The Iowa State Leadership Experience (ISLE) is designed to teach attendees about influencing change and further develop leadership skills.

ISLE is a free event for all Iowa State students that will take place from 10:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday in the Memorial Union. McKinley Paratore, graduate education student and assistant for ISLE, explained what this year’s Leadership Experience is all about. 

“It’s an event for all Iowa State students that centers around leadership and building your network,” Paratore said. “The overall theme of our conference this year is looking at what it means to be an influencer and how you can influence change and we tried to pick session topics that really relate to that.”

The event is focused around influencing others and working to create change within the community. The day is split into multiple sessions for students to fit in their schedules. 

“There’s two breakout sessions,” Paratore said. “Each of the breakout sessions have five different facilitations going on at the same time so students are able to pick whichever presentation they want to see. […] Some of the presentations are done by graduate students, undergraduate students, faculty members, staff members and people that are a part of the Ames community that have a strong grasp on what it means to be a leader.”

American Ninja Warrior Hoan Do is the keynote speaker for ISLE and is giving a presentation on being a strong leader and influencing change within others. Do has a method of breaking down leadership to teach the younger generation and help apply it to their lives. His leadership model is centered around building relationships, fostering excellent attitudes, practicing vulnerability and leading through action. 

There is a meet and greet with Do after his keynote presentation for attendees to ask questions and take photos. 

Paratore said she hopes to see a higher number of participants at ISLE 2020. As an incentive, attendees who stay for the end of the event are able to collect “free swag,” such as tee shirts, stickers and lanyards. 

“This time last year we had about 120 registrants,” Paratore said. “This year, we already have 180 people registered and we’re hoping to get that number to 200 for the day of. It would be really nice to see 150 to 170 actually attend.”