Seven states participate in regional leadership training in Minnesota

The Convention of States Central Regional Leadership Training kicked off the “Life, Liberty & Levin” weekend in Minneapolis.

Led by Regional Director David Schneider, seven state leadership teams were in attendance from Iowa, Kansas, Michigan, Minnesota, Nebraska, South Dakota and Wisconsin.

The seven state leadership volunteers enjoyed congregating together for dinner on Friday evening, where everyone had an opportunity to meet and share stories of grassroots exploits in their states.

Working in a virtual organization today means face-time is a special occasion to solidify relationships and regional collegiality among grassroots leaders.

The Convention of States mission is to build an army of self-governing activists, so everything the organization does revolves around fulfilling that goal.

Schneider provided plenty of time for leaders to share activities that are working in their states, as well as discussion what doesn’t work and what can be learned from those experiments.

Discussion topics focused on state team building, training for the grassroots, planning for 2019 legislative sessions, servant leadership, growing the grassroots, media/communications and a legislative update and projection presented by each State Director.

The Central Region is unique in that it contains the highest concentration of women state leaders: Sarah Abdouch (IA), Catherine Zemanek (MI), Jackie Burns (MN), Joanne Laufenberg (WI), and Shirlee Meier (SD).

These ladies are on fire for liberty and expressed their desire to ensure a future as great as they had for generations to come. Three different generations were represented by these outstanding women.

This focus of COS Central Region cascade is “The Heat is On” for August. This is a state-focused campaign that enables grassroots to communicate directly with legislators. The “cascade” generates momentum in state house and senate districts heading into Constitution month (September).

Convention of States volunteers and supporters are highly active in outreach with legislators. The COS technology team has created protocols and processes that provide metrics to state leaders on all levels of engagement. This high level of engagement is critical for demonstrating the seriousness of the movement to legislators.

In an information age, tech tools and statistics enable leaders to understand levels of commitment and actions that are resonating with the grassroots. Activities that do not have high metrics for motivating an army are eliminated and new ideas moved forward.

One rhetorical question Schneider posited to the leaders was what behavior are you exhibiting that inspires and motivates your state team members? The speed of the leader is the speed of the team.

Schneider stated, “The grassroots increase in the region has been significant. Volunteer growth increased by 4,159 grassroots which is an 80.17% increase year over year. District Captains have increased 84.43% with 141 new volunteers. The state leadership teams are growing the grassroots to be ready on day one of the 2019 legislative sessions.”