The Northern Vermont University Leadership Conference, previously known as the Lyndon Leadership Conference, was held at the Johnson Campus on Saturday, February 9. As a Peer Leader and student leader on campus, I was both obligated and appreciative to go.
The bus there left the Lyndon campus a little after 7:30am. The air was cold, and the windows stayed frosted, but we arrived at the conference in good time for registration. Each group member received a name tag with their pronouns and a conference packet consisting of a pen, notebook, information booklets, and a small tub of Play-Doh. There was time to enjoy refreshments before the Welcome began. I specifically enjoyed the banana bread and herbal tea.
After the welcome concluded, guests were sent off to the first of three Educational Sessions—most of which were an hour-long. For my first session, I chose “Dream Your Start-up: Build a Business” presented by Tamara Stenn—who I later learned is a professor from Landmark College. This session began a bit late due to our presenter having direction troubles, but we made good time once she arrived. She began by asking for problem or needs that a business could be created to fix or fulfill. Multiple students suggested their ideas, including creating a Dinner Theater to allow for watching movies and dining, having a website that connects people with temporary workers, and finding a way to create more tactile and diverse learning for students. My idea was to create a more interactive way for students to learn S.T.E.M. through video games.
Stenn went on to discuss what an entrepreneur was: someone with innovation, who wears many hats, works as a team, and has a solution for a need. After which we formed into teams based on each original business idea. We went on to discuss the Business Model Canvas, and brainstormed how to design our business. This helped us learn how to address what would make our business successful, what costs and income we may have, and what resources we would need. We filled up a printed version of the model with sticky notes for each category.
For the second session, I attended Five Minute Vacation presented by Trish Godino Loring, and Brianna Avallone. This session focused on what they called “Catastrophic Leadership Failure” and ways to combat it. CLF, as they called it, is largely caused by stress turning off the amygdala and prefrontal cortex—in simple terms, the centers of the brain that help regulate emotions. Symptoms include not listening, low quality decisions, short-term focus, defensiveness, and denial, among others. The later portion of the session was devoted to teaching us ways to manage stress. They discussed mindfulness—and the things mindful people do differently—doing a minute of meditation, and eating savory chocolate. Afterwards we were taken through a short stretching session, did a brain dump on paper of the worst things that could happen and proceeded to rip the paper to shreds, and then indulged in a bit of aroma therapy (as someone with sensitivities to scents, I avoided this portion, but will note that most people appeared to be very pleased by the smells of eucalyptus and lavender).
Lunch time began upon conclusion of the second session. This took place in the Johnson Dining Hall, with a variety of food options. I was especially pleased with their vegan potato salad option. Once lunch was over, we made our way back to the building (through the wind and cold) for the keynote presentation.
Majka Burhardt discussed her approach to leadership as a climber, a book writer, and a parent. She focused on how life can take you many places, especially those you least expect. She also posed the question, “What will I become if I extend my reach?” This put the focus on what you can do if you try. Other messages she pushed was keeping yourself open to being good at something else—for example, if you’re a scientist in botany, also be willing to become a good climber if that’s where life takes you. Her other main message was to find your 200% and inspire others to do this as well and to stay passionate about what you do—and to follow your passions, even if they take you places you didn’t expect.
For the final session, I attended Leaders Have Style presented by Lyndon’s own Christin Martin. This session began with ice breaker games—a quick game of this or that, and then a team building game trying to stack red solo cups into a pyramid using only rubber bands. The rest of the session was devoted to taking leadership questionnaires and discovering our leadership style types. I was a “Reason”, “Green”, “Fox”.
The conference concluded with a farewell and thank you message. We were encouraged to fill out our review survey for the day, and then were dismissed to consider what we’d learned about ourselves and leadership in general.
Information about the Northern Vermont University Leadership Conference can be found on their website.