Terminology

• Year-Round Events—Year-Round events are those in which students and adults can participate at their home congregation prior to convention.  They are designed be done year-round and are non-competitive.  Completion of requirements and registration for the specific event are required prior to the convention registration deadline.
• Awesome Achievers—a chart showing the number of participants by category for the past several years.
• Breakout Room—a room at convention for all students in a particular grade level event to gather in before dividing out into smaller groups.  This is the first room listed in the convention program for an event and grade level.
• Convention—an annual, weekend event where thousands of youth and adults gather for the purpose of participating in events (such as Bible Bowl, Speech and Debate) and for receiving recognition for events completed at their home congregation and at convention.  Convention encourages and motivates participants to grow.  It brings families and churches together by crossing generational lines.
• Competitive Events—Convention events in which students compete with others of similar age and ability. Winners from previous years are promoted to "Winners' Circle" (see below) to challenge higher achievers and to make first-time participants feel more comfortable. This levels the playing field.
• Convention Events—Events participated in at the national convention each year.
• Coordinator—Volunteers at the national convention who manage the details of specific events.
• Events—Areas that develop leadership skills in which youth and adults can participate year-round and at the convention.
• Evaluation Form—Form used by the event judges at convention to evaluate students’ entries or activities. Can be found in the official Convention Rules Book.
• First Time Observers—Groups that want to attend the convention to learn more about it before starting the program may be designated as First Time Observers.  No one in the group participates in any events.  This applies to entire groups—not individuals or families within an existing group who are attending for the first time.
• Group—the group of individuals at a congregation who participate in the Lads to Leaders/Leaderettes program.
• Group Leader—the person selected by the elders of a congregation to lead the local Lads to Leaders/Leaderettes group.
• Group Registration—To register for convention, group leaders login to the National Service Center website and enter the events each student and adult in their groups are participating in, and enter the hotel room requests for their groups.  The deadline to complete event registration is a date selected in January. Hotel reservations have a later deadline, but hotel rooms are typically filled long before the deadline.
• Holding Area—area near the stage at the national convention where students who are next in line to go on stage are called to wait.
• Hotel Deadline—the last date that changes can be made to hotel reservations. Hotel rooms are typically filled long before the deadline.
• Hotel Coordinator—the individual at a congregation who oversees the hotel room assignments and changes to hotel assignments.
• Kick-off—an event hosted by your local congregation, usually in the fall, to mark the beginning of a new Lads to Leaders/Leaderettes year. At this event, group leaders will often ask students and adults to sign up for the events they are interested in participating in that year and will inform new participants about the many events offered through the program.
• Lads—young men who participate in the Lads to Leaders/Leaderettes program.  You will also often see the name Lads when referring to the overall program, in place of the full “Lads to Leaders/Leaderettes” name.
• Leaderettes—young women who participate in the Lads to Leaders/Leaderettes program. The program for girls was added in 1974. The girls’ aspect of the program includes teaching girls to speak, lead singing and otherwise lead within the parameters of a woman’s role in the church, such as teaching young children at VBS and in Bible school and other women at ladies’ days and in ladies’ classes.
• Leadership Camp—Leadership Camp is designed to help youth continue developing the leadership skills they work on throughout the year at their home congregations in a fun, camp setting.
• Lifetime Leader—an adult involved with the program in one or more of the following ways: participated in the program as a youth; currently a volunteer working with the youth at your congregation; and/or working with the National Service Center in some capacity, such as workshop staff or as a convention coordinator.  Youth who are in college and are no longer participating in youth events are eligible to be members, as well.  Lifetime Leaders is much the same as being an alumnus of a university.
• Non-Competitive Events—events in which students and adults compete only with themselves.  The majority of Lads to Leaders/Leaderettes events are non-competitive.
• Parade of Winners—reading the Old and/or New Testament through in one year.
• Parade of Leaders—two students from the local congregation are chosen to represent their congregation in a parade into the ceremony before the Friday night awards ceremony begins.  A banner with the congregation’s name and hometown is usually carried.
• User ID/Password—given to group leaders to enter the registration system. The password changes from year to year.
• Pearls—a deeper study into the Bible Bowl book(s) selected for the convention year. A 13-lesson study is prepared by the National Service Center each year. Various biblically-sound authors are selected to write the chapters.
• Pre-Convention Events—events in which students and adults participate at home and complete before the convention deadline each year.
• Registration Deadline—the date, usually in late January, by which registration must be completed and all pre-convention events verified.
• Verification Form—form that verifies completion of pre-convention, non-competitive events. Forms can be found in the official Convention Rules Book and are to be completed by the Group Leader.
• Winners’ Circle—First place winners from all previous Lads to Leaders/Leaderettes conventions participate with other first place winners from past years in the following events: Scrapbook, Song Leading, Songs of Praise and Speech. Winners’ Circle events help challenge high achievers while leveling the playing field for newer participants.
• Workshop—an in-depth presentation of Lads to Leaders/Leaderettes events and the necessary requirements to complete each one. Also includes a look at the history of the program and financial reports. Workshops are conducted free of charge by the Field Services team at Lads to Leaders/Leaderettes and are perfect for new congregations looking to start the program or veteran participating congregations looking for a refresher course.