NACADA Region Conferences

Call for Proposals and Presenter Information

Proposal Reader Resources

Thank you for volunteering to review NACADA Region Conference proposals. Your help is appreciated in helping the Region Conference Committees build a strong conference program each year.

The NACADA Race, Ethnicity, and Inclusion Work Group, Inclusion and Engagement Committee, LGBTQA Advising and Advocacy Committee, Annual Conference Advisory Board, and Annual Conference Planning Committee have created two valuable resources to review. All reviewers must complete the following two training videos before beginning their reviews.

Video Transcript	Video Transcript

Video Transcript

A Message from NACADA Leadership

NACADA leadership gives proposal readers the following charge:

Think engagement and inclusion: Look at the structure of the proposal. Does the proposal have a clear objective that will be beneficial to interested attendees? Does the proposal have relevance to current events and hot topics in academic advising and higher education? Does the proposal present a potential answer to a question that looms among advising professionals? Would this proposal give someone the opportunity to share their voice in a manner that could effectively benefit other people?
Think narrative: While a proposal’s topic may not pique your interest, think about the person(s) on the other side of the proposal. Academic advising goes beyond retention, attrition, picking classes, and creating successful program initiatives. Academic advising is also about sharing stories and creating pathways to accomplish goals not only between the student-advisor relationships, but also from the interactions between all of us on the professional level. Be thoughtful with your feedback because you are reading into the story of another person(s).
Think value: In the words of Dr. Peter L. Hagen, “Empirical evidence and data are not enough”. The value of a proposal comes from the experience of the proposal writer. It is our duty to assign value by thinking about how one’s experience could benefit other people; even if the experience does not directly benefit you, the proposal reader.

This is an invitation to serve the NACADA community. NACADA as an organization requests you to be o pen-minded, thoughtful, and thorough when reading your assigned proposals while providing healthy, positive feedback, and constructive criticism when necessary. We ask you to utilize resources for reading and commenting on proposals. When in doubt, please reach out to the NACADA Executive Office for assistance (nacadar@ksu.edu).

Additional Reviewer Resources

Questions?

If you have any questions throughout the review process, please email nacadar@ksu.edu.

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 chosen as a Best of Region event presenter, 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. Titles limited to 100 characters.)
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.

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/panelists must register for the conference.

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). More preconference workshop details below.

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 participants 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 short 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 and perspectives. Panelists may be from different institutions. Panels will be formed by individuals submitting their own teams; panels will not be teamed up by the Conference Committee. All panel sessions are expected to have a moderator for their session.

Poster Presentation

Presented in the form of a bulletin display and delivered primarily through the use of graphics and handout materials, these sessions are most appropriate for display of specific programmatic approaches and research findings. The presenter should expect to make brief remarks, share information, and answer questions about the presentation topic.

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 Chair(s) 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 Chair(s) 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.

NACADA Region Conferences | Best of Region Policies

At each Region Conference, NACADA recognizes the outstanding Concurrent Session presentation with the overall highest evaluation scores and selects that session as the region’s Best of Region presentation. This session is selected based on the evaluation scores from session attendees. The evaluation criteria for these sessions is as-follows:

Session attendance | Number of attendees based on attendance counts. Scores are scaled considering presentation room capacity.
Number of evaluations submitted | Number of evaluations submitted from session attendees who attended the session.
Overall score of attendee evaluations | Average score given by attendee evaluations.

Best of Region winners are required to be:

Current members of NACADA at the time of Annual Conference.
Employed at a higher education institution within that conference’s region at the time of the Region Conference and the Annual Conference.
Able to attend the Annual Conference.

Best of Region winners receive:

The award totals NACADA’s Annual Conference early registration rate.
The region has budgeted for one presenter to receive complimentary Annual Conference registration. If the presentation team consists of more than two presenters, the team must decide which presenter receives the complimentary conference registration. The remaining presenter(s) will register for the Annual Conference using their own funds.
Each presentation receives recognition at the Annual Conference and a framed recognition certificate.

Best of Region winners will not be replaced if they cannot present their session at the Annual Conference; there is not a distinction available for “runner-up.” Best of Region sessions are announced during the last session at the Region Conference.

Cancellation Policy

If it is not possible for a lead presenter or co-presenter to participate in their session, the presenter must notify their Region Proposal Coordinator immediately. A cancellation after the posted cancellation date is considered failure to meet the agreement made between NACADA and the presenter(s). Presenters cancelling after the cancellation deadline will not be considered for further presentations for three consecutive years. Please contact nacadar@ksu.edu if you have questions.

Copyright Guidelines

All presenters must review the copyright guidelines linked above.

NACADA Commercial Promotion Policy

Presenters must adhere to NACADA’s Commercial Promotion Policy linked above.