WNY Advising Technology Conference Thursday May 19, 2016 at Niagara University wnyadvising.weebly.com/technology-conference Please share the attached PDF with anyone who you think might be interested
- John Sauter @johnpsauter Downloadable Flyer for Sharing
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For academic advisors and higher education professionals, traveling to a regional or national conference can be invigorating. They are a great place to network, learn about trending issues, and reflect on your own practices. However, they are also expensive. New professionals no longer can take advantage of the discounted student rates. Many departmental and institutional budgets are stretched thin. The average cost of many national conferences becomes prohibitive, when you add in travel and hotels. Thankfully some conferences offer scholarships and honorariums for presenters. But the ability to go to multiple conferences or geographically distant conferences is limited. Hard choices have to be made, especially if you want to get more involved in presenting or leadership roles within the organization.
These do not need to limit your learning or networking. Conference back-channels are a way that social media savvy professionals, who know about social media back-channels, stay in touch with each other at the conferences, learning from each other's insights, networking, and trends at various conferences across the nation/world. Much of this is concentrated on Twitter, where you don't need to be at the conference or even a very active Twitter user, to benefit from the conversations. These channels may be obvious to professionals who use social media frequently, but many colleagues don't take advantage of these opportunities and they aren't always used intentionally at local or regional conferences. Back-Channels form around specific hashtags (#...) for the conference, often including the year for national ones. These, often publicized, hashtags, link conference goers and can be followed by anyone with a twitter account. However, don't forget that the official conference accounts (@....) and regional accounts (@... r1) may also be sharing details. While a conference is restricted to specific dates, back-channels are not so you can go back in time to previous conferences (#NACADA14) or even get previews of upcoming conferences (#NACADA15) and sessions. They can also form around specific presentations (#bringyoself) to link conversations within the conference to specific topics. Many presenters often post materials on their twitter accounts or blogs and some conferences such as NACADA ask presenters to post handouts (WNY Advising Conference Presentations). #ACPA15 Also #ACPA or @ACPA #NASPA15 Also #NASPA or @NASPAtweets #NACADA15 Also #NACADA or @NACADA #WNYAdvising Also @WNYAdvising #NACADAR9 #NACADAR7 Also @NACADA_regvii #NACADAR1 Also @nacada_region1 #FYConference #CSPA14 More examples and hashtags. Other hashtags for future conferences may pop up in your feeds as you expand your Twitter network and follow more #Acadv or #SAPro related accounts. Tips for following Back-Channels vary depending on what platform or app you are using. If you are using Twitter, search for the hashtag and then select all at the top of the stream to reach the full stream. I prefer Tweetdeck (A desktop version) on my Chromebook, where I can log in with Twitter, search for the hashtag and set up streams based on certain hashtags and users (i.e. "#NACADA14 OR #NACADA15 OR @NACADA OR .#acadv OR #NACADA OR #AdvTech"). On a personal note, the #NACADA14 back-channel really changed my professional practice, and changed how I network. I didn't worry as much which session I attended to get the most information, as the back-channel provided notes and slides from the other sessions, and my colleagues shared, or favorited some of the most interesting materials. Being there also allowed for at Tweetup where I got to meet many of the people I had connected with online. Not only did this improve my experience at the conference, but it also created many professional relationships which have morphed into shared resources, interactive endeavors, and conference proposals. So, the next time your budget, responsibilities, or geographic location prevents you from attending a conference, don't fret, just look for the back-channel. Also, if you are involved in planning a regional or national conference, make sure to be intentional in creating a hashtag back-channel to enhance the conference experience and expand its influence to other professionals across the nation or world. John Sauter Jr., Ph.D. Assistant Dean for Academic Affairs, Niagara University Coordinator of WNY Advising [email protected] @JohnPSauter I have been working at streamlining the WNY Advising site this week, in preparation for the start of the planning processes for the 2015 Uniting Across Campuses conference. So far, my goals have been to:
by Dr. John Sauter, Jr.
Assistant Dean for Academic Affairs, Niagara University Coordinator of WNY Advising [email protected] @JohnPSauter Connect with other WNY Advising professionals who may be attending the same conference as you. Check out our new page where you can post a conference you are attending, strike up a conversation with other attendees by commenting on specific conferences, or even set up a carpool. To start the conversation, we have posted several NACADA conferences, ACPA, and NASPA. by Dr. John Sauter, Jr.
Assistant Dean for Academic Affairs, Niagara University Chair of the 2014 Uniting Across Campuses Conference The Uniting Across Campuses Advising Conference is a week away. The conference committee has been working hard and we are excited about all that the conference has to offer this year. I have a few last minute details to share with you, so please read the email below. Specific Dietary Needs (Requests needed by Feb. 19th) If you have any specific food needs (vegan, gluten free), please fill out the form below so that we can let the Ramada know. This is a time sensitive survey as we need to let them know by the end of the day on February 19th. The breakfast, lunch & snacks at the conference are similar to those available last year. Vegetarian options such as salad and ziti will be available in the buffet. You can access the survey (Click here) Registration / Transferring Registration / Conference Sessions If you haven’t registered or know of anyone who hasn’t registered, yet, please register soon. If for some reason you can no longer make it to the conference, you can transfer your registration to someone else by contacting Kate Doran at [email protected] (include the new person’s name, title, and institution. A list of the conference sessions is also located on the main conference page (Click Here). Optional Networking Sessions (2nd survey) We are hosting two optional networking discussions during lunch this year. Based on your feedback we have selected two topics: First Year Retention & Student Advocacy / Promoting Self Reliance. To prepare for the networking sessions we have created a brief survey to solicit questions and comments about the topics to help guide the discussions. To access the survey (Click Here). Drawing / Giveaways We will be holding a drawing for any items donated to the conference after the last session concludes. If your office or institution has any items you wish to donate for giveaways, please feel free to bring them to the conference or give them to a committee member. Best wishes and we look forward to seeing you at the conference. by Dr. John Sauter, Jr.
Assistant Dean for Academic Affairs, Niagara University Chair of the 2014 Uniting Across Campuses Conference The optional networking sessions at our conference have been determined. Thank you for all who participated in our initial survey.
We would like your help in determining what questions might help guide the discussion. If you have a chance, please visit our Polls & Surveys page to fill out our quick survey on these topics. by Dr. John Sauter, Jr.
Assistant Dean for Academic Affairs, Niagara University Chair of the 2014 Uniting Across Campuses Conference
The conference is less than a month away, and we are excited to report that we received a record number of proposals this year. Although it was tough for the committee to decide which proposals to select, the competition made for some very dynamic concurrent sessions this year, the result is a full slate of dynamic presentations. If you haven't signed up for the conference yet, please be sure to register as soon as possible. To keep the costs of the conference down and provide funds for future projects, we are offering a limited number of advertisements in the conference brochure. If you know an institution, business, etc… that might be interested in advertising please visit the following page..
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