This week, Becca's team at Sky's The Limit has traveled to Ft. Lauderdale for our first countrywide conference since before the pandemic. Having a regular meeting with the rest of the offices in the country helps a lot with confidence, networking, and innovating new ideas. Like the rest of the world, sometimes it felt like life had a pause button on it. This weekend, we hit play and returned to a bit more normalcy. We interview Becca to learn her thoughts on this conference.
Q: It's been a long time since you've seen a lot of your peers from other offices, how are you feeling so far?
A: Lit up, absolutely lit up. So far I've already seen several of them, and everyone has these massive perm-a-grins on. It's warm and fuzzy and I'm super excited to meet even more people.
Q: What are you most excited for your team to learn from this coming weekend?
A: The power of networking! Also, how simple this business can be. I'm hoping they learn the confidence in their own ability to take it to the next level. And honestly, I hope they have a crap ton of fun.
Q: Are there any specific presentations or meetings that you're looking forward to yourself?
A: I'm just looking forward to hearing everyone speaks because there is always one or two things that everyone says that resonates with me. I'm excited because I'm always looking for knowledge from others. I'm still a student even as a business owner, that student mentality never goes away even as I rack up years in this industry.
Q: What are you hoping to get out of this event?
A: A refresh of the information that I already know, and honestly just the rejuvenation of seeing everyone. I think theres this sense of the "return to normalcy" so we can begin moving forward in a vaccinated world.
Q: Who are you most excited to meet?
A: I'm excited to meet these new folks who I haven't met yet since we last all saw each others over a year ago. I want to know what works for them, how they became successful so I can steal their working knowledge and share some of my knowledge in return.
Q: For you, what is the most crucial part of the event for your team?
A: The connections that they're going to make is the most important. Also, confidence in knowing that they're not alone; there are other people like them doing the exact same type of work all around the country. It creates a sense of support and camaraderie, so they'll have their own people they connect with if they ever need anything in the future. We're creating the next generation of owners and leaders with our individual teams and they need to see the bigger picture than just our own small office. Our administrators are also always learning new ways to dive into the everyday tasks that they have to accomplish.
Q: How does the future of our nonprofit industry look to you?
A: Absolutely incredible. There is more opportunity than we have ever had. There is so much room for growth, more clients on the horizon, it's amazing.
Q: What was your most memorable moment of a past conference?
A: Probably going to he Nashville Symphony Orchestra at the National Conference a few years ago. They played a tribute to Queen and I got to listen to Bohemian Rhapsody with a bunch of people who were just as into Queen as I was. It was our afternoon off from the conference, so before that, we went to Pride, then a tornado showed up, everyone huddled into shelter. There were no Ubers available because everyone was trying to get out of town, so we decided to get those ride-share scooters to get back to our hotel. I fell pretty hard and scraped up my knee but like I said, we got to see the orchestra play Queen, so overall it was a great day.