In the Pursuit of a Good Conference

When I think about conferences, a unique one that comes to mind is the "Prevention of Cruelty to Children" conference that takes place in Ronald Dahl's tale "The Witches". Now this was no ordinary conference! For those of you who have read the story and watched the movie, you will recall that this convention was not exactly positive for the growth of young children. This conference was in fact a meeting place for all of the witches in England to come together and discuss how they were going to rid the world of stinky, smelly children. A seven year old boy staying with his grandmother in the same hotel eavesdrops on their meeting and learns about the secret agenda and does his part to change their plans. My point for telling you about this conference was to remind you that all conferences are not created equal. A conference should re-energize you and fill you with ideas that you didn't have before and the children of the world should still be safe!

I had the pleasure of attending the 2007 National SmartStart Conference held in Greensboro, North Carolina during the second week of May. This was my first time attending the conference and it was worth every dime of the registration fee. Every since I accepted my new position at a local community college, God has placed some wonderful opportunities in front of me and this was one of them. The conference was held at the Joseph S. Koury Convention Center beginning on Tuesday, May 8th with pre-conference sessions and concluding on Friday, May 11th.