2010 Staff Showcase

In lieu of the annual Charles Schusterman Legacy Breakfast, this year, we are pleased to offer a menu of FREE sessions hosted by our colleagues from D.C., Israel and Vancouver.

These sessions will be held Tuesday, October 5th, at the OU-Tulsa Schusterman Center. We will begin promptly at 1:45 p.m. and conclude by 3:30 p.m. Although there will only be time for each guest to attend one session, we encourage you to bring additional staff to attend other sessions as appropriate.

**Registration is now closed. If you are attempting to change your registration, please email Randy Macon**

Speakers and Topics:

NEW
1. Understanding Legislative Advocacy: How to mean what you say and say what you mean — and why it matters.

By April Merrill, Senior Fellow

The election slated for November 2^nd will bring about many changes in our state government leadership. With a new governor, lieutenant governor, state superintendent of public instruction and a host of freshmen legislators in the State House, your advocacy efforts are more important than ever.

Have you ever wondered what exactly legislators do in OKC? Do you want to learn to think like an attorney when reading a new statute? Would you like to have an idea of the ways to interpret statutes that are applicable to your organization? In this seminar, we will cover the basics of how a bill becomes a law, how you can educate legislators, what happens when that law is challenged in the courts and the rules the court uses to either uphold or strike down a law. We will answer important questions like: Does the language in the legislation you support really protect the clients of your organization? Could you explain the difference to the state representative from District 55? We will do some hands on legal interpretation and group discussions about the issues affecting your organizations relating to the lawmaking process.

Registrants: ***Please submit any specific questions or topics you would like to discuss more in-depth to amerrill@schusterman.org by September 27^th.

2. Values-Based Reflection on Service

By Lisa Eisen, National Director, and Adam Simon, Director of Jewish Programs

This session is intended for those involved in the field of community and volunteer service, from practitioners to funders to non-profit leaders to participants. We will address how to enhance the service experience by evolving ’service learning’ from ‘learning about those being served’ to ’servers learning about themselves.’ We will share how to incorporate values-based reflection into service, increasing the quality and impact of the experience.

Participants will gain a first-hand understanding of the potential impact values-based reflection on service can have on volunteers.
Participants will learn approaches to leveraging service as an identity-development experience that does not, in either form or appearance, take advantage of those in need for the sake of that development.
Participants will learn strategies for incorporating values-based reflection into a wide range of existing and new service experiences.
Participants will grapple with some of the fundamental challenges of such reflection, including appropriate timing for reflection during service, church/state sensitivities and varying approaches for episodic vs. immersive vs. ongoing service.

3. Captains, Rogues and Pirates: Management Skills Cut from the Sails of Old

By David Gappell, Director Schusterman Foundation – Israel (a registered amutah)

In this session we will go back in time for a glimpse at the seafarers of the 18^th and 19^th centuries where key lessons in management and leadership lie hidden among the plunder, booty and cannon shot. Romantic figures such as Lord Nelson, Captain Bligh and Bartholomew “Black Bart” Roberts will provide us with insightful lessons that are as useful today as they were 300 years ago. AARRRGGHHH!!

Target Audience: Managers responsible for guiding people and processes.

4. Communicating in a Social World

By Roben Kantor, Communications and Program Director

Websites. Blogging. Facebook. Twitter. YouTube. Flickr. In this session, we will look at how the digital tools of the 21st century can be easily and inexpensively integrated into an effective communications strategy. We will work from the premise that you don’t have to be an expert at all of these tools to use a few of them really well. So whether you are well versed in social media and networking or just beginning to get your feet wet, come prepared with an outline of your organization’s mission, communication goals and target audiences. Together we will explore not what you can do for social media, but rather, what it can do for you!

Anyone tasked with building awareness around an organization, communicating with key stakeholders and media, and fostering better relationships with target audiences will benefit from this session.

Participants will learn why social media tools are so essential to an effective communications marketing strategy.
Participants will understand the type of interactions each tool enables with their audiences.
Participants will begin to develop a social media strategy based on organizational goals.

5. When are you at your best?

By Randy Macon, Program Associate

This session will focus on the benefits of presenting your organization’s story from a strengths-based prospective. We will use the CLSFF application as a template for crafting this message. A few days prior to the session, participants will receive a set of questions we will use to shape our conversation. Registration is limited to development directors (or those with similar responsibilities) and only the first 8 respondents will be registered for the session. For this reason, we ask that no more than one person per organization sign up for this session.