Amy Schwartz | Roth Jewish Community Center of Greater Orlando
Jamie Schwartz | JCC at Jack and Lee Rosen Southwest Orlando Campus

Amy Schwartz | Roth Jewish Community Center of Greater Orlando
Jamie Schwartz | JCC at Jack and Lee Rosen Southwest Orlando Campus

Preparation:
-Prebook 2 Rosen hotels
– Book really funny Jewish comedians
-Order a lot of kosher parve dessert

Ingredients:
-350 JCC professionals
-the best JCCA staff
-drink coupons
-preferred vendors
-really cold ballrooms

Directions:
After you have done all of the preparations you are ready to begin adding the all of the ingredients during April 3-6 only. Remember to wear your conference badge at all times or you won’t be admitted into anything! During this time there are very important lessons to take away.
1. Social media is the way to go! Whether using google ad words, foursquare, facebook, or twitter…you must be using something to be in touch with your members. Direct mail isn’t going to cut it anymore.
2. Tracking every phone call, tour, email etc is very important to be able to figure out your closing ratio.
3. Benchmarking can tell JCC’s really great information, especially the correct way to calculate membership retention ( Thank you Deann)
4. Customer service at your JCC has to do with all staff not just the sales people or membership staff.
5. Every Jewish community needs a hero.. Mr. Harris Rosen is an amazing entrepreneur.

Lauren Friedman | Levis JCC

The 2011 JCCA Conference has been a very surreal expereince for me. I have been in the JCC field for almost 15 years now. My first JCCA conference was when I was 23 years old and the Teen Director for my JCC. I am amazed how much the field has changed over the years, but am releived that the core values still remain. The concern of the welfare of the Jewish peoplehood and the members of our community has not changed, but how we go about serving them and bring community has. No longer can we expectt them to come to the building just because we are the JCC. That is a thing of the past. WE have to engage the members through new methods of communication (like facebook, twitter, and other socail media tools) build relationships and conversations that will carry the individuals into our building. Instead of building community inside our traditional wall,we now have to expand these walls to include social media if we want to engage the next generation of JCC users.

Jennifer Lewis | Merage JCC

Early Childhood Education we had Vivian Paley. She read from severl books She talks with us about how teachers have to listen to children fantasy story. This is how children workinig on issues. The teacher’s rulle is to take the child story and have the children act out the stories and choreograph the play. This way the teachers helping the children to work out their issue. I had an AHHA moment. the children all the time pretend to be Mom a dog doctor etc, Vivian gave us a tool to use with the children.

Ronit Ben-Shir | JCC Great of Boston

A commitment to the entrepreneurial spirit and philanthropy. A commitment to children and their stories. Two visionaries. Two paths. Two remarkable examples of creativity and passion in motion.

In this morning’s keynote presentation, Harris Rosen talked about “the obnoxious gene” of entrepreneurial drive: the drive to create new businesses, new cash flow, new employment opportunities, and new ways to benefit his community. He talked about a passion to make the world a better place that would not allow him to rest. His commitment to business and community good (two elements of his life that he does not see as separate and which in fact constitute a seamless whole) are what make his life meaningful. And that meaning reaches out to touch the lives of thousands, including the people who are fortunate enough to be present at this conference.

Later this morning, Vivian Gussin Paley, author of “The Boy Who Would be a Helicopter”, shared with us her passion to listening to the stories of small children. She shared her incisive insights into the ways in which children act out their understanding of the world through dramatic play. How they express their anxieties, their fears, their hopes, and their essential compassion through their stories. She encouraged us through her example to be open to what they are sharing — to ask questions to which we ourselves may have no answers — but to which children themselves will find answers through the course of their storytelling and their dramatic play.

To very different visionaries. To decidedly different sources of inspiration. Yet both guiding us in the direction of our own power to change the world — and showing us that there is magic in it, human connection in it, and ultimately showing us that with our hearts open and our arms outstretched, that change is entirely possible.

Lauren Rosenfeld | Asheville JCC

What a great start to the day. I enjoyed listening to Harris Rosen and all he has done to build his company. He talked about his affliction with entrepreneurship. Often one of the signs of this affliction is “greed.” It was a pleasure to hear his stories and to learn that you can have it all and maintain ethics. We can learn a lot from his success. His commitment to being on hand to lead his company relates to the importance of connecting to our customers and creating opportunities to interact with members. In addition, the way he treat all of his employees provides a goal for which we should all aspire to emulate. Mr. Rosen, thank you for the insight and your great hospitality.

Scott Katz | Weinstein JCC

I am having a great time at this year’s JCCA conference! Not only am I enjoying the company of my Asheville JCC colleagues, but I’m also getting to know new people from other JCCs. It’s also been very affirming to find out that we are facing similar challenges to other JCCs, and then to hear about all of the different and creative solutions that others have come up with. I’m looking forward to trying some of these ideas out when I get back to Asheville! Last night my colleagues and I went to the basketball party. I was pretty reluctant to go, because I’m not much of a basketball fan. I’m really glad I decided to go because I won a Nook! I am pretty thrilled about that and hope my lucky streak continues – if not the iPad tomorrow, maybe the Powerball? Today I’m having a hard time deciding which sessions to choose – there are some very interesting topics. First I’m headed to lunch with Jeff and Dave – our friends at Accrinet. Tonight it’s comedy – can’t wait!

Lael Gray | Asheville JCC

It is at times difficult for me to sit still through presentation after presentation. I am the fitness director at the San Antonio Barshop JCC and my job allows me to move throughout my day ~ this is a blessing! So as excited as I was to be involved at the JCC Professional Conference, I was a bit concerned about sitting through so many speakers. However, this morning I was absolutely inthralled by the speaker I was listening to. I hung onto his every word both fascinated as well as completely intrigued by his story. The speaker was Mr. Harris Rosen. I had actually looked forward to hearing what he had to say due to the fact that he was highly spoken of at my daughter’s university, UCF. Mr Rosen had founded the Rosen College of Hospitality at UCF. However, I was much more impressed with Mr. Rosen’s love for people and his amazing care of his staff. He is a man that gave me new inspiration in every area of my life. I am so blessed to have heard him speak this morning and my life was transformed by his words!!!

Tracey Keller | San Antonio Barshop JCC

After just sitting through a plenary with Harris Rosen and listening to his philosophies on management vs. leadership, I am inspired. He said that by creating a culture where people believe they are being treated fairly, they feel respected, and feel valued, they will stay. It strikes me that the Jewish value of “achari”, after me, is so prevalent in his practice. What a valuable and wonderful lesson to take with me as a manager. Teams who feel valued and respected will stand up for what your agency believes in, fight for your agency’s causes, and will inevitably end up furthering your organization. Honest, ethical, and compassionate practice is something we should all, as a global society, strive for. When all of those things are present in a business model, we can break down the walls that exist between our different departments, our different cultures, and our different branches of Judaism.

Tamar Sternfeld | Charleston JCC