The past few days, Girls on the Run Memphis has been busy representing the 901 at the GOTR National Summit in Las Vegas, Nevada. From Sunday to Thursday, I had the privilege to attend workshops and learn from other councils, and my experience has truly fueled me as we continue planning for the Fall season and inspired me with ways to grow our already exceptional Memphis program.
Day One was jam packed with informative and inspirational speeches, workshops, and discussions. We started the day hearing from Girls on the Run International CEO Elizabeth Kunz, who shared stories from councils around North America that highlighted the successes of our organization and the places we could still go. After our “State of the Union” and brief presentations from our exceptional national partners–shout out adidas, Team Milk, BAND, and Gamma Phi Beta–all conference attendees got to choose three breakout sessions to fill the rest of their day. I started my afternoon learning tips for public speaking and presentations about GOTR from Deborah Pleva, GOTR HQ’s Senior Director of Communication. Then, I moved into a session all about Pinwheel, the online platform we use for everything from registration to donations to recruitment. I ended the day by focusing on volunteer groups: how to best support them, incentivize them to stay involved, and find devoted individuals in our community.
The next day, I attended a speech by Jennifer Sirangelo, the CEO of Points of Light. She spoke about the state of volunteerism and what it means to service-based organizations like Girls on the Run. After that, I attended a session about analyzing Mission Advancement Markers, so we can keep track of how our organization is growing and ways we can surmise successes or areas of growth through data. Our lunch revolved around a presentation from Rhea Wong, a consultant, podcast host, and author who champions reframing the mindset around money for nonprofits. My afternoon sessions focused on the experience of our coaches and how to communicate through conflict or disagreements. We ended the day by celebrating Girls on the Run at the Las Vegas Strat Tower!
The next two days were filled with what GOTRI calls T3 training. T3 stands for Teach the Teacher, and it’s a thorough schedule of exercises practicing implementing the National Coach Training on the council level. We explored the value of both the online Coach Training Module through our GOTR Learning Academy and the in-person component GOTR Memphis is planning on hosting August 16th. We also discussed how to encourage buy-in and keep up morale as the season progresses. I am excited about getting the chance to train our next batch of new coaches right here in Memphis and get them ready to lead a fantastic fall season.
Overall, Summit was a wonderful, informative, inspiring experience that has helped relight the fire that I already had burning for the Girls on the Run mission. Now that I’m back in Memphis, though, I’m excited to sleep. Jet lag is no joke!