Today marks the first day of the NAMI National Convention in San Francisco. Our Executive Director Chris Michaels started her day at 8 a.m. in an all-day Leadership Workshop for NAMI directors across the country.
Chris shared with them a little about NAMI Southwestern Pennsylvania including our programs, the NAMI Walk, our annual education conference and media relations in Pittsburgh.
The rest of us -- Debbie Ference, Darcey Garda and Jennifer Lukondi of our technology partner MedRespond -- worked on the presentation for our workshop this Thursday. It's called NAMIpedia: Adapt Your Website to Meet the Needs of Today's High-tech Society. Click here to see what NAMIpedia is all about.
After meeting for a quick lunch, we parted ways to "divide and conquer," trying to absorb and learn as much as possible to bring home to Pennsylvania.
Chris will be rejoining her group for an Intensive Leadership Workshop all afternoon on Fund Development and Sustainability.
Debbie will be covering three workshops:
*In Our Own Voice: Marketing the Message
*Membership 101: Ten Things We Want You To Know About NAMI Membership
*Meeting the Challenges of Expanding NAMI Signature Education Programs
Darcey will be hitting workshops on:
*The NAMI Walk
*Making NAMI a Household Name: Marketing and NAMI's Public Service Announcement (PSA).
Jen is taking copious notes for us on the following sessions:
*NAMI's Front Line Program for Outreach to Veterans and Their Families
*Growing New Leaders Through NAMI Consumer Programs
*Mental Illness Awareness Week: Partnering with Public Television
Tonight we'll get together to discuss what we learned today and to strategize about tomorrow's agenda. We're not above a little fun! After our workshops, we plan catch a cable car to Fisherman's Wharf to see the sight and have dinner.
