It Starts With yoUNAVSA
UNAVSA Conference provides opportunities like networking, making new friends, and growth as a leader. My first time at conference was intimidating considering that I’ve never been to any leadership camps or conferences quite like UNAVSA Conference. If you would like to read more about my first UNAVSA conference experience, click here.
This year’s conference, UNAVSA-14, was held in New Orleans and was my second time attending UNAVSA Conference. I was excited for this year’s conference for a few reasons: one was that the conference was held in my home town; secondly was that I wanted to see what this year’s conference had to offer with its theme being Unlock the Present; thirdly was the CPP selection; and lastly, I was able to meet new people and reconcile with my friends around the continent.
My UNAVSA-14 Peter Pan Family
There are a few keynote speakers throughout conference. One keynote speaker that stood out to me was Dat Nguyen, who owns his own business called Nolalight. It consists of motivational speaking, and team leadership training. At conference, he spoke about cutting out negative thoughts, ideas, images, etc. that prevent us from taking that one step forward to growth and progress. He got the entire audience to stand up and shout “Cut That Out” several times. He also spoke of his own personal experience where he felt like he was at rock bottom. This motivated me to keep taking that one step forward despite all the negativity heading my way or is already present.
The workshops were insightful and a chance to learn something new. One of my workshops was 10 Dumb Things Well-Intended People Say. I learned that there are some things that people (with good intentions) say, but offend the person spoken to. The workshop taught me to be more perceptive of how people will feel about what we say. Even how we word questions and/or statements can be offensive to other people. Words can hurt or be disrespectful if it’s used carelessly. Another workshop that I attended was Unlocking Your Leadership Potential – Escape the Room. I came in thinking this was going to be easy. That was until we were given disabilities. Some disabilities were no sight, no hearing, and/or no speaking. I was given the disability of no sight. I felt useless to my team and had no idea what was going on. The entirety of the workshop, I had to heavily rely on my team to guide me to walk and pass all the challenges. One of the challenges was that the floor was lava and we had to use wood blocks to get to the other side. Kristie Dinh, who was on my team, had to take off my heels midway. My feet were cramping; I was on the verge of losing my balance three times, and another teammate had to grab and guide my foot to the next block. Remember that I had to get through this blindfolded. I felt bad that someone had to grab my foot. Who wanted to touch an acquaintance’s foot? Not me, but if it helped make progress or was necessary, I’ll do it. It’s just feet, right?
My beautiful, welcoming, and fun roommates
One of my most favorite parts of conference was the Collective Philanthropy Project, or CPP, selection. The three finalists present who they are, what are they for, and their proposal. I would say this is an important part of conference since this is the time where we decide who our next beneficiary will be. This year’s CPP is Pacific Links Foundation. I’m excited to see how much my region will raise this year.
Another favorite part of conference was the resource fair and alumni mixer. This was a great time to speak to alums and even get your name out there. There was also opportunities to talk to the top three beneficiaries. The only thing I was unsatisfied about the fair and mixer was that it was only an hour. I felt like this was also a crucial time for attendees and an hour was just not enough.
My fellow Xavierite, XULAVA president, roommate, and friend
Keynote speakers, workshops, CPP selection, and resource fair and alumni mixer. These are only some of my experience at conference. Reading about my experience won’t be enough for a person to understand what UNAVSA Conference is like, so attend UNAVSA-15 next year in Atlanta and see what’s waiting for you! See you soon!
-Lisa