I stood in front of 1500 high school students this weekend. I spoke, along side of my coworker, Buckley Shaffer, at the Oregon Association for Student Counsels Leadership Conference on Social Media Common Sense and how student leaders can be role models in the space.It was exciting and overwhelming at the same time.
These are some of Oregon's brightest teens but beyond intelligence, they're driven. Driven to make their schools and communities better. They care and that's why they ride (for some it's across the entire state) to the little coastal town of Seaside for this leadership conference.
Standing onstage, I felt like a phony. Don't get me wrong, I will do this all day if that's what it takes to get the information out, but I enjoy a dialogue more. Where ideas can development and transformation with the brainpower of those in the room. Which is why I enjoyed hosting our two workshops later that evening so much more than standing on the stage (in the picture above) giving a one way presentation.The best part about each of our sessions was that we started off with a question, watched the discussion develop, directed it as needed, and watched it turn into something uniquely relevant to the students in the room.
After all they've been living Facebook for their entire high school careers, they know the obstacles at their schools, and have interacted with the players on a daily basis, all they needed, as I found out from these workshops, was a little guidance. They wanted reassurance that they were moving in the right direction, that they had chosen the right platform, the right messaging, the right precautions to ensure that their projects were successful.
I just found it interesting because I see so many people in educational institutions who are afraid of social media, especially at the middle school and high school level. But the kids are already using it. They're trying to find success where others are too afraid to and they have little guidance or even support for that matter.
All I'm thinking to say is for those of us in the social media space, our skills are highly valued at this level. And if you have the time, I encourage you to volunteer to be an adviser or role model for one of these students and help them become social media advocates for their schools and communities.
I know I will be doing more in the very near future.
Also, here is our slide show, if you're interested in seeing what we presented:
