Happy Anniversary ASGA!

March 17 is the fifth anniversary of the founding of the American Student Government Association. I can't believe it has already been five years.

I remember back in 2001 when our team was considering the idea of starting ASGA, what it would entail, what services it would offer, what work would need to be done.

It has been a LOT of work to create this resource. It has taken thousands and thousands of hours of research and we've dealt with hundreds of problems with the web site and technical aspects.

But what I envisioned in 2001 is now a reality. I envisioned a "knowledge base" for student governments, a single resource that would give any student government the tools, ideas, and help necessary to become more effective. That's what ASGA has become.

Our resources literally get better and deeper every day. Seriously. Our data team is constantly improving the information we store on student governments everywhere. We add more officers, more advisors, more administrators, campus media, elections information, compensation, goals, accomplishments, documents, programs, services, and more. It really is an amazing resource.

My original goal was to have 1,000 member institutions in five years. We're not quite there, but do have 821 member schools. That's out of about 5,000 student governments in the nation.

There has never been an organization for student governments that serves so many member institutions. A big reason for ASGA's growth is that we focus on helping student governments improve, not on lobbying. We try to help our members get better there on their local campuses so that they can be more effective advocates for their fellow students. We believe that more effective local student governments leads to more effective lobbying and representation on bigger issues.

It has been quite a "ride" starting and running ASGA for the past five years. As we continue to grow and improve, I'm excited about what lies ahead. It's a great unknown, as no one has ever run an organization for students quite like ASGA.

The show must go on...

I'm as sick as a dog. Not sure why we say that-- I've never seen a sick mutt. But I am sick with a fever, stopped up head, and laryngitis. Normally, that's enough to knock me out for a few days and keep me home resting in bed. This time I couldn't. ASGA's New York City Student Government Training Conference was last Saturday.

Instead of nursing my fever, I was boarding a plane in Orlando to JFK airport. Instead of sipping soothing chicken soup, I was setting up ASGA's registration area for the conference at Pace University. Instead of sleeping in, I was watching the clock for my 6:30 a.m. wake up to get to the campus Saturday morning.

I kept thinking to myself-- just a few more hours. Just a few more hours. Then you can rest.

I had four workshops to present, as well as being the host, registering attendees, and setting up/tearing down the ASGA materials that we lug to and from every conference. Normally, this alone is exhausting work. But combined with the cold, it was a killer. I've never been so tired after a conference. My voice was shot-- is shot. My feet were swollen and blistered (new shoes, big mistake).

But I dug in and coaxed a few hours out of my sick vocal chords and weakened body. In fact, no one would have known I was sick if my voice weren't so raspy.

It's difficult to be your best when you're sick, tired, cranky, depressed, disappointed, or discouraged. But one of the many signs of a great leader is being a professional when it's not "convenient." This is what I'm trying to model. And this trip, that was hard.

In fact, we've produced close to 50 conferences now and this past weekend's was the hardest and most taxing I've ever done. It was hard to be a professional this time.

Connecting Around the World

This morning, I keynoted a Student Government conference in Italy while casually dressed in my shorts here in sunny Florida.

Student leaders at John Cabot University in Rome asked ASGA to keynote their second-annual Student Government conference for English-speaking institutions in the region.

Last night, about 2:00 a.m., I tested the Skype video and phone system with the host school, and then this morning about 11:30, spoke for 30 minutes on the role of Student Government here in American colleges and universities.

I dressed in my nice shirt, tie, and suit coat, but had on shorts and sandals from the waist down. Why this ridiculous outfit? I was only seen on the small Logitech computer video camera set up on my screen. They could see and hear me over Skype, and they showed the image on a big screen at the college.

I could hear my voice a second later in the background because of the time lag going across the big pond.

This conference today is so unlike ASGA's 10 events, like the one in New Orleans last weekend. I have to drive or fly, prepare for weeks in advance, ship dozens of boxes of materials ahead of time. It's a lot of work.

This conference was such a breeze comparatively because of the use of technology. It tells me that perhaps ASGA could be leading international conferences for Student Governments in the future?

Tomorrow, I lead another workshop on elections and transitioning at 10:00 EST. Rome is six hours ahead, so it will be the end of the day there.

It was a wild experience doing this Italy conference this morning. I enjoyed it and I think the audience appreciated it as well.