A Reflection on My Amazing Experience!

It has been a couple days now since the IMI conference ended and the knowledge is still at the forefront of my mind. Based upon my experiences, I even considered "tweeking" my dissertation topic but a professor of mine convinced me not to go that far just yet. Although I attended many different sessions with a variety of presenters, there seemed to be a reoccurring theme for day 2...breaking barriers. Among other things I learned about the impact of culture on situational leadership, the power of non-verbal communication, how simple conversations between races can break stereotypes, and how the Internet can change a society. My two favorite points of the day were the lunch session and the TALK program case study.

I found Mona Eltahawy’s talk to be fascinating and engaging. First of all, I am amazed at how current she stays with her population of interest. She is not only observing them, she is interacting with them and learning from them all the time. I have been interested in the power of new media for a long time on a smaller scale. Mona’s talk showed me that this medium can not only change workplaces, but the history and traditions of the entire country. I was fascinated in how the blogs are changing the reach of the voice of women, LGBTQ relations and even the dating scene. My favorite thing she discussed is how she is a big fan of confusion in breaking stereotypes. I TOTALLY AGREE! The more you live away from the stereotype, the more your existence serves to educate others. Overall, she gave me an increased interest in intercultural training that I’ve been wavering with for sometime. I can only hope to help people in half the way she has over the years.

The TALK case study presentation was also very fascinating. I love hands on approaches to learning and TALK provides opportunities that most likely otherwise would not be experienced by the students. I also love how they emphasized the power of food in their workshops in bringing people together because it is something I would not have considered. I also thought the activities we did in the session were interesting and gave a good idea of what the students experience week to week. I think this session provided numerous tools I will be able to walk away with and hopefully find some useful implementation in the near future.

Although I had a wonderful day overall, these two sessions were the ones that made me want to ‘get up and go’. As I move forward post conference L I plan to use the things I learned to become more proactive and make a bigger difference in intercultural relations. I am extremely excited about what is in store for my future. I thank IMI for this amazing opportunity!