Not your mama's DRC

Looking to create a new fraternity/sorority marketing campaign? Not sure how to create the new awards banquet you've been wanting to bring to campus? Want to share with your AFA colleagues that awesome program you initiated last semester? Tonight we turn to Melissa Clarke from the On-Site Arrangements Committee for a friendly DRC plug:

A big warm “hi friends” from Central Kentucky home to the Red Wings Shoe Factory, Centre College and the hub of all things related to the Developmental Resource Center (DRC). A few things you should know about me: 1) I love analogies, and 2) I am truly committed to making the DRC the best it can possibly be. I feel honored, priviliged and a little bit nervous about being the point person overseeing the DRC simply due to the fact that this resource can be such a valuable tool for us as professionals if it is done right and nothing more than a stack of glossy paper if it is not executed appropriately. To me it is the difference between receiving a care package from your Grandma versus another political add flyer in the mail (read … something you are dying to get your hands on versus something you would use to line your bird cage). Clearly I would like the DRC to be more congruent with the former than the later.

Now here is where I need your help, when I think of the DRC I cannot help but compare it to the conclusion of Abe Lincoln’s Gettysburg address “of the people, by the people, for the people.” No matter how excited I am about the DRC it cannot be a success without you and all of the fabulous resources you have created in recent history or in years past (think of bell bottoms, aviator glasses and faux fur - the things that keep coming back because, let’s face it, they work). Everyone has something to contribute, for the betterment of your colleagues and the professional development movement we call fraternity and sorority advising. I am excited to see what kind of resources people contribute and would like to thank you in advance for your submission, I appreciate it!

Don't forget to submit your DRC materials to Melissa by November 15th!

Besides being election day - did you vote, yet?!? - today is also new-job eve for me. So in honor of all things change (new government, new job, new professionals entering the field at the end of the year) today's guest post is all about preparing for what's next:

I’m Liz Schafer, Coordinator of Graduate Student Experiences (GSE) for this year’s Annual Meeting and Director of Greek Life at the University of New Orleans. I’m thrilled to have the chance to connect with you via the AM blog!

I want to share some exciting developments about the programming the GSE Committee will be bringing you in Denver. “Seasoned members,” don’t stop reading here, because one piece here affects you directly!

• Graduate Training Track -- We’ve gone back to basics with the GTT, focusing our curriculum on the Association’s Core Competencies for Excellence in the Profession. We listened to the evaluations too, and as a result we developed learning outcomes for the program that we hope will address the things our graduate members are really looking for.
  
• AFA/Order of Omega Case Study Competition and Challenge -- Again those evaluations! We heard time and time again that we needed to do a better job of reaching our first-year grads. So with the wonderful cooperation of our friends from Order of Omega, we developed the First-Year Case Study Challenge. This new program will feature an educational program with tips about how to approach a case study and then a less-complex case that participants will work on in teams. They’ll present their solutions before a panel of judges, just like the students in the Case Study Competition will.
• Project Job Search (this one’s for you, old-timers!) -- We expanded this program to include not just the traditional Resume Reviews & Mock Interviews, but also an Employment Exchange. Though we all love the shout-outs about job openings at our Regional Meetings, we learned that they don’t meet the needs of all our members. The Employment Exchange will be an “AFA mini job fair,” at which institutions with current or anticipated openings can talk to (and even accept resumes from) grad students and professionals looking for positions. You can register for Project Job Search programming on the AFA website.

Lions and tigers and vendors, oh my!

The first time I sat on the AMPT was for the 2005 meeting in Atlanta. The one time that the AMPT gets to meet in person is at the previous AM - so on the last day in Hollywood ('04) I remember being in a conversation that involved some great visioning about the '05 meeting. As we were discussing the schedule, several folks wondered aloud if we might move a program - don't remember which - opposite the Exhibit Hall. The thought was...there's all this time, why not use it? And, truthfully, that was how I felt, too.

