To equip students with better leadership skills, the Office of Student Leadership & Involvement will host the iLead conference Tuesday Sept. 18, beginning at 4:15 p.m. in the Comanche Room of Clark Student Center.

“Leadership is necessary for a lot of our students, it’s a tool they can use moving outside of the classroom as well as in their career moving forward and I really want students to walk away from this conference knowing how to apply that leadership,” Alex Collins, student organization coordinator, said.

Within the conference, there will be six breakout sessions that include several topics. One of the topics being Mustangs Link training, will explain how to run an organization through the new program since the recent transition from OrgSync. Another topic is event planning, which will be for student leaders who need help with brainstorming events. Then there will be recruitment & retention that will talk about how to get people to join your organization and how to keep them involved in it.

“Dr. Syreeta Greene, [Director of Equity, Inclusion, and Multicultural Affairs], will speak about the power of diversity and inclusion and how that strengthens an organization, AJ Lopez [Social Media Coordinator of Student Affairs and Enrollment Management] is speaking on how to develop a digital voice in a society that really focuses on social media, and our keynote speaker will be doing the session of balance and wellness as a student leader,” Collins said.

Craig Bidiman, health education and wellness promotions specialist from the University of Massachusetts Boston, will be the keynote speaker.

“[He] is all about authenticity, so basically answering how do you be yourself as a leader,” Collins said.

The conference is open to any student interested and Mitch Kipp, student officer of Student Leadership & Involvement, encourages anyone who’s even slightly interested in becoming a leader to attend.

“We’re expecting a pretty big turnout with how many people have already signed up,” Kipp said.

For students who have already registered, they can expect a free dinner provided by the Student Government Association.

“SGA is providing the dinner and we are having a taco bar with chips and salsa and assorted cookies and options for vegetarian and vegan meals,” Collins said.