General Information
The Greek House Directors' Institute will take place this year May 30-June 1, at the Birmingham Sheraton, located at 2101 Richard Arrington Jr. Blvd, Birmingham, Alabama 35203. Birmingham is an exciting city with lots of attractions! See for yourself by downloading a free IN app at http://birminghamal.org/app/. The app features more than 270 local restaurants, shopping areas, coffee houses, music venues and more!
We have some great sessions lined up for the conference this year, including:
Discussions on social media, led by Janine Gascoigne, Marketing Coordinator with Housing and Residential Communities at The University of Alabama, will include the different platforms of social media that students and parents are using now, how to best use them, and how to communicate with your members. In addition, we will talk about how social media can be used to your benefit and detriment, as well as the role social media can play in emergency situations.
A discussion on emergency preparedness with Edward Marbury, Chief of Security at the Birmingham Jefferson Convention Complex, will also include "need to know" information on how to react in situations where there is an active shooter. Mr. Marbury is a 20-year veteran of the United States Army, who retired in 2011 as a Lieutenant Colonel in the Military Police Corps.
A hands-on cooking class led by the Sheraton and Westin Birmingham's Executive Sous Chef Michael Rigot. This session will allow participants an opportunity to learn new techniques utilizing state of the art equipment in one of the hotel's kitchens.
Michael Ermert, Attorney at Law with Hare/Winn in Birmingham, Alabama will speak from his experience as an alumnae and House Board member, and the relationship with the House Director and how the two can work together in creating an efficient, effective Chapter House.
Susan Kinney, Director of Human Resources at Birmingham Southern College and House Corporation President for Delta Gamma sorority at The University of Alabama, will lead a discussion on employee management with tips on how to document employee actions for progressive discipline process and how to handle those conversations with the employee, what questions you should and should not ask during an interview to avoid discrimination claims, the importance of background checks on all employees, the importance of job descriptions for each employee, and more.
Our featured speaker will be Dave Westol, Principal & Owner of Limberlost Consulting. Mr. Westol served for 18 years as Chief Executive Officer of his fraternity and now works as a consultant while continuing to make presentations on campuses and for high schools, including "Hazing on Trial", which he has presented over 1,800 time since 1981. His consulting clients include over 20 men's and women's national fraternities and sororities. Mr. Westol has spoken on more than 460 campuses and at over 200 Greek leadership events, has served as a faculty member for AFLV, the Northeast Greek Leadership Association, the Southeast Interfraternity Conference and the Fraternal Risk Management Trust, (FRMT) Inc. From its first session in the early 1990s through 2010, he was a faculty member for "Risk Management on the Road," an annual traveling consultants' workshop for women's national fraternities and sororities. He is the current administrator of FIPG, past president of FEA, and has received the Silver Medal and the Gold Medal from the North American Interfraternity Conference.
We are looking forward to seeing you in Birmingham, Alabama this summer!