Here's a different perspective from today's guest blogger, Leanna Laskey (hint: she's the one on the left in the pic):

For the past three years, I have enjoyed attending the AFA Annual Meeting as both a graduate and professional member, and this year will be my first as an associate member. Coming from a career in higher education, I recently opted to join the team at OrgSync, a company that provides an online organization management tool for campuses to easily organize, assess, track, and manage students and student organizations.

At previous meetings, I always had viewed the Exhibitor’s Hall as a hot spot for freebies. I learned after my first Annual Meeting the importance of leaving some extra room in the suitcase for all the pens, stress balls, and random desk objects I would find in the Exhibitor’s Hall.

As an associate member myself now, I am excited to see the Association and the Annual Meeting from a different viewpoint. One thing that AFA members should know about associate members is that we aren’t there just to give away free stuff (but don’t worry- we’ll still have the freebies!). We are actually there because we believe that our product is relevant to your job and we want to share that with you.

Please stop by the OrgSync booth in Denver—I can’t wait to see all my fellow AFAers!

Back to my rookie year in '05: We did not program against the Exhibit Hall and we never will. I get it now. That year, as a newbie to the AMPT I really began to learn and understand the value of our associate members. I learned that the very least we can do is provide those members a block of time where they are on center stage. They do so very much for our Association, and so very much for our work. I've never been in the market for new services during the AM, but I do visit the Exhibit Hall - simply to say thank you to each exhibitor for being there. I hope that you'll so the same.

The student becomes the teacher

I met Eli Ker in 2005 when he was a member of the Annual Meeting Graduate staff. He has been an active and contributing volunteer for the AFA Annual Meeting since. (Well, there was this one morning meeting he slept through, but he was young and he's been forgiven). A member of the First Timers Committee for '08, he continues his service in '09 as the Graduate Staff Coordinator. Here's what he has to say as today's guest blogger:

I cannot begin to explain how excited I am for the Annual Meeting this year. I have been actively involved in the Association for the past three years and have had the chance to volunteer with the Association. I began with serving on graduate staff, have served on the Educational Programs Committee, Graduate Student Experience Committee, and finally this year have had the opportunity to work on the First Timers Committee.

The Annual Meeting is an amazing opportunity to reconnect with old friends, come together to learn something new, and have a chance for intentional conversations that can help to shape the future of our profession. I will also take this opportunity to spotlight the programs sponsored by the First Timers Committee. Please make sure to join us for The AFA CONNECTION Kickoff on Wednesday night. The Kickoff will be a great chance for first time attendees to connect with other Annual Meeting attendees and learn more about the Annual Meeting and highlights from each committee. Also, we will have sponsored meals together for anyone who would like to join, including a night out on Thursday night with dining in downtown Denver.

I hope you are as excited as I am. I cannot wait to see old friends and meet many more. Please find anyone on the Annual Meeting Planning Team if you need help or have any questions.

First timers, you have to meet Eli when you get to Denver. He and the First Timers Committee are working hard to ensure a great experience for you. Which is good, because after mentioning that morning meeting I wasn't ever supposed to speak of again and using a picture of him he hasn't pre-screened for the blog, he may make it a rough experience for me!

Have your people call my people

This week is meet TEAM DENVER week. There are many, many talented AFA volunteers who are responsible for the great things coming your way in Denver and the blog this week is dedicated to sharing a few of their thoughts, ideas, and voice with you. So, without further delay...

Did you say it’s time for the AFA ANNUAL MEETING? OH YEAH!!! It’s that time of the year again to hang out with those who REALLY understand what fraternity/sorority life is all about!

Greetings and Salutations (as my NPHC President would say)!

