Here we are in a HUGE darkened hall for the start of the 2012 National Conference Volunteering Service in Chicago, Illinois, USA. Sixteen speakers are scheduled for the next 90 minutes! Seven too many to my way of thinking. There are 4300 people at the Conference but I think a lot of people are playing "hookey"! I would say 3000 people present?
We started with the US National Anthem sung by a young guy from the Junior ROTC here in Chicago. A very simple and moving without being syrupy. The mayor of Chicago noted this guy had sung in three places this week that the mayor had been at!
President Obama appeared for a short welcome speech via pre recorded video. He got a huge applause. I suspect if he had been here in person, he would have been a hit.
Michelle Nunn, CEO of Points of Light (I am interested that the Hands On brand is not being emphasised this year) followed welcoming us to the conference in Chicago. we got a lot of reasons as to why this was a perfect city to be in from a political point of view. Personally, I thought it was the architecture, food and art! LOL. It was noted that there were 7000 volunteers who spent a day painting Chicago schools recently. Brilliant! There was a connection made between that service and the highest graduation rate ever from Chicago Public schools. I am not sure how fresh paint results in this outcome? Do we also risk reinforcing the stereotype that the only volunteer work is this unskilled service?
She introduced the Mayor of Chicago, Rham Emmanual, who I thought was refreshingly unpolitical and a very natural communicator. He noted that the high school completion rate for Chciago just hit 66% and noted that every President, Governor and Mayor believes in service (and volunteering????????). I was interested that Wisconsin has the country's highest high school graduation rate (90 per cent) and Nevada 56.3 per cent. I didnt know what party the mayor was from but I found him to be inspiring and funny.
Michelle spoke next. Sorry Michelle, I would love to see you delivering a much more human speech, mixing it up with the crowd. Lots of facts and way too many big words and phrases didn't grab me.
Dr Jill Biden, First Lady of the United States who came across as very human. She has had a son who was stationed in Iraq for a year and she has been working to raise support for those who serve in the armed forces. It always surprises me for a country with such a military complex, that practical support )post service medical, employment and counselling) for military members and their families is not as comprehensive as it could be.
People loved JR Marteinez, as would be expected. -and so they should. He was funny, serious and human. Not someone I had encountered before (I don't watch TV). According to Wikipedia: in 2003, Martinez sustained severe burns to over 40 percent of his body while serving as a United States Army infantryman in Iraq. Following his recovery, he has traveled around the country speaking about his experiences to corporations, veterans groups, schools, and other organizations.
In 2008, Martinez was cast in ABC's daytime drama, All My Children in the role of Brot Monroe.[12] His character also served with the U.S. Army in Iraq and was injured in combat. Martinez first appeared on the program on Friday, November 7, 2008.
Neil Bush, Chair of Points of Light followed.
Barbara Bush is 87 (as of ten days ago) and was as funny and compelling as always. She likes to say it as it is. I love hearing from her.
It was at the point that when Lauren and Pierce Bush appeared for an interview, I tuned out. Too many speakers. I got irritated with some of the runway lines that emerged eg 90% of kids whos parents got to jail will themselves go to jail. We know that. The solutions are not simple but are vital. Pierce was funny. The interview was too long. Melissa Harris-Perry was superb as interviewer. Would have loved to hear from her.
Kevin Bacon, made a brief appearance to talk about Six Degrees .org. What was kind of amusing was he told us to forget about him and concentrate on the website. Ironic seeing he was there to tell us this! I also didn't quite fully get what his site was about.
Merri Dee-good quote: "When you step out to help somebody else, you help yourself first."
Patrice DeCorrevont, CEO Govt and non profit banking was actually quite interesting. (Much better than last year's Chase speech). We dont often expect the bankers to be interesting Patrice!! NB I have my US bank account with Chase.
This brought us to the end of the Opening which ended up being almost two hours. The South Shore Drill Team saw us out with a great performance.
My assessment? Overall, very good. I stand by my earlier comment: Six less speakers please. The More human the speeches, the better they work. The glaring absence for me, was the absolute non mention at any time of managers of volunteers. Do 7000 people paint schools spontaneously? No. I think its a shame that the peak body for volunteerism in the USA does not mention, focus on, feature or interview the very people who recruit, support, train, mobilise, motivate volunteers. If it does not appear here, what hope do we have of anyone else featuring volunteer management? Seventeen speeches?????!!
Off to the exhibit hall for the NCVS Chicago opening celebration. Check out my DVD at the Resource centre!! LOL Come and say hi and get in a photo with me!!
We started with the US National Anthem sung by a young guy from the Junior ROTC here in Chicago. A very simple and moving without being syrupy. The mayor of Chicago noted this guy had sung in three places this week that the mayor had been at!
President Obama appeared for a short welcome speech via pre recorded video. He got a huge applause. I suspect if he had been here in person, he would have been a hit.
