By President-Elect Beth Eppringer
Are you sending a delegation from your department to the Student Staff Leadership Conference? General registration ends September 15th, and capacity is limited! Just thinking about the conference gets me AMPed up, and I’m not even attending! Yes, this blog post is a sales pitch for the conference. The SSLC is a perfect development opportunity for our future colleagues. Right now there are full-time professionals in SWACUHO who attended the SWACUHO SSLC (formerly RA Conference) as an undergraduate. Perhaps their experience nudged them toward the profession. I know my one weekend at the RA conference at UNI was an unknown puzzle piece in developing me for the rest of my college career and beyond. And, it wasn’t the sleeping on the floor of a lounge or managing an alcohol incident that were the highlights.
If you’re still with me, here are some talking points to use to convince someone your university needs to be in attendance.
1. Invest. Show your student staff you care about their development. By investing in their development, you are building stronger leaders for your department. In just a few years, these students could be the advisor taking your delegation to the conference. Your are building future leaders!
2. Represent! School pride is infectious. Everyone in SWACUHO already knows TCU has a great department culture of involvement and leadership. Having your delegation at the SSLC will do the same. Then, when graduate school applications and job searching comes along in the future, candidates will remember your institution’s name.
3. It’s Manageable. The conference is quick, and your delegation can be any size. How much is spent on registration and the hotel is up to your department based on delegation size.
4. It’s Fun! Memories are made during the travel portion of the weekend, students see their networks grow, and the host campus always provide a variety of experiences.
Now that you are certain your school will be represented at the SSLC, go a step further. Encourage the delegates to submit program proposals, create a roll call, and design a banner. Thank you to Texas Christian University for hosting! Reach out to Fred Dillard at conferences@swacuho.org to learn about YOUR chance to host next year!
