*Please note: class topics/speakers are subject to change.
SESSION DESCRIPTIONS
Opening Night — Meet the Ensemble – 0.1 CEUs
Becky Gunter, Director, Seminole Recreation
Devon Poulos, Aquatics Manager, North Port Parks and Recreation
Welcome to the 2025 Emerging Leaders Institute. This session will introduce you to
your fellow classmates, beginning the process of establishing your leadership
network. We will also discuss the objectives of the Institute, your role, the role of
the lead faculty members, and define expectations.
Networking Activity – 0.1 CEUs
Devon Poulos, Aquatics Manager, North Port Parks and Recreation
During the Building Your Network sessions, you will have the opportunity to talk with
seasoned professionals and your fellow participants. Ask your burning question,
get that nugget of advice, or provide helpful resources for others who are facing the
same challenges and opportunities as you.
Learn the Choreography — Know the Dance’s Roots – 0.1 CEUs
Eleanor Warmack, Chief Executive Officer, FRPA and
Charla Lucas, Chief Operating Officer, FRPA
Knowing from where we came is integral to planning the future for
ourselves and the profession. The very foundations of the parks and recreation field
have not changed, but expectations of those we serve have. This “get warmed up”
session will be fast paced, presented in an entertaining way, and allow you to
better understand the foundation of our profession.
Strengths Based Leadership – Find Your Footwork - 0.25 CEUs
Becky Gunter, Director, Seminole Recreation; and
Devon Poulos, Aquatics Manager, North Port Parks and Recreation
This interactive workshop will guide participants through an exploration of the
strengths you have to offer and how to put those to work. Using results from your
personal assessment as a jumping off point, you will learn more about your
competitive edge, create plans to use and develop their strengths to achieve
professional goals, and also see others that you work with in a new light. Not only
will this help you better understand yourself individually, but also through group
activities, you will discover techniques for your own teams within your agency.
Setting the Stage — Culture & Groove – 0.2 CEUs
Michele Thompson, Director, Greenacres Community and Recreation Services
As an emerging leader, understanding the culture of your agency is critical. Culture is not just about your mission statement, it is about the values that you as a leader instill in your team and how those values are integrated into all facets of what you do, how you do it, and why you do it. Culture not communicated and not visible in an organization's workforce is a recipe for lack of team commitment and often contributes to confusion and lack of performance.
Choose Your Moves – 0.15 CEUs
Julie Adams, Director, Winter Haven Parks, Recreation and Culture
Leaders are asked to make many decisions in their daily work. Some allow the luxury of time to prepare and analyze; others must be made quickly. Effective leaders understand the need to think quickly and inclusively of everything necessary to make sound decisions and recommendations. Our own implicit bias will inevitably creep into decision making processes; by understanding those biases, we can incorporate critical thinking about how to solve challenges and take advantage of opportunities.
Changing Tempo — Adapting to the Beat of Change – 0.15 CEUs
Julie Adams, Director, Winter Haven Parks, Recreation and Culture
In·san·i·ty /in’sanƏdē/ - Doing the same thing you’ve always done and expecting different results. The only constant in our world is change, and as the environment around us changes, so must our operations, services, and processes. But leading change can be just as uncomfortable as the change itself. This session will give insight to understanding change, how to strategically plan for it, how to successfully implement it, and the skills needed to be an effective change agent.
Signal the Steps — Making Sure Your Message Lands – 0.15 CEUs
Charla Lucas, Chief Operating Officer, FRPA
Ninety percent of what you are saying isn’t coming out of your mouth! As leaders, it is critical that we understand the power of clear, concise, and professional communication, and that the burden lies on us as the communicator to be understood. As we engage with peers, leadership, stakeholders, and the community, it is critical to be the best connectors and communicators we can be.