She introduced the Mayor of Chicago, Rham Emmanual, who I thought was refreshingly unpolitical and a very natural communicator. He noted that the high school completion rate for Chciago just hit 66% and noted that every President, Governor and Mayor believes in service (and volunteering????????). I was interested that Wisconsin has the country's highest high school graduation rate (90 per cent) and Nevada 56.3 per cent. I didnt know what party the mayor was from but I found him to be inspiring and funny.
Michelle spoke next. Sorry Michelle, I would love to see you delivering a much more human speech, mixing it up with the crowd. Lots of facts and way too many big words and phrases didn't grab me.
In 2008, Martinez was cast in ABC's daytime drama, All My Children in the role of Brot Monroe.[12] His character also served with the U.S. Army in Iraq and was injured in combat. Martinez first appeared on the program on Friday, November 7, 2008.
Neil Bush, Chair of Points of Light followed.
Barbara Bush is 87 (as of ten days ago) and was as funny and compelling as always. She likes to say it as it is. I love hearing from her.
It was at the point that when Lauren and Pierce Bush appeared for an interview, I tuned out. Too many speakers. I got irritated with some of the runway lines that emerged eg 90% of kids whos parents got to jail will themselves go to jail. We know that. The solutions are not simple but are vital. Pierce was funny. The interview was too long. Melissa Harris-Perry was superb as interviewer. Would have loved to hear from her.
Kevin Bacon, made a brief appearance to talk about Six Degrees .org. What was kind of amusing was he told us to forget about him and concentrate on the website. Ironic seeing he was there to tell us this! I also didn't quite fully get what his site was about.
Merri Dee-good quote: "When you step out to help somebody else, you help yourself first."
My assessment? Overall, very good. I stand by my earlier comment: Six less speakers please. The More human the speeches, the better they work. The glaring absence for me, was the absolute non mention at any time of managers of volunteers. Do 7000 people paint schools spontaneously? No. I think its a shame that the peak body for volunteerism in the USA does not mention, focus on, feature or interview the very people who recruit, support, train, mobilise, motivate volunteers. If it does not appear here, what hope do we have of anyone else featuring volunteer management? Seventeen speeches?????!!
Off to the exhibit hall for the NCVS Chicago opening celebration. Check out my DVD at the Resource centre!! LOL Come and say hi and get in a photo with me!!
Volunteers just train and manage themselves... like my camera takes great photos. Seriously! Will this profession ever be recognized as more than "just" someone who calls people and asks them to help?
ReplyDelete"Volunteers just train and manage themselves... like my camera takes great photos." LOL!! I'm stealing this!
DeleteJayne- Sure thing! I'm a photographer as well, and constantly have people tell me, "Your camera takes great photos." Yeah, not the camera people. lol
DeleteI agree...that's an awesome analogy, Tammy! :)
DeleteHi Martin
ReplyDeleteThanks for your comments about the opening of the conference. 16 speakers in that short a time certainly does seem excessive! I am also surprised that they had no volunteer manager in that session. Hopefully that is an oversight that will be rectified by the next conference! I'd be very happy to have you speak on behalf of our body. Look forward to reading more of your blogs as the conference progresses.
Helen Morrell
Manager of Volunteer Services
I watched some of the livestream on the web and can't help but think the same thoughts. Are we advancing the profession with these conferences or just letting a lot of companies and figure heads provide their piece on service? It would seem that for all of the advances we make throughout the year, they are lost and forgotten during NCVS. Some may argue they are being discussed among the attendees but is that what we want?
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteKeep up the comments guys..lets have some more discussion and dialogue about this
ReplyDeleteVolunteers might be priceless, but they do not come for free!
ReplyDeleteManagers of Volunteers, Unite!
Martin,
ReplyDeleteIn response to your point regarding the lack of acknowledgement of those that manage volunteers in the opening session, I agree. It is hard to come to NCVS, what I consider my national professional conference, year after year and hear about the great things volunteers do without any mention of the hard work that volunteer managers do to facilitate those great things. If we look at other professions and their conferences is there any corollary for what we experienced in that plenary session? Do we see a celebration of how much a specific financial donor gave to an organization at the AFP conference, an acknowledgement of the most creative employee team in corporate America at a SHRM conference, or cheering on a client who has made the fastest clinical progress at an NASW conference without some mention of the work the professionals in those fields put in to have that occur? The answer is no.
Yet, we have to realize this conference is put on by an organization who focuses on the empowerment of volunteers to find creative solutions to community challenges. We, as "professionals", have happened to attend it because there are not many other options for us right now. So yes, I may be a bit disappointed in what I experienced in the plenary sessions, but I do not fault POL for what they offer. Overall, they provide a great conference where we have now been invited to attend and participate. Additionally, their content is consistent and should no longer be surprising to anyone who attends from one year to the next, especially since they are trying to be accommodating to us.
