Flyer for the event.
CRAS AES welcomed Robert Brock, director of education at the Conservatory, to speak on his opinion and what Professionalism is.
He started off the night by being five minutes late, forgot his equipment, was dressed like a bum, with sunglasses and ripped shirts, etc. He then said to everyone "You have one chance to make your first impression".
He spoke about how jobs will actually look at your social media and monitor what you post and how appropriate you are, how your spelling is, etc. Mr. Brock is a believer of "Better safe than sorry". To describe his opinion of profanity, he used the example, "Your in Las Vegas about to play a new game. They dealer tells you there's risks and there's luck. You must be aware that if you lose, you can lose a lot and the good news is that the odds is that you will hardly lose. You follow up with a question, "What will I win?" The dealer says "Nothing." Brock proclaims the game is all risk, no rewards." If there's no upside then why would you play, it's just like risking your career. When you're in a professional environment he makes sure that he doesn't need profanity.
His second topic was on, "Do what you say you're going to do". If you're not able to do it, then don't do it because people will lose trust in you. Another topic was "Be there". You want to be the kind of person that is available and it shows that you want to be there and want to be seen by showing your effort of having your presence there. A topic, which is huge for Brock and what motivates him to continue being an instructor at school is "Surround yourself with people better than you". From watching and learning from them, it helps you and motivates you to be better.
Another topic discussed was "Don't resent your gig". Don't complain about your job, it turns people off and turns yourself off. That negative kind of energy you give out to people you're working with and will start noticing. Going forward, Brock stated that when talking about professionalism you have to be cautious of what you say or impressions you leave. It's always the conversations that lead off to your professional future.. Don't ever think you don't make mistakes, own up to your mistakes. It's what you do after your mistake that makes the difference.
To finish the night, Brock's last topic was "Shine". It's based off of conversations you're not around for, it's always better to leave off a great impression and to leave people talking positively about you. In order to shine be happy, say yes and stand out in a positive way.
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