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026 - The Podcast Returns
69 Plays4 months ago
About two years have passed since the last episode of the SWACUHO Podcast. This episode reintroduces the podcast to the region, welcomes a new host, and discusses the idea of "pet projects." We look at how they are thought of, the work that goes into them, and how they can be set up for future success (or failure, too).
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Transcript
Podcast Revival: New Beginnings
00:00:00
Speaker
Hello? this thing on? Hopefully this is like riding a bicycle. Welcome to the Swakua podcast. It's been about two years since the last episode dropped.
00:00:13
Speaker
To those of you who have either been patiently waiting or unable to sleep at night waiting for the next episode, we thank you for your continued loyalty. For those who are too lazy to remove us from your podcast library, we plan to take full advantage of that.
00:00:28
Speaker
Today on the show, we have Ricky Harris, Associate Director for of Residence Life at the University of Central Arkansas. I didn't introduce Ricky as a guest because this episode marks a special moment, a changing of the guard, so to speak.
00:00:41
Speaker
That's right. I've officially given Ricky all the podcast passwords and laundry list of episode ideas that I never fully realized. Together, we are gonna look at how to revamp the podcast and hopefully make it more sustainable venture.
The Role of Pet Projects: Beyond Job Descriptions
00:00:57
Speaker
But today, Ricky and I are going to use this moment to talk about those things we sometimes do that either nobody asks for or aren't in our job descriptions, but we have a personal or professional interest in Pet projects.
00:01:10
Speaker
We begin with talking about the concept of pet projects, which then leads us directly into the rise and fall of my favorite pet project, this podcast. Then Ricky's going to tell us about a pet project of his, the Arkansas Drive-In,
00:01:23
Speaker
Along the way, we're going to reflect on how pet projects begin as an idea, how to create space within regular job duties to develop pet projects, building for sustainability, successes and failures of working without a net, and then, of course, the very real possibility of nobody else caring.
00:01:41
Speaker
And if we are lucky, hopefully we won't scare Ricky away from this venture. So let's get to it. But first things first, Ricky, do you remember the first time we ever met?
00:01:55
Speaker
feel like it was a job interview. It was. Yeah, i was a was it was I was a fresh grad student about to graduate. I feel like it was, it was it at ah TPE?
00:02:08
Speaker
It was TPE. and oh my gosh, I was so nervous. It was so overwhelming as someone who'd never experienced a national conference before. I was there with a colleague of mine, a fellow student.
00:02:20
Speaker
and we were so lost and intimidated in baltimore maryland by ourselves and didn't know anybody and oh my god i was thinking it was orlando but yeah baltimore because we went to uh joe's not joe's crab shack the uh bubba gumps i think to eat when we first got there we were gonna go to the aquarium but we were broke um yeah it was it was nerve-wracking we flew up there yeah and Well, look at you now.
00:02:48
Speaker
Yeah, it all worked out in the end. That could be a whole other episode right there talking about the scariness of a job search. Oh my gosh. Yeah, I think that was the year we actually were had anticipated openings, but no legitimate openings. So we had a hard time recruiting that year, I think.
00:03:05
Speaker
And you were UTA, right? Yes. Yeah, it was when my second round at UTA. I was at UALR at the time, now Yeah, that was, oh gosh, we're not going to say how many years ago.
Interview Reflections: Unique Approaches
00:03:17
Speaker
The blast from the past for sure. Yeah. But as a a training opportunity for future podcasts, I always opened with something like that, that didn't share with the guests that I was going to ask, but just to kind of ah lighten the load a little bit, little organic and let them kind of get get a feel for it. You did catch me off guard with that, but that's a good memory. That's the point. And now we can just move on with all the stuff we talked about.
00:03:42
Speaker
All right, so let's ah let's talk about pet projects. How do you define a pet project? For me, it's something that's not necessarily in your job description, but it's something you have a passion about that you think, oh, well, well I have that interest. let's Let's fit that into what I'm doing in some kind of way.
00:03:59
Speaker
So that's really what it means to me. Yeah, it's always the things that sometimes it's related to something, but it's like, oh, maybe we should do this. But ah either there's no departmental time or institutional priority for it, but something small that can be done on the side. And hopefully sometimes with zero money because there is no priority for it. Right. No, no, absolutely. And I mean, this podcast originally and ah we'll get back to it, but yeah.
00:04:25
Speaker
No money, no support. I didn't ask for any. I wasn't saying Swakuo wasn't supportive. Sometimes you we can invest a little bit on our own and see what happens and maybe then it scales, but we'll get back to that. yeah ah I've always thought pet projects are really good, like professional development.
00:04:44
Speaker
Is that something you agree with? Oh, yeah, you can. I think it's an opportunity. If you're not getting certain skills in your in your full time job or everyday tasks, it's something where you can develop those skills that you want to focus on, maybe to prepare you for the next step or just to make you feel better professionally just just work on those interests you have.
00:05:03
Speaker
Like rounding rounding out a competency area or a skill set. Yeah, for sure. I also kind of like it because it's. that I don't know, maybe it's just me, but there's something about like doing something that nobody asked for. Nobody's really monitoring because nobody really knows about it in a lot of cases, like just kind of operating without
Podcast Origins: Goals and Inspirations
00:05:21
Speaker
a net. And I always felt like, well, if this ah tanks or becomes nothing, then it's no big deal. Yeah, yeah nobody really knows. So we'll keep that big failure to myself.
00:05:32
Speaker
and don't necessarily write the the the failures on my resume, but they still provide good opportunity. Yeah, managing time and all that sort of stuff. Yeah, you can gain so many skills. ah So let's, maybe we'll just skip ahead to, or this will come back later, but ah abstractly, when we're working on something, eventually we're going to hand it off, right? or That's the hope. If you want it to sustain, yeah, I mean, you can't do it forever.
00:06:00
Speaker
Right, because, I mean, at any point, you or I could leave the region or we could move to another job, you know, or institutional priority shift or whatever, like not speaking specifically about either of the things we're going to but just like, what's that feeling like of potentially handing something off or.
00:06:19
Speaker
For me, it's, it's a little nerve wracking because if it's something, if it's a project such as the things we're going to talk about with the podcast, the drive in and other things, you know, we feel like they've been successful. So when you're handing that off, there's some nervousness, I think to it of,
00:06:33
Speaker
okay, I still want it to be successful. is it Is it going to be the same if it's not me doing it, but there has to be some trust. And I think that's where it comes to ah so looking towards the future, whether it be in a leadership position or a pet project or whatever it may be, is preparing the next step for the next step, preparing someone to take over.
