NACAC L.A.- Notes from a newbie

As the Admission Professional of the Year recipient, I was given the opportunity to attend this year’s NACAC conference in Los Angeles. While the schedule was very robust with lots of awesome sessions and events, it was a bit overwhelming. Reading all the options and coming up with my game plan felt a bit like cramming for a test. I’ve made some cliff notes (does anyone even use these anymore?) so you won’t need to cram for a NACAC conference in the future.

  • Step 1, open your NACAC emails.
  • Step 2, actually read said emails. No really, pre-conference emails have a wealth of information, and it helps to look at your options in snippets and come back to it often.
  • Utilize the conference app. It allowed me to filter sessions specific to the content I wanted to learn about and build my own schedule. It also sent me reminders of the things I was most interested in doing.
  • Don’t be afraid to walk out of a session- Yes, I just encouraged you to leave but for good reason! There are many things happening at the same time such as sessions, learning labs etc. I found myself wanting to attend multiple things and since I was flying solo, I cut out early to make it to everything on my list.
  • Take the initiative to introduce yourself to someone new. I promise, the benefits far outweigh the fear of talking to strangers! I met two counselors from Vancouver Island, Canada, we had invigorating conversations that branched outside of just ‘work talk’ and now it’s on my travel bucket list. You should Google it; this place is like visiting Europe without flying over an ocean to get there.
  • If you’re invited to an after party (most are hosted by sponsors/exhibitors), go! While these events are not hosted or sponsored by NACAC, they are another great way to network and have fun and, let’s be honest, having fun with our colleagues is icing on the conference cake!
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