People Management: Lead the Ensemble – 0.175 CEUs
Megan Sanders, Recreation Business Manager, Largo Recreation, Parks and Arts
Whatever position you find yourself in, managing people is a must. Whether your “people” are a team of staff members, volunteers, community partners and stakeholders, or even patrons, as a leader you will be called upon to manage this resource and lead them toward success. How to find the right people and keep the right people. In today’s war for talent, we need to be sure we are RIGHT. Are we recruiting the RIGHT people and ensuring they are doing the RIGHT things at the RIGHT time and for the RIGHT reason. It is also critical that we are prepared to have the difficult conversations needed when the people who are not RIGHT need to be coached up or transitioned out to a more appropriate role within or outside of your agency.
Partner Dance: Building Powerful Internal and External Relationships – 0.15 CEUs
Lindsaia Johansmeyer, Associate Director, Lake County Parks and Trails
This session will prepare you to identify potential advocates within your internal and external audiences. The primary focus of this session is on managing and maximizing relationships internal to one's agency, and external with other city/county departments and the general public. Pitching a new program or initiative requires one to gain support internally first. Whether that is to one's supervisor or to the agency head, an emerging leader must master the skill of selling the benefits of your ideas. You are the best advocate for things you believe in and are committed to. Other city/county departments may also be your advocate if you can demonstrate value for them being involved. Unlock the potential of powerful external relationships and enhance your influence.
From Audience to Advocates — Inspiring Others to Take Action– 0.2 CEUs
Eleanor Warmack, Chief Executive Officer, FRPA
Is it politics, legislative work, advocacy, education or something else? When people hear politics they often think of something they don’t want to be involved in. When people hear advocates, they often think of something that will take a lot of time to develop. When people hear legislative, they often are told that you can’t participate in that. Regardless of these statements or perceptions, politics, legislative work, and advocacy are critically important for our industry. In this session we will take about the similarities and differences, ways you can and should be involved, and the benefits of advocates and advocacy when it comes to storytelling. We will briefly talk about tools such as the 'It Starts in Parks' message and the FRPA Impact Calculator and how each may assist you in telling the story of parks and recreation.
Count the Beats: Delegation & Shared Rhythm – 0.2 CEUs
Devon Poulos, Aquatics Manager, North Port Parks and Recreation
The largest resource you have available for any program you're planning or project you're managing is time. During this session we will talk about time management for yourself and others and the importance of prioritizing and delegating. Identify techniques for delegating tasks and monitoring progress without micromanaging your team members.
Government Budgeting 101: Counting the Beats – 0.125 CEUs
Megan Sanders, Business Manager, Largo Recreation, Parks and Arts
Government budgeting is a bit different than home finance, and it can sometimes feel like an overwhelming task trying to make sense of all the different parts. But once you break it down, government budgets aren't as intimidating as they may seem. Participants will learn a general overview of government budgeting to understand where the money comes from and how it is spent. During this session we will dive into learning about how a government budget is developed, direct vs indirect cost, cost analysis, and price strategy. We will also explore why data and the evaluation of programs are important to the budget and how you can ensure you are helping your organization to budget responsibly.
Finale — Charting Your Career Composition – 0.1 CEUs
Becky Gunter, Director, Seminole Recreation; and Devon Poulos, Aquatics Manager, North Port Parks and Recreation
We started with your personal strengths, focused on managing people, discussed communication and how that works with external audiences to create advocates, moving into decision making and critical thinking, understanding basic budgeting, identifying pitfalls of time management and opportunities for delegation, applying all of these to identify our organizations’ culture, and are ending with you creating a plan for your own career advancement. We started with you and we are ending with you!
You have now transitioned from an employee to an identified LEADER. This session will focus on the key components of transitioning into a leadership position including the changing roles and responsibilities along with interpersonal dynamics. Understanding your strengths and identifying areas of needed improvement will allow you to create personal goals for traveling on your career path. Learn to balance your expectations for climbing the career ladder with trends within the industry, and the needs of your own agency. Understand that moving up can sometimes mean moving out.