Binghamton University student leaders will meet this Saturday at the third annual Leaders Engaging and Developing (LEAD) Conference to discuss experiences and provide each another with useful tips.

The conference, held on campus in the Mandela Room, provides the leaders of clubs, community government and the Student Assembly with the opportunity to “realize and hone their leadership skills,” said Jared Kirschenbaum, executive vice president for the Student Association.

The students will participate in leadership workshops that will go over rules that need to be followed as a student group on campus.

The events at the conference have been designed specifically for each of the three governmental groups on campus to improve and strengthen certain leadership characteristics. There will also be a number of speakers, with the keynote being former 2004-05 SA President Matthew Schneider.

“He’s going to talk about how being a leader in BU has helped him in real life,” Kirschenbaum said. “He’s a lawyer now for Proskauer Rose LLP in the city.”

According to Kirschenbaum, Student Assembly representatives will also be listening to David Hagerbaumer, director of Campus Life, speak about the history behind the assembly and the direction that they will be headed in the future.

The club presidents will attend a session of the Student Group Council, which is designed to help advise the presidents on subjects such as programming and different methods of membership for their groups.

A representative from each group will also be filling out “129A New York state certification for chartered organizations” form, which is necessary for a club to remain sanctioned.

“It’s a good chance to get in touch with other student leaders and to learn how they run their groups,” said Thomas St. Pierre, president of the Student Volunteer Center, the High Hopes Crisis Intervention and Information Hotline and the Anthropology Undergraduate Organization.

Amanda Pachomski, president of the Tobacco Awareness and Reduction Club, is looking forward to her first opportunity to attend the LEAD conference.

“As a new student group leader, it is kind of hard to run a meeting, but it sounds like it could be really helpful,” she said.

St. Pierre also believes that he can help other groups with his experience of running groups which are very different from one another.

“I have experience with groups that are expanding very fast,” he said. “I’ve had to add people to the executive boards, I think it would be an important lesson for other [leaders].”