7.12.2005

SLB Retreat 2005
The 2005 Sigma Lambda Beta National retreat is over. It was a great weekend full of fraternity firsts, exciting programs, alumni networking, and catching up with Brothers I have not seen in a long time. It was a ton of fun. We had the first ever Alumni Retreat and that went great, we unveiled the first fraternity Charter (which I designed and OutSight will produce) document, and we had the first retreat with programming created entirely by Brothers and presented by Brothers.

I did not take a ton of pictures because I was very busy. As part of the facilitation group and a large session presenter I spent a lot of time working on the final touches to programs and running the sessions. It was great during the Alumni session to see all Brothers I have not seen in a while. We had two founding fathers there, two ex-national presidents, and tons of Brothers I have not seen in two or three years. It was great.

The programming we presented was good and I think the Brothers really took a lot to heart. I am excited to see the evaluations and hear what the Brothers have to say about the programs. Well her are the photos I did take...

We were at the beautiful Indianapolis Hyatt right next to the capital.

The WMU Neo, Ben and I at one of the sessions. Good work bro.

We had around 170 Brothers there.

After one of the alumni sessions with some UoM Alums.

The Michigan/Ohio Brothers.

I presented the final session of the weekend and wrapped everything up.

I have never been so nervous presenting. I have spoken to bigger crowds, and I have worked with my fraternity before as a presenter... but this one was different. Usually I talk about Risk Management or Hazing, the topics people hate to hear so I don't normally expect a good response from the crowd. This time I was presenting a motivational program I designed on the importance of courage in leadership. It seems that the Brothers liked it and I had several requests for my slides. I hope they took my message to heart and feel empowered to make differences on their campuses and communities.

Today it is back to work. I have some big projects I really need to start tackling and catching up on. Next week I have time off with Novali so really I am running low on summer time. I also need to plan when I will be moving into my new apartment... lots to coordinate right now.