Where’s the Excitement?

July 1st, 2010 | Posted by Brian Root in Conferences | Resident Life | Uncategorized - (0 Comments)

This past weekend I returned from a trip to San Diego for the annual NACURH, Inc. conference. Folks in residence life may be familiar with NACURH – the National Association of College & University Residence Halls.

Although I’ve been working in residence life for a collective 8 years, both as a student and professional, this was my first-ever trip to a NACURH conference. NACURH is the national organization that many RHAs (Residence Hall Associations) are affiliated with. As the advisor to a National Residence Hall Honorary (NRHH) on my campus, I was able to attend with a group of my student leaders.

Like most student affairs professionals, I’ve been to my fair share of conferences, ranging from ACPA and APCA to NACA and the national Habitat for Humanity Youth Leadership conference. Yet, somehow this particular conference was a tad bit different. First off, it was run by students for students… that’s the special thing about NACURH. This conference had energy, pizzazz, intensity, and a sense of pride. All of this reminded me of an important lesson that I am guilty of forgetting.

That lesson? Be excited. Be energized. Be proud. Be all of these things in the process of our daily routines.

I was in awe through the duration of the NACURH conference. So much energy. Students standing, chanting, screaming, and applauding their home institutions and regions. Students dancing on the sidewalks, making up cheers and chants, and dressing up in costume. It was wonderful to see so many student leaders from across the country under one roof with so much excitement.

This conference caused me to reflect… What excites me? What energizes me? What am I proud of?

I wrote this blog post to get us all thinking about these three questions. Feel free to share. After all, we need to constantly remind ourselves of why we do what we do. We need to remind ourselves that there are things that excite us, energize us, and make us proud here in the student affairs profession.

Feel the excitement (NACURH 2010)

TuesTally: Conference Presentations

June 8th, 2010 | Posted by The SA Team in Conferences | Poll | Professional Organizations - (0 Comments)

If you cannot view this poll click here.

And here are the results from the last poll.

Calling all “experts!”

June 8th, 2010 | Posted by Cindy Kane in Conferences | Professional Organizations - (0 Comments)

One of the best things about the world of social media is that former barriers relating to positional leadership go out the window. You could banter for six months via Twitter with someone and then realize he is a published author on the very topic you are debating.  You can be a VP for Student Affairs and have conversation with first year RD’s about a campus issue that has you stumped.  You can also write blog posts on any topic and leave it up to your readers to figure out how credible your arguments are or how much experience you have had with the issue at hand.

After a few less than perfect educational sessions at NACA and ACPA this year as well as some growing interest in research and writing, I find myself thinking more about the idea of expertise in our field and how it is developed and proven.  I distinctly remember being a new professional and wondering at what point I would be ready to stand up in front of my colleagues and proclaim expertise on a topic.  I think as a new professional I figured I should present on anything and everything I had experience with and then after getting more experience I realized how little I really did know and how many others out there knew more.

I know the answer lies somewhere in the middle and the secret is to push yourself to learn new areas with the right amount of support and foundation to your work.  Given conference proposal season is looming, I wanted to offer a few tips to readers out there in SA Blog land if there is anyone else out there wondering what it takes.

If you are trying to think of a presentation topic to submit for an upcoming conference, ask yourself a few questions:

  • What has been the most important thing that I have done over the past year on my campus?
  • In what ways is my work innovative or different from my colleagues at other campuses in similar positions?
  • Is there an important discussion that needs to be a part of the conference that hasn’t been there in the past?
  • Is there an interesting point of common interest between my close colleagues that might make for a good co-presentation?

