Job Hunt: Infinity

Today I attended and presented at a conference. One you probably haven't heard of. It ran from 9am-around 3:15. It included 3 sets of sessions, an opening key note, and lunch. The sessions offered a pretty wide variety of topics. The main theme (note: not  a theme to which adhere, but which the entire conference was focused on) was leadership education, meaning those working with student leaders. The conference attendance was small compared to big NASPA, less than 100 people.

My goal for this blog in 2017 was to post at least weekly, work got complicated and when I returned home at night I didn't have much energy to think or reflect or write. Starting Wednesday, February 8th until February 11th, I was at the NASPA Symposium on Military-Connected Students.

Establish some type of Loner Pool I went to NASPA by myself, without knowing or traveling with anyone (save for my roommate). I think some type of meet up for people who are there by themselves or maybe with one oth er person woul d be great. While it’s nice to see all of the scheduled meet-ups, grad school gatherings, and regional stuff, it’s hard (especially as an introvert) to force myself to go to those things alone. If I was to make connections early in the conference (say the very lonely Sunday afternoon) it might make going to events easier. Re-think the whole schedule So I think the Sunday night start through the Wednesday morning end is too drawn-out and poorly planned. I think the conference’s opening session should take place after lunch on Sunday (say 1pm) and then start sessions after that. Hold sessions Sunday afternoon, Monday, and Tuesday and then hold the closing ceremony Tuesday in the early evening. This would allow those of us taking vacation or trav...

Knowledge Communities. We focus on the success of specific populations or interest groups. But, you know, there is some overlap and you can be a member of more than one. Regions. There is some map somewhere that’s color coded and places me (and you) within a region. It allows the conference to be more personable and regions even hold their own conferences. SSAOs. Senior Student Affairs Officers. There was a special track for SSAOs at the conference. These are people who have been in the profession for years, so they (probably?) have different professional development needs than others. (Would some of these professional have benefitted from new research, current projects, and grad school concerns? Probably) Mid-level professionals. People who have been in the profession for more than five years but are not at the senior level. There were several sessions and events geared toward mid-level professionals. New professionals. This speaks for itself really; anyone in the profession f...

I took vacation time to attend and paid for everything with my own money My roommate reached out to me about sharing a room, we went to grad school together I knew Knowledge Communities existed, but had no idea how to get involved I have no idea how the sessions were organized or categorized I attended two of the first-time attendee things, the “orientation” and the “no host dinner” on Sunday. I found neither very helpful. Region II. I apparently live and work within Region II. There is some organizational structure and conference planned by the region, there were also events. I learned about all of this not from anything at the conference, but because of my roommate. There are sessions for mid-level professionals, chief student affairs officers, and senior student affairs officers. I was registered for TPE and only planned on being at TPE on Sunday or Saturday, however I was offered a position and withdrew from it. Things future blog posts will be about: ...