One + May 2011 - (Page 52)

It’s Getting Better All the Time The annual SkillsUSA conference teaches technical skills and develops leadership in students around the U.S. B Y I L O N A K A U R E M S Z KY PICTURE 16 FOOTBALL FIELDS OF FLOOR SPACE, teeming in culinary arts, ﬁreﬁghting, broadcast news production, building maintenance, carpentry, crime scene investigation, practical nursing and other skilled trades, each with their own station. Lauded as the nation’s largest technical trade show, SkillsUSA in Kansas City, Missouri, comes equipped with educational seminars, a career fair, construction sites, community outreach, a 5K run, a blood drive and, for the crème de la crème, the conference’s main event is the SkillsUSA Championships, made possible with ﬁnancial donations exceeding US$30 million. “The championships requires a massive amount of equipment and materials, including more than 850 computers, 50 trucks, 9,500 bricks and 1,500 blocks, 60 stoves and complete laboratories for machining, welding and auto repair and painting,” said Jane A. DeShong Short, program manager for SkillsUSA’s Ofﬁce of Communications and Government Relations. “The cost of electricity usage for this week in 2009 totaled more than $120,000 (combined electric bill and inkind services). More than 6,000 lunches 52 are served to competitors and judges.” SkillsUSA Championships is also known as the greatest industry volunteerism day in America. The day after the championships, students and advisors head into the community. “It really celebrates what’s right about today’s youth,” said Stacy Bartlett, vice president of services for the Kansas City Convention & Visitors Association (KCCVA). “We don’t get enough of that. The transformation of our convention center is incredible; millions of dollars of equipment, hundreds of volunteers and thousands of hours to turn it into a contest site for over 90 competitions, an expo and leadership programming.” Bartlett attributes the SkillsUSA success to the KCCVA’s supportive team that works together to meet the needs of the group. “Certainly, our convention center and hospitality community have been extremely supportive, but our business, labor and education communities also stepped in to help make this event what it is today,” she said. Bartlett’s team looked beyond the fact that this is a large convention bringing one+ 05.11

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of One + May 2011

One + May 2011
Contents
Energy of Many
Impressions
Meeting Design Goes Mobile
Picking Brains
Agenda
Ask the Experts
Thoughts+Leaders
Overheard
Art of Travel
Web Watch
Radical Co-creation
Engagement + Innovation = Wunderbar
Top Spots
Connections
Irrelevant
The Business of Being Social
Safety in Numbers
Ads, Sponsors and Patrons
Should I Stay or Should I Go?
It’s Getting Better All the Time
Blame It on Rio
Ride Free
Learning How the Brain Learns
Just Face It
Becoming Mindful with Your Meetings
Group Think
The Mesh Meeting
Your Community
Making a Difference
Until We Meet Again

One + May 2011