Once you’ve come up with the right topic of focus, it’s time to write your proposal.  I’ve observed a few important things about conference proposals and presentations that I want to be sure to share:

  1. It’s all about the description.  How you write your session description makes all the difference.  Even though you might have to write it six months before you present it, this absolutely must be the way you plan your session.  Your participants are using this paragraph to decide whether or not to attend, so you had better deliver on what you promise or you’ll have some unhappy friends in that room.
  2. Put your experience in an accurate frame. If you are a first-year administrator and plan to present on supervision, you can create a session called “My First Year in Charge” and be very authentic about your expertise and shed some great light on an important topic.  This kind of title will make sure that the right people come to your session and that the fifteen year Director of Residence Life doesn’t end up in your session as the cranky one in the first row if she’s surprised to know you are a first year professional.
  3. Be honest. If you are presenting on a new program, say it’s a brand new program and frame it as a presentation about your pilot year.  If you’re presenting on something that has faults, admit them clearly.  There’s nothing worse than watching a presenter burst into flames as question after question from the participants begin to reveal a more honest truth than the one that has been discussed for the previous 45 minutes.
  4. Anticipate your audience. It’s pretty easy to anticipate what your audience might be looking to explore and what may motivate them to attend your session.  Review your session description and try to think like your audience. “Reading this, what would I expect to learn?”  I once did a presentation relating to podcasting where a good portion of the participants assumed I was going to teach them how to podcast.  In reality, we were talking about using podcasts in leadership programming but they were looking more for the “how-to.”  In future sessions, I remembered to be much clearer about what the session was not going to cover.
  5. References are important. Someone out there probably thought this topic was worth talking about too.  A reference list for those who attend your session is such a great addition.  It will show your participants that your ideas are connected to the rest of the profession and will give them a way to seek additional knowledge on the topic after you leave them wanting more.  You can even use other colleagues as references if you are talking about program innovations on campus.
  6. Theme-related corny stuff only goes so far. Please resist the urge to get over-schmaltzy with the conference theme stuff.  I know that sometimes mentioned as part of  the review process, but if we’re talking about professional conferences we want to be sure these programs are grounded in some kind of reality.  If the theme is “Soaring to New Heights” you can bet on the fact that the majority of the proposals will be “Soaring to New Heights with Technology” or “Soaring to New Heights in Assessment Practices.”  You can do better than that.

I hope that these tips might demystify the program proposal process a little bit and won’t scare you off from developing an idea.  My goal is just to focus you on being comfortable in your own skin – it’s easy to see when a presenter isn’t comfortable with their own content.  If you pick something that’s grounded in your experience, you’ll be the natural and inspirational presenter that you hope to be!  Best of luck!

Tues Tally: Conference Tweet-Ups

May 25th, 2010 | Posted by The SA Team in Conferences | Poll - (0 Comments)

If you cannot view this poll click here.

And here are the results from the last poll.

Creating Campus Brand Ambassadors

May 18th, 2010 | Posted by Liz Van Lysal in Conferences | Creativity | Marketing | Technology and Programming - (0 Comments)

Last weekend I attended Ungeeked Elite in Milwaukee. Some have called it the South by Southwest of the Midwest, but I think it was more like TED. Each day, 9 or 10 speakers gave a 15 minute presentation followed by about 30 minutes of Q&A and discussion. This led to lots of great ideas for many of the attendees, including me. One of the speakers suggested we give away ideas for free to promote good karma, so here’s your free idea: campus brand ambassadors.

Many university communication departments hire an outside marketing firm to brand their campus experience (At UWM we’re “Awesome and Affordable“). Unfortunately, this brand doesn’t always mesh with the way students experience the university, especially if you consider how different an experience could be from the perspective of a new first-year student, transfer student, adult student, or remedial student. What if you gave a bunch of students a chance to experience their own 15 minutes of fame by being a brand ambassador?

Here’s how it would work:

  • Put out a call for participants. Just tell them they’ll be famous on the internet, and I’m sure you’ll get plenty of responses (maybe from some bloggers that already have current and prospective students as readers)
  • From all your volunteers, choose 10-15 that represent different parts of your student population (academic progress, age, ethnicity, socioeconomic status, hometown/state/country, GPA, etc)
  • Give these students a cheap video recorder and access to a collaborative blog.  Provide quick training on how to upload/publish their content
  • Don’t give them too much direction, but let them know what topics aren’t appropriate (underage drinking, nudity, etc)
  • Advertise the site that hosts all their content soon after students start to publish

It would take guts to do this, but what are some possible outcomes?