00:06:52
Speaker
And that's something I've been trying to be intentional with with the drive-in is those that are on the host committee the Arkansas State Director, things like that, of letting them see more of the insider knowledge of how what it actually takes to run this event and actually preparing them for the next step instead of being like, okay, well, I'm done.
00:07:12
Speaker
You do it without anything. Good luck. Right. Talking about really without Annette. I always think about, or just more recently, I had to, it's taken me a long time to realize, but, but and I'm going to say this, but
00:07:29
Speaker
nobody on my staff does anything the way I want it done or the way I would do it probably is more like like but that's the the the way it is like we set it up that hopefully success is like and then we teach the philosophy the the why the the basics and everyone's going to do things a little differently and that's okay and it took me a long time to like really think about that in my head um but you know I can't different ways to get to the same outcome but sometimes it's not exactly i wouldn't have done that so yeah but sometimes it's like oh well you did better than that this was a good idea you know you did it right and i think that's that's the can be the fun of it is seeing how somebody else somebody else can can take a different route have a different approach yet have the same or better outcome exactly
00:08:18
Speaker
or capture a different audience or find a unique niche that wasn't wasn't there or bring some skill that they had. Yeah. It makes me think of the idea of just a team working together, whether it's a committee or a leadership group or something like that.
00:08:34
Speaker
Because always love when it's such different voices and different ideas sitting at the table or having the conversation. Yeah. Because you have so many different approaches to try to tackle an issue instead of just one person or a group of people thinking the same exact way.
00:08:48
Speaker
Well, and it's like, sometimes I get more personal validation of like, I planted the seed. i had a friend I had a friend in college, one of my closest friends, he told me this story once. He said, yeah, when i when I get a house, I want to plant two trees from seed and grow them for 30 years.
00:09:09
Speaker
And then when they're finally ready, I'm going to hang a hammock between the two of them and then get in it and lay in it on a beautiful day and say, I made this moment. Oh, that sounds so peaceful. I know. And it's just such a beautiful story of like the patient.
00:09:22
Speaker
You plant the seeds and whatever happens, happens. And it's nice to enjoy afterwards. But some of the some of those ideas start as just little pet projects that somebody had a passion about. Like you tend to find time to
Audience Engagement: Measuring Success
00:09:35
Speaker
do these things among all other job responsibilities.
00:09:39
Speaker
I think if you have a passion, you make it work. You find the time. Sometimes it comes down to that. getting other tasks done a little bit quicker. Yeah.
00:09:49
Speaker
Just the prioritization of of tasks and things like that. i which was originally recording the podcast after hours and it was, I know there's this like commentary currently about like,
00:10:03
Speaker
after I was worried like, I didn't really consider it it. Like it was, it was a fun thing to do. it was stimulating. It was like, it was improving my personal life because I was being stimulated doing something completely new. And I found that worth it. You know, obviously there gets to be a point where probably it was too much at times. And all right, so Ricky, we're going to, we're going to toss it to you. going to get your first time of leading the conversation.
00:10:29
Speaker
Oh, great. I'm glad you prepared the questions. Experiential learning at its finest. Thank you for preparing the questions. that All right, JC. Well, obviously the podcast is, at least from my perspective, and I know the perspective of many people in the region, it was such a successful venture um that you introduced that you didn't have to So let's talk about the the inception of it, the you know, the the aspects of the work that went into it, what were your goals, stuff like that. So let's start out.
00:11:00
Speaker
What made you want to do it to begin with? ah it It is fun to reflect upon um because it was kind of an... Interesting moment in the world or in my life.
00:11:14
Speaker
I had actually been starting to think about like professional development and like what small scale was thinking about like content delivery on demand. Like I was on the exec board when they put in part of strategic planning is like on demand content. And we live in a content driven world of, you know, started thinking about how do we deliver stuff that people can, that's small, but they can watch at any time or interact with at any time.
00:11:41
Speaker
Well, then I ran for president of SWACUHO and did not and was unsuccessful in that that bid.
00:11:53
Speaker
And I remember when Katie Pelton called me and told me, and I think it was probably harder for Katie Pelton to deliver the news and than to receive it. And I remember telling her that that's <unk>s there's always something somewhere that somebody could be doing.
00:12:09
Speaker
And so I went back and I started thinking, I was like, what about a podcast? Like, that would be kind of fun. Nothing major. It's not like, you know, any huge podcast, but like something interviewing past presidents, interviewing researchers, all these ideas. So then I went to Katie Pelton and Maggie, who were two of the presidential trio at the time. and i was like, I got this idea.
00:12:33
Speaker
I was like, I'm to prepare four episodes as demos in three different like content areas. throw it to the exec board and see if they'd be interested. Because I always found like, it at least for me, it's easier to visualize something you've got a part of.
00:12:47
Speaker
It may not be the final product, but if I can show you four episodes, then we'll see if this is something that might have legs or is even of interest. Because I also didn't want to presume what exec board wanted.
00:12:59
Speaker
I've learned that just because I think something's a great idea doesn't mean the leadership at the time is going to value it. So that was kind of my intro to like, i mean, who's going to say no to this? Somebody's volunteering to do work that nobody asked for, like nobody's going to say no, but that was my way of tossing it to them. So I just started tossing around ideas and, uh, I've always been a big believer. I think it was, uh, Eisenhower when he was Supreme commander of the allied forces in world war II, he said, uh,
00:13:29
Speaker
Plans are worthless, but planning is essential. And so I probably spent more time planning to set it up because I wanted to be successful and then put four episodes together, which then set up for four, it was like four months, four months of content. All right, if I get four months done, then I got four months to do the next four months and, you know, try to create a system where it would be easy and less friction to get it done. And at least that's what I thought on the front end. So,
00:13:57
Speaker
I will tell you, though, Ricky, the first thing I
Challenges and Burnout: The Hiatus
00:13:59
Speaker
did once exec board said it was, you know, go for it. i The first thing I did was buy a book about how to run a podcast.
00:14:08
Speaker
And then I promptly put it on the bookshelf and never read it. So
00:14:13
Speaker
always the best of intentions. Yeah, I've done that when that you have something new you're going to work on and then you so you buy a book. It's like whether it's the the ah subject for dummies or whatever it may be. And then, yeah, it sits on a bookshelf.
00:14:28
Speaker
I've always liked the planning stages of things more than the actual thing itself. Like I love planning out workout regimes and then not doing them. Like it's so much fun. It's like, look at all the potential there is here.
00:14:39
Speaker
But yeah, that was kind of the start and where where we kind of got the ball rolling at least. And then it was off to the races. Do you feel like looking back, You did it for at least two years yeah of monthly of monthly content.
