NCVS Launch

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!!

Monday Motivation: Light for the Year

Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness that most frightens us. We ask ourselves, Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, fabulous? Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of God. Your playing small does not serve the world. There is nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won't feel insecure around you. We are all meant to shine, as children do. We were born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us. It's not just in some of us; it's in everyone. And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others.


Interesting this quote is attributed to Nelson Mandela. It belongs to Marianne Williamson

NCVS Conference Opening

I have been in New Orleans for three days and today was the National Conference on Volunteering and Service opening. Having been involved intensively with the pre conference Symposium for Advanced Volunteer Engagement, I already feel well and truly in conference mode!

I must admit I really enjoyed the opening.

The opening was held in a mostly darkened room which meant seeing other people or taking photos was not easy.  There were four large screens which projected movies and elements from the stage. We started with some terrific music and we kept coming back to terrific music. Well done on this. I tweeted at one point that I felt like dancing. Other people remained still- not sure if shy or overawed at being in a darkened room with 3000 people. Applause however was loud throughout and at times standing ovations.

The theme: Champions of Service.

I thought the music was great and there were some terrific stories about volunteerism in New Orleans.  My favourite was about the musicians neighbourhood in New Orleans planned by Harry Connick jr and Branford Marsallis is on track for 70 houses in an area ruined by Hurricane Katrina. These houses are built largely  by volunteers. I saw the project last time I was in New Orleans and was impressed. I have to be honest, I had never heard of Branford Marsallis (I am  not a huge jazz music follower) but I loved, loved, loved his audio visual presentation. The project is astounding.

I liked what the Mayor of New Orleans Mitch Landrieu had to say along the lines of "give more, get more". He was short to the point and full of the right energy! Thanks mayor.

Also interesting for me was the question Chad Pregracke posed: -Why do we  know all about the lives of  celebrities but not these phenomenal amazing service projects". How nice would it be for Who magazine to feature some of our unsung volunteer heros!!! People loved him and his example of cleaning up the rivers of the USA!

My first criticism of the opening session was that while there were some heart warming and fun stories of volunteering, there were too many for me. The audience lives those stories. We dont need to be told volunteering is wonderful again and again. We know it and believe it already. See my concluding comments below.

The weirdest part of the opening was that Michelle Nunn and Robert Velasco, II,  Acting CEO of the Corporation for National and Community Service whilst on stage together were placed at two podiums  at some distance from each other. It kind of felt like there was some sort of gap between them.

Of course what is weirder is that no one can get the to the question on everyone's lips: why did Patrick Covington, the CEO of the Corporation for National and Community Service step down from the role after 16 months on May 27? At that time, he said he was  taking an “opportunity in the nonprofit community” without saying where his next gig would be. The resignation came after such a short time in the role, in the midst of turmoil over CNCS's budget and a week before their joint National Conference with Points of Light. Strange timing. For everyone who keeps asking me: I dont know why he has gone but its very odd. There is not even a press release about it from CNCS. Anyone able to illuminate?

Michelle shared a nice story about a little girl Riley Hebberd who saw that the kids in African refugee camps didnt have toys. She gave her own toys to them, persuaded her school friends and has now started a foundation that sends toys to Africa. This is proof that young kids "get volunteering". I am sorry, in the back of mind came the nagging question: "do the kids want/like the toys they get?" and "how can we get the kids out of refugee camps instead of sending toys".  I dont like being cynical but having lived in Africa and having worked with some well intentioned  but inappropriate donations, I wonder. Then the other part of me said "does it matter?". Surely some good can be blessed in some way?

That was a good lead in to the presentation by the founder of Kaboom  Darell Hammond who builds children's playgrounds.

The Target gift was very much appreciated and it was nice to chat to some of them! They looked amazing in their bright red t shirts saying "thank you for your service". Great touch. I think I want to give mine to Riley Hebberd's toy program.

Theres always a lot of politics at the NCVS opening (this was my tenth). Robert Rosenthal of Volunteer Match (picture right) noted, however, in a Tweet that "90 mins in, I think I can count Obama references at #NCVS opening session on one... finger?".

As is usual with the NCVS Conference opening.....tooo long with too many talking heads...I d cut a few out (but who of course?)  One person said to me that they counted 20 speakers in the two hour session. One of the segments included a 25 minute chat between "political consultants" James Carville and Mary Matalin. There were some gems in their discussion but it felt way too long for an opening session. Post podcasts on line and we can check them out.

The whole show ended with Roots of Music playing again.

Overall rating for the NCVS Opening Session: 8.5 out of 10.

What did you think? Comments welcome below:-