Leadership Summits: Hosting and Growing Through an Event

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Executive board members and rising leaders of the PRSSA chapters at Florida International University (FIU), the University of Southern Florida (USF) and the University of Florida (UF) came together for the first Southeast PRSSA Leadership Summit February 10.

For the half-day summit, UF PRSSA invited PRSSA chapters across the southeast region to make the trek to Gainesville, Florida to grow as leaders and explore new avenues for Chapter collaboration.

Do you want to invest in building stronger leaders in your region? Here are five steps to planning your own Leadership Summit.

Connect with other Chapters: Reach out to chapters in your region through your regional ambassador to see which chapters would be interested in participating. Ask them what they would want to get out of the event, since each Chapter has different goals. Remember, you can involve other student communications associations, PRSSA National Committee members and your parent PRSA Chapter too.

After talking to other chapters, UF PRSSA decided that our top three goals for the Southeast Leadership Summit would be to increase in-state networking and collaboration, strengthen leadership skills in chapters’ executive boards and improve the presence of our region on the international level.

Get your school on board: Meet with your Faculty Adviser, Department Chair and Dean, if possible, to get their input on the event.

A faculty member we consulted during the initial planning stages of our Leadership Summit connected us to our keynote speaker.

Set your itinerary and send invitations: Develop an itinerary based on the central goals you decided upon at the beginning.

We began our day with introductions and lunch. Then, we broke into small groups for a regional ambassador-facilitated discussion about chapter best practices for solving common challenges. After that, our keynote speaker and National VP of Career Services, Demi Wolfe, gave their presentations. We ended the day with dinner at a local restaurant.

Leave with a plan: Make sure you finish your Leadership Summit by developing a clear action plan for how the region will collaborate in the future.

Enjoy your event: Make sure that you’re having fun, because if you are having fun your guests will too! This is an opportunity to connect with people who can inspire you to be a better leader and a better future professional.

Keep us updated! Take pictures and tag @PRSSANational to show us your Leadership Summit!

Nicole Graney is a junior public relations major currently serving as president of UF PRSSA. When she’s not participating in PRSSA National Twitter chats or daydreaming about Washington D.C., Nicole can be found exploring Gainesville, FL, coffee shops. If you appreciate terrible puns, follow her on Instagram and Twitter.

Nicholas Goebel is a junior public relations major currently serving as regional ambassador for PRSSA. When he’s not traveling for PRSSA or reading a book alone in his room, Nick can be found diving the natural springs. If you love saturated and basic photos, follow him on Instagram. 

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