00:14:54
Speaker
That's a lot. I think missed two months along the way, maybe three at the very end. But the first year I had 12 solid. Actually, i had 13 because we did a live one.
00:15:06
Speaker
Oh, I remember. yeah I was like, oh, it's the beginning of the month, podcast time. but Especially because what year did you begin? 22? 22? ah twenty two So we were still not full in COVID, but we were still... it was just coming out because the conference I ran for president was the virtual. The virtual conference.
00:15:28
Speaker
Four Fridays in February, which turned in due to a snow or ice storm to one in March. Yeah, I remember working on that. That was... That was fun, but I do recall because you know it was a time of isolation and just a different world we were living in. I was like, okay, this is something to look forward to.
00:15:46
Speaker
Well, I appreciate the loyalty. I mean, that's exactly the point. It's like, we want to deliver on demand. like People are work overworked. They've got too many things to do. all you know We're trying to be everyone everything to everyone.
00:15:58
Speaker
i can squeeze in five minutes here. I can squeeze in five minutes there. I can squeeze in 10 minutes there, but I can't sit down and listen to it like a 50-minute fifty minute webinar You know, so like that's I mean, perfect illustration of of the point is like I was looking forward to it and could do it on my own time and whatever. I mean, so hope a lot of bias the question I want to ask, which is from your perspective as the creator, as the person who put all the work into it, do you feel like it was successful?
00:16:25
Speaker
I do. It's so funny because like, yes and no. I think I had reasonable expectations that, you know, I wasn't going to be getting a million down or we weren't going to be getting a million downloads or anything like that. But ah there were times where I felt like the product was really good, but the reception was lacking.
00:16:49
Speaker
And I think, again, that there's a disconnect between what's reasonable and what's reality. And like I was like, this episode is amazing and nobody's listening to it. But And some way, and like, if you look at the stats, it's like every other month there was a peak.
00:17:05
Speaker
And I was like, is every other month not that good? Like what's going, or do people like, I don't know, there was a lot of like looking at the data, certainly not into data analytics related to the podcast. I got, it's not that comprehensive, but it was,
00:17:18
Speaker
It was always like, I know it's a good product. I know people are like validating because people would always tell me about it. But when I would call, I'd be like, hey, I'm looking for guests. Hey, I'm looking for ah questions for things. I'm looking for, you know, right into the email.
00:17:35
Speaker
it was not much involvement. And again, it was an interesting time when it started because of everyone's delivering meals for their jobs to quarantine rooms and all
Arkansas Drive-In: Professional Development Initiative
00:17:45
Speaker
that. So, you know, it's, there's always that, dis but I knew it was, I felt like it was a good product, at least most of the time.
00:17:53
Speaker
ah There were, I mean, just for some stats, it's interesting because since the last episode aired two years ago, ah we've had 300 downloads since. and uh we had know did advertising or anything and just yeah would get living on the internet just living out there and you i i would go in every few months and just look because of our curiosity and you could tell when i think somebody new started listening because they would like download you'd see a sequence of episodes all coming in at once whereas normally it's just like one or two or whatever that but um you know nine of them hit more than 100 downloads i think that's pretty impressive
00:18:29
Speaker
ah The last episode was Joel Gaddy, where we just were talking about Akuhoai community forum posts. And that one's been climbing nonstop, probably because the most recent, but Joel Gaddy, a very popular guest at this point because of that.
00:18:45
Speaker
you know Your boss, Craig Seeger, still has the all-time most listened to episode, and it's actually the lowest production quality because it was the first one I recorded, and my sound was terrible. So, yeah, it's so almost, it's I think, three or four away from 200 episodes. So if you listen, go pop in and check out episode. but I think it was three, and you'll pop it over. You might be 200th download.
00:19:10
Speaker
two hundred download But I think that comes back to a lot of the stuff you did wasn't necessarily time sensitive. It was and it was relevant. It was completely relevant to the work we do, especially that when talking about our hiring.
00:19:22
Speaker
And, you know, we all have student staff. We all have different challenges that we face and stuff like that. So, well, a lot of that is cyclical. Like, know, we will always hire RAs every year.
00:19:33
Speaker
And I did have a lot of like internal debate with myself about like, is this going to be are we to talk about contemporary issues like flash button item the things like the president of such and such university just got fired for some scandal like oh my god but i was setting it up where i wasn't i didn't have this uh the background the ability the time to be like we're publishing once a week on every topic it was like i just want to talk about the nuts and bolts like I find more professional development in like the mastery of the basics and listening to people sit around, talk about like account staff accountability is actually pretty illuminating when you're just casually talking about it, not sitting in a training session about,
00:20:18
Speaker
Some of my favorite episodes are the ones that are like just nonsense. Like it's important stuff. Everyone, like there was one on email management, like, come on, like talk about the most unsexy topic, but it was a ton of fun.
00:20:31
Speaker
And there's actually some practical things in there that might be able to be employed by people in their own jobs. The small things can deliver and build. the and i always thought like the small things are the foundation.
00:20:43
Speaker
Like you you map that you get really good at the foundation and that frees up all the time to do all the fun, like the diverging woods of like development of ideas. I think sometimes we feel like we're the only people that do a certain thing.
00:20:57
Speaker
And so it's also kind of nice to just hear three people yammering about how many emails are in their inbox. And there's other people out there that are like Maggie Guzman and have 80,000 emails in our inbox.
00:21:08
Speaker
And it's like, finally, somebody, I've got a
Overcoming Challenges: Ensuring Sustainability
00:21:11
Speaker
connection there. Or the inbox zeroes, I always want to be there. Let me listen to this person. But yeah. I just think those nuts and bolts stuff is just kind of fun to hear people.
00:21:21
Speaker
It's like ah my favorite conference program ever was at Akuhoi. It was about these two guys. and I don't remember where they're from And they were talking about mold. And like just people talking matter the fact about something they're an expert in and process procedure related mold. It was just fascinating.
00:21:38
Speaker
And look I'll take your word for that. It great. If I ever see a program about mold, I'm going just because of that. But anyway, my favorite episodes. Yeah.
00:21:50
Speaker
yeah I think I don't have children, but I imagine it's sort of like, you know, people who have children, like who's your which one of your kids is your favorite? And they're going they're going to say, well, I love them all equally. And, but we really know there's one, right? I love all the episodes equally and, you know, the all the guests, but some of but the ones that rise to the occasion,
00:22:12
Speaker
I think it depends on the content. I really like the ones that there were two about preventive maintenance was episode four and then summer turn was episode 19. I like those two because of the the facilities aspect, which is something i think is fun to hear about if you don't do it, but also very valuable to hear another side of the story. Again, outside of a training session where you're like listening to your maintenance people talk about, here's what to do in emergency and here's where the automatic shutoff valves are. And, you know, here's what we, ah there's something to be about hearing about people who do that for a living, just kind of talk shop.
