Earlier this year, around 200 Arrowmen from Sections NE-6A and NE-6B met for the Lodge Enabling and Developing (LEAD) Conference. The event was held on January 26th at Carroll Community College in Maryland. The event’s main purpose was to provide a mix of basic and intermediate leadership training to members of the two sections. Scott Walters, who served as the NE-6A chief during the event, said that it was “targeted towards those who have the ambition to become a chapter, lodge, or section leader”.
The event is a newly designed iteration of the #LEAD Conference, a similar event held by NE-6A and NE-6B aimed towards teaching new Arrowmen everything they needed to know about the Order of the Arrow. While the new LEAD Conference included courses for new members, it also had tracks designed for lodge chiefs and officers, chapter chiefs, ceremonialists, advisers, and trainers. “We were able to get a lot of good trainers to come out for the event and it sounded like people really enjoyed themselves and were able to take what they learned back to their lodge or chapter to help improve their performance,” said Walters. The key feature of this event was the wide variety of experienced trainers that were brought in from all over the Northeast Region. One of the most well-received training sessions was the High Performing Lodge course for lodge leadership that came on the heels of the Northeast Region’s High Performing Lodge Summit earlier in the year.
Going forward, the LEAD Conference will be held biennially. In the years when the event isn’t held the two sections will hold the Chief’s Summit, a roundtable-style event that prepares new leaders in the Section for service. Until the next LEAD Conference, NE-6A and NE-6B leadership will be taking what they learned this year to improve the event for the future. “We’re going to adjust the curriculum based on what our area needs at the time of the next conference, but we’re definitely moving in a positive direction”.