Reflecting on my NPC Journey



My alarm went off at 3:30 am on the west coast. It was time to get up and get to the airport to catch my 6 am flight to Philadelphia for the National Principals Conference. Due to security and ticketing lines, I ended up running and boarding the plane while out of breath, but we made it. My wife decided to take this opportunity to get a vacation away from kids and recharge while I attended to conference.

We arrived in Philadelphia around 2pm. Took a taxi to our hotel and started to explore the area around the hotel. At 6 pm I headed over to the conference center to check in and meet up with my co-presenters, Jay Posick and Mark French. We would be presenting the next morning and had never met face to face. Due to airport delays Jay was unable to make it, but Mark and I shared stories and went over the plan.

As Jay was running late, Mark and I decided to head over to our PLN (Principals In Action) meet up at a local restaurant. It was kind of surreal as I have been talking with many of them for quite some time, but have never seen what they actually look like. We shared stories and laughs. It was extremely large group and everyone felt like they knew each other. Knowing that we presented at 7:30 am (4:30 am PST) I headed off to bed to be somewhat well rested for our session. We had all agreed to meet at 7 in our room to prepare.

When I got there, there was already a few people in the room. As I introduced myself to them, they shared with Mark, Jay and I that they follow us on twitter and are inspired by a lot of the work we are doing. As more attendees came in the room, the more we heard that similar sentiment. That is always a nice thing to hear and very humbling. We are just normal guys trying to do our best for kids.

Our presentation went off without a hitch. You would have never known, that we had only talked on voxer and google hangout before. The energy was there and our attendees asked many useful questions. Our message of Smiles, High Fives, and Changing Lives was catching momentum. It was also nice to look out and see other member of our PLN showing their support for us and for our movement.

The rest of the conference was filled with conversation, collaboration and laughs. It was great to see so many great presenters and meet so many principals from across the nation. Some of the sessions were better than others, but one thing remained the same throughout them all. It was clear that those of us that are connected with each other push each other so much, that we have raised our game to a place that would benefit everyone.

In one of the sessions, Eric Sheniger was encouraging everyone to blog. He asked for attendees to raise their hand if they blog. Hands went up around the room, but mainly in the center section where our PLN was sitting together. He then asked to keep your hands raised if you blog regularly, and the only remaining hands were members of Principals in Action. Lindsy Stumpenhorst leaned up and said look around it is amazing how different we are.

It’s true we are different. We are a group of principals that encourage, motivate, and challenge each other frequently to be better and push ourselves in a manner that does not happen everywhere.

As the conference continued, I continued to wake up early to get a seat in the 7:30 am sessions and I would stay until the last session ended each day. I connected with others throughout these sessions. But there is one thing that I wish I would of done better. I wish I would have pushed myself at night to get and build relationships. I could have built more relationships, more friendships, and built more connections. In the future I will be trying to take down my wall and push myself to get our there and build relationships that will last a life time.

The more that I listened to message the more my message of Be the One 4 Kids was in the forefront of my mind. One person has the power to change the life of so many. Be the one that is willing to learn, willing to grow, and willing to change.


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