00:22:50
Speaker
And so I like those two from that exposure aspect, because I also think there's a value in if all of our functional areas understood a little bit more, maybe we'd all. but Get along a little bit more, or you know, do more with that.
00:23:06
Speaker
i really like that we mentioned that the staff accountability episode, I think that was episode six. That was kind of fun because it was like, I don't know how this is going to go. this is a. Kind of a sensitive topic. Like you kind of have to toe the line because you can't like talk about names or too specific about issues. Like, ah and it went really well. I liked, i thought that one was fun. I've heard some people talk about that. They got some things from it.
00:23:28
Speaker
ah There were two others that I'll mention that were kind of in the same of like, we talked about hot button issues earlier and not being able to be like dynamically responding to those. There were two, like I would call them probably more serious topics that,
00:23:44
Speaker
turned out, I thought, remarkably well. And I probably had the most like nervousness interacting with them. and And that was one about the ah great resignation. i think that was 16. And then the episode with Ricky Turner, who you know. Yeah, my old boss.
00:24:00
Speaker
No, that's right. Yeah, your old boss. um About college student suicide. And I thought those two... were a little bit deeper topics, but went, I thought, remarkably well and seemed to be popular. So, um and then last, it feels like I'm naming all of them, but the last ones are, ah really liked the mentorship on demand ones.
00:24:23
Speaker
I thought they were really interesting and a lot of potential fun there. And I thought they turned out well. Did you get any ah questions you never aired?
00:24:34
Speaker
it Well, another little peek behind the curtain as you manage projects is, I'm going to be honest, Ricky, but don't tell this to anyone.
00:24:45
Speaker
I'd never actually, i had i built a forum. I was like, this is going to be like Ann Landers on about student housing. And always promoted it, I think, in every episode. Ask questions, we'll answer them, whatever.
00:24:57
Speaker
ah And nobody ever submitted a question. I wrote all those questions. But I will tell you that they were all based somewhere in reality or reality.
00:25:08
Speaker
trends I was hearing and talking to staff at either conferences or among staff at home campuses or whatever. So they, while nobody took the initiative to submit them, they are we're legitimately top of mind to people at the time, or at
Future Concerns: Longevity of Initiatives
00:25:23
Speaker
least one person. and And so it was while I was like, I think this is a good idea, but nobody's participating. How do I make this happen? was I'll just make these questions up myself. And there you go. So peek behind the curtain.
00:25:38
Speaker
So earlier we talked about pet projects, obviously, and then sustaining them after we leave or handing them off. ah Not to focus on any negative, but there was a pause in the podcast for a while.
00:25:52
Speaker
You know what happened? ah You know, it was one of the things. in i Drew Jarr was president that last year, and Drew's a good friend of mine.
00:26:03
Speaker
And i I told Drew... It was just, it it was a lot of work. ah I had tried to solicit involvement. actually almost got, like somebody did reach out and was like, I'd like to learn more. I'd like to help.
00:26:20
Speaker
We never got asked. We connected a little bit and i think it was too, I was too much still creating, developing. And then we kind of lost touch. And so that never materialized, but I didn't have help. So I was like kind of running out of steam of like,
00:26:39
Speaker
work, all the things we all deal with. Do I have enough time in the day? Do I have all that? And so I told Drew that when he became president, I was like, Drew, I think I i can do another year, but I'm to work this year on trying to like set it up for success and I can hand it off and whatever that is.
00:26:58
Speaker
Well, clearly and didn't succeed in that. It's been two years, but I did tell Drew, was like, Drew, I will finish off through the rest of your your term as president. And even that I think there was a I got one that the Joel Gaddy episode was.
00:27:16
Speaker
That that last month of his term, and I think there might have been a couple months gap ah before that, but I had the structure, the system. i just didn't have the at some point you scale enough.
00:27:29
Speaker
you needed more support or interest or you know whatever. So it was, my interest was changing. I think also, I didn't mention this earlier, but i think when it comes to like professional development, associate, people are always like, what committee should I join?
00:27:44
Speaker
And I've always been of the mindset, there's two options you've got. You can either dive deep on something or you can broaden wide. And so my first committee was at the time when I was in my PhD and doing research. And so I was on the REI committee and I was like diving deep into this and doing things that weren't part of my job there.
00:28:06
Speaker
But at some point, I didn't want to just be like, oh, the data guy or the research guy or whatever. So that's where the partners are like, this is going to be a lot of things that I don't know anything about. I don't know anything about recording. i actually hate being the center of attention or in front of people.
00:28:22
Speaker
I don't know anything like I've I've listened to very few podcasts. um I get it and I understand them, but it's not a like priority in my life. So I was like, after two years, was like, I feel like I've got what I needed out of this.
00:28:37
Speaker
I feel like I've got it I just didn't set it up for the transition. So shortly thereafter, I switched jobs. I was diving deep on some bigger projects at work. you know All the things that we all deal with on day-to-day. So...
00:28:52
Speaker
it I guess it didn't sustain, but it was hopefully set up that we can revitalize it. And clearly you've got an interest. So I think you and I are alike in some of those things I said about it. i don't You don't strike me as the kind of person that likes to be running around the center of attention.
00:29:08
Speaker
No, I'm definitely, I would describe myself as an introvert. yeah I've done sessions on introvert in housing and how, you know, sometimes uh,
00:29:21
Speaker
It seems like the field's fit for an extrovert, you know, but yeah they're cool I think a lot of introverts in the field, which is curious. And that's something I've talked about in presentations and tried to you know tell our story of, you know, yeah no, we don't hate you.
00:29:38
Speaker
I actually think the field made me more introverted because ah like when I was an RA, I was like a big extrovert going in
Skill Development: Networking and Leadership
00:29:44
Speaker
the job. And by the time two years later, i was like, I think I'm an introvert really. But yeah, so anyway, the you know, I think if you and I can do it, really anybody could. And, you know, maybe we get a third co-host of an extrovert that's really going to elevate in a different direction. But that's part of it. Challenge and support. You know, which but the challenge is what grows us.
00:30:07
Speaker
All right, Ricky, it's it's fun reminiscing and talking about the podcast and all, but let's ah let's shift it over to you and one of your pet projects, and that would be the Arkansas Drive-In.
