Las Vegas, the City of Lights, held host to Kappa Kappa Psi and Tau Beta Sigma’s annual Western District Convention. As brothers and sisters trickled in on Friday evening, the events kicked off with a joint meeting. After dinner, the Green Valley High School Symphonic Band put on a wonderful concert while Kappa Kappa Psi and Tau Beta Sigma put on numerous workshops.

For the remainder of the evening, brothers and sisters from every chapter split into assigned groups and held their respective electoral caucuses. All of the nominees for district office came into our rooms, one at a time, for a thorough Q&A session, where they could explain their platform to rooms filled with brothers from many different chapters, as well as answer other related questions. As a new brother, I really enjoyed the bonding experience I gained from this interaction with other chapters. We grew closer the more we played off of each others ideas, and it seemed as if the more we learned about the nominee, the stronger we felt as a whole.

As the evening drew to a close, we all went back to the hotel and met with our own chapter to discuss upcoming events and our feelings towards each issue. We finally called it a night at around 4:00 a.m., when we stopped talking and started falling asleep.

A few hours later…well, about two hours later, it was time to get up and start a new day. The hotel provided a complimentary breakfast of muffins, bagels, pancakes, and even cereal, which was very scrumptious! The morning dealt mainly with forum sessions, which were amazing as well as inspirational. The guest speaker for Kappa Kappa Psi was unforgettable. His substantive and meaningful words left a lasting impression on all of us; almost everyone was moved by this man. After a short break, many brothers participated in reading band while everyone else got a nice long lunch break.

As lunch concluded, it was time for rituals. Tau Beta Sigma went first and Kappa Kappa Psi followed. The end of Kappa Kappa Psi’s ritual was met by a break for everyone and a chance for the banquet to be prepared (many chapters took this time to rehearse for the talent show). The banquet was delightful. Again, being a new brother, this was all new to me, but from the food to the awards ceremony to the slide show, I was so happy with the level of enthusiasm and commitment that every person in the room had. After the banquet we exited to the outdoor amphitheater for the “Fight Song Competition!” Every chapter was incredible, but a special shout out to the Lambda Alpha chapter for their “creation.” It was unique and creative. When this ended, everyone went back inside and gathered around the stage to watch the talent show. Every performance was thought-out and well-planned, but one or two did stand out, and thanks to all the support from Epsilon Kappa and Psi, PSIEK pulled it off!

Afterwards, there was a huge dance party on the stage itself. After getting hot and sweaty, we all came back to the hotel to talk more about elections. I’m sure every chapter did things a little differently, but with the Psi chapter, we stayed in the room for quite some time. Despite the fatigue we felt from discussing candidates, writing a letter of recommendation for Megan Fay, and bonding, we stayed committed to our cause. That night, I only got about 30 minutes of sleep, so I was pretty tired, but that being said, I wouldn’t have wanted it any other way.

Sunday morning greeted us with another great breakfast provided by the hotel, and with our final drive to UNLV. Kappa Kappa and Beta Sigma then went into their respective rooms to talk about nominations and to make some decisions about next year. After much deliberation, we finally came to a conclusion and made the decision regarding the officers for next year. We then waited for Tau Beta Sigma to get out of their separate session and we had one last joint session. We wrapped it all up by announcing the winners for “Fight Song”, “Display board”, “Talent Show” etc, and after a few last closing comments, we were all on our way back home.

This was one of my most enjoyable and meaningful experiences as a brother of Kappa Kappa Psi. I am so pleased that I got a chance to experience, firsthand, “For Music’s Sake: Outreach Conference 2007”.