Ready for anything?

Last weekend served as a wake-up call that no matter how much you plan and how hard you work, sometimes circumstances can derail your best efforts.

Last Saturday was supposed to be ASGA's New York City Student Government Training Conference. It was going to be the largest conference we've ever done outside of our national conference in DC.

My daughter and I fly to New York on Thursday night, trying to stay ahead of the blizzard blasting the Big Apple. But by Friday morning, the conditions were terrible-- blowing snow and drifts of several feet. Our taxi spun out trying to turn and its tires were constantly slipping on the icy roads.

Over the past five years, ASGA has produced nearly 60 conferences and we've never had to postpone one because of weather. I didn't want to cancel, but the host college was closed and thousands of flights were cancelled. On the Wheather Channel, the only bad travel area on the U.S. map was New York City!

I just couldn't in good conscience produce the conference knowing how dangerous travel conditions were going to be for anyone brave enough to drive. After conferring with the host college, we just made the "call" and quickly wrote all attendees Friday morning.

This was frustrating, as our team was ready to produce the conference. All of our materials had arrived and we were ready to set up. It looked like all of our speakers would be able to make it in time.

If we had produced the conference, I predict half of the attendees would have had to cancel. Their colleges and universities would have stopped them from attending.

Postponing the conference was the right decision. It was a wise decision to help protect the safety of our attendees.

It just shows me that no matter how much you do to be prepared for anything, there is something that will come up in your path that you have never encountered before. We're always learning and coping!

The needs of the one...

Just got back from ASGA's National Student Government Summit in DC. It was the largest training conference we've ever produced, with 555 registrants from 101 institutions in 35 states. The entire ASGA staff and nearly all of our speakers participated. We think it was the best conference we've ever produced.

With this said, we did encounter a new situation there. One student told me that she was very uncomfortable being photographed. We always have a professional photographer and videographer capturing "moments" that we can then post at the conference web site. Potential future attendees then can learn what it's really like to come to the conference.

I personally don't think it's a "big deal" to be photographed, and initially thought this student was overreacting. "Just deal with it," I was thinking to myself.

But then I reconsidered. Maybe she had something happen in her past that caused her to feel this way about photos. ASGA and I certainly need to be considerate of all of our attendees' concerns and opinions. We need to be listening and trying to serve them better.

When an SGA registers for one of our conferences, they agree on the form that all photos and video taken are ASGA's property and may be used for promotional purposes. But individual students rarely see this form, as an advisor or one officer signs up for the entire group.

I don't want to make the registration process take longer and be more complex. But I'm thinking that in the future, we may allow students who don't want to have their photo taken to put a red "sticker" on their conference name tags. This would alert our photographers that these students are "off limits" for photos.

ASGA's conferences serve thousands of students and advisors each year. We've now produced nearly 60 conferences in the past five years. While we've never had a complaint before about photos, we are taking this one student's concerns seriously. And we may change and improve policy because of it.

ASGA does serve the "masses," but we're also conscious about the needs of the one.

Doing more with less

I've been noticing the past few days that several Student Governments are lauding themselves for saving money on their "retreats" and "training" for new officers. Schools like the University of South Alabama are proud of saving money by having their "retreat" on campus. Georgia State University's SGA says it saved 93% on what it spent in 2008 for its annual retreat.

This is great news for their constituents. It's proving that the SGAs are serious about saving money and using it to serve fellow students, even in a "down economy."

Most student government budgets are somewhat protected, as they usually get their funds from activity fees which are tied to enrollment. In a recession, people typically go back to college, which means more activity fees to disburse. This usually is restricted, however, to public universities and colleges, and less often to community colleges and private institutions.

Still, with many universities making cuts to faculty positions, reducing their budgets because of less revenue coming from the state or donors, and cutting back programs, Student Governments should follow that example and also be extra careful in the use of their limited budgets.

Student Government retreats are CRITICAL for the health and effectiveness of any student government. These retreats are typically done in August/September and often are at an off-campus location, so that members can be immersed in SG issues, plans, and goals without the distractions they have on campus.

