Conferences

[[image:OFLTA.png width="108" height="129" align="left"]]OFLTA Conferences




2011 Proposed Spring Conference Schedule at Edmond North High School (Stephanie): [|Schedule] so far; could use 6-10 more sessions. Anyone?

Stephanie's comments on Fall 2011 Conference in Stillwater

I have had some positive feedback on the conference.

It seems like we need a sign-up sheet for shifts to man the hospitality table and the luncheon spread. I still think that we should make arrangements for a homeless shelter to pick up our leftovers.

Also, I think we should go back to the schedule we had in 2009, in which we met from 9-9:30 for the business meeting and TOY award. That way we can avoid the problem of getting a late start on the sessions that occur after lunch.

If there are only 30 seats in a room, could we ask that teachers choose a different session once the seats are filled? I passed by a room that was overflowing its seating, and the room next door, with a perfectly good presentation, only had three teachers. It's the only way I can think of to solve the problem of some sessions' being so crowded.

Stephanie's proposal for Fall Conference 2011 schedule:

f rom Stephanie(9/26/10): I created this page after reading Deanna's comments. Thank you so much, Deanna, for the time you took to think about everything and make suggestions. This is huge. There are bound to be new things that come up, such as the technology issue. I'm sure that checklists created for conferences ten years ago, or even five years ago, did not need to include such things. As I was reading through the Vice President's binder this past year, I did not see timelines for conferences. There was a timeline for the TOY, and it helped me a lot. I hope that the President-Elect's binder will have a list of what the duties are. I feel that the duties have gotten blurry. If we'd had time at our board meeting, I was going to ask for some clarification. I have read through all the evaluations. There were lots of comments, happily. Deanna's notes have addressed most of the issues. The majority of the sessions were extremely well received. Only one received very negative comments. I think there are at least three sessions that could claim "best of" honors. I will count the number of evaluations and report on that before the Dec. 4 meeting. I loved having a big cup of strong, delicious coffee during the 1st session. The lunch was delicious. I am a big believer in feeding and watering the troops very well, and I think accomplishing this was a strength of our conference. The other really important thing is to have worthwhile sessions, which we did, through mostly having great presenters willing to work hard for our members. My next favorite thing was that I could cruise through all the presentation rooms in a few seconds. Everything was so handy! It wasn't even that far to the banquet. Hurrah for small buildings! When you come to North, there will be ample parking and large rooms, but our meetings will take place in one convenient location. I think you'll be pleased. The only thing I'm worried about is the sound system for the commons. I realized something about the evaluations. They should be a part of the registration packet! I have run around like the proverbial headless chicken for two conferences, worried that the presenters will forget to ask for evaluations, while at the same time feeling they shouldn't have to. Why not include four session evaluations and a conference evaluation in the packet materials? The VP could still oversee the collection of them, and be responsible for them afterward. Further, if we had permanent collection receptacles put at noticeable locations, we could train our members. Having a consistent, predictable system could only be a good thing, eh? Last fall, we had the business meeting at the beginning of the day. We should probably have a longer discussion about where to put that. I was very happy with how the day went. There was a positive atmosphere, and I thank you all for what you did to make things run smoothly.

Next?

2010 Fall Conference Feedback __ Note from Elise: Every time "President" is mentioned below, it should read "President-Elect" __
__Registration__ 1. Signs to indicate preregistered and On-site registration might streamline things a bit. 2. Set up a table with forms to complete for membership and on-site conference registration. People can fill them out at the table, THEN get in line to register on-site. 3. It's important that we get name, school and e-mail address for anyone who joins or registers on-site so that they receive e-mails about OFLTA happenings. 4. Overall, everything went VERY well. Audrey did an amazing job (as always!).

__Facility__ 1. It was great to have everything in one area this year. The vendors got a lot of traffic, the coffee, drinks and snacks were easily accessible, bathrooms were right there, and everything was easy to find. 2. Classroom size was an issue; however, lack of seating was the bigger issue. Going forward, if rooms are small, we need to set them up so that there are at least chairs for people, especially for sessions we anticipate will be popular. 3. Having a custodian on site throughout the day was awesome! He kept the refreshments room looking nice, and cleaned up the lunch mess. I think this is a MUST for our conferences! President should always make sure that this is set up at host site. It's worth the custodial fee! 4. I think paying the host site to have a technology person from the host location on site for the conference would also be worth the fee. When issues come up (and they always do), our presenters need that support. They've worked hard on their sessions, and it's frustrating when they can't share what they want to due to host site technology issues. This isn't just Heritage Hall--happens everywhere. President should arrange this as well. 5. Presenters need a log-in that has no filters on internet. This should NOT be a student login, as access to what they need is often restricted. President should work with host site's technology department to set this up.

__Lunch__ 1. Lunch set up was fine. Took a while to get everyone through the line. When we have that many, work with caterer to allow for four serving lines. 2. President work with facility to make sure everything is set up prior to conference date. 3. We wanted to surprise Donna with a thank-you gift and recognition in front of all at lunch; however, she was setting up for her session. So...we need to make sure that we let people know if we're going to recognize them at lunch.

__Language-Specific Meetings__ 1. OFLTA President should contact presidents of these organizations prior to conference to make sure there is a representative from the organizations present to run those meetings. 2. If we know a specific languge will not have a meeting, it would be nice to provide a mini-session (maybe ask a few teachers of that language to share a few teaching activities they've done that have been successful in their classrooms...call it a "French Teachers' Show-n-Tell" or something like that).

__OFLTA Business Meeting__ 1. Could someone upload a business meeting template? I know Sally is supposed to read the minutes of previous conference's business meeting, and I'm supposed to submit a treasurer's report, but that's all I remember. Is this supposed to follow Robert's Rules of Order, and we have to have someone move to accept minutes, treasurer's report, etc.? __ **Note from Elise:** I am putting a template for the Board Meeting Agenda in the Board Minutes section. If you see needed corrections, please make them to the template and upload the edited template to replace mine. __ Note from Deanna: I'm talking about the General Business Meeting for all the members (not a Board meeting agenda). Make sense? 2. Having a Conference Business Meeting agenda/script will make transition between Presidents smoother (I don't know if this is in President's binder.

__Refreshments__ 1. We need volunteers to work in shifts to set up and to work the refreshments area. Make coffee (make sure we have ENOUGH coffee, because we went through both full coffee makers--that was my fault!), keep area clean, clean up after 3rd session. Maybe one of the Board members could be in charge of doing this for each conference? Volunteers? 2. We now have two coffee makers and a two-gallon water dispenser. That will save on water bottles. 3. We need some way to keep drinks cold at each site, and signs that let people know where drinks are. Yesterday, everyone was grabbing warm bottles of water because they didn't see the ice chest sign. There was a sign, but it wasn't easy to see.

__Sessions/Presenters__ 1. I like the idea of making sure we have a token of appreciation for our presenters each conference/workshop. Even if we're running a bit over at lunch, I would like ot suggest that we take the time to present these so that we are saying "thank you" for the time they took. By working with caterer on four serving lines, that should take care of the time crunch. 2. President needs to contact session presenters at least a week ahead of the conference to let them know their session proposal was accepted. I remember having to ask if mine was accepted--we can't assume they know that! 3. Going forward, session presenters need to be aware that they need to bring the copies they need ahead of time--that copier isn't available (tell them 50 copies). That said, we do need access to a copier for odds & ends. 4. When President communicates with session presenters, ask them to e-mail session handout to Audrey so that she can upload them to website after the conference.

[|Summer Workshop 2010 Online Evaluation]