AMI 2012

Happy New Year!
I just got back from the Alliance Management Leadership Institute (AMI) conference in Kansas City, MO. It was such an interesting experience, I learned a lot, and now have a few things to think about, especially in regards to continuing education, and my path in the future. I attended several sessions that gave me an introduction to topics I had never considered before, and others gave practical tips for nonprofit work, and marketing yourself in the nonprofit sector.

The first session I attended was "It is time for an ethical upgrade." The speaker mostly talked about nonprofit status and gave examples of how nonprofits, and heads of some organizations are exploiting their status for tax breaks, or currying political favor. It was interesting, but I didn't really find it relevant to me.

My next session was "When to Let Go and How to Hold on: Managing Staff/Volunteer Turnover and Retention." The entire session taught a "get to know others teambuilder." As a self reflective person I found the teambuilder interesting. I may post my personal notes on it as my next blog. As a former teamleader I didn't really get anything new out of the session.

Then I attended "Recognize the Hidden Rules of Economic Diversity" which was a really interesting session. It showed practical differences in social behavior in different socioeconomic classes. The lecture was based on A Framework for Understanding Poverty by Ruby K. Payne, which I really want to read and keep learning about.

My 4th session was "Personal Branding: How to stand out in a Competitive Job Market." The speaker, Duane Hallock talked about the importance of what prospective employers find when they google your name. He recommended that everyone be findable using social media, allowing employers to find you personally (facebook), professionally (linkedin), and as a dynamic creative individual with ideas, hobbies, and a life that is more than the one dimensionally portrayal that appears on your resume/cover letter (blogs/twitter). While I am proud of the accomplishments you can find when you google my name (most of which are newspaper articles from various Americorps NCCC articles) I also now see that it would be beneficial to make this blog findable, so my name and email address are now attached to this blog, I've updated my facebook, and linkedin profiles, and I invite the public to follow me on Twitter @KatieHanchuruck.

My fifth session was the most entertaining speaker. The social media outreach rep from Garmin (Jake) talked about using social media in nonprofits to facilitate communication, and stay connected. His talk is really what motivated me to get on Twitter.

Thursday was case study day, and my team went to the Youth Volunteer Corps National headquarters and heard about their organization, and what direction they are heading toward, and their plans for increasing their number of affiliates. We looked over their plans, and what they have in place, and gave them advice and strategies to move forward in meeting their goals. Doing a case study was such an interesting way to gain a practical experience. Based on the discussion from the people I was working with it seems that theoretical case studies done in class are a big part of the classes people take. Anyway the staff at YVC said we had given them several new ideas to work on, and several ideas they had previously considered, which helped to validate their ideas, which was pretty cool to hear. YVC seems like a really cool organization, and I wish they had an affiliate in Denver, because I think I would love to work for them someday!

My last session was "Never wear your PJs to the Grocery Store: How to work with and empower your board." Which gave some practical advice for working with a board of directors. The speaker had many stories and examples from her professional experience which were entertaining, and informative. I hope to be able to use this knowledge someday.

The conference was really educational, I really started thinking about starting classwork, and going back to school. I do miss being a student, and I'm excited to start taking classes again (hopefully this fall).

I also had a great time connecting with other NCCC alums, at the conference and during my free time. I'm so grateful for friends that let me crash at their house, and will join me for entertaining evenings of catching up and reliving the best years of my life!