StudentLed Conferences: Providing Community Outreach and Fundraising

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Student-Led ConferencesProviding Community
Outreach and Fundraising
Katie Lacey, Pearl von Schmidt, Ashley Crochet,
Michelle Eno, Danyel Rodriguez, James
Williams Sam Houston State University Huntsville,
TX
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Key Elements of a Successful Student Conference

• Determine a reasonable budget.
• Locate and secure an appropriate facility.
• Find a well-known keynote speaker along with
  qualified breakout presenters.
• Schedule breakout sessions that correlate with
  the keynote.
• Determine other costs and incidentals.

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Key Elements continued

• Determine reasonable prices for registration.
• Explore partnerships with other educational
  organizations.
• Form specific committees.
• Recruit volunteers and faculty.
• Explore on-campus funding sources.

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Key Elements continued

• Request donations from businesses.
• Offer door prizes and/or giveaways.
• Arrange for accommodations and meals.
• Utilize an informative website.
• Advertise to the university community as well as
  local and state media.

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Main Professional Reason to Conduct a Conference

• To promote the Councils Code of Ethics, which
  state, Special Education professionals engage in
  professional activities which benefit individuals
  with exceptionalities, their families, other
  colleagues, student, or research subjects
  (Council for Exceptional Children, 1993).

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Secondary Reasons to Conduct a Conference

• The chapter can provide a professional
  development opportunity which brings together
  pre-service professionals in fields of special
  and general education at the university level.
• Provides an extensive fundraising opportunity.
• Promotes community awareness in regards to
  exceptionalities

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Use An Evaluation Procedure

• Enables you to analyze what you need to improve
  and change.
• Provides support for the presenters you should
  bring back and those who you should not.
• Delivers straightforward, easy, and effective
  feedback.

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Evaluation Results from 2007

• Wonderful as always
• Make evaluation forms better by adding more line
  space
• Good Idea to do it Friday
• Speakers were great, but lunch could have been
  shorter to end at an earlier time.
• I really loved Kaye Timme, she really knows her
  stuff and she keeps everyone engaged and AWAKE.
  She is a delight to have speaking
• I loved the shirts and the bags
• I loved the presenter on TS because he actually
  lived with the disorder, I was never bored, I
  prefer first hand account speakers I really
  enjoyed the conference
• I really enjoyed our keynote
• This was a great conference for all majors, gave
  me a better understanding of every topic
• Great conference, staff was helpful and friendly
• My first conference, it was great timing and I
  will be back next year.
• This is the best most useful conference I have
  ever been to, I will be back next year as well.
• Thank you for providing such a great resource for
  college students
• A map of the convention center would be good.

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Addressing Diversity

• The promotion of inclusive professional
  development and collaboration between fields,
  teaching areas, and varying levels of seniority
  ensures that all diverse groups are represented.
• Our conferences inclusion of speakers with
  disabilities and its offering of scholarships to
  attend at no cost promote both the inclusion of
  the exceptional community and the encouraged
  attendance of individuals from all socio-economic
  levels.

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Fundraising Potential

• In 2007, our total profit was around 8,000
• In 2008, our total profit is projected to be over
  12,000
• Additional fundraising efforts at our conference
  were the selling of books written by the keynote,
  as well as t-shirts and candy.

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Registration Takes Time!!!

• Its important to have a large amount of
  registration staff to handle a large capacity.

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Fundraising!!!

• Its beneficial to sell additional items at your
  conference that attendees will be interested in.

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Faculty Support is Crucial!

• Recruit faculty and volunteers early to assist in
  all areas of the conference.

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Feed the Masses!!!

• Providing breakfast, snacks, and/or lunch can
  bolster attendance and decrease off-site time.

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Plan for a Large Crowd!!!

• Obtain a room that is somewhat larger than your
  projected attendance, it allows for wiggle room
  and overflow space.

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Well-Fed Volunteers and Presenters!!!!

• Catering and supporting your presenters and
  volunteers is the key to getting them next year.

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Organization is the Key!!!!

• Careful organization is required, without it your
  first annual conference will be your last annual
  conference.

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Use Professional Breakout Presenters!!!

• The extras are the hook, the presenters are the
  reason to come back next year. Remember A Ph.D.
  does not always equal a good presenter.

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Hire a Well-Known Keynote Presenter!!!

• A well-known presenter is the single-most
  important factor to grow a conference. Our motto
  Start with a Big Name, Get a Bigger Name for next
  year.

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Become a Bookstore!!!

• Selling presenters books is a great idea to
  support them and your chapter. Contact the author
  to get the best price from the publisher.

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Recruit Hard-Working Leadership!!!!

• The pictures in this presentation were taking by
  Dr. Rhonda Richardson (Above-Right), Sam Houston
  State University, Huntsville, TX. James Williams
  (Above-Left) was the Student Chair for the 2007
  and 2008 Conference.