State Legistlative Leaders Foundation

2010 Annual Meeting

Speaker Busch Hits Home Run with Annual Meeting

June 16 - 20, 2010 Annapolis, Maryland

Program Schedule

                               
Speaker Busch                              David McCullough

By all accounts and all measures, the 19th Annual Meeting of the National Speakers Conference was a hit. With Speakers and Speaker-Designates from 30 states and territories across the country, this was the best attended annual meeting in NSC’s almost two decades of existence. Furthermore, we also had more than twenty Chiefs of Staff and well over a hundred participants for the educational sessions.

Baseball Hall-of-Famer Cal Ripken Jr., got us off to a great start, signing autographs and posing for pictures with participants before offering his insights into effective leadership. Drawing from his experiences on and off the diamond, Ripken noted that effective leaders must lead by example, be innovative, and sometimes be stubborn. In explaining the last point, he made a clear distinction between good stubborn, bad stubborn and just plain stupid.

Program Presenters included:

Dr. William “Brit” Kirwan, Chancellor of the University System of Maryland and Dr. Freeman Hrabowski, President of the University of Maryland at Baltimore County, who discussed how universities and state governments should view their relationship as a mutually beneficial partnership.

Anirban Basu, Chairman and CEO of the Sage Policy Group, who used humor to enlighten participants regarding the current and future status of a very serious subject - the economy. While acknowledging the many very real economic challenges that lie ahead, Basu reminded participants that this was not America’s first, or worst, economic crisis and that things would get better, although not as quickly as many would like.

Michael R. Shannon of MANDATE: Message, Media and Public Relations and Charlie Cook, Editor of The Cook Political Report. Shannon offered an entertaining look at how leaders can effectively craft their political message to be most effective. And, Cook engaged us with insight and anecdotes, giving his unique (and usually spot-on) analysis of the upcoming Congressional and, to a lesser degree, gubernatorial elections.

David McCullough, speaking not more than fifty yards from the very spot where General George Washington resigned his commission as Commander of the Revolutionary Army, used Washington’s own words to inspire today’s leaders to achieve great things. He challenged the leaders in the room to set aside partisan bickering, parochial politics and short term gain for the good of the general public and the generations of Americans yet to come.

On Friday evening, Speaker Busch released the NSC gavel, passing it to Speaker Bobby Harrell of South Carolina and thereby relinquishing his position as President of the National Speakers Conference. Harrell will host the 20th Annual Meeting in Charleston, South Carolina on September 7 - 11, 2011.