I’d love to know what the Roundtable attendance numbers are in other areas. Is it as bad as what I see in my district? Do you have the same small turn-out month after month after month? With the number of units in my district, our meetings should be full. Why aren’t more leaders attending? Has the value of Roundtable been lost?
I have three reasons for attending Roundtable on a regular basis:
1. I go to receive. I know that going to Roundtable won’t fill me with a bunch of new information every time. In fact, I expect to hear the same stuff over and over…and that’s OK. Repetition doesn’t hurt, especially since we’re always at a different level of understanding when we hear something again. Where the value comes in for me is what you find mixed in with all that repetition – the tiny tidbits of advice, personal clarification or details about something that comes from talking to people who have experienced it first. Those are the nuggets of gold I look for!
2. I go to give. As I work to be the best I can in this position, I think of the value I might have to others in the room. Maybe I have the gold nugget of information someone else is in need of. Maybe I’ve been there, done that and now know what not to do. Maybe my perspective on some topic could help another see it differently. Instead of Roundtable being a room full of newbies, I hope to continue attending with the attitude that my growing experience might benefit that guy who just got put in.
3. I go to network. I think there’s a lot of value in making connections, building relationships and having a network of people in similar shoes. By doing so, I know I can learn from or lean on those who know exactly where I am coming from. If I can help them, or they can help me, why not shorten the time it takes to learn all that we need to know.