00:30:19
Speaker
From what I remember, it's been, what, four or five years now? We just completed our fifth version, although we did start in 2019, we should be. you know should be getting ready for the upcoming eighth one.
00:30:33
Speaker
But due to that pandemic, we we're still happy we have completed five of them. So we had just had our fifth annual, if you want to call it annual, might be a little, if you want to get technical, it might not be.
00:30:45
Speaker
Semi-annual. Yeah, iteration. That's good. It's good to be clear. i Again, I don't work in Arkansas, I never have, but everything I've heard and seen and observed is like, it's been largely successful.
00:31:00
Speaker
And I felt like it like kind of came out of nowhere. And then all a sudden it's like all the people, especially in one of the smaller states of the region of like getting people together and all. So tell me where did this idea come from?
00:31:15
Speaker
Well, you know, I'm trying not to sound biased as is one of the creators of the event. So let's keep that lens in mind as I'm answering all these questions. But, um you know, I just had this idea myself.
00:31:28
Speaker
I had become state director in 2019 at the beginning at the annual conference, I guess after the annual conference. And I was at the state caucus, right?
00:31:39
Speaker
And I had had the idea of somehow getting Arkansas housing professionals and and folks together, some smaller type of event. So I just kind of pitched the idea as ah as a conversational topic at the state caucus that year and said, you know would anybody be interested in this? And the room was pretty receptive to it and I was actually sitting next to my current boss, not boss at the time, didn't work here at the time, but Dr. Craig Seeger.
00:32:06
Speaker
um And he was like, yeah, and we can host it, thinking that, you know, there in Conway, the center of the arcrk of Arkansas, University of Central Arkansas, somewhere easily accessible. and I was like, well, that's great. And then he mentioned, yeah, and if anybody needs to stay, they we can provide ah overnight housing for free.
00:32:24
Speaker
try to keep the costs low. So it just kind of went from there. And I got interest from a few other people that that wanted to serve on the host committee. And then we picked a date and talked to the SWACUO Executive Board about blessing and it because we had this idea, you know, what are going to call it?
00:32:41
Speaker
Is it going to be like some of the other states in SEA Hill where that when they have state regional or state meetings and stuff like that, it's like... Oh, interesting. Like Mississippi Association of Housing Officers, although it's not...
00:32:54
Speaker
necessarily a separate organization. It's part of under the umbrella of S.I.H.O. So we were like, are we going to call it our K.U.H.O. And, you know, Craig at times still does. But, you know, having the resources of S.W.A.K.U.H.O. behind us, um we brought it to the executive board. I believe Matt Grief was the president at the time.
00:33:17
Speaker
so we we eventually went with the idea of it just being like S.W.A.K.U.H.O. Arkansas. So. call it the Swakuho, Arkansas Summer Drive-In Conference. And, know, we decided, know, we have a keynote speaker or are to have breakout sessions?
00:33:32
Speaker
We're just going to one meal. We're going breakfast. All those logistics and stuff started. So we just planned that out. And that first year, i'd have to pull numbers. And I'm sorry, I didn't prior. ah believe we had upwards of 75 attendees.
00:33:47
Speaker
And one of the big goals of this event was to be a ah high impact but low cost and easily accessible event for the state. and really try to get some of those housing professionals, those that work in the field who may might not have the resources to come to an annual conference because we know that can be cost prohibitive.
00:34:09
Speaker
So we only charged $25 that first year and we haven't gone up significantly. I think this year was 40. So we've kept it, you know, food costs have gone up, room reservations and stuff like that, but we've kept the free housing, um,
00:34:24
Speaker
This last year we secured a sponsorship and we were very thankful for that. You know, there's traditions that go along with it now. Those that come from far away and stay the night before, we go out to eat and bowling the night before.
00:34:36
Speaker
but so That's awesome. that's been really fun and something that's become a tradition. And even some of those in Little Rock and institutions closer who don't stay the night, they'll come the night before to go bowling and dinner with us, go home and then come back for the event the next day.
00:34:50
Speaker
so So that's been and really fun and we're really proud of of the event. I love the the philosophy of high impact, low cost. Like, isn't that what we want out of everything?
00:35:01
Speaker
Right. And if we could do it for free, we would. It's not meant to bring in the money. It's meant to keep it as low as possible to attract as many people as possible. Well, and I think that that's a lot of, at least in my opinion, that A lot of times people's entry point to like professional association involvement is some tiny little thing that's low cost, either time commitment, but potentially high impact.
00:35:27
Speaker
And we can define those things any any number of ways. But like once you do that, it's like, oh, I can now see more options. And I think what at least again, for my observations, like you're probably yeah capturing a lot of people who don't come to annual conference, right?
00:35:43
Speaker
Right. And, you know, this year we had ah few institutions who haven't been institutional members of the association for the last couple of years or in a while. So we're trying to encourage membership and things like that. And definitely plenty of people that that either can't or don't have the capability to come to the larger events have been able to attend. and And we've seen that and we've appreciated it and we've tried to to focus on how can we grow, keep growing that aspect of it too.
00:36:11
Speaker
So did you have any idea what kind of like topics you wanted or what kind of content when you were in the initial kind of planning ideation stages? No, not really at all. Just anything. you know it was going to be housing focused So that was one of the big things to come up with. And it's become a challenge over the years is, you know, what is the content going to be and how do we keep it fresh?
00:36:32
Speaker
How do we not repeat the same thing every year? So over the years, we've on some occasions had keynote speakers. Other occasions we haven't because when you have zero money to pay someone, you're limited on your...
00:36:45
Speaker
But we've we've been able to use networks and and things like that and leaders at our campuses who have relevant topics to talk about. And um that's proved to be successful. And on the years we haven't had a keynote speaker, we've brainstormed various other ideas, whether it be human bingo or case studies.
00:37:04
Speaker
That's something we've done a couple of times, including the first year where we used the emergency management coordinator here at the University of Central Arkansas. to come in and lead some case studies on emergency management and that was love that was pretty successful and you know we've just done various things for a couple years we did round tables and they were content based whether it's student staff training or professional hiring but then another round table block where it's based on your position level Well, we did that for a couple years and we're like, all right, that's getting a little stagnant. So how do we change this up? And so this year we really tried to push breakout sessions more to get more submissions and encouraging each institution like, hey, if this isn't required, but can each institution attending at least present one or two programs?
00:37:51
Speaker
And for the most part, a lot of them did. And we were able to offer a lot more variety this year. many programs do you generate? 12 to 15. I just think that sounds like a ton for what it is.
