Gearing up for the 2015 Simmons Leadership Conference

Last night, I joined a large group of current and past Simmons students at the Seaport Boston Hotel and the World Trade Center to train for the 36th annual Simmons Leadership Conference. For those of you who were at Simmons last year, you might recall this event as the one that Hillary Clinton spoke at last spring. While I could not time find in my schedule to go last year, this time around, I was determined to get involved. Ranked as one of the principle women’s leadership conferences, the Simmons Leadership Conference attracts over 3000 middle and senior level women from companies and organizations across the country and around the globe. Inspired but the mission of Simmons founder, John Simmons, the creators seek to continue his work to enable women to acquire independent livelihoods. The list of past speakers who have been previously featured is quite impressive: Madeline Albright, Maya Angelou, Benazir Bhutto, Diane Keaton, and many more.  This year, Sally Fields has the honor of being the final keynote speaker of the day.

Seriously, how could I pass up an opportunity to work such a cool event?

While the day is quite jammed packed with exciting and interesting keynote speakers and breakout sessions, potential volunteers were given various time slots throughout the day to chose from. Many of the women – and men-  that I met last night were talking about how happy they were with the flexibility of the volunteer options. They didn’t feel like they were limited in what they could do for the conference, nor did they feel overwhelmed. For those who were really excited to get involved, there was an option to work from 5:30am to 4:30pm (all volunteers were welcomed to stick around and attend Sally Field’s keynote address). Me being, well, me, I decided to go big or go home. Sure I would have to attend class later that evening at 6:30 but I felt that considering the size and scope of the conference, why not just go for it? Actually, a lot of the volunteers that I met last night felt this way about it, which meant that I wasn’t going to be just one of a few all-day participants, but one of many. 

Over the course of two hours, myself and others were led through both leadership conferences locations, the Seaport Boston Hotel and the World Trade Center. With our Operational Manuals in hand, we stood together as we were given a run-through of what to expect throughout the day and tips on how to successfully handle the 1000+ attendees. During dinner, we were divided up into tables and had the chance to meet with individuals who had participated in the conference in the past. One woman was celebrating her 22nd year working the conference.

Although the event is still a few weeks off, I cannot wait! Besides working alongside Simmons alums, I will also be working with Simmons students from other programs. I love doing stuff like this since I always end up meeting the most remarkable people.

Wish me luck!

If you would like to learn more about the 2015 Simmons Leadership conference, check out their website: http://leadership.simmons.edu/