In the Pursuit of a Good Conference

When I think about conferences, a unique one that comes to mind is the "Prevention of Cruelty to Children" conference that takes place in Ronald Dahl's tale "The Witches". Now this was no ordinary conference! For those of you who have read the story and watched the movie, you will recall that this convention was not exactly positive for the growth of young children. This conference was in fact a meeting place for all of the witches in England to come together and discuss how they were going to rid the world of stinky, smelly children. A seven year old boy staying with his grandmother in the same hotel eavesdrops on their meeting and learns about the secret agenda and does his part to change their plans. My point for telling you about this conference was to remind you that all conferences are not created equal. A conference should re-energize you and fill you with ideas that you didn't have before and the children of the world should still be safe!

I had the pleasure of attending the 2007 National SmartStart Conference held in Greensboro, North Carolina during the second week of May. This was my first time attending the conference and it was worth every dime of the registration fee. Every since I accepted my new position at a local community college, God has placed some wonderful opportunities in front of me and this was one of them. The conference was held at the Joseph S. Koury Convention Center beginning on Tuesday, May 8th with pre-conference sessions and concluding on Friday, May 11th.

As I walked down the halls of the Koury Convention Center each day between sessions, I felt important...special. To see so many people, who shared the same theories and philosophy about early childhood education that I do, made me feel as if I was part of something big. And I am! Early childhood education has never been more recognized and respected as it is right now. People are really beginning to stand up and recognize that the first three years of a child's life are very important. But this did not come without opposition. Early childhood advocates have been working hard to bring informative research data to light and share our findings with the world. Leaders such as North Carolina's former Governor Jim Hunt and Karen Ponder have been to Washington and spoken in front of Congress in support of our youngest citizens. Organizations that focus on children between the ages of birth through five have formed and work to educate and inform the world about the development of the young child and the importance of the early years. One of these organizations was highlighted this week.

"Smart Start is North Carolina's nationally recognized and award-winning early childhood initiative designed to ensure that young children enter school healthy and ready to succeed." SmartStart began with $20 million dollars and 12 partnerships in 18 counties. These "partnerships" were created to administer the SmartStart funds in their local and surrounding counties and are under the direction of the North Carolina Partnership for Children. "Smart Start funds are used to improve the quality of child care, make child care more affordable and accessible, provide access to health services and offer family support." Karen Ponder, former SmartStart president, worked hard to raise the level of awareness about SmartStart across the state of North Carolina. She felt strongly about the importance of quality child care and the availability of necessary services that a child may need in order to begin school with a fresh start. SmartStart has grown wonderfully. Funding has grown to approximately $203 million dollars since 1993 and over 79 partnerships are now located across the state of North Carolina. Because of SmartStart's success in the early childhood field, other states have adopted similar initiatives! Way to set the bar North Carolina.

This year, I was fortunate enough to attend their annual conference and what a great event it was! I enjoyed the sessions, the keynote speakers, the reception dinner, auction, and social gatherings. Participants were given the opportunity to select 10 out of approximately 200 workshop sessions to attend for either an hour and a half or for three hours. The sessions ranged from topics about rules and regulations, center management, professional development, advocacy, programs at community colleges, resources available for teachers, inclusion, business training, and on and on. This conference is a must for center directors, teachers, administrators, board members, and anyone else who works with young children. The registration fee can be a little scary but it is well worth the information that you will receive and the boost that it will give to you as a professional.

The keynote speakers were great as well. We had the honor to hear from the new president of SmartStart, Stephanie Fanjul. Mrs. Fanjul dared us to "agitate". She challenged us to agitate the world around us and to motivate everyone to understand how important early childhood education is and why we must continue to support the early care and education initiatives in our country. Sonia Manzano (a.k.a. Maria from the well known children's show "Sesame Street") was also a speaker at our conference. She spoke about her past and present experiences on Sesame Street and how this program has helped children from diverse backgrounds and ethnic groups to "see themselves on TV". She also commented about the types of programs that Sesame Street has aired in order to teach children important life skills such as what to do when parents divorce. Another speaker at the conference was Sterling Speirn. Mr. Speirn is the president and CEO of W.K. Kellogg Foundation in Battle Creek, Michigan. He spoke about his tremendous support for SmartStart and how the program is a success. And last but not least, we were delighted to have Former Governor Hunt as a keynote speaker at the celebration dinner on Thursday evening. Former Governor James B. Hunt, Jr. is known as the "Father of SmartStart". He helped form and build SmartStart from its beginnings to what it is now.

There are many benefits to attending this conference besides the vast variety of workshop sessions and impressive keynote speakers. The opportunities for networking and gaining new ideas and support are tremendous. If you are in the first stages of your career, feeling burned out, looking for ideas to improve your current business, etc, this conference is for you. I feel motivated and filled to the rim with ideas! As I said, this was my first time attending the conference and I will definitely attend the next. The registration process was simple. You submit your registration fee and form and they send you a confirmation. The only workshops that you pre-register for are the ones on Tuesday, the pre-conference day. From Wednesday through Friday, you select the workshops you want to attend (a head of time in your own convenience) and just go. But remember to be early because seats do fill up fast.

Our registration fee included two breakfasts, an evening reception, and a celebration dinner. The evening reception consisted of a "resource marketplace" where you were able to talk with sponsors, bid on a silent auction, and win door prizes. This year there was a beach theme and included some music as well. A highlight of the week was the Celebration Dinner on Thursday evening. During the dinner, we recognized former SmartStart President Karen Ponder as a great leader for building SmartStart and helping it to grow for seven years. Some of the local partnerships received awards for outstanding achievements while everyone was able to see their own partnership on a slide show presentation during dinner.

The conference was very well organized. When you checked in at the registration desk, you were given a book about the conference which included a schedule of events, general conference information, special opportunities, a blurb about each of the keynote speakers, and a description for each of the workshops with the time and location. Each participant was also given a map of the Koury Convention Center, a SmartStart bag to carry the loads of new materials that they receive, and a nametag that displayed their name, their organization, and where they were from. The nametag was a great networking tool. Presenters and participants were able to call you by name and you were able to see what organizations other participants were from. It was said that over 49 states were represented at the conference! Participants were also given the choice of receiving credit hours for attending particular sessions because many were approved by the North Carolina Division of Child Development for in-service training. In addition to the sessions, there were two rooms set up with informational packets, brochures, and booklets from various early childhood related agencies across North Carolina. You went into the room, looked through the materials and took what you wanted. And as far as the facility itself, it was clean, organized, and the staff was pleasant and professional.

For those of you in this field who have never attended a SmartStart Conference, you are truly missing out on a wonderful opportunity. It is worth the money, your time, and you will not regret it. This conference will refuel your fire and open your level of awareness if you let it. For those of you who have had bad experiences with conferences, try one more.