My name is Parice S. Bowser and I serve as the Director of Greek Life at the University of Arkansas. My committee has worked extremely hard to provide all attendees with an array of “Peak Performance” educational programs to assist you in taking your fraternity/sorroity community and chapters to the next level. I challenge you to take full advantage of the Annual Meeting this year as a way to rejuvenate including learning best practices, sharing knowledge, and networking with other fraternity/sorority professionals and volunteers around the country.

To all the first-timers…I’ve been in your shoes. It may seem overwhelming in the beginning but hang in there! I promise you will leave Denver ready to conquer the world! Just realize it will take time, patience, and will not happen overnight.

Okay, if you’re like me, I’m sure you are extremely busy right now and are at your peak. Remember, don’t sweat the small stuff! Please make sure you purchase a Because you Believe sticker. Get one for a friend and another for you to serve as a daily reminder why you believe in the fraternal movement. This will get you through those high peak moments when you return from the Annual Meeting.

Well, my time is up…

Don't forget your warm coat and gloves! Denver here we come!

Signing off…psb

Stay tuned for additional members of TEAM DENVER to appear with messages for you throughout the week...

Two for one (Eval reviews #3 and 4)

I have much guilt about not getting a post up yesterday, so today is a two-fer. Today we look at evaluation comments related to programming - specifically the program book & educational program offerings...

I've provided the comments and a response to it directly below.

Had trouble making sense of some of it - might have been designed for "younger eyes"?

• This is great feedback for us. What I know right now is that we have more information we want attendees to have than pages in the book! I hope this year's layout is more user friendly for folks who feel this way - I'll get to see the first draft soon but this is really TBA!
  

I wish that this would be available sooner.

• As of this moment, the book is scheduled to go up on the AFA Website about Nov. 24th. Keep your fingers crossed we don't have any hiccups and you all can view it then!
  

Maybe use paper that is less slick and easier to write on; minor, minor critique. I wished the inside pages were less glossy ... They'd be easier to write on. AND Would possibly like some pages included for notes.

• Again, why feedback is great: this is in the category of "things I've never thought about." What I can tell you is this...we'll look into it. If it's a cost-saving measure, maintains the professional quality we hope for in the publication, and doesn't interrupt our production schedule to switch, we'll try do it. As far as the extra pages...see the first answer about more info than pages allotted - yikes tikes!
  

Please co-mingle FEA sessions with AFA program sessions. I did not discover the extra 'FEA' sessions until later in the conference and missed some I would have liked to attend. I didn't know to look in a separate place for them.

• Done and done! There will be a small icon at the end of the program descriptions that indicates if a program has been highlighted by FEA as a particularly good opportunities for FEA staff and volunteers.
  

Though it might increase cost, it would be easier to tab, or color code the pages by day, so that it's easier to access what you need quicker.

• True story about me: I love me some organizational tools! So I am all about this suggestion. I'm afraid that it's cost prohibitive for us at this point.
  

Give learning outcomes for the educational sessions or at least more description about the session topic.

• Also done and done! You'll see that the last sentence of each program description begins with the phrase "participants will..." This is the primary learning outcome for the program as provided by the presenters.
  

Additional educational sessions with more variety of topics.

• We have about 132 educational programs this year! I am confident that is a record of some kind; while I don't have a comparison from years past I can tell you that about 15% of those programs directly address some kind of otherness fraternity/sorority life - cultural groups, glbtq members, student of color in predominately white groups, etc. Anecdotally I feel like that's an increase for us - statistically I don't know for sure.
  

Email contact information for presenters printed in the program book (that way we can follow-up on sessions or contact presenters that we were unable to attend).

• Also a new addition this year. One coordinating presenter for each program provided the names, institution/organization, and email address of the presentation team. Those will all be printed in the program book.

Whew! That was a long post....but I feel less guilty about skipping a day. Don't forget, the regular registration deadline is one week from today - October 31. It'll be frighteningly sad if you forget to get your registration in and have to pay the late fees. Sorry, couldn't resist the bad Halloween pun...

