The day has arrived - welcome to Orlando

We are officially kicking off the Annual Conference tonight with the Opening General Session on Sunday, October 3 from 7:00 - 8:30 p.m. in the Coronado Ballroom. You will hear from NACADA leadership and the plenary speaker, Rey Junco.

Here’s a formal welcome from Conference Chair Jose Rodriguez, thanks Jose…

Welcome to Orlando! Thanks for joining us this year; we are very excited to have you as our guests. On behalf of this year’s planning committee, I’d like to extend a warm welcome to all our new and returning attendees. I’d also like to extend a special welcome to all our international attendees.

I encourage you to meet with others, discuss issues, exchange numbers and e-mails. This conference is more than just about attending sessions, but also about getting connected with colleagues from around the nation and the world.

I hope you will also participate in our online endeavors. This year, NACADA has got social media covered. We are tweeting, blogging, facebooking (yes, it’s a verb), and flickering. I encourage you to add to the online discussion and community. Our online endeavors are meant to be an extension of the face-to-face experience. Regardless of your level of expertise with online media, I encourage you to share your NACADA stories with us, your pictures, and to see what others are chatting about.

On behalf of the conference committee, Region 4, and the NACADA family, welcome again to your national conference!

Annual Conference Social Media Guide

Blog

• Serves as the hub for all social media during the conference in Orlando.
• NACADA members can find links for Facebook, Twitter, and Flickr from the blog; all updates from social media sources can be found on this blog.
• Be sure to follow along with the blog during the conference for quick recaps, highlights for major events, updated pictures, and links for additional information and happenings.
• NACADA members are encouraged to comment on each post to share their experience/opinion (try it now and comment on this post!).

Twitter

• Find frequent 140 character updates via the Twitter account: twitter.com/nacada.
• Tweeting about conference cancellations, schedule changes, and reminders.
• This is another opportunity to digitally interact with other NACADA members. Just use hashtag #nacada10 and share a message, picture or more on Twitter.
• You do NOT need a Twitter account to view the NACADA Twitter account, but we highly encourage you to get involved – it’s simple:


Step 1: Sign up for a Twitter account and learn Twitter 101.
Step 2: Take your laptop, smartphone or Twitter-ready mobile to Orlando.
Step 3: Post updates or retweet on Twitter about the conference: session pointers, take-aways, best practices, key issues, and any Tweetups (advisor happenings).
Step 4: In every 140 character post, include #nacada10.

Virtual followers:

Step 1: Follow the virtual conference action via a Twitter search for #nacada10.
Step 2: Repeat step 1.

Flickr

• Features photos and albums before, during, and after the annual conference on the blog and Flickr page for all to view.
• NACADA members can upload their photos to Flickr via the NACADA10 group:


Step 1: Visit Flickr and start an account (you can use an existing yahoo account).
Step 2: Add NACADA: The Global Community for Academic Advising as your new contact.
Step 3: Find and join the NACADA10 Flickr Group.
Step 4: Add photos to the NACADA10 Group Pool of photos.

Facebook

• Take a second to find NACADA on Facebook.
• Be sure to give us the thumbs up by clicking “Like.”
• Periodic updates will be posted to the NACADA Facebook page during the conference and after you leave Orlando.

During registration in Orlando, NACADA members will receive a Social Media Guide with this information as well. Start today and get involved in social media with NACADA - tweet, comment, upload, post, like! These opportunities will further connect you to the global community for academic advising.

Special thanks to Laura Pasquini from the University of North Texas for all of her contributions to NACADA's social media, be sure to check out her blog.

Words of advice from Charlie Nutt, Executive Director of NACADA

Charlie Nutt, the NACADA Executive Director, is posting for us this week. Thanks Charlie!

Welcome to the 2010 Magical Annual NACADA Experience!

Ever since my very first NACADA Annual Conference in Atlanta, Georgia in 1992 I have looked forward to each October for my annual NACADA Experience! Whether this is your first or your 34th conference, I know you are feeling the same excitement and anticipation that I am as we move closer to joining 3000+ members of the Global Community for Academic Advising in Orlando. It is a chance to see old friends, meet new friends, hear exciting and informative keynote speakers, learn new skills, explore exemplary practices and programs, network in commission meetings and region meetings, and get re-energized in our commitment to academic advising.

