By Vincent C. Schaff
If you have a passion for your work, advocacy becomes second nature. My wife likes to tell the story of my “Cracker Barrel presentation.” We were on vacation sitting next to a large family group of about 12 people having breakfast. In the course of their meal, a conversation started regarding study abroad and Semester at Sea. I went out to my car, grabbed some materials and handed them out to the group and answered their questions. You can’t pass up those opportunities.
On the final day of our Region XI Conference in Manchester, New Hampshire last month, I was at our registration table when one of our team members informed us he had just met Newt Gingrich in the hotel lobby. Curious, I headed down the hallway and found the Gingrich party had set up in one of the rooms we had used for the conference.
With nearly 375 attendees, Region IV’s conference in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, November 12-15, bested its previous attendance record of 250 by nearly 100 participants. Cedar Rapids’ central location in the Midwest region drew not only a large drive-in NAFSA crowd, but also nearly 20 percent nonmembers and a large numbers of students from international education programs at the University of Iowa, Iowa State University, and the University of Minnesota.
I had the pleasure of spending the past week at the biregional I/XII conference in Reno/Sparks, Nevada. What better way to visit Nevada for the first time than with nearly 600 other NAFSAns?
Imagine a conference in a wooded setting on a lake, with opportunities not only to engage with others through workshops, sessions, and exhibitor offerings, but also to enjoy S’mores around a fire pit and reflect on ways to make a real difference in the world.
By Frank J. Merendino
The Region V team made a number of changes to the conference program that proved to be quite popular with conference attendees this year. By extending the day slightly and shortening breaks, they were able to add two additional timeslots to the program resulting in 16 additional sessions. They also offered three special events which allowed attendees to bond outside of sessions and added a nice cross cultural tie-in for those that participated. Attendees were able to select from a Vietnamese cooking class, dinner and discussion with a local Amish family, and a wine tasting. One attendee who participated in the Amish dinner described the food as “beyond good” and reported that the conversation was so insightful that the event ran over by 45 minutes.
Entertainment at the plenary luncheon
