Dana Green, Prospect Researcher at Lenoir-Rhyne University, received the Apra-Carolinas Professional Development Scholarship for 2018. This $1,500 scholarship can be applied to any professional development activities offered by Apra Carolinas or Apra International. Dana used her scholarship to attend the annual Prospect Development conference hosted by Apra International.

Christopher Resh, Apra-Carolinas Secretary and Blog Editor, spoke to Dana about her experience.

Christopher: Hi Dana! How was Pittsburgh? Any tourist highlights stick out at you?

Dana: I’ve been to Pittsburgh many times before - I have family there - so I’m already familiar with most of the tourist attractions. I did find an awesome taco restaurant across the street from the conference venue, though.

CR: Have you attended Apra PD prior to this year?

DG: No, this was my first time!

CR: I’m glad Apra-Carolinas was able to facilitate it, then. What made you choose this conference in particular?
DG: The fact that it’s strictly for prospect researchers. I’ve spent a lot of time on the Apra forums learning from my peers, so I knew this would be a good fit for me. I even recognized some people from the forums at the conference.

CR: There are so many opportunities for education in our growing field - does anything unique stick out about this conference as compared to others you’ve attended?

DG: I’ve attended a CASE conference in the past and Apra PD was a very different experience. There were some researchers there, but also many frontline fundraisers and administrators. Everyone at Apra PD, on the other hand, shared a passion for research. This made it much easier to meet and relate to other attendees - everyone was entering conversations with more of a common understanding.

CR: Did you a have a favorite session?
DG: I especially enjoyed a presentation on using LinkedIn for research. I was familiar with some of the more basic functions before the conference, but there is much more depth to it than I realized. Advanced search, in particular, seems very useful. There are also ways to find connections to boards and other groups for your 1st, 2nd, and 3rd degree connections, which is a great source of information.

CR: Were there any “audience participation” opportunities that stuck out to you?

DG: Yes, there was a “New Researchers Symposium” featuring an exercise in which groups of attendees would collaboratively create a research profile. I especially liked that this activity gave us a chance to talk process instead of just resources - not just where to look, but where to look first and how to move from there.  

CR: Did you notice any common themes throughout the sessions? Anything that was new to you?

DG: The common themes I noticed were shared by my office, actually. One that stuck out was the shift from reactive to proactive research, and the benefits of taking the time to find the best prospects rather than jumping from event to event.

CR: Do you plan to commit to any specific projects or changes in light of what you learned at the conference?

DG: I’ll definitely stay committed to data cleanup. The importance of good data was mentioned many times at the conference. I’m also walking away committed to putting time into data analytics. It’s slower work, but finding the patterns and hidden gems in our database is rewarding.

CR: Thanks for your time, Dana! One last question - would you recommend that the next recipient of this scholarship use their funding on this conference?
DG: Absolutely! It was a great way to make like-minded friends and to network with researchers facing similar challenges.

This interview has been edited for clarity.

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