Trey Collier, Union ’07, didn’t really know what to expect when he and a car full of recent initiates went to Memphis for something called a Regional Leadership Conference.

“I was excited to go, but I had no idea what to expect,” said Collier. “We went in with eyes wide open and came away full of ideas on how we could take our chapter to a new level.”

Collier was among the first group of people to experience what has been renamed the Emerging Leaders Conference. ELCs (formerly Regional Leadership Conferences) underwent a change in curriculum last year, with more focus on helping develop the younger members of the chapter.

“We discovered that we had a high number of repeat attendees to the RLCs,” said Chief Executive Officer Wynn Smiley. “It was great that those undergraduates were coming back year after year, but we also wanted to capitalize on an opportunity to help develop more future leaders within our chapters.”

Collier is now the chapter president at Union University where the chapter just recruited 22 new members, pushing its chapter size to over 60 members. “We worked really hard to get here, but a lot of the energy that helped us to get here came from our experience at the leadership conference,” said Collier.

Each year, ELCs (formerly RLC) draw in more than 900 attendees, in nine different cities across the country. ELCs are held three consecutive weekends beginning January 23.

Chapters have already been billed for the chapter’s share of the Emerging Leaders Conference. Each chapter has been billed for its required number of attendees, a minimum of five members for chapters and a minimum of 10 for colonies.  

Of course, if Collier and the Taus at Union are any inspiration, it pays to send as many chapter brothers as possible, especially those who are soon-to-be or hope-to-be executive board members. For the Union Taus, the chapter sent all executive board members who had not been to an ATO leadership conference, and those pledges who were interested in holding leadership positions.

Be sure to register the names of its required number of attendees before the early registration deadline of November 20. The names may be changed after you’ve submitted. After the deadline, the registration fees go up to $85 per member.

Click here to see the full Emerging Leaders Conference memo with detailed hotel and registration information.

You can register your names online now by clicking here.