00:38:04
Speaker
For this size event, yeah. yeah We would have loved to have had more, but we always shoot for the stars, so maybe we're just being a little bit too ambitious. We did have two or three rounds of breakout sessions that we were able to fill completely, and they were very well attended, and the variety was great, whether it's small school, large school, different topics that are relevant going on in our field right now. There was a lot of variety.
00:38:30
Speaker
um I mean, i think that sounds like a ton for what, like ah ah a day drive in with, I mean, I'm starting to do the math in my head, but i don't know all the other logistics, but um anyway.
00:38:43
Speaker
yeah and Maybe I'll come next year just to – Hey, you're more than welcome. And that brings up a good point that we're not just limited to Arkansas. Our friends at the University of Memphis have joined us two or three years now, and it's been consistent.
00:38:55
Speaker
And they actually host a drive-in every couple years um in Tennessee and for – what direction is – oh, my gosh, I'm directly – East Tennessee.
00:39:05
Speaker
No, that's West Tennessee. West Tennessee over at Memphis. Yep. I'm from East Arkansas, so I think East Tennessee, I'm like, nope, that's the opposite. ah They host a drive-in, and we're going to try take some of our folks to support them to try to return the favor of them attending ours. So we really appreciate our friends, the Memphis Tigers, coming on over, and and we have a blast with them and all of our Arkansas friends as well. And we we would never turn away anyone from anywhere that wants to come to our event.
00:39:33
Speaker
Well, I love it And maybe this is getting a little off topic, but a shout out to Memphis. Maybe maybe you can share this with them and then they'll start listening. And actually attended the student staff leadership conference last year and I believe I had mentioned going this year. I'm not sure if they are. Don't want to call them out.
00:39:49
Speaker
Yeah, they actually went to TCU last year for our event. Well, I think this is so and this is totally off topic, but it's something that's very interesting, especially now with like ah tightening budgets and lack ah lessening support for travel, that the regional boundaries may be coming more problematic in some cases. Because I think about like us, we're pretty central.
00:40:13
Speaker
yeah I mean, we're large in terms of geography of at least Texas. But you think about UMR, which goes... from Oklahoma, above Oklahoma, all the way up to the Northern border and then into Canada.
00:40:27
Speaker
Like if they hosted a conference in North Dakota, the people who are in Kansas would have an easier time traveling to Oklahoma or even DFW than getting all the way up there potentially.
00:40:43
Speaker
And now we have, you know, Memphis is crossing the border. Like I just think there's a lot of unique opportunities Oh, for sure. I mean, we had a Kansas institution last year attend our SWACU annual conference in Norman, Oklahoma. So that was great.
00:40:55
Speaker
And was it because of geography? yeah I love that. I think that's great just down the road. If you if you think about it compared. to going to another place in their right so and probably more affordable and friendlier i'm just kidding anyway but fun things to think about it's like oh but it really that that i think it's still relevant what we're talking about because the idea of accessibility and Just because you're in one region, you know, you talked about resources and protecting those resources and thinking about institutional money and things like that and how you can best utilize it. If that means going to another region, that's fine. Make friends.
00:41:33
Speaker
We're good friends with the University of Memphis now. hung out with them at Akuhoa. Really good relationships. So it's it's great on our end. It's great on their end for them because it's just down the road just perks for everyone.
00:41:47
Speaker
Nobody's planning a hostile takeover, but the tent is big enough for everyone. No, but hey, they need to pay their membership dues. That's my next goal is to get the University of Memphis to pay Slacujo dues. he hear and Let the world know.
00:42:03
Speaker
All right. So I think i know the answer to this, but do you feel like this pet project of yours has been successful?
00:42:11
Speaker
Again, biased, yes. I think we've attracted, like mentioned earlier, some some people and institutions that don't have the capability of coming to our larger events just due to cost, due to limited budgets, things like that.
00:42:30
Speaker
um or just other priorities, but this is something easy they can come to. And we've seen them not only attend, but also fully participate. And I think that's important too. And whether that's looking at the evaluation after on asking, is this your first SWACUHO event? And then follow it up with, would you attend again? Or would you encourage someone else to attend this event? We've seen great data come back on that too.
00:42:52
Speaker
So... It's not just me being biased. I think we have, we have, we haven't consistently asked over the years, but we have the last couple of years and it's proven that at least the people to fill out the survey, they've had a good time too.
00:43:05
Speaker
Well, and i think sometimes a a bigger indicator than all the, you know, and being a data junkie but itself is like more than the data and the survey results is like, are people talking about it? And people are talking about it. So I think that's a ah good indicator for sure.
00:43:20
Speaker
Yep. Now, my real question then is, we're just going to keep talking about them to encourage their joining and membership and participation. But ah say Memphis today called you up and said, Ricky, we've got this great job.
00:43:33
Speaker
Come work for us. And you said, yes. Would the Arkansas drive-in persist without you? I'll be honest. I don't think right now it would.
00:43:44
Speaker
um because i don't think i've done an appropriate job of either creating documents of this is how you do it ah or preparing the next i don't want to call it generation that's not the right word but the next group to be able to to keep carrying the torch of the arkansas drive-in but it's something i'm working on though with with encouragement of others and and things like that is creating a manual. Maybe it's not just to continue the Arkansas drive-in, maybe it's to replicate it elsewhere too.
00:44:12
Speaker
um but I like that idea. And also proving that, you know, it's, Yes, it takes work, but it's not it's not the end of the world. It's not that much, if you really think about it, that it's possible to to do this. so So next year, I'll call her out. Leanna Payton, our Arkansas State Director on the SWACU Executive Board, she's taking the baton next year.
00:44:36
Speaker
She's going to be the committee chair. I'm going to still be around, but I'm not going to. i' not going to do all the details like I usually do just because I want to be able to prepare someone else and also not just her, but make sure somebody is working with her. That way, when she's not the position anymore, somebody else can take it on.
00:44:52
Speaker
So whether it's documents or just giving people the hands on experience, it's something that I haven't done well so far, but that's something we're going to be intentional about in case something like a job change or leaving the field or something like that ever it does happen.
00:45:06
Speaker
Someone once told me that it's easier to follow a path than blaze a trail. And you talk about documentation, I think is so appropriate and so transferable to anything. It's like we'd probably all do better with onboarding people if we just had more documentation laying around or procedural manuals or even basic checklists. Like, what are you talking about when you talk about, because though you've described several variations of how the drive-in function, whether it's ah breakouts and keynotes or not, or bullying or not, or, you know, it's a little different every year, it sounds like.
00:45:41
Speaker
How do you create documentation for something that seems but standard but variable? Right. So there's obviously going to be things that don't change too much. You know, UCA dining is going to have to be your, if we're here, which, Hey, that's up in the air.
