{"id":7515,"date":"2016-05-12T18:58:45","date_gmt":"2016-05-13T01:58:45","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/lesliedinaberg.com\/wordpress\/?p=7515"},"modified":"2016-05-12T13:01:26","modified_gmt":"2016-05-12T20:01:26","slug":"partnership-for-excellence-conference-inspires-nonprofit-sector","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lesliedinaberg.com\/wordpress\/?p=7515","title":{"rendered":"Partnership for Excellence Conference Inspires Nonprofit Sector"},"content":{"rendered":"
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A panoramic view of the Partnership for Excellence Conference at the Fess Parker Doubletree in Santa Barbara, on April 12, 2016. Photo by Robert Redfield, courtesy Partnership for Excellence.<\/p><\/div>\n

I’ve always been curious to see what goes on at the Partnership for Excellence Conference<\/a>\u2014an always sold-out annual gathering of Santa Barbara County’s nonprofit leaders organized by\u00a0the Foundation Roundtable<\/a>\u2014so when the opportunity to attend the 23rd annual edition of the conference came up last month, I leaped on the invitation and was not disappointed.<\/p>\n

First of all, the mere sight of more than 500 attendees from Santa Barbara County\u2019s philanthropic sector in one room is rather impressive. You always hear the lore about Santa Barbara having more nonprofits per capita than any other community of its size, and the passion, energy\u00a0and brain power of the folks in the main ballroom of\u00a0The Fess Parker Doubletree Resort<\/a>\u00a0that morning was enough to fuel a third-world nation.<\/p>\n

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Nonprofit leaders gather at the Partnership for Excellence Conference at the Fess Parker Doubletree in Santa Barbara, on April 12, 2016. Photo by Robert Redfield, courtesy Partnership for Excellence.<\/p><\/div>\n

The opportunities for networking and cross pollinating of ideas is enough to ensure attendance, but the conference also provided a lot of food for thought on how to improve your performance, as well as that of\u00a0your organization.\u00a0\u00a0The overall conference\u00a0theme was “Mindful Leadership: Strengthening Focus and Purpose,” and the keynote speaker focused on just that. \u00a0Leah Weiss Ph.D.<\/a>, of Stanford University, gave a lively, interaction talk as she presented her research on the benefits of mindfulness practices.<\/p>\n

Mindfulness comes down to a handful of factors, says Weiss, intention and purpose, attention, and attitude.\u00a0Neuroplasticity, the idea that our brains can be rewired, is one of the ideas that mindfulness hinges on\u2014we\u00a0can train ourselves to become more mindful. She demonstrated this\u00a0through experiments with the audience, asking people\u00a0to write down their distractions and throw them away, draw a sketch of how they perceive their mind, take a moment\u00a0of silence, and meditate on a calming scene she described. It was fascinating to see how much easier it was to focus (in a very crowded, distracting environment) with just a few of her strategies.<\/p>\n

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Keynote speaker Leah Weiss, PhD at the Partnership for Excellence Conference. Photo by Robert Redfield, courtesy Partnership for Excellence.<\/p><\/div>\n

I also attended an inspiring workshop on “Power of Perspective: Overcoming Overload to Optimize Performance,” with\u00a0Relly Nadler, Ph.D.<\/a>, a psychologist who specializes in emotional intelligence. It was fascinating. Truth be told, I was planning to dip in and out of the morning presentations, but ended up being so engrossed in what Nadler had to say that I stayed for the whole thing. Check out his free\u00a0iPhone App highlighting his tools with video, called Leadership Keys<\/em>. http:\/\/bit.ly\/TNLiPhoneApp,<\/a>\u00a0it’s pretty interesting. You can also get more\u00a0tools, tips, assessments, podcasts and blogs to raise your emotional intelligence\u00a0at\u00a0www.truenorthleadership.com\/ei-central<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The rest of the full day conference, which I was unfortunately not able to attend, included workshops and presentations on:<\/p>\n

-Human Capital: Opening a Conversation<\/p>\n

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-Getting Beyond the Overhead Myth: How to Talk About What Nonprofits Need to Thrive<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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-Out of Your Mind: Mindfulness in Action<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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-Transitions: How To Design and Practice Mindful Leadership Change<\/div>\n
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-What\u2019s Not Being Said: Learning to Read and Manage Nonverbal Communications<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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-Working Together: Navigating Challenging Funder \u2013 Grantee Partnerships<\/div>\n
and Mindful Leadership Applications: facilitated by Weiss.<\/div>\n
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Nonprofit leaders at the Partnership for Excellence Conference. Photo by Robert Redfield, courtesy Partnership for Excellence.<\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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It was quite a conference. I’ll definitely be back for more next year. For more information go to\u00a0http:\/\/nprnsb.org\/pfe\/<\/a>.<\/div>\n
\u2014Leslie Dinaberg<\/div>\n
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Originally published in Santa Barbara Seasons Magazine<\/em><\/a> on May 11, 2016.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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