But a helpful and useful retreat can easily be done on campus-- I just worked with two institutions (one in Illinois and one in Boston), where their trainings were done right on campus before the start of school. Where the retreat is housed is not as important as when. If it's after the start of school, there are myriad of distractions, so SG members and officers are less focused and can give less of their attention.

In a down economy, it's wise for SGs to be cost-conscious on their training and planning retreats. Having it at an off-campus retret locale may sound great, but you can save a lot of money for your constituents by getting your training right there on campus.

On the run

Every weekend this month, plus at least one other trip mid-week, I'll be either speaking at an ASGA conference or training/consulting with an ASGA member institution. August is typically my busiest travel month for serving ASGA members.

While I don't look forward to the airport waits and delays, I do look forward to the work itself. It's rewarding and satisfying knowing that I can help less-experienced student leaders and advisors.

Fortunately, I'm only gone for two days at a time, so I'm not away too long from my wife and children. That's the hardest part of travel for business: being away from the family.

But when I come home, we always take a family day to do something fun. Yesterday it was bowling (my first time in 31 years). The kids loved it. Next week when I get back from Boston, I'm thinking of taking them to the Tampa zoo.

Travel nowadays, let me tell you, is hardly romantic. Just because I go to cities like Boston, New York, Chicago, and Los Angeles doesn't mean that I sight-see and spend time enjoying cool drinks, music, and checking out the landmarks. I usually see the inside of a hotel room, meeting rooms, and the airport.

It's also hard work to travel. All of the preparation takes a ton of time. I'm my own travel agent, so that adds to the complexity. I'm also the "roadie" at our conferences and handle set-up before the event and take-down after. Sweaty work, particularly at this time of year.

But again, I focus on the work and what it is accomplishing and who it is helping. That knowledge that ASGA and I are doing important work that matters helps me make it through the flight delays, jam-packed planes, and over-priced airport meals.

Ready. Set. Fall...

Where did the summer go? There was a time when summer in higher education meant rest, time to plan, and even some time at the beach. Now, most colleges and universities offer summer terms and student affairs administrators and staff usally have to stick around for much of it.

This increased summer action mainly relates to institutions trying to use their facilities more efficiently and to students wanting to complete their degrees sooner than later (to save time and money).

Still, let's admit it: who else, behinds those in academia, get weeks off at a time and every federal holiday, not even counting normal vacation days, sick leave, and "comp" time.

At ASGA, we take Fridays off from May to August. So everyone works extra hard the rest of the week to keep up with our workloads. I admit that it's great to have an extra weekend day to rest, spend time with the family, and to travel/visit with family and friends. Fall is coming, and that means lots of travel for me to ASGA's conferences, not to mention consulting trips to several member institutions.

It's still stinking hot in Florida (actually we just started the heat of summer), but it's beginning to look a lot like fall around the office as we get ready for the fall semester rush.

Research, research, research

One of the most-rewarding and interesting aspects of serving Student Governments is helping them with research.

This research can be on everything from student activity fees to student government budgets to elections.

Our members frequently ask ASGA to help them save time, money, and energy on getting information they need. It's a privilege for us to help out.

When we get a request, our team writes, calls, e-mails, and faxes schools nationwide to get answers to specific questions.

Once we get the answers, we add this information to our SG Database. So the research not only benefits the member school that originally asked for it, but all other ASGA members.

Every time we research a subject, we're also adding to the knowledge-base that ASGA stores. This continues to grow and grow and improve.

One thing about ASGA is that we are always growing and improving.

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.

Smooth transitions

Watching last week's presidential inauguration reminded me how important "transitions" are for Student Governments. Very few SGs transition well, and this means that new officers come into office knowing very little of what their jobs entail or what has been tried or done before them. They spend a lot of needless time "reinventing the wheel" as a result.

Love him or hate him, it appears that former President Bush and his team did an admirable job of making the transition to President Obama and his team go as smoothly as possible. I haven't read of any juvenile actions that haunted the Clinton administration when they handed over the White House to W. There were stories that implied that some members of the outgoing team made it harder for the new workers.

