Youth Conference 2006

Georgia Cooperative Council

2006 Youth Cooperative Leadership Conference

The 2006 conference was a fun-filled event that was enjoyed by all 50 attendees and 10 counselors. The participants were interested in the cooperative business structure and were provided with plenty of information on state and national cooperative businesses. Presenters from Farm Credit Service, Dairy Farmers of America, Southern States, Georgia EMC, and Staplcotn gave an overview of their cooperative and answered many questions. The Georgia Cotton Commission also came and gave a presentation on how they work with the growers to market the cotton grown in Georgia. The Georgia Cooperative Development Center and USDA Rural Development were also present and were involved in the cooperative exercises throughout the camp.

The group also was able to complete an individual personality profile (I-sight) and get some Leadership training during the conference. These activities were well received and, hopefully, will be able to be used in the future.

During the conference, a Cooperative Challenge was also played. The attendees were divided into 8 teams and participated in numerous team building exercises. The winners of the game were selected based on the points won during each of the scheduled events. The majority of the points were from the Congressional Insight Game. Each team was given the chance to make decisions over a 2 year period for a House of Representative member from a fictional state. The goal was to get re-elected while maintaining a positive public approval rating. Other games involved various brain teasers, races, a water pipe test, human spider web, and the Cooperative Jeopardy game. These games were very active and required the whole group to participate. It is hoped that they were able to learn some team concepts through these exercises.

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