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Young Professionals Standing Up and Standing Out
Posted on Thursday, June 28, 2012
Category: General
Author: Rhonda Jensen
I looked around the room at all the faces of the young professionals gathered for the 3rd Annual Great Plains Young Professionals Summit and thought "wow, these are the future leaders of North Dakota and they are all gathered in Minot for the Summit." I'm not going to lie when I say that I'm on the older side of the Young Professionals demographic and yet still felt like I really learned some valuable insights for my own career. I guess a "middle aged dog" (according to YP standards that is) can and should learn a few new tricks.
As part of the planning committee you feel quite a bit of pressure to make sure everything goes smoothly and that everyone can take away something valuable from the event. It's hard to believe that it takes 13 months to plan a two-day event, but the team that worked on it had every last detail figured out and all attendees seemed to really enjoy all the events.
The Summit featured keynote speakers Aaron Davis, Dr. Robert Boyd and Bob Upgren. We had a tour of the Minot Ag Park, an entrepreneur panel, networking events and several breakout sessions that gave us all insights on how to create your personal brand, create a strategic plan and how to launch a community giving program.
In addition to the professional learning experiences, a unique opportunity was presented in the light of the Minot flood recovery for the Young Professionals: the Governor's hopes for a new Volun"tour"ism effort to spread to communities throughout North Dakota. The Minot community was appreciative of our young professionals who took time away from the Summit to spend an afternoon with the Dalrymples to help paint & rebuild the Roosevelt Park Zoo.
In the opening session we had Governor Jack Dalrymple, John MacMartin, President of the Minot Area Chamber of Commerce, and Wendy Howe, director of the Minot Convention and Visitor's Bureau welcome everyone to the Summit. We were also sent video greetings from Senator John Hoeven, Senator Kent Conrad & Congressman Rick Berg. It was great for those who could be there and those who sent videos to show their support of Minot and young professionals from around the state.
The GPYP Summit is one of only a handful of regional conferences geared towards the professional development needs of 21-39 year-olds. This was a truly unique experience. Through the sharing of ideas and networking with peers, our region's young professionals gained the tools and resources needed to keep this region strong. The Summit is a yearly event and is open to be hosted by any YP network in the state.
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