My Declining Presence at International Education Conferences

Over the past few years my attendance at international education conferences has dwindled.  I have missed the past three Forum on Education Abroad conferences (my last one was Portland in 2009) and the past two NAFSA: Association of International Educators conferences (my last one was Kansas City in 2010) and the past four CIEE conferences (my last one was Toronto in 2007).  I did manage to make it to the CIES conference in Chicago in 2010 to present but my time at this conference consisted of arriving 30 minutes before my presentation and leaving 30 minutes after my presentation ended so I really can’t say I attended the conference (my only CIES conference I have seen) as I only presented at the Chicago CIES conference.  This also sums up the amount of time I spent at the 2011 NAFSA Region V conference in Champaign, Illinois (my last NAFSA Region V conference was in 2004 in Ann Arbor, Michigan) as I was also in and out of the conference venue only to present and say hello to a few friends and colleagues.  I did attend the entire 2010 U.S. Summit for Global Citizen Diplomacy in Washington, D.C. and it was a worthwhile event.

There are several reasons for this decline such as dissertation conflicts, lack of funds (almost all of my previous conference participation was self-funded) or lack of support.

I do hope to attend the 2013 Forum on Education Abroad conference as it will be in Chicago and perhaps the NAFSA conference in St. Louis in 2013.  CIEE 2012 in Shanghai is definitely out for me but who knows about 2013 in Minneapolis!?!?!

I will attend the annual conference of the Partnership in International Management (PIM) in Lima, Peru in late October (in many ways PIM has become my new NAFSA) and next week I will attend the Peer Schools International Educators [group of top business schools in the U.S.]  meeting at Stanford Graduate School of Business for a couple of days (in many ways Peer Schools has become my new Forum although on a much, much smaller scale] so I’m not totally out of the conference/meeting circuit…it’s just changing!  Last month I attended my first Chicago NAFSA Roundtable meeting since I worked in the Office of International Affairs at The University of Chicago seven years ago.

Originally posted to my International Higher Education Consulting website on June 11, 2012.

Summary Video from the 2010 U.S. Summit and Initiative for Global Citizen Diplomacy

Following is a nice compilation video from the recent U.S. Summit and Initiative for Global Citizen Diplomacy.  This video was shown at the U.S. Department of State during the final day of the Summit.  

@USCCD and an Effective way to Highlight the Twitter Conversation for Summit Attendees

Two weeks ago I attended the U.S. Summit for Global Citizen Diplomacy in Washington, DC.  It was a great several days of meetings and I'm happy that I was able to attend.  I hope to post more about the Summit here on IHEC Blog in the days and weeks to come as there are several things I want to write about.  


Something that caught my attention was the U.S. Center for Citizen Diplomacy's use of Twitter.  I'm not really talking about their tweets (which I did follow and occasionally retweet).  Specifically, I'm referring to the Center making the Twitter conversation from and about the Summit available to the entire Summit community..  Prior to one of the lunch plenary sessions the Center displayed the Twitter conversation in real time on the large screens (pictured above) for all in attendance to follow.  I saw several people take note and watch the screens for several minutes.

 I also discovered that the U.S. Center for Citizen Diplomacy made available two standing and rather large monitors out in the exhibit hall/coffee break area that also ran the real time Twitter conversation for attendees to follow (two photos in this post).  Again, several people stopped to watch and follow the conversation.


Finally, the U.S. Center for Citizen Diplomacy did something really great (and something quite simple really) to engage participants in the Twitter conversation.  On the back of their Summit program they printed the hashtag (#citizendiplomacy) to be used for the Summit to follow the Twitter conversation as well as the address of their Facebook page as another way to engage Summit attendees (picture below).


I don't know the official/final Summit registration numbers but I think it was between 600-700 attendees.  There was considerable Twitter chatter from and about the Summit and I would say it  rivaled the Twitter conversation during the #nafsa10 conference in Kansas City last May.  


Many conferences don't even create a #hashtag for attendees to use and those not able to attend to follow along.  This, in my opinion, is a [HUGE] missed opportunity as it literally takes 30 seconds to think of a good #hastag for your event and post it to various spaces for people to pick-up and follow.  Organizations never need to post to Twitter during their conferences (although it is nice and a great way to engage attendees and others)...just set a #hashtag and let others do the tweeting for you!


So this is a tip of my hat to the U.S. Center for Citizen Diplomacy for a great way to engage Summit attendees in the Twittersphere and to bring the Twitter conversation from and about the Summit to all in attendance!!