I would like to share a few suggestions on how you can get the most out of your NACADA Orlando Experience:

Come Prepared

• Bring a large supply of business cards so that you can connect with new colleagues or presenters you want to contact later
• Use the Interactive Schedule Planner to plan out your "conference experience" before leaving home
• Visit NACADA’s blog, Twitter, and Facebook frequently to stay updated on the Annual Conference

Get Involved at the Conference

Workshops and concurrent sessions are only part of the NACADA Experience. In order to fully embrace NACADA at our best plan to:

• Attend your region meetings or our gathering for international participants
• Attend at least one commission or interest group meeting to network and get involved with colleagues with similar interests as you
• Attend the Common Reading event to gain a perspective on the value of research and analysis in the field of academic advising
• Attend the NACADA Town Hall meeting to gain perspective of our association and get involved
• Make dinner plans or Disney Park plans each night with at least one new NACADA colleague

Continue the NACADA Experience after Orlando

• Send a summary of your experience and a plan for how you can implement what you learned to your immediate supervisor - thanking them for the opportunity to attend
• Prepare a summary of the key workshops, sessions, or keynote addresses you found specifically applicable to your institution or program and share them with your colleagues on campus who were unable to attend
• Be sure to connect with new colleagues you met to continue expanding your professional connections in the Global Community of Academic Advising!
• Begin planning to take advantage of the 2011 Annual NACADA Experience in Denver next October

I look forward to seeing you all in Orlando!

Speaker Spotlight: Rey Junco

With only 47 days left to go until the Annual Conference, I wanted to spotlight another speaker. Dr. Rey Junco is currently an Associate Professor and the Director of Disability Services in the Department of Academic Development and Counseling at Lock Haven University. He is widely regarded as a leading scholar on social media in higher education. Take a few moments to read Rey's article, "Using Emerging Technologies to Engage Students and Enhance Their Success," in the September issue of Academic Advising Today. You can follow him on twitter.com/reyjunco and check out his blog.

I wanted NACADA members to gain insight into what Rey will be speaking about at the opening session, so he took the time to answer a few questions.

Brad Popiolek: Why were you interested in speaking at the NACADA Annual Conference?

Rey Junco: It's a fascinating coincidence that ten years ago I presented one of my first national conference sessions at the NACADA conference in Orlando. That was four years before Facebook launched. Clearly, the technologies available and the ways that students interact with them, grow and learn because of them, and are challenged by them has changed considerably. I'm excited to be sharing what I've learned in these ten years about how we, as advisors, can best use technology to support our students.

BP: Describe some of your research interests and how they may relate to academic advising.

RJ: I focus on assessing the impact of emerging technologies on student psychosocial development, engagement, and success. Lately, I've focused a lot on social media such as Facebook and Twitter. While there is a good deal of interest in using newer technologies in higher education, research examining educational and developmental outcomes is scarce. Therefore, I focus on clarifying the impacts that social media have on our students through data-driven approaches. My goal is for advisors to be able to use my results to decide which technologies will be most effective to use with their students and to uncover the most effective ways to use them.

BP: What are possible topics that NACADA members can anticipate hearing about from you?

RJ: Most people think that, because of my research, I'm a digital evangelist. In reality, I take a very measured approach in considering educationally-relevant uses of technology. While attendees will hear me talk about the positive outcomes of student technology use, they'll also hear me talk about the pitfalls. Additionally, I believe it's important not to categorize all students as having equal technology skills just because they are younger than we are or grew up at a time when our society is saturated by technology. So, attendees will also hear me talk about digital inequalities in student ownership and use of technology, something that is of great importance and interest to me.

Rey Junco will be speaking at the Opening General Session on Sunday, October 3 from 7:00 - 8:30 p.m. in the Coronado Ballroom

How to use Twitter for the Annual Conference

You can follow NACADA on Twitter by going to twitter.com/nacada

Before and during the Annual Conference, there are ways to interact via Twitter. Whether you have NEVER used Twitter or tweet on a frequent basis, this a great opportunity to connect with other members of NACADA and stay updated on the event.

Basic Steps:

STEP 1: Sign up (or login) for a Twitter account.

STEP 2: Post updates about the conference before, during, or after the conference: sessions, take-aways, Orlando activities, etc.

STEP 3: In every 140 character post, include "#nacada10" hashtag (without quotes and with a space before/after the tag).

STEP 4: Follow the conference action via a Twitter search for #nacada10.

Get started right now! You can use social media by sharing this blog post, see the icons below.