  • Increase the involvement of your brand ambassadors on campus
  • Attract prospective students that already have an idea of what the campus experience is like, perhaps increasing retention because they already know it’s a good fit
  • Discover what your university’s brand looks like from a students’ perspective

Some universities do a version of this, like MIT’s admissions bloggers, and the Alverno College Your Power campaign. Have you heard of a comprehensive program like this? Do you think it could work? Would anyone have enough guts to implement a program where students control their branding?

I’d like to give credit to Jun Loayza, who gave the talk that inspired this idea.

The New Student Affairs Conference

March 25th, 2010 | Posted by Ed Cabellon in #sachat | Conferences - (33 Comments)

Things have changed, and there is no going back.

I’ve been going to Student Affairs conferences since 1997, both at the regional and national level.  After not being able to attend any national conferences last year, I found myself at two this past month: the Association of College Unions International’s (ACUI) 90th Annual Conference in New York City and College Student Educators International (ACPA) here in Boston.  Both were fantastic experiences that enabled me to present educational sessions, reconnect with old friends and colleagues, and meet many new ones!

But, this year felt different.   Twitter (among many other technology tools) had broken onto the Student Affairs conference scene.  Each of the conferences I had attended, integrated some form of social media from planning and marketing to announcements and education.  But it was Twitter’s splash that got my attention.  I was excited that these Higher Education Student Affairs conferences were using it “officially” and it made me realize that things had certainly shifted.  Both conferences made attempts to connect with the established (and forming) Twitter communities and did a good job overall.

For any Student Affairs association leaders who are planning future conferences, I have some advice and takeaways:

Advice:

1.  Have a Plan, With Proper Buy-In

Before you make decisions on Social Media usage for your conference (e.g. Twitter, Facebook, Blogs, FourSquare, Ustream, etc.), decide what and why you want to use it for and that you have buy-in from your executive leadership.  You and your team will need a proper understanding of these tools and how they would accentuate the conference experience for you and your delegates.  Whomever will be sharing the responsibility for managing these tools will have to be proficient in the technology.

You will also need proper buy-in!  In their public addresses, ACUI’s Executive Director, Marsha Herman-Betzen and ACPA’s President, Tom Jackson both mentioned the importance of using social media tools in our Student Affairs work.  Tom took it to the next level by encouraging ACPA delegates to use Twitter throughout the conference by using hashtags #ACPA10 and #SAchat and even praised Eric Stoller for his work in raising Twitter awareness in ACPA.

2.  Tap into your existing Twitter Community

Identify who the “Power Users” are within your association.  These folks will be the ones who will be most active in  supporting your Social Media implementation.  Ask them for feedback and recommendations and include them on your planning teams.  The great thing about these folks is that they don’t necessarily need to be at your conference or planning meetings to help since they can promote your content and provide advice from wherever they are!

3.  Use #Hashtags / Backchannels to Enhance the Educational Experience

If you decide to use Twitter as part of your Social Media plan, make sure to have a proper conference hashtag that all participants can use.  On top of that, encourage your presenters to have their own hashtags as well.  This will create educational backchannels where all those interested in person and online can contribute to the conversations.  This also encourages live participation from conference delegates and creates an online transcript of what folks took away from the educational experience.

4.  Organize a Gathering

Whether it be in an educational round table and/or in a networking social, bring these folks together to meet in person.  At ACPA and ACUI, this was a major highlight for me and added value to my conference experience.  For the most part, I had been Tweeting with these folks for months, so the opportunity to meet was something I didn’t want to miss.  Having “Tweetups” gives these online communities the chance to continue the conversations in person.  Everyone I met at both conferences were fantastic, and “as advertised” :-) (#ACPA10 Photos | #ACUI2010 Photos)

Takeaways:

1.  Student Affairs Professionals Are Behind The Social Media Curve

Consistently at ACUI and ACPA, there was only between an 8% and 10% overall conference participation rate in using Twitter.  While I am not surprised, it has become more evident to me that the Student Affairs profession needs to seriously adopt an educational technology benchmark or standard.  Too many folks are either turning away from emerging technology, don’t use already adopted technology to it’s fullest potential, and/or delegate it all to students, graduate students or new professionals to manage.  It is time for us to look at ways to increase Educational Technology proficiency in our graduate programs, perhaps adding requirements to ensure that our “NextGen” of professionals are ahead of this curve.  We simply cannot continue at this lackluster pace of understanding or the next adaptation of technology will set folks back even further.

