The Annual American Association of Family and Consumer Sciences National Conference has been my favorite Family and Consumer Sciences event for 4 summers in a row now. This year did not fail to make me smile in many ways! Something about hundreds of people form all over the United States coming together to learn, network and do all things FACS related just really makes my heart beat faster and always reassures me that this is the field I belong in!
This was was much busier for me than most. Last year I selected to be apart of the inaugural AAFCS leadership academy, only 15 new FACS professionals were selected for this. It was great to connect with these amazing women as well as the people responsible for bringing us together and our mentors. Last year when we meet for the first time we spent 2 days learning about leadership in life, professions, and AAFCS. We were assigned projects to be working on throughout the year related to our state affiliates as well as the national organization. This year we came back together to reflect and build on all that we have done. Our schedules for this year were very busy as a result!
As a part of the leadership academy we participated in the poster session at the EXPO - displaying our national projects, we hosted a booth at the community showcase to generate interest in next years leadership academy, we held a debriefing meeting about the leadership academy and what we can build on for next years group (my group will act as planners, organizers, and helpers for them), we held a breakout session to teach others about our affiliate projects, and we helped facilitate one of our mentors breakout sessions. At the same time we built stronger relationships with each other, networked with people who will help us grow, and in general had a great time!
I also personally participated in a couple things at the conference, (in addition to squeezing in as many breakout session, lunches and breakfast with mentors and friends I only see once a year and exploring the EXPO) On thursday a MN colleague - Jane Hinrichsen -and I presented a large breakout session (over 50 people in attendance!) titled “Not your Mom’ PR” It was a lot of fun talking about how to promote Family and Consumer Sciences using technology and Social Media. We even had everyone int here who as not already join Facebook groups related to FACS and create twitter accounts!
I think the highlight overall for me was when AAFCS executive director Carolyn Jackson asked me and another member of the leadership academy to participate in the Capstone general session - on the big stage - in front of everyone!!!! The Capstone is also know as the closing session of the conference, usually (this year was no different) there are few words about the conference and were the organization plans to go for next year, an amazing keynote speaker, announcements of some awards, and closing remarks. At the intro this year Carolyn featured “advocacy in action” here she interview me and Elowin of the leadership academy and 2 other women who has been advocating for FACS on a grand scale this year. I was super nervous but also super excited to get up on stage and talk about what the leadership academy has been doing to advocate for FACS!!
Overall I would say this was the best conference so far for me and I cannot wait for Jacksonville Florida next year!
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