00:45:57
Speaker
Maybe somebody else could host, but you know, you're going to have to work with the dining company to, to, to plan a meal. You're going to have to have some type of schedule, um whatever it may be.
00:46:09
Speaker
So, yeah. All right. So that's great. Documentation what, but When working on this, have you grown any professional skills that you wouldn't have had or wouldn't have honed otherwise?
00:46:28
Speaker
Well, can definitely host an event very easily. There's no doubt about that. You know, thinking back when I was an RA or something, hosting programs or something like that, I guess I began to get the experience then. All transferable.
00:46:41
Speaker
and logistics, but this has definitely solidified those things. I've ended up you know being a part of the Arkansas Student Affairs Association, or ARSA, and ah serving in leadership for that association, including as president, but we've brought back drive-ins and other events for that association. And they're ah they're easy because I've done this with Swakuho for so long, so I can throw together at a conference.
00:47:06
Speaker
and Not to say, again, not to say it doesn't take work, but it seems way easier to me now. But skills such as the leadership and coordination, logistics, communication, the collaboration is the big thing. I've i've tried to be intentional every year of getting people on the host committee um We've obviously had people here at UCA, and if I have an Akuhuhoi intern or someone working, I let them get the experience of helping out, and a couple couple have done that over the years, but also I'm intentional about getting folks from other institutions.
00:47:39
Speaker
So various people have served on the host committee over the years off and on, and the collaborative part of it has been really important. So it's definitely hadn't been a one-person show. Well, I think that's important, too, as we often forget we often forget the like networking or flexing our network or influencing others as a skill.
00:48:01
Speaker
And as you talk about trying to recruit people for giving presentations, I mean, the same thing with podcasts, like it's sometimes that's the hardest part is the logistics is a breeze. Like, yeah, we got room space. We'll show up at this time and whatever, but we got to fill the content. Is that, that you know, flexing your influence is a skill.
00:48:19
Speaker
That's a great way to put it. Flexing the influence. Cause you know, we opened up, proposals for our breakout sessions this year and they weren't going too well. So I personally, you know, use that network to say, hey, I think you you're probably not thinking about it, but I think you'd be great at doing this. So we had some of our smaller schools put in sessions that were absolutely amazing.
00:48:39
Speaker
And they might not have done that without the little little nudge Did you ever tell someone you'd be disappointed in them if they didn't present? I try not to go that far. I haven't had to get that and to that point yet.
00:48:52
Speaker
Use that tool sometime and then let us know how it goes. Oh, great. Yeah, I'll do that.
00:49:00
Speaker
All right. um Good stuff. Anything else on the Arkansas Drive-In as a pet project or operating that pet project that you want to talk about? i don't think so. i Other than just it's been it's been a really professionally rewarding experience to to feel like i've I've given back and created something new and and hopefully made a difference in at least some professionals lives of getting them involved and more connected to to our association and to others in the field.
00:49:30
Speaker
Well, everything I'm about to say is completely anecdotal and not being interested in that, but it's interesting to see how things like this can, as we talked about earlier, like connect and involve.
00:49:42
Speaker
i don't know, I feel like Arkansas is on the rise at the moment in terms of like involvement and their participation over the last few years. And ah I would say some of that has to do with you and facilitating the microcosm of that. So well done. Well, I appreciate the the kind words.
00:50:00
Speaker
A couple last minute project related questions I think about often is like, you know, these things aren't necessarily in your job description. If it's, you know, you tell your boss or not that you're working on this thing.
00:50:15
Speaker
be there I think there could be some hesitancy to it. Like, oh, you're going to do that. What if it doesn't work out? Or are you not working on this? Right. What are you actually spending your time on? Are you achieving what you need to do from your actual job description?
00:50:30
Speaker
Yeah. Yeah, for sure. Those are good questions. I think it ah you know can go either way. Sometimes it's fun to just kind of ideate in the background, but there's a, and it's probably a gray area. There's a tipping point at some point where it's like, well, this is becoming really real and maybe I should give you a heads off. Yeah.
00:50:47
Speaker
Yeah. This might take up some of my attention. yeah but Yeah. Yeah. like And, but I think that leads to the next question of like, does job performance have anything to do with this? Like being able to manage like pet projects from beginning to end from along the way.
00:51:03
Speaker
I mean, I think it could be a reflection of how you handle your job if you're able to take on other tasks and stuff like that. So it could be a reflection of of you. Yeah. Like if you can manage stuff, it's like, ah well, I'm doing all the things. I've got this for free time and or not free time, but I've got unstructured time. that Yeah. But don't be the person that then takes on extra and then complains about not having time to do your.
00:51:27
Speaker
Don't be that person. oh I want to do all these things and then I want to complain about how many things I'm doing. yeah I've seen it. All right. And then the the one I think about the most is and not necessarily the two we've talked about today, the big ones, but like what if nobody cares about your pet project but you?
00:51:46
Speaker
Yeah. And when going back to the drive-in and and bringing it up in 2019, I was a little nervous asking. i was like, hey, I have this idea, but what if what if the room's silent? What if there's like, yeah, no we have zero interest in this.
00:52:01
Speaker
So I think there's a little nervousness that goes into the beginning of it, and what if nobody cares? But then what if it's more of a smaller project and you actually put work into it and then still no one cares? And you're a little bit demoralized.
00:52:17
Speaker
Or the the flip side that I think about is, you know, they care in the sense of fine, tolerate, whatever, but don't care enough to keep it going once you leave.
00:52:28
Speaker
Yeah. And those are very real. I think that's fine. like I can think of some of the, some of my favorite things I've ever built didn't persist longer than I was in that position or volunteer role or whatever.
00:52:43
Speaker
And people are always like, how frustrating. was like, I actually think it's okay. Like, it's fine. Leadership changes, priorities changes, ah new initiative. You know, there's all sorts of reasons why. Like, it doesn't mean it was a silver bullet idea, but I still think about the growth and the skills I did. Like,
00:52:58
Speaker
And it could be something that was relevant for that season for that moment. Yeah. I think about even with our association, how the executive board, let's say half of it, in a sense, changes every year. So every two years, you could have completely different leadership that's going to have different priorities.
00:53:16
Speaker
going have a different president leading the association who has different goals. So things are going to change. And that's, yeah, it's perfectly fine. Change is, what they say? The change is only consistent thing in life.
00:53:28
Speaker
That's right. Then other people say change is good, but I prefer bills. But ah yeah, you're absolutely right. Like things, and sometimes these ideas are like, these pet projects are like lightning in a bottle.