On a side note, I heard from many volunteer management professionals that attended this conference, who otherwise do not attend NCVS, who thought it was great and empowering. It was a nice perspective, for me, who tends to focus on what went wrong rather than stopping to appreciate what worked.
However, your blog brings up a great opportunity to have a really honest conversation about where things need to change in our profession. Having been in the field for a number of years now, it has recently become very obvious to me that we are a profession with a victim mentality.
Most of the complaints I hear from those within our profession are about how someone is or is not doing something to us. "My boss doesn't support me." "My organization's board doesn't understand and let me." "My DOVIA does not provide this for me." "NCVS does not have anything for me." Yet, when I look around I see local DOVIA's that are struggling to get the work done that they are charged with because no one steps up. And I see emerging organizations working hard to attract members, volunteers from this profession, and donors with less success than anticipated. When I have asked people who provide these criticisms to help, what I often hear is, "I don't have time because I am overworked in my job." or "I am not allowed by my job to participate in such things." What this communicates to me is that we, as a profession, have no feelings of responsibility to our profession as a whole.
So the question I ask is this...at what point do the majority of us in our profession step up and begin contributing locally, statewide, regionally, and nationally to help carry the burden the poor few have been doing for decades in order to raise this profession up to its rightful place as a respected and recognized field? What needs to be done for ALL of us to take ownership, make meaningful contributions, and stop allowing ourselves to be victimized?
Just a reminder for those who attended conference to fill out the evaluation forms and give this sort of feedback
ReplyDeleteThis was my fifth time to attend NCVS and I was one of those who skipped the opening session because I knew what I would hear...lots of wonderful kudos to the power of volunteerism and volunteers. It's always heartwarming and energizing to be sure, but I do take it personally that our profession is not recognized in any way.
ReplyDeleteThe speakers, I am sure, are all high powered individuals with the best intention of recognizing how volunteerism and community service spark our nation to grow and better. They are used to seeing things happen magically and may take for granted (at times) that there's someone in their background that is making the phone calls, the reservations, organizing schedules, speeches, etc., much like those is our profession. So I'll give them a 'pass' as they have a short time to give their message and stay on it. How many of you have worked with someone who goes totally off their talking points? Certainly I would like to have seen someone from the Corporation make mention of our profession.
While many professional volunteer managers are motivated by seeing the wondrous effects of volunteers within their agencies and communities, I think that more of us need to be willing to step forward and say, 'I made this happen' or 'I was a part of this team that made this happen'. Advocacy starts with the smallest of voices that can lead into a loud chorus with one message: THIS IS A REAL JOB OF WORTH AND VALUE!
Where was I while playing hooky from the opening session? At the AL!VE booth, talking with hundreds of my colleagues. They all smiled and nodded when I told them more about AL!VE and the profession of volunteer management: 1. we are often the only person in our agency who does what we do. 2. Usually no one else really understands or gets what we do. 3. We are expected to perform miracles weekly (and usually do). There are thousands of us out there, in agencies large and small, making a difference every day.
AL!VE (Association of Leaders in Volunteer Engagement) is the only national professional organization dedicated to professional development and advocacy for those who lead volunteers. We are striving to build our membership base and provide platforms for individual members in your region and the DOVIA's nationwide to provide support, networking and training. AL!VE is an all volunteer organization, working with a small budget, but we all know what it's like to be that person who makes that happen. (Shameless plug: check out www.volunteeralive.org) Some of us have learned how to speak up about the profession; others need to know that it's okay and the more who do, the better.
I've been lucky enough that my recent work experience as a volunteer manager was encouraged and supported by a terrific supervisor. But, I wasn't afraid to invite myself to management team meetings, give advice, information, perspective, or input when nobody asked, given reports and data when nobody even thought about those types of numbers. You have to keep working at that.
I did hear there was a ray of hope..Wendy Spencer, the new CEO of The Corporation, was heard to advise that spending the $$ for a dedicated volunteer manager was a sound investment to building non-profit capacity. Thank you! If there's someone who attended that session, would love to hear more about those comments.
Thank you Martin, for bringing up this topic and your support of the profession! I am eager to hear others' input and perspective. We're listening!
Gretchen Jordan, AL!VE Board Member (Northwest Region)
Thank you Gretchen for your encouragement...much appreciated. The link to ALIVE the US Association for Leaders in volunteer Engagement: http://www.volunteeralive.org/
DeleteUK: Association of Volunteer Managers (AVM) http://www.volunteermanagers.org.uk/
Australia: AAMoV - the Australasian Association of Managers of Volunteers http://www.aava.asn.au/
Canada: Canadian Administrators of Volunteer Resources (CAVR): http://www.cavrcanada.org/about.html
DJ Cronin has commented on this blog at his blog: http://djcronin.blogspot.com.au/2012/06/volunteer-management-matters.html
ReplyDeleteworth a read
This is a great discussion...thanks, everyone!
ReplyDeleteThis is a great discussion! Thanks, Martin, and all.
ReplyDelete