With various campus elections and job interviews coming and going for college students, the Crain Leadership Conference on Sept. 30 aims to provide an opportunity to enhance leadership, communication and organization skills. Open to any college student, the event offers five leadership focuses, a keynote speaker and the chance to network with young leaders from all over North Texas.
The conference will take place in the Hughes-Trigg Ballroom from 9 a.m.-3:30 p.m., and a continental breakfast and lunch will be served. SMU’s leadership involvement organization LEAD-Leadership Education, Activities and Involvement-sponsors the first-come first-served event. Students can still sign up for the event today or tomorrow morning for a fee of $10.
“The Crain Conference is a great tool. Students get the same experience they would get at a regional or national conference at a very low cost,” said Carol Clyde, director of SMU’s Leadership and Community Involvement office. “It also capitalizes on the strengths of the faculty and staff that lead workshops in their area of expertise.”
The conference features five leadership tracks: developing leadership, leadership experts, service leadership, leadership and management, and Greek leadership.
Throughout the day, students attend four workshops that pertain to the track of their choice that they indicate on their registration forms. At each of these workshops, speakers, with experience relevant to the track, lead the discussion.
The Greek leadership track is a new addition to Crain. LEAD members decided to add this track by examining what SMU students are involved in and what leadership points the previous conferences failed to address. According to Clyde, since 32.8 percent of the SMU student body is Greek and recruitment is in January, LEAD and Greek advisors thought adding such a track could be a good opportunity for those seeking leadership in the Greek system to hone their skills.
“We think that adding a Greek leadership track is a great idea, especially for younger members,” Ryan Williams and Shannon Sumerlin, coordinators of student activities and Greek affairs, said in a joint statement. “The majority of selection in school events happens in November. It allows time for younger members to go get some skills and apply them.”
The Crain Conference is one of the only leadership conferences open to every SMU student club and organization. LEAD hopes groups will register and find it beneficial.
“By encouraging the Greek community [and other SMU student groups] to attend Crain, the hope is that in later years they’ll be supportive of the conference and want to send more members. It’s beneficial to the SMU community in general,” said Chelsea Hilliard, LEAD president.
Brendon Burchard, the founder and principal of swiftKick Development, a private company dedicated to helping individuals, teams and organizations accomplish drastic transformations, is the keynote speaker. He has written two books on leadership, and his clients as a leadership and human performance consultant include e-bay, JC Penney, Best Buy and many universities.
“Brendon is a younger motivational speaker and he’s very charismatic, lively and energetic to a younger audience,” Hilliard said. “Sometimes it’s hard to relate with people that have been in the field for a while; because he’s closer to my age, I feel like he’s easier to relate to.”
With the know-how of Burchard and SMU faculty, a variety of leadership focuses and the chance to network with other young adults interested in leadership, the conference equates to a full day of professional training, according to LEAD.
“[Crain] is really a lot of fun. Many people think of the workforce when they hear the word ‘leadership.’ What they don’t realize is that they can develop those skills in college,” Hilliard said.
