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!