Craft the perfect proposal to attend an SAIS professional development opportunity using these key points.

Reasons to Attend

  • Expand your skills and address challenges with session content.
  • Keep up with current events. Learn the latest developments and concerns facing schools or your department.
  • Learn from other schools. Their experiences, successes, and failures can guide your endeavors.
  • Network with others in your same position or in similar schools.

Before You Go

  • Match session content to your personal goals or your school’s strategic plan.
  • Register early to take advantage of early bird pricing.
  • Find a colleague to share travel and hotel expenses.
  • Establish a procedure to cover your duties while you are away.
  • Develop a plan to share your learning and experience upon your return.

While You’re There

  • Attend all events. Take advantage of every keynote, breakout, meal, and roundtable.
  • Engage. Ask questions, meet new people, exchange contact information to keep in touch.
  • Divide and conquer. If you attend with a colleague, sit at different tables to get perspectives from a variety of people and attend different sessions to take back as much as possible.
  • Unplug and get inspired. Leave your school environment behind and immerse yourself in the conference experience.

After You Return

  • Share what you learned and experienced with others.
  • Discuss new ideas with your colleagues.
  • Identify at least one new thing to try when you return.
  • Access speaker resources from the conference webpage.
  • Complete the conference evaluation to help us continue to improve our offerings.