I hope as your term of office nears, you'll be getting materials, information, and records ready to help your successor, even if you think that person is a know-nothing jerk. Keep notes on all that you do, the progress you've made, the work you've accomplished. Keep notes of who lilkes youo and who hates you on campus. Who has helped you wade through the school bureaucracy?

All of this information will help your successor take on her role with the knowledge needed to be successful. You'll leave the position better off than when you began. That should be one of your top goals as your term of office draws to a close.

800 members strong!

Today, ASGA reached and surpassed 800 member institutions. We now have 806.

This is an amazing number, as ASGA was only launched in March 2004. We're adding more new member institutions annually, and the number is growing each year (166 so far in 2008, 164 in 2007, 158 in 2006). I predict that we could have 1,200 members by 2011.

Most higher education professional associations hover around 1,200 member schools. This seems to be the "magic number." But I think the sky is the limit for ASGA. We could have 1,500 to 2,000 member institutions.

Why is this important? The more members ASGA has, the more accurate our databases will be, as our members help us keep information on new officers and advisors curent.

More members mean more attendees at our conferences. More training of SG officers means better student governments nationwide. More members and attendees at ASGA conferences also means more resources for ASGA to improve our services for members, conduct more research, and help more colleges and universities.

It's an exciting time at ASGA, as we continue to grow and improve every day.

Holiday Break

Like many people in higher education, I'm looking forward to spending time with my wife and children over the Christmas break. The time between Christmas and New Year's is about the slowest time of the year for ASGA. Most of our members are home with their families and are enjoying a break from college and from their jobs in education. The number of e-mails, calls, and live chats slows to a trickle during this period. It's very quiet at our offices in Florida.

However, just like during the summer months, most colleges and universities remain open and some administrators and staff continue to work. While mid-December to mid-January is an "off" time for most student leaders and student affairs administrators, your institution usually remains open and continues to work on projects and programs.

Student Governments should be aware of this and make sure that they're in the loop on any decisions that are being made over the holidays and summer break. It's part of staying in touch so that you can better serve your constituents.

There's little worse than coming back from a restful holiday and finding that construction has started on a new building you knew nothing about!

Working Electronically

At least two days a week, I work from my home. I take and make calls, send e-mails, answer questions from members all from my laptop in the living room at my house. My children are playing and working in the background the whole day.

Not only does working at home save money and time in traveling to the office (I live about 35 minutes away), I get to spend more time with my family! Sometimes, it gets pretty loud around here, but that's OK.

This new mode of work made me think how this could apply to student governments. So many institutions already offer on-line courses. Some, like Washington State, have a completely distance-oriented degree program. Their student government operates totally online, as their members never set foot on the campus in Pullman but are spread out across the nation. They hold their meetings online, take votes, present resolutions, do research, connect with their peers, and more, all from their computers.

Can your student government be more efficient in using technology? Perhaps some of your meetings could be replaced by online meetings. Perhaps some of your committee work could be replaced electronic reports.

I know for me, the option of working at home has been a blessing. As I write this, I'm at home listening to my children and wife work on Christmas cards and birthday cards for Gramma. I'm a part of the family, not apart.

Giving private help and support...

With just one more ASGA conference in 2008, our Southern California event for community colleges, I'm already turning to consulting and training at individual colleges and universities. In the past few days, ASGA has confirmed that we'll be training new officers, members, and advisors at Saint Francis University in Pennsylvania, South Carolina State University, and Red Rocks Community College, all in the next few weeks. Also, we'll be helping Wesley College, Ohio Dominican University, and Lorain County Community College amend and enhance their constitutions.

December and January have become ASGA's time to serve our members individually, on their campuses. It's our chance to deal with members one-on-one and really immerse ourselves in their unique issues and challenges.

While it's a lot of travel and definitely a lot of work and brain power expended, it is also very rewarding. I look forward to the chance to serve our members.

ASGA keeps growing and growing...

In four years, ASGA has grown from an idea to by far the largest student leadership organization in the nation.

