Youth Conference 2007

Georgia Cooperative Council

2007 Youth Cooperative Leadership Conference

The 2006 conference was a fun-filled event that was enjoyed by all 46 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 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, the camp obstacle course, 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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