#REC20

#REC20 was my last and final year on the team. As the incoming president I felt a lot of pressure to be able to deliver a solid two-day conference, and I was able to do so by taking previous year’s learnings and apply it to how I wanted to manage and lead the conference team for the coming year.

This role was a different type of learning curve than the previous two. What you take from the conference at the end of the two days are different for each team. In my first year working on the events team, my baby, my pride and joy, revolved around how the two-day conference went and that was it. As executive Vice President, although still within the operations team, my main priority besides ensuring conference execution was to ensure unity and cohesion amongst the individuals and the different teams by building a solid foundation to be able to ultimately execute a well-organized conference.

#REC20 although still just as busy and hectic as the last two, felt a little more calming. I learned to delegate accordingly, and ensure that next year’s team had everything they needed to be able to put on another successful event. I left the conference and my final REC feeling very satisfied. No event is ever perfect, and in the 3 years I was on the team, I learned that no matter how much you plan for something, you won’t be able to account for all the variables and that’s okay. What’s important is how you respond when these varied issues do occur, and how to be adaptable and agile in order to help resolve the issue at hand.

Something I loved about REC was that it was a collaborative project that brought together like minded individuals. Another thing that it fostered was the importance of cross collaboration - being on a single team did not mean you couldn’t voice your input in other areas of the conference. I met some of the most talented and well rounded people while working on this team and was able to create, produce, and put together some of the most creative projects I had ever worked on. I am eternally grateful for the experience that REC was able to provide me.