YDA Orlando Wrap Up

This past weekend the Young Democrats of America held their fall conference in Orlando, FL. I, along with about 250 others nationwide, traveled to the sunny city for a weekend full of wonderful meetings, trainings, planning sessions, and fun with friends we only get to see every 3 months or so.

I started my weekend off by arriving on Thursday and enjoying some downtime. Friday is when the conference officially started. The first thing I went to was the State Presidents Association (SPA) training. The first training was about presenting yourself to an audience and how to be an effective leader. The second part was about diversity and how to encompass all groups in your organization and how to do effective outreach to all. Then I went to the SPA meeting where we elected a new chair and secretary and created the position of vice chair to be elected in New Orleans in Feb. After the SPA meeting the fall conference kick off took place then the rest of the evening was opened for social activities.

Saturday started bright and early with Regional strategy sessions where each region got together and discussed the issues in their states and how to organize in different areas. Then the YDA Women's Caucus brought in a guest speaker, Florida CFO Alex Sink. After lunch we had caucus meetings. I started out at the YDA Rural Caucus meeting where the discussion revolved around clean energy. Then I headed over to the YDA Labor Caucus, where they had Chuck Rocha as a quest speaker. Then I headed over to the YDA Jewish Caucus where the conversation surrounded Israel. I finally ended up at the YDA Women's Caucus where they talked about what they will be doing in the future.

After all of the caucus meetings we had the committee meetings. I am the Communications Committee representative for the Midwest Region so that is where I went. We talked about the use of traditional and new media and this thing called the internet. After the committee meetings we regrouped into our regional meetings once again to do a recap. Then the evening was once again opened up.

Saturday the decision by the board on where to have the next meetings was also made, the outcome is as follows:

Feb 2010 - New Orleans, LA

July 2010 - D.C.

Fall 2010 - ????

Feb 2011 - Topeka, KS (Which is the one I am most excited about!)

Sunday morning started bright and early as well. Where we reconvened for General Session and the National/ Executive Committee voted to approach the appointments made since Chicago.

Overall it was a great weekend full of useful information and fun and I can't till the next one.