Five Minute Thursday: 51st Student Leadership Conference

“Learn from yesterday.  Live for today.  Hope for tomorrow.”.

(Albert Einstein)

The Five-Minute Thursday writing prompt is back for another run.  My friend Maria likes the concise nature of this writing prompt, so I decided to bring it back. 😊

I take pride in my Authentic Leadership work and share with anyone who will sit down to listen to me.  I have worked with the Indian River State College Student Government Association (SGA) over the past four years.  My work with these students centers on student development and leadership.  The students are eager to learn, and this inspires me to work with them more.

My fifth prompt for Five Minute Thursday is: The 51^st Student Leadership Conference.

I was approached by the organizers of the leadership conference to help students with their professional journey.  The theme for this year was: Perseverance Towards Excellence.  The intent was to provide students with foundational information to help them develop skills to move them forward.  I have presented leadership workshops with these students in the past, but the organizers asked me to focus on life after graduation, the world of work.

I decided to focus on The First 90 Days on the Job for my presentation.  I’ve had this content in my professional speaking library and modernized the content for this conference. 

Most of the students know me from around campus and I was surprised with the number of students that attended my session.  The students identified learning how to become professionals was an important skill they wanted to learn so that’s why they picked my session.

Areas we covered during the session:

• Understand Organizational Culture
  • Communication modes and formalities
  • Dress and appearance expectations
  • Work hours
• Positive Work Behavior
  • Review employee handbook
  • Maintain professional demeanor (happy hours, social events)
  • Ready to learn and strong work ethic
• Build Effective Relationships
  • Find a mentor
  • Align with positive colleagues
  • Create goals

The students were receptive to these points and seemed eager to put these in play.  I’m always excited to help students develop as young adults.  This session will help them as they enter the world of work.

What points would you share with our students?

Irie!