leaders in every conference they host.  The leadership development model is phenomenal, and I hope to see many more of our campus partners implementing similar programs to help develop their students’ leadership skills and experiences. More about NCLC is available at nclc.orgsync.com.