Saturday - Ideas to Action Gathering and Member Leader Institute
I can't believe that I actually beat Dennis here tonight... It has been a very long day. As Will said, many of us were downstairs and ready to go by 6:30 this morning. Tomorrow, we will be starting at the same time at the OCCC (I have been pronouncing it as "ock"). I had the opportunity to participate in the "fishbowl" discussion in the middle of the room, although this did not work too well, at least in part because of the poor acoustics. Some of the SOAR leaders shared some of the work they had been doing, and then we had the opportunity to share what we thought was exciting about the concepts, and what we thought the barriers would be. The plan would make sections, divisions and HQ partners in providing education and training to the members of the community, in place of the current competition model. For Sunday, I am planning to participate in a break out session on "working together to create and deliver courses." It has some pre-work for it that I have not done yet. When I was in HS, my mom used to think that I learned by osmosis because she never saw me study (I actually did - she just didn't see it). Perhaps if I put this under my pillow it will be done in the morning? I know that it won't work - I will just have to get the job done in time.
Next, I moderated 3 sessions at the member leader institute. The first session was a best practice on continuing education from the Design and Construction Division. Next, there was a session for section newsletter editors, followed by a best practice on division libraries from the Reliability Division. All of the sessions were very well received. During the fourth time slot, I joined the standards committe to listen to Dan Reid from GM talk about the AIAG approach to working with healthcare providers. I was invited there to learn more with the intent of getting involved in the discussion on how this might apply to education. I also had the opportunity to talk with Craig more about the No Child Left Behind pilot.
At 5:45, we started a very thorough SMP/DMP awards program. I was proud to accept the gold excellence award for my section. This was followed by a reception, and then I had the opportunity to join the biomedical division for dinner. It was interesting to hear more about what is going on within the division, chat with old friends, and discuss the day's events. I also got to sing in Croatian (just a few lines), see where the ducks walk (we missed the ducks), and make some new friends. All in all, I consider this to have been a very successful day. Now, I just need to figure out when I am ever going to get any sleep!
