For those of you who attended CASL this past year, what did you think about the conference? The goal of this post is to determine what is good about this conference and what could be improved.
Some points to keep in mind:
a. What did you think of the guest speakers? Were the messages applicable to our roles as leaders on campus?
b. What did you think of the workshops? How could these be improved?
c. Overall, any other ideas you gained from the conference? Any other feedback?
Thanks!
I went to CASL last year, and comparing the two experiences, I'd have to say this year was much better. The energy seemed higher than before and there were more interesting workshops, like the dance one. The guest speakers were a lot better than last years, and really brought up some thought-provoking ideas in their speeches, especially Layman Hicks. Their overall message of being go-getters, staying positive, and focusing on giving back to the community really resonated, and I think the messages are applicable to our roles as leaders on campus as well as just in general. The workshops had more variety, but the ones I was assigned to were mediocre; maybe next time we can have the choice of choosing some of our workshops (if not all). The carpool system also worked pretty well. Overall, I had a positive experience!
ReplyDeletea) I personally liked the guest speaker about social media very much, her use of audience involvement and visual tools was particularly effective, and I liked too that she used concrete examples of cyber bullying from her own school. I took back from this workshop the idea of "stacking phones" and have already applied it within my family.
ReplyDelete2) I attended the workshop: Class Wide Events, and I thought that for a student-run workshop it was very well run. The slideshow, I found impressive, and I was introduced to a ton of new ideas that James Logan high school does for fundraising and events, eg. Senior let go. My only suggestion would be to allow more time for the actual audience to mingle and learn more about events from their respective schools.
c) "You are not most."
The two guest speakers were very moving. I thought that the first speaker taught me to be a better leader by looking at the other 90% of a person. The second speaker inspired me to be a better person in general.
ReplyDeleteI was put into "creative marketing" the speaker there was not very helpful since all she really did was give out prizes and tell us how to get good deals at our local dollar store. But the sheet that was passed out had some creative ideas that we could use in the future.
The lunch could be improved in the future by having more vegetarian meals because we had to take out the turkey and eat soggy bread with tomato and lettuce. Yum. Perhaps there could be fundraisers to improve workshops and lunch.
The dj and the appropriate rave styled dance was awesome because the dj played music everyone could jam out to and everyone was having fun being appropriate at the same time. Go leaders!
It's sarah Kim btw I don't know how to change it
ReplyDeleteI thought all of the guest speakers had very effective presentations, and they were all able to keep the audience engaged throughout their speeches. I can definitely take what I learned from their speeches back to the leadership class. The workshop I attended was the one about uniting the school through events. It was presented by Milpitas High School leadership students, so it was cool to hear about how they execute events at their schools! Rather than hearing it from adults, having student speakers made the overall mood of the presentation more relaxed. They had a bunch of good ideas that I think we could use in the future. Overall, CASL was a great experience woohoo!!
ReplyDeleteCASL or CADA?
ReplyDeleteI really liked the guest speakers! Not only did I learn to be a better person (and in turn, a better leader) through what they said, I also observed how they talked to us and how they managed to keep us engaged. So public speaking was also learned through this.
ReplyDeletePersonally, I felt like I learned nothing in my workshop. I really didn't know what was up with that...The one I went to was how to plan a successful event (hopefully that's what it was...something like that) and the teacher didn't teach us anything that we didn't already know. The presentation was composed of many...motivational quotes, which I guess did motivate us, but it was way too vague. The guy (I think he's the leadership advisor at James Logan) talked more about how he, as an advisor, had a lot to live up to with his students since they all loved their previous adviser and blah blah. Sorry, it personally was a waste of time to me because I don't think I learned anything in that class.
For example, instead of telling us how to be organized, it just said to be organized. Okay...so we all know that, but is there a way to be organized that would be more efficient? Bad example, but I hope you get the gist of it.
Oh and for improvement, they need to be more specific. Like maybe elaborate on how to get people interested, possible brainstorming on promo ideas, etc.
Sorry for the paragraphs...I was really looking forward to the workshop and was majorly disappointed.
