Region Conference Call for Proposals

Submit by October 15

The Call for Proposals is open and will close at 11:59 p.m. central Tuesday, October 15. Early submissions are highly encouraged. We look forward to receiving your proposal submission(s).

Submission deadlines are firm and will not be extended.

Presenters will be notified via e-mail of their acceptance status.

Submit a Proposal

NACADA Proposal Policies

- NACADA does not discriminate on the basis of race, creed, gender, sexual orientation, national origin, age, disability, or marital status.
- Commercial products are not to be promoted in NACADA sessions.
- When supplied, presenters must use microphones and/or AV equipment for the benefit of all attendees.
- Due to budgetary considerations, the conference is unable to offer complimentary registration or lodging for presenters. All presenters must register for the conference.

Submission Criteria

Criteria for selection of paper/presentation: Proposals will be evaluated based on relevance to current issues in advising, appeal to conference participants, creativity, ingenuity, and applicability for participants after the conference. We are seeking a wide range of presentation topics relating to academic advising from a variety of advising professionals.

Eligibility for submission: Those who are involved in advising—administration, faculty, full-time advisors and administrative staff—are invited to submit proposals. We encourage first-time and experienced presenters alike. Share your research, best practices, or techniques with colleagues in the Region. Unless presenters are selected as the Best of Region session, presenters do not need to be NACADA members to present.

Your submission should include:
•   Your presentation title (Titles do not need to incorporate the conference theme.)
•   The primary topic/track
•   NACADA Core Competencies
•   Desired presentation format
•   A 750-word proposal
•   A 135-word abstract (The abstracts will be included in the conference schedule.)

Helpful Guidelines

A well-written proposal and abstract will enhance your application. Check for spelling errors before submitting!
Do NOT include your name or the name of your institution anywhere in the title, abstract, or proposal to ensure an impartial review.
It is critical that the title and abstract reflect the content of your proposed session. Attendees depend on the abstract to determine which sessions to attend.
Poor evaluation scores often result when the published abstract bears little relation to the actual presentation and handouts are not uploaded before the conference begins.
Submission deadlines are firm. Late proposals will not be accepted. It is highly recommended to submit proposals before the last day of submissions.

Format Options

Preconference Workshop

Preconference workshops are designed to feature specialized topics in the advising profession. These should be highly participatory sessions that cannot be effectively addressed in another format. Session participation is limited to maximize the opportunity for interaction. They are either a 2- or 3-hour session. Participants must register for these sessions and pay an additional registration fee (if applicable).

Participants expect to leave preconference workshops with information, material, strategies, and ideas they can take back to their campuses and use effectively. Preconference workshops should be very hands-on and issue-specific with material, activities, strategies, and techniques that the participants can effectively use in their individual situations. Presenters should come prepared to answer questions concerning implementation and other issue-specific questions.

Presenters should plan varying presentation formats for preconference workshops. Due to the length of preconference workshops, presenters should plan to include some lecture as well as small and large group activities and a question-and-answer period.

Workshops should last the entire time indicated when the session was accepted. Please remember that par-ticipants have paid an additional fee to attend the workshop; it is important that presenters come prepared with material and information for the entire time period allotted.

A participant list of attendees can be requested from the Executive Office no sooner than one week before the conference to help determine how many handouts and materials are needed.

Preconference workshops DO NOT upload their presentation or handouts to NACADA's conference app.

Concurrent Session

Concurrent sessions are presented as one of two options: lecture or panel.

Lecture discussion format | A 60-minute presentation by one or more presenters. Discussion time for questions and answers is encouraged. The length of time set aside for discussion is at the discretion of the presenters.

Panel format | Presenters are encouraged to collaborate on a common issue to form a panel. A panel consists of a brief introduction by the panel moderator, followed by a brief presentation from each panelist, followed by an interactive question-and-answer period with the audience. The best panel sessions are highly interactive, with panelists representing multiple points of view or perspectives from different institutions.

Poster Session

A Region Conference poster session is a forum for presenters to highlight their programs and to share their successful ideas with colleagues by presenting a research study, a practical problem-solving effort, or an innovative program on their campus. Poster presentations provide other conference participants with an opportunity to quickly and easily become acquainted with the presentation topic. An effective poster presentation highlights, with a visual display, the main points or components of the presentation topic.

Poster Size and Materials
Since space requirements are different for each Region Conference and differ year-to-year, there are no standard Poster requirements for Region Conferences. The Region Conference Proposal Coordinator will direct accepted poster presenters on what materials and poster sizing presenters should use. Presenters are responsible for the production costs and any mailing costs incurred with the poster.

Poster Session Setup
The Region Conference Proposal Coordinator will communicate the setup time(s) and location(s) with poster presenters. If presenters would like to keep their poster, they will remove the poster immediately at the close of the poster session. All remaining posters will be recycled.

Poster Design Recommendations

It is best to keep the poster simple. Include information such as graphics, photographs, graphs, charts, tables, etc. Be sure to include major points on the poster and keep all non-essential information for the follow-up discussion with registered attendees. Please be certain that text is large enough to be read from at least 2 feet away. Headings should be at least 30 point font or larger and primary text should be at least 20 point or larger.
- Be certain that any graphics and/or photographs contain the necessary copyright permission(s) as some images may require permission for use.
Poster presenters will be responsible for developing and printing the poster to be presented during the poster session. This includes all design and printing expenses incurred throughout the process. If presenters plan to hand-carry posters, shipping tubes or carrying cases can be used to protect it. NACADA is unable to print posters for presenters.
- NOTE: When printing posters, DO NOT print the NACADA poster number as that is subject to change.
Posters should be constructed of lightweight material and easy to transport.
Please adhere to the NACADA Commercial Promotion policy.

Although the program committee will make every effort to honor your requested format option, the committee may recommend an alternate format in order to accept as many proposals as possible.

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