Convention Graduation

There are moments where you sense things so intensely they have a texture and vibration all their own. One experiences joy and humility in the same breath and it brings a lump to your throat even though you are smiling broadly. I had many grateful moments like these over the course of Convention. To me, our Convention is a graduation experience of sorts (true confessions from a former high school teacher). It happens in June. It’s a culmination of a year’s worth of work. And, when it happens, you forget all the hard times in between and fall back in love with your work all over again. If we did a yearbook, this text would be on my senior page.

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Tagged with: ConventionEmerging LeadersEventsLeadership
1 comment July 3rd, 2008 at 09:42am Rebecca Borden

8,537 ARTSblog hits during the 2008 Convention

Americans for the Arts Convention Blog Stats (pdf, 288KB)

We know that not everyone can attend our Annual Convention. We asked several participants to blog their convention experience through the ARTSblog. Each track was covered. Some sessions or events were profiled more than once. The posts started flowing in before Convention began.

Here are some stats about American Evolution as it happened online. Our Google Analytics looks like an earthquake hit or something.

• 8,537 page views over the course of convention
• 1,122 unique visitors
• 2:42 average time on site

What was the experience like on your end?

Tagged with: ConventionEventsLeadership
2 comments June 30th, 2008 at 04:07pm Rebecca Borden

Closing thoughts on 2008 Conference

Wed, Jun 25…

Back at the office and reflecting on the conference experience:
This was my second conference and I really dove in head first this year. I was a volunteer (which rewards you with a discounted conference fee), presenter (gotta love Career 360), dine-around hostess (which I would have liked to have had gone better) and attendee.

My favorite things: 

1. Riding the train from the airport
2. Meeting new people - WOO Sarah Merritt!!
3. Being a member of the Emerging Leaders Council (gave me a chance to get more involved in the experience than I think I normally would have been inclined)
4. Donna Brazile - I’ll spare the “boo” references, but suffice to say, this lady is SHARP!! I love her!!
5. Andrew Zolli - ‘nuf said
6. Having my knowledge validated (sometimes, attending a session doesn’t really give me anything NEW, but it does say, “keep going, you are on track” and I need that for where I am in my track.
7. Learning new stuff - goes without saying, right?

And that’s that…looking forward to Seattle!!

See you there!

Ruby

Add comment June 25th, 2008 at 11:38am Ruby Classen

What’s It All About?

I think I broke one of the cardinal rules of blogging by skipping town on my own blog without warning. It is good to be home … to rest, reflect, and ask what someone at Convention called the “Alfie” question—what’s it all about?

What did I learn? First and foremost, to REGISTER EARLY. Staying at an overflow hotel makes it hard to blog, power-nap, or pace ones’ self throughout the days. (more…)

Tagged with: Americans for the ArtsArtsLeadership
Add comment June 23rd, 2008 at 11:46am Lex Leifheit

Countdown to Seattle…or we’ve only got 4 minutes to save the world

For reasons I’m too embarrassed, exhausted or simply unwilling to discuss, I’m seated at the Phoenix Airport at 7:00 a.m. on my way home to LA. I’m not a fan of overnight flights, and I’m extremely un-fond of three hour airline delays - especially when I could have stayed at the airport hotel and swam in the pool or worked out. Oh well. Time for a recap.

This conference rocked. For those that have been reading my posts, I can be a bit of a tough love kind-of-guy. (more…)

Tagged with: ConventionEmerging LeadersLeadershipPartnerships
1 comment June 23rd, 2008 at 11:44am Terence McFarland