Are you:

• An aspiring leader in the polyamory community?
• A leader within the polyamory community that wants to see your group grow and evolve, but struggle to engage people in your vision?
• An established member of the polyamory community that wants to see change on a local or larger scale, but don't know where to begin?

 If you answered "yes" to any of these - you will find value in this conference.

Workshop/Class Schedule

Saturday, August 1st

12pm Central (10am Pacific) - Leadership 101

aka: How to fake being a "well rounded person" ;)

Warren Buffet is quoted as saying "A leader is someone who can get things done through other people."

... what the heck does that mean?

As polyamorous people, we don't expect our partners to meet all of our needs.  Therefore, why should we expect ourselves to meet all of our own needs when it comes to getting stuff done. That is where leadership comes in.

In this class, we will discuss:

• Why people follow a leader
• What makes a successful leader
• How do you identify your own strengths
• How do you identify the strengths of others
• How to fake being a well rounded person

Experience required: Basic knowledge of MMORPG's or Role-Playing Games

2pm Central (12pm Pacific) - Teambuilding 101

aka: "... who is supposed to be the @&^!% healer???"

A team typically consists of people with different abilities, backgrounds, and viewpoints. How do you get that group to form a cohesive unit? What sort of stumbling blocks can occur? In this class, we will explore:

• Defining roles within a team
• How to determine how each person contributes to the team
• The most common "dysfunctions" within a team, and how to overcome them

Unless we have people that are willing to give a quick primer on another team-based hobby, we will probably stick with the video game/RPG paradigm in explaining things :) 

Experience required: Basic knowledge of MMORPG's or Role-Playing Games

4pm Central (2pm Pacific) - Project Planning 101

aka: How to turn your idea for a cool party... into a freeking cool party!

In some cases, giving a quick call to a bunch of friends is all the prep-work that you need. However, what about those times that you want to throw a really huge gala- something that your friends will Twitter about for days to come? In this webinar, we will talk about project planning using common example:

• Putting together your party plans
• Thinking about the "what if's" and preparing for them
• Learning how to delegate... so you don't have to do everything!

The workshops will be recorded in case you miss any of them (or need to review them later)

Workshop presenter & fascilitator: Jessica Karels

Jessica has been a member of MNPoly (the St. Paul - Minneapolis, MN polyamory group) since 2003, and a member of the organization's Council (leadership body) since 2004. During this time she assisted in numerous outreach projects and coordinated multiple, successful fundraising events. 

Her most notable achievement to-date was the development of a team to coordinate the planning and fundraising efforts of MNPoly's party room at CONvergence, an annual science-fiction convention in Bloomington, MN.  Over the past several years, the party room transitioned from being fully funded by group funds (from the group's annual membership dues) to being completely funded by member donations.  In 2008 she stepped down from being the leader of this committee.  The new leaders, who worked with Jessica during the previous years, are in the process of creating and funding an even more successful outreach/party room for 2009.

Currently, Jessica leads MNPoly's Outreach and Activism committee, which is dedicated towards the "marketing" aspect of the organization.  Within the first two months of this team's founding, the team has already made leaps and bounds towards upgrading the current group resources to make them more effective for advertising efforts.  The revised brochures and promotional materials will be featured at the group's informational table at Twin Cities Pride in the end of June.

In addition to her leadership experience within the polyamory community, Jessica is an avid reader of books on self analysis, goal planning, personal development, and leadership development. She recently transitioned from being a financial advisor (financial goal coach for individuals) to a regional sales director (coach for other coaches/entrepreneurs) within a financial services firm. 

Jessica also hosts a website, Young Metro Poly, dedicated to providing resources on polyamory and social organizing to a more mainstream audience. The series that she is currently writing - "Everything I Need to Know About Poly Organizing, I Learned From..."  - shows how we can benefit and utilize pieces of social/organizational models that are different from our own (in the case of the series - mega-churches & huge corporations).