Leadership potential packed the Student Union on Saturday, March 12, as the Southeastern Office of Student Development hosted its 6th annual Southeastern Leadership Conference, “Leadership on Tour.” Student government officials from across Louisiana and the Mississippi Gulf attended to learn how their offices can assume more of a leadership role. All told, 12 universities were in attendance.

The sessions began with keynote speaker Jon Vroman in the Student Union Theatre. Vroman is a professional motivational speaker who has, over his two-decade career, coached hundreds of thousands of sales representatives and managers.

In his presentation, Vroman stressed the importance of five themes: connectivity, creativity, change, commitments and contributions. Vroman insisted that interpersonal connections make all of the differences in life. He urged students to think creatively and to be the change they want to see. He pointed out that success can only come through commitment. Finally, once success has been achieved, philanthropy should begin.

“You wanna live out your wildest dreams?” said Vroman. “Then help everybody else live out their wildest dreams and you will live out yours; I guarantee it.”

Students then broke into smaller groups, called sessions, in which they specialized their training. Overall, three 50 minute sessions were held. These included classes on event planning, social media and its business uses, emotional effects, and on becoming campus leaders. Each session was led by a distinguished regional community leader.

After a catered lunch and final session, Spoga Fitness Center Owner Jeff Day presented the closing speech. Day tied in all of the prior presentations in a way that summarized and referenced the themes of the conference.

“It takes a lot of different mechanisms to lead your life, to get involved,” said Day. “Just like a ship, it takes a lot to get people aboard and then lead that ship.”

Most involved agreed that the work and planning that went into the conference has been immense.

“It has been months and months of planning, from getting the speaker, from getting the location, getting the schools registered and making sure that we have all of the advertisement needed,” said Leigh Smith-Vaniz, coordinator for the Southeastern Office of Disability Services.

But the hard work seemed to pay off as students from around the gulf coast were pleased with the list of events and the knowledge that they had gleaned.

“The events were amazing,” said Catherine Trapp, an Elementary education major from Mississippi Gulf Coast Community College. “I’ve learned a lot in just one day, about how to become a better leader and things that I can improve on.”