During this week-long program at MIT I learned many different ways to be more an effective leader that would aide me in becoming a better lobbyist on Capitol Hill. I gained more knowledge on how to be a better leader by being passionate and in turn will make me more effective as I push for legislation that is so important to me and my friends that are Differently Abled. It was stressed, as we do at NDSS, to tell my story to members of congress, to really drive my personal story home, making it more personal. I was taught about high and low status that you should collaborate with, not boost the other person or not be condescending bringing them down, you should be on the same playing level.
My experience with social media is really limited. I use Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and Snapchat. On Facebook I comment, like and love what someone else would do. Instagram I would love pictures and when someone adds me in their story, I would add to my story too. That is all good and fine however while I was at MIT they helped me to enhance my horizons by having me come up with my own content, posting where I am going when I go travel for work and making my own videos. I have a couple of friends who are Youtubers and they have their own channels. For example Chris has Special books for Special Kids and he has his own vlog. Dan my other friend has his own channel for his Aspie world. They are pretty sweet! I also heard the more active you are, the more you actively post you will have a much bigger impact.
Lastly, working as a team member is always important especially when you are working on projects, when you are deciding on what each person is doing within the group. I understood the concept even more when we had to work on this campaign called the hashtag project. All of us were separated into different groups. We had to come up with one idea collectively. The hashtags that my group and the other groups came up with were #whatsupdoc #hiredis #acessforaccessiblity #votedis and #disissexy. This was to motivate others to join the cause. This aided me to be more active with the social media outlets. I sent out text messages, posted on Twitter and Instagram.
In conclusion, I learned how to become a more passionate, effective leader and lobbyist. The program assisted me with more team building exercises like crew rowing, working together with all of my new friends and mentors. This helped build my confidence even more to become a well rounded influencer and lobbyist. Each day taught us something new and the experience really opened my eyes and expanded my knowledge and horizons.