I wish I could tell you the green is symbolic (Eval review #2)

A few thoughts from recent AM evaluations:
"Provide a more sustainable conference experience."
"We need to go green."
"Add recycling bins, use less paper, provide non-disposable bottles to refill with water."

A push toward more sustainable practices has been one of the most intentional moves of 2008 for the AMPT. Some of this has been sheer luck because of our host hotel, and some elements we've implemented ourselves. Here are the highlights:

• The Hyatt Regency Denver offers single-stream recycling, meaning that any recyclable material can be disposed of in any recycling bin - the sorting happens later.
• All guest rooms will have a blue recycling bin.
• The hotel only changes sheets and towels upon request or when a guest room turns over, thus saving a great deal of water.
• Throughout the public areas of the hotel where the meeting is held, you will see silver receptacles for recyclables or waste.
  
• We will have additional blue bins at the silent auction, AFA registration and hopefully in educational programs rooms.
• The AM registration book was provided electronically only. This was a first for the Association, and a great step toward using less paper.
• All AM mailings via USPS were printed on 100% recycled paper certified by the Forest Stewardship Council.
• Upon registration at the AM, meeting attendees should notice less paper as a part of their registration packet...stay tuned for a full report of how much we're able to reduce this resource.
• The Developmental Resource Center (DRC) will be presented 'greenly' this year. Sample materials will be on display with information about how to find and download a copy for yourself.
  

As a direct result of our efforts to be more green, all information about the Annual Meeting is available on the AFA website. The registration book, first timers information, fireside chats registration, and more can be found there. Check it out!

Me! Me! Pick Me! (Eval review #1)

A response on the 2007 evaluation: "We need more opportunities to volunteer on site."

Done and done! This is actually one of my favorite things to report, and I'm so, so excited to see how it plays out.

For the first time we were able to provide AFA members an opportunity to assist with the meeting in Denver in a done-in-a-day AFA volunteer role. With the regular volunteer interest cycle, a new interest form was added for members to select how they would like to help during the Annual Meeting. Eighty-six members completed interest forms.

Kara Miller, incoming AM chair, oversaw the process and matched those who showed interest with the needs of each Annual Meeting committee. These one-time volunteers will fill roles from case study judges, to connection captains for first timers, to greeters and floaters. This year, we were able to place every member who wanted to volunteer at the meeting.

Because it's year one of this project, we know there will be great opportunities to collect feedback about the process and the experience. Thank you to all of the members who are giving their time to help make the meeting that much better. Welcome to TEAM DENVER!

Interested in being an AFA volunteer? Appointments for standing committees or positions for 2009 were made in late-September, but the Involvement Form is available year-round. Just note that forms submitted by September 5, 2008 were given priority consideration for appointments in 2009.

Beauty and the Beast

You know how the fable ends, right? Beauty loves Beast despite his outward appearance. Happily ever after and such. I was thinking about this beauty-in-the-beastly concept today when I challenged myself to reread the Annual Meeting evaluations from the past three years.

I did this knowing that I would be proud of the Annual Meeting team and the ways they have responded to your feedback for 2008, and that I would be reminded of some beastly things as well: the suggestions we can't quite bring to life just yet, or the comment that reminds me that I didn't do as well with communication or transparency or education as I could have in my role that particular year.

There are two things I can promise you about AM evaluations:

1. We listen.

The AMPT reads, reviews and reflects on the evaluations meeting attendees submit. Thank you for your thoughts in the past. Please, when the time comes, share them again (go ahead and mark your calendar for the week after the Annual Meeting).

2. You can't please all of the people all of the time.

We want to; I assure you we do. But as my husband says, when I want the new bag or the new shoes I found at Nordstrom (not on the sale rack...), "it's a dot edu business you're in, Ryan." Many others can back up my claim that I would love to have the the shiniest and the fanciest that convention planning has to offer. I may or may not have asked about linen napkins for the closing banquet that match the logo colors - this is how I think, people.

