Students sharpened their leadership skills through a variety of team-building workshops and lectures presented by Student Involvement and Leadership Development at the Leadership Conference on Saturday.

Students were able to take part in various programs, including the “Do’s and Don’ts of Team Building,” “Leadership in Group Settings” and “Recruiting and Retaining Members.”

“We’re going to tap into that diversity and wealth of knowledge that we have right here on our own campus,” said Dino Martinez, assistant director for Leadership and Student Organizational Services.

Martinez helped structure and execute Saturday’s conference.

Martinez said there were no “big names” planned to attend, but the content was solid.

Martinez said that when funding could not be secured for the Leadership Institute, a past NIU program that featured a series of lectures and small group discussion, the Leadership Conference was created.

“Hopefully [those who attended] will be able to use this content, whether they’re an officer in an organization or they just want to improve their leadership skills…that’s huge for us in terms of the return on the investment,” Martinez said.

The Alpha Phi Omega service fraternity was the most represented group in attendance. Sophomore psychology major Ashley Kooiker and Sean Kenny, junior math education major, were among the fraternity members who took part in the Leadership Conference.

“The sessions had a lot of information, especially the social media one,” Kooiker said. “I definitely learned a lot about how to advertise and all that good stuff.”

By using in-house speakers, the cost of the conference was minimized, which meant it was available to a greater number of students and didn’t have a registration or attendance fee.

“It’s good to expand your leadership skills,” Kenny said. “You can always improve, and you always have things to learn. It’s a constant process.”

Also in attendance was senior biology major Megan Sieg, who’s also the treasurer of the Alpha Omega Epsilon, science, engineering and math sorority, and secretary of the Pre-Vet Club.

“There’s a lot of information on how to recruit members and advertise,” Sieg said. “We’re definitely having trouble with those things.”

Student Social Media Consultants, a student organization focused on social media consultation, gave a presentation titled “Using Social Media.”

“We’re excited to be here today, on this lovely cold Saturday morning,” said Lauren Jones, president of SSMC. “We’re also excited to help people understand how social media works and how they can maximize their social media for their specific organization, and also to promote their brand.”

SSMC member Matthew Frierdich stressed the impact of social media for creating an image.

“A lot of people know about them [social media platforms],” he said. “They just don’t know how to properly utilize them to build their exposure and their brand.”

With a low cost and high level of interest and participation by students and organizations, the Leadership Conference is poised to become an annual event, according to Martinez.

“From the students standpoint, hopefully their return on investment is that they feel a little bit more confident about their skills and abilities,” Martinez said. “Hopefully we’ve given them some new and creative ideas about being able to shift their paradigm.”