ASGA now has 774 member institutions, plus we store information in our searchable database on every Student Government in America. Our ASGA team adds new and updated information every day.

We now produce 10 Student Government training conferences, which frankly are the most helpful and practical in the nation. Our conferences always get better, as we bring in new speakers and new and more interactive workshops and roundtables.

ASGA is the only organization that I know of that gets visibly better ever day. We literally impove every day. We add more knowledge every day. We help solve our members' problems. Everything we do improves our resources and makes ASGA more valuable to all of our members who take avantage of our support.

There is no sign that ASGA is slowing down! We're averaging 170 new member schools each year (probably closer to 200 this year). Every one of our conferences this year has attracted more attendees than the previous year. We're doing more consulting, helping members improve their constitutions and train their members.

It's an exciting time for ASGA and our members. We love serving Student Governments and helping students and administrators!

No matter how much you plan, something usually goes wrong...

Just got back from our Midwest conference in Chicago. Overall, a great experience. Largest crowd we've had there. The venue was the most convenient and most attractive yet. Set up was relatively easy. The students were attentive and willing to listen and learn.

Despite these positives, there were some negatives. My flight from Florida was delayed by weather, meaning I didn't get done setting up Friday night until well after midnight. Then the food-service provider didn't provide enough food for either the continental breakfast or the lunch for attendees. We had some hungry and, as a result, unhappy campers, so to speak, and justifiably so.

Despite all of our planning and advance work, there was nothing I could do about the delayed flight. I just sat and waited, trying to catch up on e-mail and phone calls.And on the food front, both ASGA and our host had provided the correct numbers to the caterer. They just didn't deliver on their end.

Of course, the food issue could have led to a black-eye for the conference. But I took responsibility and offered all 240 attendees a $10 off discount toward a future ASGA conference, as an apology. I think, in the end, it was OK.

What this teaches me and reminds me is that so much of our work is outside our control and influence. No matter what we do, no matter how many times we check up, and no matter how much advance planning there is, something usually goes wrong that is outside of our influence. We have no control over the catering, and certainly have no power to change air-traffic control decisions on flights leaving the southeast.

I took both issues pretty much in stride. In the past, I might have blown up and caused a scene. Either I've mellowed as I get older and more experience or I have learned to maintain more of a level head, especially over matters I don't have the power to change.

Off to Chicago!

I leave tomorrow for ASGA's Midwest conference in Chicago. It's our largest-ever "regional" conference. It will be a long weekend, but a productive one.

These conferences are where ASGA really can help our members learn and improve. It's our chance to talk with members face-to-face, get to know them, and answer their questions and help solve their problems.

While I dislike the travel part (it's a business trip, not a pleasure cruise), I do enjoy spending time with my colleagues and fellow speakers. We can catch up on each others' lives.

The best part of a conference like Chicago is seeing the evaluations at the end. How did we do? How much did they learn? What can we improve on?

I'll be back Sunday in time to spend the afternoon with my wife and children. Then it will be time to get ready for our Dallas event in early November.

Serving is on my mind...

Being a parent of five children and also a man of "faith," service is always in the forefront of my life.

Teaching and training my children means being more self-less-- giving up most of the things I did before I was married and had children. Being a good parent is about giving up time as well. It's all about serving.

My "faith" also demands that I be a servant and have a mentality of helping others all the time.

This philosophy of focusing on helping and serving others translates well to be a public servant, such as a leader in Student Government.

Student leaders often are self-serving, using their positions for personal gain as their priority over helping to improve the institution for their constituents, their fellow students. Our nation's elected "leaders" most assuredly usually base decisions on what will get them elected the next term and what will help them get more attention personally or make more money.

ASGA is trying our best to teach the importance of service to others. I attended a White House ceremony recently during which President Bush encouraged Americans to give of themselves, to volunteer 4,000 hours to their communities during their lifetimes. I endorse and support this initiative. Being a leader should be all about service.

We're back...

