Over the first weekend of the Auckland Pride Festival for 2014 100 young leaders from around New Zealand and the South Pacific, three keynote speakers and a rich tapestry of community knowledge collided for the NXT 14 Youth Leaders Conference hosted at UNITEC. Aych McArdle was there and tells us all about it: Spanning three days, we gathered to learn about our histories, network with other young leaders from around the country and to brainstorm creative solutions to issues in our community. Sam Johnson speaks to the conference(image thanks to US Embassy NZ) With the daunting task of opening the weekends discussions, Sam Johnson (founder of the Volunteer Army Foundation) discussed his experience of recruiting and mentoring volunteers in the Canterbury Student Volunteer Army. Questions from the floor included asking for his perspective on volunteer retention to which he replied: “Give them a great experience!” Other trickier questions from the floor asked how as leaders we might address and intentionally break down dynamics of power within volunteer organisations that are, for the most part lead by those with the most privilege in our community. It would be a discussion that would continue over the weekend with general consensus among the group being that for those that are often not heard in our community it takes those with the loudest voices to just sit down and let others occupy that space. Timothy Kane (Associate Director of Inclusion Initiatives at The George Washington University) took the floor on the second day of our hui to share with us his perspective and experience of service based leadership. He shared with us that service is a queer value and when service becomes an integral part of our leadership culture, the return on our investment will be a hundred fold. Timothy’s warmth and passion for inclusion of all of our diverse identities really inspired the group to consider how our own organizations could benefit from really celebrating all of ourselves. OverWatch running team-building exercises (image thanks to US Embassy NZ) Day two saw our “Break out” sessions take place where smaller group discussions were lead around issues of strategic planning, Pasifika journeys, Takatāpui identity, human rights issues for trans*/intersex people and a session on leadership and governance. Most participants were sad we could only choose two of these sessions to attend and hope in future conferences we can get the opportunity to engage in all of these discussions. After our breakout sessions Andrew Whiteside (Gaytalk NZ) hosted a panel discussion with three MPs on how as young leaders we can most effectively interact with our elected representatives. Kevin Hague (Greens), Louisa Wall (Labour) and Claudette Hauiti (National) faced some tough questions but left us with a sense of hope for the future of our young people. They affirmed our passion for our voices to be heard and offered their assistance with all of the issues we raised. Professor Welby Ings (Professor at AUT and Director of BOY) wrapped up our last day with a journey through queer culture in New Zealand pre homosexual law reform and the inclusion of sexual orientation as grounds for discrimination in our human rights act. We learned about the dynamics of “family” in a time where our very existence was outlawed and the survival strategies employed. I don’t think there was a dry eye in the room as Welby concluded, and the room erupted into applause and a standing ovation, to honour both Dr Ings and our ancestors. Day three saw the pitching of ideas from the young leaders to the speakers panel for a project that the US embassy might back to support our young people. Congratulations to UniQ who will receive $7000 to fund a national hui for their leaders and to Rainbow Youth who will receive $3000 for a pilot programme distributing resources into our rural communities. (Image thanks to US Embassy NZ) We extend a huge thanks to the team at OverWatch (the military’s support organisation for LGBTI personnel) for leading us through team building exercises and sharing your perspectives on how to ignite a culture change within an institution. We look forward to seeing how you grow and expand to support civilian volunteers over the next few years and take active steps to address how trans* and gender nonconforming recruits might safely serve in the forces. Thank you to the US embassy and the Auckland Pride Trust for hosting a space where these great discussions and connections could take place. And of course for the generous funding of two awesome projects! Aych McArdle - 12th February 2014