2010 NAAAP Convention Recap: Speakers, Keynotes, Awards & Fashion Show

Last weekend, I had the great fortune to cover the 2010 National Association of Asian American Professionals (NAAAP) national convention in San Francisco. I’ve already blogged about the keynotes by Chairman, CEO & President of Sybase John Chen as well as CIA Director Leon Panetta, as well as Comedian John Ki. I did also have a chance to sit in on a panel discussion, as well as cover the awards ceremony and fashion show.

I had the opportunity to meet NAAAP members and attendees  from all over the United States, including those from New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Texas and Washington state as well as from Vancouver, Canada. I even bumped into some volunteers I knew. Some had been active NAAAP members for years while others wanted to see what NAAAP and the national convention was all about. Generally, the make up of the attendees were professionals in their late twenties to their late thirties. I was impressed with the turnout (of over 600+ people) at the stunning Palace Hotel in downtown San Francisco. Some of the speakers were truly fantastic.

Hear more about my experiences, the NAAAP Awards and fashion show after the jump.

The session that I was able to sit in on was Luminaries in Business and Journalism, where to my surprise, I saw and later met Richard Liu, a former CNN Headline News report who was moving on to MSNBC starting at the end of August. I say to my surprise because I had actually Google’d Liu when I first saw him on cable, since I don’t often see too many Asian American male news reporters on TV. His background was similar to mine in that he went to business school but after his startup failed during the dot com bust, he wound up being a reporter in Asia. His prior experience was doing college radio.

The speakers at that panel had some interesting systematic ways of keeping their goals in mind and checking in to see where they were in the progress of their career and where they wanted to be. Liu always had an interest in media, and took his college radio experience into television in Asia, and then parlayed that experience into cable news television at CNN, and now MSNBC, where he will be covering politics based out of NYC. I actually got quite a bit from that panel and wish I had had the time to attend other sessions.

Every year, NAAAP honors ten Asian Americans for their contributions to the community. This year’s winners were John Cho (actor), Neil Horikoshi (President & Executive Director, Asian Pacific Islander American Scholarship Fund),  Martha Choe (Chief Administrative Officer of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation),  Dr. Howard Koh (Assistant Secretary for Health, Department of Health & Human Services),  Chan Hon Goh (Director, The Goh Ballet Academy & Former Prima Ballerina, The National Ballet of Canada), Dr. Qi Lu (President, Online Services at Microsoft Corporation),  Sonya Gong Jent (Vice President of Operations, State Farm), Michelle Rhee (Chancellor, Washington D.C. Public Schools), Doreen Ho (Former President & CEO of United Commercial Bank), and Mable Yee (CEO & Founder, Engage Her, Inc.).

Unfortunately, John Cho, Michelle Rhee and a few others could not attend in person, but the NAAAP chapters in their respective cities would be presenting the award in person later in the year.

Having never attended a National Association of Asian American Professionals (NAAAP) national convention before, I was pleasantly surprised to hear that the official proceedings of the convention was capped by a NAAAP fashion show. Macy’s (a perennial sponsor of NAAAP and of the convention) fashion collections were highlighted. I can’t say I’ve attended any fashion show before, so I wasn’t exactly sure what to expect (I have watched The Devil Wears Prada, does that count?). All the male and female models were current NAAAP officers and volunteers. I have to give the models credit since I can’t exactly say that I could put myself out there walking the runway!

Overall, I would say that NAAAP organization and NAAAP national convention had a lot to offer for those looking for personal and professional development, plenty of opportunities to network with interesting and accomplished professionals as well as have a lot of fun. So if you’re planning ahead, think about traveling to Boston for next year’s 2011 convention.