2.  Mobile Access and Video Delivery/Production Are Necessary Components

Something that ACUI did very well at their conference was provide an excellent mobile site for their conference attendees.  Based on Seth Hagler‘s Social Media Engagement Report for the ACUI 2010 Conference, there were some very cool statistics:

· The entire site had 1,964 total page views between February 21 and March 9, 2010.
· Of these, there were1,415 unique views of all pages.
· The most popular page of the site was the home page, with 593 total views. More telling, however, was 387 unique views of the site.
· The most popular feature of the site was the conference schedule, with a total number of 472 views, 346 of which were unique. Also, this page had an average view time 3:07, high for a mobile site.
· The least popular feature of the site was the delegate list, with only 29 total views.
· The most popular operating system used to access the site was the iPhone, with 391 site visits.
· The Bounce Rate, as addressed in the Conference Blog section, for the mobile site was significantly lower, with a figure of 35.86%, indicating a larger percentage of users visiting more than one page per site visit.

If there is anything we can learn is that mobile technology is growing at a rapid pace, and with more of our attendees on smartphones like Blackberrys and IPhones, this is a value added service that needs to part of your technology landscape.

Also, consider live streaming some of your larger keynotes and featured speakers.  I realize that there will be some “contractual” issues with certain speakers, but it doesn’t hurt to ask if this is an option as you begin to secure these folks.  With travel budgets where they are or falling, providing this “pay per view” alternative would be a very attractive and sought after service.  The first Association to do this will certainly make a huge splash.  Other “video” ideas include: creating a YouTube Channel for each Association, Video Blogs from Association Leadership, and Short Video Clips of people sharing their conference experiences.

@SethHagler Talk about ACUI | @WillisTJ Talks ACUI | @MrsKeegin Talks ACUI

3.  Make sure your Conference Site has Complementary (and Reliable) Wireless Access

This was my one point of frustration, that I don’t fault the respective Conference Planning Teams for.  I’m still trying to wrap my brain around why, in 2010, there wasn’t consistent, reliable, and FREE wireless access at the Conference Hotels.  As a delegate, presenter, and consumer, you want to give me and the hundreds of others using your venue the opportunity to tweet about how wonderful it is to have that type of access.  I understand it is an economics issue, but I hope that by this time next year, it is the norm to have this access.  I encourage the Conference Planning Teams to negotiate something so it’s delegates can enjoy some level of consistent WiFi access, even if I have to pay a little to get it.

What about you? If you attended any of these conferences as well as NASPA, what were your thoughts overall? How can we leverage the success of #SAchat to help shape the future direction of learning at our association conferences?

Preparing for Success at Student Affairs Placement Conferences

January 26th, 2010 | Posted by Sean Cook in Careers | Conferences - (0 Comments)

Springtime…the sun is shining, the birds are singing, and at colleges across the country, a young person’s fancy turns to thoughts of…unemployment?

In Student Affairs, this can only signal one thing…placement season is here. It’s time to brush up the resume, line up the references, check job postings, write cover letters, practice interview, really interview, and hope for the best. One part of this cycle in higher education is the placement conference, where candidates by the hundreds can answer the cattle calls of multiple employers, line up several interviews, and kick their search into a higher gear.

The three-hundred pound gorilla of placement centers these days is the Placement Exchange. A joint venture of ACUHO-I, ASCA, NACA, NASPA, NODA, AFA and HigherEdJobs.Com, this year’s exchange is being held in Chicago from March 3-7, just prior to the NASPA Annual Conference. According to the Placement Exchange’s website, 5070 interviews for 359 positions were held at last year’s conference in Seattle.

