It’s that time of the year! Golden Key kicked off its Regional Summit season with its first of three arriving to the Lone Star state; Dallas, Texas from February 3^rd – 4^th. Attendees got to enjoy the benefits of having their conference in the largest Starwood hotel in the country, the Sheraton Dallas. This summit not only gave students, advisors and members the chance to explore the captivating city life that is Dallas, but also the opportunity to make lifelong friends over discussions on how each individual can enhance Golden Key to impact their campus communities.
The hustle and bustle started early Friday afternoon when Golden Key members started arriving. To kick off the event, Golden Key’s University of Texas at Dallas chapter organized a “photo hunt” for all attendees to participate in. The photo hunt gave everyone the chance to meet other attendees and catch a glimpse of what makes Dallas unique.
After a few hours of adventure, attendees returned to the Sheraton Dallas for the Regional Summit Welcome Session. Golden Key staff kicked off the welcome with a vibrant roll call, a recap of the year operationally and news about upcoming opportunities for all members. The Welcome Session ended with an outstanding icebreaker facilitated by Region 8 Council of Advisors representative, Kathryn Clifford (California State University, Sacramento). The activity broke down barriers for everyone in the room which resulted in not only new perspectives being brought to light, but also new friendships. The evening ended with a small thank you for Golden Key’s Advisors in the form of a reception, where advisors got to mingle with one another and reflect on the impacts they’ve made so far on their respective campus.

Golden Key attendees wasted no time on Saturday, as everyone rose early for breakfast before the show began. Once full of energy, attendees began to immerse themselves in a plethora of workshops for the next three hours. Dallas Regional Summit workshops offered an extensive variety of content this year, including topics such as Golden Key chapter best practices, detailed strategies on marketing and recruitment for student organizations, as well as the basics of what goes into running a supply chain management organization.
After a morning inspiration, attendees turned to empowerment as the Golden Key Think Tank began. The Think Tank randomly broke up attendees into 3 rooms to have genuine conversation about what Golden Key means to them and their campus, learning what all of them can to do enhance the Golden Key experience on their campus. Attendees were given a “take away” sheet to write anything that empowered them to go back to their campus and start making a difference. Once concluded, attendees went their separate ways to re-energize with a bite to eat and then met with Golden Key staff separately to discuss heir vision is for Golden Key in 2017.

As is tradition, Golden Key ended the Dallas Regional Summit in style. Attendees traveled up to the 37^th floor Saturday evening to break bread with new friends at the Gala Dinner. While dressed up and looking fly, attendees brought up children’s books that were collected for the Golden Key Kiddos Camp back in Atlanta, GA. The books will be used for the summer camp in May and will significantly help to revitalize the camp’s library.
As everyone finished grabbing dessert, Golden Key welcomed its Regional Summit keynote speaker, Linda Rutherford (Texas Tech), VP of Chief Communications Officer for Southwest Airlines. Linda imparted a powerful message onto everyone in the room on the importance of effectively communicating and active listening to not only those in the work place, but in your day to day life. She ended with an impactful Q&A where she offered outstanding advice cited from her journey that led her to Southwest.
Linda Rutherford was inducted into Golden Key has an Honorary Member as a thank you for exhibiting the values of academics, leadership and service that Golden Key upholds through its mission. Once closing remarks were given by Golden Key staff, Linda’s messaged resonated as attendees continued to discuss amongst one another, recalling their own journeys and their goals for the upcoming chapters in their lives.

Golden Key’s Dallas Regional Summit was one for the history books! From sight-seeing adventures in downtown Dallas to inspiring workshops, impactful conversations and a powerful message delivered by Linda Rutherford to conclude the summit, these two days will surely be unforgettable for all who attended.
We look forward to seeing everyone at the 2017 International Summit in Las Vegas, Nevada this July! Don’t miss out! For more information, click here.
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