Photo credit:  http://davidcomp.wordpress.com/

Follow the Twitter conversation from the U.S. Summit for Global Citizen Diplomacy ~ November 16-19, 2010

My plans for International Education Week 2010

Next week (November 15-19, 2010) is International Education Week here in the United States.  I will be in Washington, D.C. (I arrive in town late on Sunday, November 14th) and I'm really looking forward to the various activities I have planned (so far as I still need to make and finalize some plans) related to international education.  I'm providing my schedule below in case any IHEC Blog readers will also be participating to see if there is a way to possibly connect.  


Monday, November 15th from 9:00am to 11:00am  I'll be at the Institute of International Education's Annual International Education Week Open Doors briefing, "New data on international students and scholars in the United States and Americans studying abroad" to be held at The National Press Club – Washington, DC. Opening speakers: Ann Stock, Assistant Secretary for Educational & Cultural Affairs, U.S. Department of State and Allan Goodman, President & CEO, Institute of International Education. Will anyone else be there? 


Monday, November 15th from approximately 12:00pm (departing immediately from IIE's Open Doors briefing) to 5:00pm or so I'll be doing some research for my dissertation at the National Security Education Program (NSEP) office.


Tuesday, November 16th to Friday, November 19th I'll be attending the U.S. Summit for Global Citizen Diplomacy where I hope to meet many colleagues whom I've only had the pleasure of connecting with in new media spaces.  As of now, my schedule on Tuesday the 16th is completely open until Registration opens for the Summit at 3:00pm.  I'm hoping I can spend some more time at the NSEP office on Tuesday reading through their various documents and reports or head to the NAFSA office to do some research in their awesome library (their hard copy blows my Bury Book International Education Library & Archive out of the water but I take them on electronic resources!).  Maybe, I should just be a tourist for half the day in D.C.  Will anyone else be attending the Summit?


I'll be tweeting from all locations as well as posting to IHEC Blog's Facebook page (maybe not so much during my dissertation research activities).  I think IHEC Blog posts may be limited next week, however.  You can follow the U.S. Summit for Global Citizen Diplomacy on Twitter at #citizendiplomacy as well as the U.S. Center for Citizen Diplomacy at http://twitter.com/USCCD.

U.S. Summit for Global Citizen Diplomacy - Will You Be There?

Over the weekend I registered for the upcoming U.S. Summit Global Citizen Diplomacy.  The early bird registration deadline for the Summit is October 15th.  


The Summit is scheduled to be held November 16-19, 2010 in Washington, D.C.  The goal of the Summit and ten year Initiative for Global Citizen Diplomacy is to double the number of American volunteers of all ages involved in international activities at home of abroad, from an estimated 60 million today to 120 million by 2020.  Summit Co-Chairs are David H. Roe, Ph.D., Chair of the U.S. Center for Citizen Diplomacy and Judith McHale, U.S. Under-Secretary of State for Public Diplomacy & Public Affairs.

A partial list of speakers follows:


PRESIDENT BARACK OBAMA (Invited); AMR BADR Managing Director, Egypt & Middle East, Abercrombie & Kent; KATHRYN C. BROWN Sr.VP, Public Policy Development & Corporate Responsibility, Verizon; VICE PRESIDENT JOSEPH BIDEN (Invited); JON CLIFTON Deputy Director, Gallup of the Gallup World Poll; THE HONORABLE HILLARY R. CLINTON U.S. Secretary of State (TBC); MARTIN DAVIDSON CMG Chief Executive, British Council, Joined by leaders from China, France, Japan, Poland and Turkey; NANCY DORN Vice President, Corporate Government Relations, General Electric; MARY JEAN EISENHOWER President & CEO, People to People International; MARY FLORES Former First Lady, Honduras; HARRIET M. FULBRIGHT President, J. William & Harriet Fulbright Center; THE HONORABLE JAMES LEACH Chairman, National Endowment for the Humanities; STAN LITOW President & VP Corporate Citizenship, IBM Foundation; JUDITH MCHALE U.S. Under Secretary of State for Public Diplomacy & Public Affairs; THE HONORABLE NORMAN Y. MINETA Vice Chairman, Hill & Knowlton; CAROLINE ROAN VP Corporate Philanthropy, Pfizer Inc. President, Pfizer Foundation; INGRED SAUNDERS JONES Senior VP, Global Community Connections, The Coca-Cola Company | Chairperson, The Coca-Cola Foundation; BARBARA STARR Pentagon Correspondent, CNN | Emmy Award Winning Producer; ANN STOCK Assistant Secretary of State, Educational & Cultural Affairs; THE HONORABLE THOMAS VILSACK U.S. Secretary of Agriculture (TBC); AARON S. WILLIAMS Director, Peace Corps; and, DOUGLAS B. WILSON Assistant Secretary of Defense for Public Affairs.


You can learn more about the Summit on the U.S. Center for Citizen Diplomacy website for the If you can't attend you can follow along on Twitter via the #citizendiplomacy hashtag or via a Twitter feed for the Summit here on IHEC Blog.