NACURH Blog, Day 3: Jitters
This is not the first time I've been up late before a conference starts. This has probably happened a lot actually. You think about all the stuff that's gonna happen, all the surprises, both good and bad, the things you should've gotten done. My former RHD and friend LT commented to us that in the end, hosting NACURH is like having a baby...you know it's coming, you know it's gonna be a lot work, you just prepare what you can and go with it.
By GLACURH 98 hosted at Michigan State University, things here at Oshkosh were growing pretty steadily when it came to our conference experience. We had been averaging a high number of delegates. We had been continually trying to bid for awards and present programs. We had two great NCCs carry us through those early years (Jim Droste and Jason McKean). But an idea arose...many of the same students who started attending conferences since WURHA 97 (at UWO) now wanted to try their hand at hosting a conference.
Although no offense meant to my former colleagues or to our current home region, GLACURH, but at the time, our region was notorious for scrutinizing Conference Bids. Not all NCCs at the time participated in heavy critiques, and I think many of them asked fair questions. But there was a short period where the bidding schools did not receive the bid at GLACURH (this meant that they or others had to rebid at No Frills in January).
But here we were, ready to host, writing the bid, getting together the largest delegation we ever had (32 I believe) and it was hard not to think about it. I helped write the bid, and know that putting it together is not always the easiest. We thought of everything as a group. We so wanted to host, but we so didn't want to go through the ringer.
I believe that one of the key elements to getting us through this process was how we approached the conference theme. The theme was Leadership Luau, a slightly common leadership conference theme, so we knew that folks were going to go Hawaiian, literally, or do something tropical, etc. We thought: well, Hawaii, tropics, Caribbean, pirates. Before Pirates were made chic by Johnny Depp, here was our Oshkosh delegation shopping for black clothes, vests, stripped shirts, and eye patches.
But we didn't want to just show up all decked out like we walked off the poop deck. So we got creative and on a sweltering afternoon in the USRH office, Jim and I created the 'got pirates?' themed t-shirts, with the Top 5 Things A Pirate Would Never Say on the back. I do believe one of them was "Arrr, do ye ever get that not so fresh feeling?" and my favorite "That Angela Lansbury is a delightfully whimsical lady."
(side note, as I've grown older I'm surprised how we got 'away' with certain things...although nothing offensive was on this shirt, it was funny to see that in the corner of the shirt we were 'sponsored' by SEPCAO (the Society to Enhance Pirate Culture Across Oshkosh)...those were the days)
We were the 'got pirates?' shirts on Friday, created a bit of whimsy ourselves, then busted out as pirates the next day. It was fantastic. The bid team did a great job, everyone had fun, and I think in the end, regardless of how things would've turned out we went in with the attitude of "we know this is going to be work, stressful, and give us the jitters, but let's just have fun."
It's easy when you start off and there's no expectations. As you start to meet those expectations and set the bar higher, things get a little scary. What if you fail? What if you lose credibility? I think in the end, you're destined to fail once or twice. You're destined not get what you wanted. But I think you swing into it like a pirate boarding a ship.
There are a lot of schools, and individuals, bidding for things at this conference (and other conferences throughout the year). I wish them the best of luck. I wish them the best rest they can get. Cause the jitters of anticipation can get to you. In the end, just as LT suggests, just go with it. It's the journey that pushes you forward, helps you learn, causes you to grow, and challenges us to keep trying, even if we failed.
Last Rando Thoughts:
-We did the get the conference that year and it felt good, but we didn't get NACURH the first time we tried. We also bid for a GLACURH back before WURHA 97 and didn't get that either. The embers of those conference ideas were re-sparked for future leaders to pick up where they left off, and forge ahead.
-We actually were this close to having a Star Wars themed conference for GLACURH 99. I have to mention this because I think back constantly to what that would've been like. Stormtroopers as Security, Darth Vader leading Roll Call, and Chewbacca reading the Top 10 awards...yeah that would've been cool.
pb
By GLACURH 98 hosted at Michigan State University, things here at Oshkosh were growing pretty steadily when it came to our conference experience. We had been averaging a high number of delegates. We had been continually trying to bid for awards and present programs. We had two great NCCs carry us through those early years (Jim Droste and Jason McKean). But an idea arose...many of the same students who started attending conferences since WURHA 97 (at UWO) now wanted to try their hand at hosting a conference.
Although no offense meant to my former colleagues or to our current home region, GLACURH, but at the time, our region was notorious for scrutinizing Conference Bids. Not all NCCs at the time participated in heavy critiques, and I think many of them asked fair questions. But there was a short period where the bidding schools did not receive the bid at GLACURH (this meant that they or others had to rebid at No Frills in January).
But here we were, ready to host, writing the bid, getting together the largest delegation we ever had (32 I believe) and it was hard not to think about it. I helped write the bid, and know that putting it together is not always the easiest. We thought of everything as a group. We so wanted to host, but we so didn't want to go through the ringer.
I believe that one of the key elements to getting us through this process was how we approached the conference theme. The theme was Leadership Luau, a slightly common leadership conference theme, so we knew that folks were going to go Hawaiian, literally, or do something tropical, etc. We thought: well, Hawaii, tropics, Caribbean, pirates. Before Pirates were made chic by Johnny Depp, here was our Oshkosh delegation shopping for black clothes, vests, stripped shirts, and eye patches.
But we didn't want to just show up all decked out like we walked off the poop deck. So we got creative and on a sweltering afternoon in the USRH office, Jim and I created the 'got pirates?' themed t-shirts, with the Top 5 Things A Pirate Would Never Say on the back. I do believe one of them was "Arrr, do ye ever get that not so fresh feeling?" and my favorite "That Angela Lansbury is a delightfully whimsical lady."
(side note, as I've grown older I'm surprised how we got 'away' with certain things...although nothing offensive was on this shirt, it was funny to see that in the corner of the shirt we were 'sponsored' by SEPCAO (the Society to Enhance Pirate Culture Across Oshkosh)...those were the days)
We were the 'got pirates?' shirts on Friday, created a bit of whimsy ourselves, then busted out as pirates the next day. It was fantastic. The bid team did a great job, everyone had fun, and I think in the end, regardless of how things would've turned out we went in with the attitude of "we know this is going to be work, stressful, and give us the jitters, but let's just have fun."
It's easy when you start off and there's no expectations. As you start to meet those expectations and set the bar higher, things get a little scary. What if you fail? What if you lose credibility? I think in the end, you're destined to fail once or twice. You're destined not get what you wanted. But I think you swing into it like a pirate boarding a ship.
There are a lot of schools, and individuals, bidding for things at this conference (and other conferences throughout the year). I wish them the best of luck. I wish them the best rest they can get. Cause the jitters of anticipation can get to you. In the end, just as LT suggests, just go with it. It's the journey that pushes you forward, helps you learn, causes you to grow, and challenges us to keep trying, even if we failed.
Last Rando Thoughts:
-We did the get the conference that year and it felt good, but we didn't get NACURH the first time we tried. We also bid for a GLACURH back before WURHA 97 and didn't get that either. The embers of those conference ideas were re-sparked for future leaders to pick up where they left off, and forge ahead.
-We actually were this close to having a Star Wars themed conference for GLACURH 99. I have to mention this because I think back constantly to what that would've been like. Stormtroopers as Security, Darth Vader leading Roll Call, and Chewbacca reading the Top 10 awards...yeah that would've been cool.
pb
posted by Peter Brooks at 1:41 AM
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