I point all of that out because the beauty of the evaluation is that we can improve in the ways that you want; some of the best ideas and suggestions that frame the AM experience come from them. Then there's the beast: some feedback - even great feedback - doesn't feel good to get, and even some of the best of it ends up on the cutting room floor.

This week I'm dedicating the blog to AM evaluations - each day I am committed to providing a snippet from recent evaluations to share with you how we have, or haven't, acted on them during the 2008 planning. And to tell you why.

My hope is that you'll learn a little more about what's in store, you'll see our commitment to transparency, and I can brag a little bit about the great things your Annual Meeting team has accomplished.

Commercial Interruption

Funny thing happened on my way to today's blog post; I was skimming the new items in my Google reader, and I found this post about leadership and tribes from Seth Godin.

Seth is an author, a marketing guru, and some other things. I can't tell you much more because I don't really know what he does, but I know that I like a lot of what he says. I think "how true" or find myself asking more questions after I read what he writes. And often I find what he says applicable to our work in fraternity/sorority life. But if I'm being honest, we're probably not on a first name basis...that's how little I really know.

But when he started his tribes project, of which I am a part, and then gathered case studies for the ebook that was just published I have devoured much of it. So while the real post for today is still in the may or may not phase of getting published today, I pause to share with the leaders that are AFA members and Annual Meeting attendees some neat thoughts about leadership, courtesy of Seth Godin.

Look, Dad!

As an undergraduate, I attended the University of Kansas. This was not surprising as my father used to sing me to sleep with the alma mater and the Rock Chalk chant. A perk of being a parent, I suppose; you get to influence your kiddo early.

I was a third-generation Jayhawk and I take my KU heritage seriously. It just so happened that when I arrived at KU, I wanted to major in journalism and I graduated with a degree as such.

Since I'm not so much a full-time (or even sometimes) journalist now, I like to point out moments in my working world when I do use the myriad skills I learned as a student at the William Allen White School of Journalism. It's my way of making my Dad feel better about supporting that four (and a half...shh) year endeavor.

And today is one of those very make-Dad-proud kind of days. It's program book day!

Yes, the 30-some page guidebook that you will receive when you check-in at the Annual Meeting begins the writing and editing cycle almost three months before it lands in your hands. And today we send the information to associate member Innova for them to work their design magic.

My eyes are officially crossed from the days of editing but at least I know Professor Eblen would be proud of how many dependent clauses now are comma free.

BTW, have you registered for the Annual Meeting yet? You know there are only 19 days left until the registration deadline!

It still has that new hotel smell....

The Denver Hyatt Regency at Colorado Convention Center is only about two years old. It's swanky, shiny and bright. True story.

The last two days were the final site visit at the hotel to ensure that all the ducks are waddling to their row for our meeting. Jason Pierce, director of programs, and I met with our convention manager, scoped some restaurants, tried some meal samples from the executive chef, and figured out just where to put extra signs so meeting attendees won't end up in Quartz when they are supposed to be in Limestone. (Did I mention all the meeting rooms have geological names? It's a thing.)

I took lots of pictures, which I will try very hard to add to this post after I get home and find the usb camera cord I should have packed.

Have you made your hotel reservation yet? You should! Reservations for our meeting should be made through the group page.

AFA Annual Meeting joins the blogosphere

We're so excited to have you - the members of the Association that we serve - join us for a behind-the-scenes look into the weeks that lead up to the Annual Meeting. Subscribe to Peak Performance 08 so you don't miss a single update.

Thank you for being part of this journey! We can't wait to see you in Denver.

~ The AMPT

Annual Meeting Mission

The 2008 AFA Annual Meeting will assist attendees in executing their work to the highest degree through intentional and accidental learning experiences that are both passive and active; with formal and informal networking opportunities for all membership categories; and by providing portals to connect with and support the mission of the Association of Fraternity Advisors.