First Impressions

This is the first OPERA America annual conference I’m attending. Last year, I helped to prepare for the conference in Seattle but I stayed in Manhattan to help hold down the fort. Since then, I’ve been looking forward to putting faces to names and reconnecting with cohorts from my past here in Miami. I’ve been expecting more long hours of hard work with the satisfaction of a snafu-free week of events as the payoff. What I did not expect was to be sitting in on the first Leadership Advance II session to oversee the A/V.

The session, Strengthening Relationships through Effective Communication, led by Zoe Segal-Reichlin and Rory Van Loo, and moderated by OPERA America alumna Diana Hossack, was a dynamic discussion. Individuals came together with individual learning goals and worked collaboratively to develop individual strategies to improve communication skills. Participants’ ideas and strategies intersected in the most productive ways. Between formal PowerPoint presentations, examples from films, role-playing exercises, and straightforward dialogue between the presenters and the conferees, everyone had an opportunity to examine interpersonal communications from their work and personal lives; historical, current, and upcoming.

I am pleased to have been able to help facilitate the session, not only by keeping an eye on the A/V, but by participating in the role-playing exercises as well. It was a pleasure to be of assistance our members in a very personal and active way, and I believe I’ve taken concepts and techniques from the session that I can apply to my own personal and professional lives. If you’re interested in the content of the session, pick up a copy of Roger Fisher and Daniel Shapiro’s Beyond Reason: Using Emotions as you Negotiate.

And please enjoy your time at our conference as much as I am — learn, connect, and share!