Students from four colleges and universities will learn about promoting leadership and making ethical decisions at the Fourth-Annual Regional Leadership Conference on Saturday.

Students from Iowa State, the University of Northern Iowa, Simpson College and Wartburg College will attend the conference titled “Walk the Walk” at the Memorial Union. Registration begins at 8:30 a.m. Saturday by the Memorial Union Post Office, and the conference will run until 4 p.m.

Freshman Council advisers Kelly Koeppel and Jessica Schmidt have been planning the event since last fall. Freshman Council is hosting the event.

“We’re co-chairing the event, since we were around for the one last year,” said Koeppel, sophomore in child and family services.

The daylong activity consists of workshops or “breakouts,” diversity training, a student panel and networking. After registration, students select three breakout sessions to attend at different times.

“Each time slot has four options, so a wide variety of speakers and opportunities are available,” Koeppel said.

The topics of the breakouts include gender, interviewing techniques, etiquette and life choices. ISU faculty members, including Bev Madden, director of Career Planning and Placement Services, and Valerie Holmes, graduate assistant in educational and leadership policy studies, will lead the breakouts.

Brian Tenclinger, assistant dean of students and coordinator of Greek Affairs, will be giving the opening remarks. Students will then attend the breakout sessions and the diversity-training seminar.

Leading the diversity-training seminar will be members of the Interfraternity and Panhellenic Councils. The student panel, made up of prominent members of the ISU student body, will answer questions, Koeppel said.

“We’re expecting at least 75 students to attend, and about 45 are ISU students,” he said. This number is up from last year’s event, which had about 40 participants.

The conference is tailored to ISU students, particularly freshmen, but the event is open to anyone who wishes to attend. Some students attending are hoping to build on the skills they already possess.

“I’m attending because I thought it would be a good way to show other schools that we have a good program and to also become a better leader,” said Kerryann Mehmen, freshman in agricultural education.

Mehmen also said she sees the conference as a good way to prepare for the future by polishing her r‚sum‚.

The Regional Leadership Conference costs $15 for ISU students and $17 for non-ISU students. This fee includes a T-shirt, lunch, snacks and a binder of information.