But overall, I had a great experience at the conference. The "dance" at the end was a ton of fun and I got to see many of my friends from other schools and meet new people. I also got an idea of how leadership runs at those other schools.
I thought the guest speakers were very inspirational and compelling. Their presentations were definitely the highlights of my day. The workshops paled in comparison. The Free the Children workshop consisted of a pitch by one of the organization representatives. I'm all for helping end child labor, but I didn't make the connection between this workshop and school leadership. The speaker wasn't exactly compelling. The Make a Wish rally workshop was interesting in concept, but I feel that it wouldn't be effective at Lynbrook. Essentially, Branham High's ASB asks their students for wishes and tries to grant as many as they can, saving a few big ones for a rally. At Branham High, there are more students who come from low-income households, so the wishes that they grant are much more meaningful. This type of event is very difficult to pull off - Branham's entire leadership class does this for about two months. The last workshop that I attended, the rally games one, was interesting. I liked how they had us actually play the games. There are a few good ones that we could definitely use at our rally!
ReplyDeleteAll in all, I thought this was a great conference. I heard from a few veteran attendees that it was better than in previous years!
a) I personally thought the guest speakers did a great job motivating and inspiring us. One of the things that I appreciated was that one of them made the distinction between motivation and inspiration- motivation being feeling excited blah blah and inspiration being actually having the drive to DO something- and I'm happy to say that I came away from the conference inspired. They both did a wonderful job making me laugh and making me want to cry - a matter of seconds away from one another.
ReplyDeleteb) Workshops: I think that they were really fun, but a few were pretty pointless. The Happiness is Now workshop, for example, was engaging, but I didn't get anything out of it. I enjoyed the social media workshop because the speaker was really engaging and had powerful stories, many of which I could relate to. This tied in with all the stories I've heard about colleges going through your Facebook- personally, I thought everyone should have attended this. The Make A Wish Rally workshop was useful, but I don't know that it would work for our class. At Branham, the class isn't split into commissions like ours- the whole class works on the rally for two months! I also feel like a lot of kids at Lynbrook would make either really superficial (Be prettier) or really vague (World Peace) wishes.
c) I wish that the workshops were a bit longer and more interactive- many of the presenters apologized that they would have to go quickly because they didn't have time!
Overall I had a great time and hope to go back next year!
I think both guest speakers were terrific - they were inspirational and eloquent. It's been a few weeks now so I don't remember their exact messages, but like one of them said, people won't remember what you say, they'll just remember how you made them feel, and I felt compelled to be the best leader I can possibly be. Some of their points were obvious, but it was nice to have a refresher. They reminded us not to judge and to act before it was too late.
ReplyDeleteFor some reason, my schedule didn't account for the time management workshop I was supposed to go, so I didn't attend that one. The rally game workshop was super fun, but it wasn't applicable to my commission. The Free the Children was insipid: it almost felt like some sort of advertising scheme. The Happiness is Now workshop was also extremely engaging, but I'm not too sure what I can take away from it besides some new dances moves. Overall, the workshops, although fun for the most part, did not contain any substance.
I think the CASL conference was really good this year! The speakers were significantly better than last year, and for the first time I felt like I was truly learning something valuable. I really liked that the speakers incorporated humor into their speeches, and tried to make the speeches relatable. The workshops were fun, but only one of them really felt useful to me. That was the #icanhelp workshop. It was about eliminating bullying on social media, and I felt like I gained some tools that I could use to help make a difference. One of those tools was "phone-stacking," a interesting way to stop people from using their phones while eating dinner or lunch. I especially didn't like the individual workshop I was assigned to. The lady just wore vegetables on a string around her neck and talked about taping plates to clocks. I LOVED THE DANCE PARTY! WOOT WOOT! IT WAS GETTING HOT IN THERE, SO TAKE OFF ALL YOUR... as I was saying, it was an enjoyable experience. The food was nasty though. The turkey (I think it was turkey) was probably not edible. All in all, it was a fun experience, but we should have brought some snacks in the future.
ReplyDelete