Nadine Goldberg, 2012 FBLA National Parliamentarian

Summertime usually means lounging on the beach, soaking up the sun, and eagerly counting the days to the NLC. But for all of you rising seniors, it also means that it’s time to start thinking about college and scholarship applications. Here are some tips I’ve learned for making your involvement in FBLA shine on college and scholarship applications:

1. Keep good records. This goes for you too, underclassmen! Start a binder and collect records from all of your FBLA events, conferences, and meetings. Save flyers, photos, agendas, press releases, newspaper articles, awards, meeting minutes – you name it! When senior year rolls around, you can refer back to your binder as you search for inspiration for your essays, construct your resume, and log community service hours.

2. F-B-L-What? Hard as it is to believe, not everyone is an FBLA encyclopedia. As you’re filling out applications, assume that you’re writing for a reader who has never heard of our organization. Spell out acronyms like SLC and NLC and clearly explain what your leadership positions and projects entail. Before you submit anything, ask a friend or family member unfamiliar with FBLA to read over your work and check for clarity.

3. Be active! At every college information session I’ve attended, the admissions officers stress that they value active participation in a few organizations over membership in many. So get involved! Join committees, lead projects, and even take on the responsibility of an officer position. It may just make the difference for your application, and more importantly, it will allow you to make the most out of your FBLA experience!

4. Numbers count. Numbers can help you emphasize your impact on an application, so keep track! How many members did you lead? By what percentage did your chapter grow? How much money did you raise for the March of Dimes? How many students did you read to during Service in Sync? How many visits did your Web site for the Web Site Design competition receive?

Nadine Goldberg, 2011-2012 FBLA National Parliamentarian

It’s that time of year again! As you take time to make your personal commitments and goals for 2012,don’t forget to make some New Year’s resolutions for your FBLA chapter too. Maybe you want to create a fundraising committee or encourage your members to earn the Business Achievement Awards and run for office.  Personally, I’m hoping to organize more opportunities for my school’s members to bond as a chapter. A potluck dinner or an ice cream social sounds like just the thing.

I also love the idea of holding a mid-year officer retreat! Set aside a few hours to meet up with the rest of your officer team and revisit the Program of Work you wrote over the summer or at the beginning of the year. Which goals have you achieved? Where are you falling behind?  And most importantly, what steps do you need to take in order to get back on track? Once you’ve talked it all out, break out a laptop and create an updated version of your POW. When everyone is satisfied with your new plan, you can celebrate your hard work with sundaes or a movie – it is the holiday season after all!

Here’s to making 2012 your chapter’s year to shine!

Nadine Goldberg, FBLA National Parliamentarian

Last month, I had the distinct privilege of representing FBLA as an intern at the National Association of Parliamentarians’s Biennial Convention. I worked as a page at their perfectly engineered business sessions and shared a wonderful meal with two of the authors of Robert’s Rules of Order Newly Revised. I had the chance to attend several engaging workshops and got to know the national parliamentarians from other Career and Technical Student Organizations. I witnessed the official announcement of the 11th edition of RONOR and the election of new NAP officers, and even participated in my first live auction!

Me and Henry M. Robert III

I was tremendously impressed by the efficiency of the NAP business sessions, especially considering that a significant bylaws revision was on the agenda for the weekend. Volunteers at a “motion table” screened and organized motions before they were put on the floor, and we pages carried all messages and motion forms around the room in order to avoid traffic jams between delegates. The parliamentarian had prepared the chair with pages upon pages of scripts for possible scenarios, and electronic voting procedures streamlined the decision-making process. I can only hope that my own meetings might someday be that efficient!

Another enlightening part of the experience was speaking to all of the convention delegates. They came from Florida, Hawaii, and everywhere in between (I even got to meet the only registered parliamentarian in Asia!) and ranged in age from their early twenties to the more than ninety years of author Henry M. Robert III. They all had different levels of experience with parliamentary procedure, and vastly different careers; some volunteer as parliamentarians in their spare time, while others have turned “parli pro” into full-time careers.

Interns from HOSA, PBL, FBLA, BPA, and FCCLA

Networking with these remarkable individuals taught me that no matter where I live, no matter what I study in college, and no matter what career path I end up taking, there will always be a use for parliamentary procedure in my life – it doesn’t end here!

If you’re interested in attending a NAP event (I would highly recommend it!) you can find more information here: http://parliamentarians.org/eventlist.php. They even offer a student scholarship for certain conventions!