Two other larger conferences also offer placement centers: ACPA and the OshKosh Placement Exchange. ACPA hosts Career Central at their annual convention, held this year at the Hynes Convention Center in Boston from March 19-23. The OshKosh Placement Exchange is hosted by the University of Wisconsin-OshKosh and is in its 31st year.

For candidates that have a more regional focus, several regional organizations also hold placement conferences, including MACUHO’s Mid-Atlantic Placement Conference in Lancaster, PA from February 26 to 26 and the Southern Placement Exchange from March 11 to 14 in Memphis, TN. There are more, but these are the ones I could find while preparing for this article. If you know of another, please send it along, and I will make note of it in a future post.

For candidates that have never taken part in a large placement conference, the prospect of competing with several hundred people for positions can be pretty daunting. ACPA offers a great Guide to Demystifying Career Central at the Convention as a downloadable .pdf.

This guide offers steps for success before, during and after the interview, sample questions to help candidates prepare, resources and tips on handling illegal questions, negotiating an offer, planning your relocation, and more. These practical resources should be an asset to anyone in the Higher Ed/Student Affairs job market. I recommend reading it through well in advance of participation in any placement conference. It will give you a great feel for the placement experience.

Best of luck to you if you are a candidate this hiring season! In my next post, I will share some tips of my own. Though I probably can’t be as comprehensive as the ACPA Guide, I have been on both sides of the interview table at placement conferences, and can offer you some perspectives that will hopefully set you at ease and be more confident, and more prepared.

I’d also like to try a Twitter experiment to help keep the conversation going this placement season. If you are a candidate with a question about placement or an experienced professional (or employer) who has advice and perspectives to offer, please hashtag your placement questions and comments with #saplacement. Users can then follow these comments using their Twitter client and those of us with employment-related blogs and websites can post links to the trending topic or incorporate a feed to help others follow the conversations and add in their questions and advice. Let’s see if we can create a huge collaborative conversation that will help our colleagues and students succeed this placement season!

(This post is a cross-posting from my blog at  higheredcareercoach.com where you can find a Twitter feed tracking the #saplacement hashtag. Let’s get the conversations underway!)

,

Making the Most of Conferences – #SACHAT Recap

January 21st, 2010 | Posted by Ed Cabellon in #sachat | Conferences | Recap - (0 Comments)

Thanks again to @tomkrieglstein and @DebraSanborn for allowing me to moderate this week’s #sachat!  I had a great time and gained a new appreciation for what goes into managing this fantastic weekly #studentaffairs conversation!

Tonight’s #sachat on “Making the Most of Conferences” was a fantastic discussion!  The one hour conversation produced 608 comments from 54 student affairs professionals! We are continuing our strong 2010 start to #sachat.  We hope those of you who participated, enjoyed it and will share the information you learned with others!

In case you missed it, below is a quick recap. If you haven’t yet participated in an #sachat, learn more here.

Last Night’s Full Transcript
View as webpage
Download as PDF

Last Night’s Top Contributers

@edcabellon
@debrasanborn
@willistj
@ARL275
@princeje
@AndreaHart
@ChrisMacDen
@kprentiss
@lvanlysal
@hellohansen

Here’s to another successful #sachat!   See you all next week when we (hopefully) launch our DAYTIME #sachat!

Have a great weekend!

,

Confessions of a Conference Chair

November 24th, 2009 | Posted by Ed Cabellon in Conferences | Professional Organizations - (0 Comments)

OK, I'll admit it: it was better than I thought it would be!  The goal of organizing my own professional conference was built up in my head for the last 10 years, but living it last weekend far exceeded all that I had imagined (and there are few things in my life that have lived up to the picture that I had painted in my own head!)