00:53:42
Speaker
Like, It came out, it peaked, it happened, and then it didn't persist, and that's okay. All right, Ricky. So as we look to wrap up this ah episode, be honest. Were you nervous about participating?
00:53:58
Speaker
Yeah, for sure. obviously was laying in bed last night thinking, oh, gosh, as we talked about earlier, you know, the idea of I've never done a podcast before. um I've done different projects throughout undergrad and and my professional career, whether it's being on camera or the local news on move-in day where I was extremely nervous or recording a housing promotional video as a student not leader. But I was still a little nervous, and especially this morning, you know, opening up the the software and especially hitting record, you know, shaking a little bit and all that. just the I think it's just the unknown, but there was also an excitement to it.
00:54:38
Speaker
an excitement to be able to bring this important initiative back to have some fun conversations and really see what we can do with it moving forward. All your comments about the, the news and everything.
00:54:49
Speaker
ah Former director retired now once told me that any day you're not on the front page of the paper is a good day. Oh yeah. I think about that often of like, you know, it's okay to be in the background, but you know, Ricky, you're on the front page of the paper today, but for good reason.
00:55:06
Speaker
So yeah, Now, the obvious follow-up is, and tell the world, did you have fun? Oh, this has been an absolute blast because I think, and I hope our listeners agree that just having these conversations is something fun to listen to, to grow from, and just be able to to get more connected to Swakuho, to the profession, and get know us a little bit. This has been a blast for me.
00:55:32
Speaker
So as ah yeah as we look to continue to like update, change, modernize, whatever, look at sustainability, like one of the things you and I have talked about is like different sort of ideas for episodes. So you got any ideas or want to share any that we've talked about? Maybe it'll spark an interest among somebody who might be listening.
00:55:54
Speaker
Sure. And ah one of them that I really want to do, and I haven't figured out necessarily how to approach it yet, but we're going to figure it out because just the topic of sitting around the dinner table or something with your family at Thanksgiving or Christmas and something like, how's work? What do you do again? And it's like, well,
00:56:16
Speaker
You do student discipline. Yeah. but you mind do that That's part of it. Are you a professor? What subject do you teach? You work at a university, but you you don't do anything in the summer, right?
00:56:26
Speaker
Um, stuff like that. So explaining to our friends and family that what we do, that we, uh, that we really can make a difference in our jobs and be there to support students to achieve their goals.
00:56:40
Speaker
You know, what's our elevator pitch as student affairs professionals, especially working in housing? We're not we're not just managing a property, you know, we're we're hopefully developing students, making a difference in lives.
00:56:55
Speaker
But I don't think we do a good job of telling that story. I think that episode would be fantastic. It reminds me, I had the idea, or tried to, and I i made it a little ways, but never got it ah Partners and spouses.
00:57:08
Speaker
Yeah. ah housing special think That would be a fun one too. but Oh yeah, for sure. Especially if they're on and serve in duty rotations and have to deal with the phone ringing in the middle of the night or fire alarms.
00:57:19
Speaker
Yeah. Yeah. Oh, that's a fun idea. We haven't talked about that one. That's great. i I think a couple of things I never got, I never experienced, like I mentioned earlier about the maintenance facilities ones that are really like, I never got into the area of like occupancy management, room assignments.
00:57:38
Speaker
Like, I think it'd be fun to get some like travel authorizers and PCART, you know, administrators on because there's a lot of fun in asking. i remember I,
00:57:50
Speaker
on the the preventive maintenance one, I was talking to Miles Haller and I said, oh, I think we should just be dropping filters off and having people change their own air filters is like life skill development, like a programmatic thing. And he's like, that's a terrible idea.
00:58:06
Speaker
I think when we get people from different functional areas in very candid versus response, its like there could be some a lot of fun, like Do you know what we do over here? Like, that's impossible. and um So I think that would be fun.
00:58:16
Speaker
Makes me think, especially with purchasing cards and travel and stuff. Also, what's a university rule? What's a state rule? And what's a you rule that you just do? Yeah, no that's it.
00:58:27
Speaker
That's not going to stick around after you leave that you're forcing us to do to make it more difficult. And what's a U-rule that you say is a state rule, but it's actually not? Right, because we don't know the difference.
00:58:38
Speaker
Yeah, and you don't want to take the heat for some obscure policy that you just made up. Yeah. Oh, wonderful. um You know, I just had this thought, and again, since we're just kind of ideating, I don't know when this episode will actually air, but maybe we should start doing an episode right before or right after annual conference with the incoming and outgoing president.
00:58:59
Speaker
You know, a look back and a look forward all at once. Yeah, definitely. I agree with that. And you can give the association more of, you know, if you weren't an annual conference, you didn't hear the fun speech by the incoming or outgoing presidents, which can be very interesting, by the way. But just so the association really has a grasp on what the new leader um has plans for.
00:59:22
Speaker
But also looking back, the past the that immediate past president, did they they think they achieved and made a difference? Yeah. What did they gain from the experience? And I think telling those stories can also help you know, demystify it a little bit.
00:59:35
Speaker
you know, you could be the president one day. Yeah, no, exactly. And that's what it is. It's demystifying is a perfect way to say it. All right, Ricky, I had blast, but now it's your turn. Why don't you close out this episode with the outro, which I actually didn't know was word until I started podcasting.
00:59:56
Speaker
So, Nice. Another thing you learned. yeah that's Probably my number one takeaway from this whole experience is outro is a word. Well, thank you, JC. And I definitely don't want to waste this opportunity to thank you for your efforts over the years of not only in general with the association, with Swakuho, but with this podcast. We know it wasn't easy. we know We know it took work and especially you being the, I don't want to say perfectionist, but we know you focus on details, which is, I think, a ah great trait about you.
01:00:27
Speaker
And you put out an ah amazing product that is proven to be continually continually relevant to And, you know, even yesterday on social media for SWACUHO, they were promoting one of the episodes. And so we need to go check. Yeah, we need to go check and see if there was any listeners based on that.
01:00:46
Speaker
But thank you so much for your your support and dedication over the years for the podcast and everything else to do with SWACUHO. And I'll say, at least from my perspective, we're looking forward to seeing what your presidential year brings.
01:00:59
Speaker
Well, we will wait wait and see. So for everyone else, if if you want to do anything related to this podcast, please let us know. And that means anything. You can be on it. If you have a topic, just want to shoot the breeze with some colleagues about some random stuff, want to host, whatever it may be, we are open to anything to help sustain this important effort.
01:01:23
Speaker
And with that, I say to you, good day.