By Kris Valerio Shock, President & CEO, Leadership Anne Arundel 

 

Stephen Hawking once said “Showing up is half the battle”. As a graduate or current LAA class member, it's worth taking a few minutes to reflect on how you're showing up in the LAA community. The good news is: we've been working to make it easier to "show up" online even when you're schedule-challenged and LAA Signature events provide power-packed connections when you're able to prioritize showing up in person.

 

First things first, do you even know that all LAA grads have an LAA profile in the online community? Here are two important points about your online profile:

 

1 - Say Cheese: If you haven't done so already, the most basic way to "show up" is to add a photo to your online profile. 

 

2 - Privacy: You can choose how much you show up: The default privacy settings make your contact information visible only to signed in LAA Members. If you want to hide any of your contact info, you can sign in and adjust your settings to hide any or all of your contact information.

 

 

 

Last month we featured a new opportunity perfect for grads who have a hard time coming out to LAA events. Interest Group Moderation offers LAA members an opportunity to serve as a Subject Matter Expert (SME) for a specific LAA Interest Area (these are the same as Flagship session day themes: Government, Cultural Arts, Education, etc.). If any of the Flagship interest areas are in your wheelhouse, you can "show up" in the LAA community by sharing content you are already viewing and sharing to platforms like LinkedIn and Facebook, on the LAA community platform too!

 

Shout out to FLG13 @Jonathan Williams who was the first to volunteer to serve as an Interest Group Moderator with the Economic Development Interest Group. Jonathan can leverage his participation with the Central Maryland Chamber of Commerce and other Economic Development engagement in Anne Arundel County to add valuable content to the LAA Economic Development Interest Group, benefitting the LAA community and giving Jonathan more connection throughout the network. Thanks, Jonathan!

 

 

 

If you embrace the options above, I know you will find great value in online connection; however nothing compares to being in the room where it happens - and springtime is a great time to make in-person connecting with the LAA community a priority.

 

New Leaders: The nominations are in and on Wednesday, April 26th we will celebrate 40 New Anne Arundel County Leaders at the annual New Leaders Celebration Breakfast at Carrol's Creek Cafe. Click here for more.

 

Tribute to Community Leadership and Graduation: Save the date (June 22nd from 5:30 - 8:00pm) and plan to connect before the summer season with the Tribute to Community Leadership and Graduation. Celebrate current classes along with Excellence in Leadership and Distinguished Graduate featured honorees. This uplifting, feel good event of the season will send you into the less structured summer months inspired and super-connected. Click here for more.

 

We are proud to tee-up loads of online and in-person opportunities for LAA Alumni and the community at large, it's up to you to "show up"!