Back to work today after giving it my all at ASGA's National Student Government Summit this past weekend. It was the largest event we've ever produced-- nearly 600 students and advisors from 100 colleges and universities in 38 states. It might have been the largest Student Government conference ever!

Admittedly, it is a whale of a lot of work to produce an event of this size and complexity. We had eight concurrent workshops going on, nearly 50 roundtables, two keynote speakers, and nearly two dozen talented and knowledgable speakers in attendance. What a great experience for everyone.

After we got done Sunday afternoon, and I had my final consulting appointment, we headed for the airport in plenty of time to catch our 7:35 p.m. flight. But we arrived at the gate to find out that weather had delayed our plane and we wouldn't be leaving until 10:30. I didn't get home until 2:20 a.m. Monday morning, missing the traditional frenzied "greeting" from my wife and children. The other ASGA team members didn't get home until nearly 4:00 a.m.!

Also, on the flight up to DC, I was one of the last to board my flight, based on "zones." There were no overhead bins left, so the flight attendant made me check my bag-- I thought they would bring it to me at the end of the flight, but it turns out they "checked" it like normal baggage. But it wasn't there when we arrived-- this was a mission critical bag and had our nametags, petty cash, reports, and several signs. The bag turned up a day later at the conference hotel about 30 minutes before we started our official registration!

Two problems that happened at the beginning and at the end were really the bulk of the challenges we had at this conference, despite its complexity and size. And both problems were outside of our control.

This shows me that despite all of your pre-planning, all of your work ahead to make sure everything goes well, there are things outside of our control. We can't do anything about it.

We just have to do our best and make the event or project happen despite the problems. How we react to those unexpected problems shows what we really are like as leaders.

I'm glad to be home and am spending time with my wife and children. Soon we'll be getting ready for our Chicago and Dallas conferences.

A week to go...

Yesterday, our team shipped the rest of the materials that we'll be using at our upcoming National Student Government Summit in Washington, D.C. It's the largest Student Government conference in the nation.

It takes months of planning and hard work to produce an event of this magnitude. Nearly all of ASGA's "headquarters" staff is coming to pitch in. Compared to our regional conferences, we have more than four times the number of speakers, workshops, and even days (this is a four-day conference, while our regionals are one-day events).

It was exciting yesterday to see the last of the boxes head out.

Last night, when I was with the family doing a little shopping, I noticed the time-- 7:03 p.m. I told everyone that one week from now, our conference video introduction would be playing and we would be starting the conference!

The National Student Government Summit is by far ASGA's biggest and most exciting event. And as it grows (all four years it has grown in number of participants, speakers, and workshops), it becomes more of a challenge to manage. But our team works hard and we get better at planning. We're learning all the time, just like our "constituents," Student Government leaders and advisors.

We're an organization that continually tries to grow and improve.

For those of you who are coming to DC next week, thanks. You're in for a great time and will learn a lot. See you in DC!

Transitioning well is key

Just got back from a weekend in South Carolina working with an ASGA member institution. The SGA there has a history of ineffectiveness and tons of turnover. Only five officers/members return from last year and the rest have no SGA experience.

If you're at a school like this, where SGA is basically reinvented every year, it should be a priority this year for you to work hard on "transitioning." What does this mean?

Everything you do in your position should be "captured." You should write down the time you spend on a project, the contacts you make, the difficulties you encounter, the progress you have, the enemies you make, the friends who help you, and more. Basically, you're getting a snapshot of what your job really entails and what your time committment really looks like. This will help your successor get up to speed more more quickly. He/she won't be fumbling around trying to learn what to do. You will have outlined their responsibilities and expectations already.

I see this "transition" material being stored electronically so that if you lose a notebook, all of this work won't be gone forever. Ideally, you would store this at your SGA web site, assuming you have one (if you don't have one, it's time to make that happen!). Or you could store this in your profile at the ASGA web site. ASGA stores vast data on every student government in the nation.

Remember how you felt when you came into office and didn't have a clue about what you're supposed to do next? You can make it so much easier for your successor by keeping track of all that you say, do, and work on during your term of office.

Transitioning is key to having an effective student government.