I Am Empowered - I am the National Urban League

The 43^rd Annual BEEP Leadership Conference, “BEEP 2012: Leadership Development= Empowered for Employment” was a resounding success! Over 350 conference registrants congregated in Orlando from June 6^th - 9^th to discuss trends and strategies to best navigate the path to employment in a continuously challenging environment.
 
Attendees at this year’s conference included representatives from some 70 corporations including lead sponsors UPS, Unilever and Johnson and Johnson. The kick- off of the conference was marked with the 14^th annual Jerry Bartow Golf Tournament which hosted nearly 50 participants including 10 UPS scholar students incorporated into the four-somes. Proceeds from the tournament were used to support three $5000 scholarships for students from:
•       Virginia State University,
•       Florida A&M University, and
•       Claflin University
 
In addition to the Golf Tournament, all student attendees were given the opportunity to learn about business on the green and the game of golf with an interactive, hands-on golf clinic and seminar led by PGA professional and Lincoln University alum Anthony Stepney. 
 
Interactivity continued to be an appreciated theme of the 2012 conference with the presentation of several new sessions including:
 
-       “Ready, Set, Close:”a mock interview workshop where each student was provided with 1-on-1 coaching time with a conference executive to review their resume and sharpen their interview skills,
-       “The Ethics Game:”a competitive case study workshop where students were encouraged to debate the business and moral implications of social media brands , and
-       “Speed Networking:”an exercise in how to make a quick and “break-through” impression in a group
 
In addition to the myriad of topical sessions which brought together registrants, an impressive group of key note speakers addressed the audience, including:
 

·       Dr. John S. Wilson, Executive Director, Whitehouse Initiative on HBCUs,
·       Michael Moore, Chairman of the Board, Glory Foods
·       Randy Zeno, CEO, Dr. Miracles, and
·       Dr. Rick Martinez, Director of Corporate Giving, Johnson & Johnson

 
Additional highlights of the conference included:
 
1.      The corporate exchange career fair which included an impressive 14 hiring interests including some new faces – Cardinal Health and CVS, and
2.     The Annual case competition which was sponsored by Sodexo.

The winners of this year’s competition were:

•       1^st Place: Florida A&M University
•       2^nd  Place: Fayetteville State
•       3^rd Place: Claflin
 
The conference concluded with a keynote speech from long serving BEEP supporter, Skip Spriggs, who currently is employed by Boston Scientific.  In addition to sharing the long serving history of his support of BEEP as a former employee of UPS and Cigna, he left the audience with a recruitment challenge –  for all leaders to personally commit to bringing their  personal friends into the BEEP family from companies not represented at this year’s conference.
 
We look forward to returning to Orlando in 2013 and discussions have begun to indeed embrace the opportunity of the challenge offered by Skipp Spriggs and build upon the “Empowered for Employment” success of 2012.