Arena Academy 201: Management Skills Training Recap

Our Largest Arena Academy 201

We just wrapped up Arena Academy 201: Management Skills and are thrilled to welcome our largest 201 cohort to date into the Arena Community.

Over 2.5 days, we trained 210 experienced political professionals. Graduates of this cohort hailed from 37 states, 55% are women, 50% are BIPOC, and 43% are members of the LGBTQ+ community.

Our participants brought a wealth of experience: 50% have been employed in politics for 2+ years, 68% have managed paid staff, and 40% have held roles at department director level or above. Plus, we were joined by a record number of Bens (6 plus 1 Benjamin) and Graces (4) 😉.

If you’re hiring, check out our Talent Bank or email careers@arena.run to get connected to top talent from this cohort.

States represented by Academy 201 participants

Why Management Training

We kicked 2025 off with a training focused on people and program management because this moment calls for visionary and values-driven leaders.

As we debrief the 2024 election cycle, it’s more apparent than ever that campaigns need to overhaul how they operate. We’ve heard a wide range of challenges reported by 2024 campaign staff, ranging from challenges with the basics of running effective meetings to the more complex challenges of aligning strategy, budget, and team collaboration. To rebuild Democratic power, we need to ensure people in positions of management know how to build and oversee strong teams.

During Arena Academy 201, we explored the idea that all managers should do four things well: build space for self reflection, treat people well, communicate intentionally, and be strategic.

We spent the first day diving into a leadership self-assessment to help participants learn more about themselves and their unique leadership styles. On day two, we laid the building blocks for strong management, covering topics such as foundations of intentional management and budgeting strategically. We closed out the training on day three with choose your own adventure sessions that included topics ranging from hiring and onboarding equitably, performance improvement and termination, and transitioning into finance roles.

Throughout the event, participants connected, shared insights, and began planning their next steps in politics. Our Community Slack was abuzz with plans for in-person meet ups, offers of career advice, and collaborative strategizing about how to build more effective campaigns. The training proved to be a valuable opportunity for current and rising leaders to learn, network, and prepare for the evolving demands of campaign management.

Photo Gallery

Arena specializes in creating virtual environments that feel connected and fun, and allow participants to build lasting relationships. Here are a few photos from our time together

Our Impact

For our participants the experience of attending Arena Academy 201 is life changing. Here is a small sampling of participant feedback from the training:

I feel more confident in myself. I also feel hopeful, too, because I met so many people that want to change how campaigns are run.
Thank you for a great training and thank you for providing scholarships. I would not have been able to do this without that support!
This has been an amazing experience. Arena Academy 201: Management Skills made me realize A.) that I’m not alone in so many of my ideas and experiences and B.) that, while I’ve been showing up as a leader in countless roles, I’ve been struggling with my skills as a manager. I now have the foundation to start improving. Thank you <3
The agenda, slides, workbooks, and pre-work docs were all so well-organized and well-written. Everything was where it was supposed to be, it was all updated, and very useful. Also, every single session facilitator or trainer was well-prepared, extremely knowledgeable about their topic, and a confident presenter. I was so impressed!
The overall kindness and concern to present such thoughtful training shone through every day at every moment of the trainings by all the Arena staff. This was also extremely appreciated given that we are handling not only the massive loss of the last election but the daily dismantling of democratic norms that in my case, have brought my spirits down to a place of carrying heartbreak around with me.
It’s cool to see people come to the same conclusions even if they arrived at those conclusions in vastly different ways than I have arrived at mine. And it’s great that Arena compiles everyone together for a few days & doesn’t let infighting or faction-forming happen.

A hearty thank you to our sponsors

Arena is incredibly grateful for the support of our sponsors. We were proud to showcase their organizations, products, brands, and services to our community and help them build lasting connections with key decision-makers across the country. Their generous support made Arena Academy 201 possible.