Apr
9
5 Tips for Campaigning
I have been at the State Leadership Conference for FBLA these last three days and one of my major “things to do” was campaigning for District Vice President! I was successful albeit I was the only one running but I learned many things that I thought I’d share.
- Don’t waste your time- This is a major one because at a 3-day event, time is of the essence. After I set up my booth at the campaigning room, I would stand by it when no one else was around. I thought this was the thing we were “supposed” to be doing or maybe someone in charge would come around and wonder where I was but both were wrong. I wasted time trying to do the right thing when I could have competed in more events and network with more people and then come to my booth during busy hours. Instead time passed under my boredom.
- Act fast, Act first- Whether it’s when you’re campaigning, talking to someone, or eyeing that cute girl you want to dance with across the room, you got to act fast and act first. There is no right time for anything but there are wrong times and that’s when you are too late. Either the opportunity will be gone or taken away and you will never know what could have came out of it if you had just toughened up to go and do it. In most cases just think about it this way, you’re going to be doing it anyways so might as well do it early and get it over with.
- Find minions- In other words, delegate your tasks. Every great boss knows this and does this well. Every unsuccessful boss has this mentality that “nobody else can do things as well as I” which leads to overworking and bombing. Learn to rely on your friends to do things when you can’t or to make your work faster. I had many friends represent me at my booth while I did other tasks which helped a lot.
- Network, network, network- You have probably heard this at every other blog you’ve read but it is still true. You meet amazing people at events or conferences and some of those people can come in very handy or lifelong friends. More connections open yourself to more opportunities so definitely take the initiative and talk to people. I’ve realized that people really don’t mind because they are looking forward to meeting new people too so taking the initiative only makes things quicker.
- Learn names- You get an awesome sense of a personal bond when you actually greet someone with their name. You come to learn someone’s name when they see it or from a peek at their nametag but learn to immediately memorize it if you feel this is a friend you will come back to. As Vice President, names are a must for me especially of board of trustee members and other important adults.
So I found FBLA to be an awesome experience for me and I definitely want to get more into the conference scene. I would never go to this event for one day just to win some competition cause you miss the experience and networking. Now that I am an officer I get to get more involved with training and planning for the next event! Yeyeah!!!
~Kevin Xu
I just stopped by your blog and thought I would say hello. I like your site design. Looking forward to reading more down the road.
Robert Michel