Sunday ended the best professional experience I have had so far, chairing a Regional Conference for the Association of College Unions International (ACUI).  It was the Region's 60th Anniversary as well, so there were added expectations to deliver a quality conference for our 225 delegates (including 32 International delegates from Ireland, the UK, and Qatar) that joined us at Eastern Connecticut State University.  As I spoke at the closing brunch on Sunday, I shared three things that I learned through my experience:

1.  See Obstacles As Opportunities
As we began the planning process back in February, our world was in the midst of an economic meltdown.  There was a sense of uncertainty, doubt, and fear that very few people could come to our conference.  This was further fueled by the other ACUI regions experiencing downturns in conference registrations as well as sister Associations going through similar financial challenges.  However, we remained focused, came up with creative solutions, and used our obstacles to create opportunities.  We focused on our shared vision, made personal contacts, and were able to get a fantastic turnout.  How do you and your students turn obstacles into opportunities?

2. You're Only As Good As The People Around You
I was truly blessed to be surrounded by an amazing group of 22 professionals and 2 graduate students who came together and created a shared, exciting vision.  It was the largest Conference Planning Team ACUI Region 1 ever had, and some people questioned whether it would be effective.  With each meeting, they challenged the status-quo and thought BEYOND the box.  We complimented each other well, and it was their creativity, energy, and commitment that made the conference happen.  

3.  Success Favors the Prepared (and Opened) Mind
Steve Uzzell quoted Louis Pasteur during his opening keynote and it made me reflect on how our success didn't just come from preparation, but from opening our minds to new possibilities.  Without an open mind, preparation alone won't yield success.  For me, the best way to open my mind was to LET GO of control and let the them run with their ideas and support them anyway I could.  As someone who is a natural "do-er", this was my biggest challenge, but I learned so much more about myself when I just let go and trust their hard work.  As SA professionals, it is important to keep your mind opened to new possibilities and not get stuck doing the same thing over and over.

In the spirit of the holiday, I am extremely thankful for having had this opportunity.  I am a better professional today because of it and hope that you find this type of experience at least once in your Student Affairs career!

Acuir1_09CPT

, ,

The Value of State & Regional Professional Associations

October 27th, 2009 | Posted by Liz Van Lysal in Conferences | Professional Organizations - (0 Comments)

I’ve had my fair share of memberships to national
professional associations in my four+ years in student affairs, namely ACPA and
ACUHO-I.  I’ve had the privilege to
attend the national meeting of both organizations at least once.  Although I value what the national orgs
do for our profession (especially publications and job placement), I must confess that at the moment I’m getting more
professional development from my state association, WCPA.  Many of my colleagues belong to
UMR-ACUHO, and likely feel the same way.

Why I ♥ My State
Professional Association

 No membership fee.  Yes, I know this is not a benefit that comes with many
associations, but our state association eliminated the membership fee about a
year ago.  However, most
state/regional associations have membership fees that are significantly lower
than national associations.

Shared experience.  Most of the people in the association can immediately relate
with my professional experience, and I with theirs.  We all have similar types of students, are working under the
same state budget (those of us in public institutions, anyway), and are
impacted by the same local events.

Small, powerful network of professionals.  The membership to my state association
is currently a little over 300. 
Although that pales in comparison to the thousands of people that belong
to national organizations, it’s a powerful group for me.  Should I try to get a job at any other
institution in this state, knowing just a few of those 300 may help me get my
foot in the door.

Involvement opportunities.  It took me approximately 30 seconds to
join the Professional Development Commission; all I had to do was walk into the
meeting.   Some of my
colleagues have been on the Executive Board since they were in grad school or
their first entry-level position. 
All it takes to become a leader in this association is to announce that
you’re willing.

Easy-to-attend conferences.  The conference is short (2 days) and
held in a central location each year. 
Also, it’s affordable. 
Registration was $150, which included 4 meals, and hotel rooms were well
under $100 per night.  The yearly
Professional Development Institute is always at a campus within driving
distance; this year it’s on my campus. 
That sure makes me likely to attend.

Positive, engaging membership.  This year I presented at the conference
for the first time, and I met a number of grad students and professionals eager
to talk about my area of interest. 
They provided lots of positive feedback, and ideas I could bring back to
my campus.

 

Are you a member of a state/regional association?  What types of experiences have you had?  How has it compared to your experience
with national associations?   

, ,