Conference Education Policies and Procedures

NAFSA has specific policies and procedures for conference learning opportunities that you should review prior to submitting your proposal. They include information concerning conference goals, restrictions on commercial content, number of sessions that may be presented by any one individual, the number of content leaders per session type, how to include government presenters, and more.

Goals and Business Practices of the NAFSA Annual Conference

In December 2007, the NAFSA Board of Directors adopted "Goals and Business Practices of the NAFSA Annual Conference and International Education Expo." This statement includes the association’s perspective on professional development programming and its right to refuse proposals that do not meet its standards. Please visit www.nafsa.org/conferencepractices to read the full statement.

Noncommercial Policy

NAFSA education programs at the annual conference are learning experiences and are noncommercial. Under no circumstances should a preconference workshop, general conference session, seminar, or poster platform be used for direct promotion of a speaker’s product, service, or other self-interest.

While the ACC cannot select proposals of a commercial nature, organizations may sponsor a Global Partner Session at the conference. Partner sessions should provide a learning experience for participants and may also be used to present information on a particular product or service. Please contact Joanne Kuriyan, NAFSA Global Partnership Program, for information at joannek[at]nafsa.org or +1.202.737.3699, x241.

Number of Sessions Proposed

An individual may be listed in any number of proposals; however, it is the ACC’s policy that an individual may be involved in no more than two general conference sessions. Workshop lead trainers and trainers are limited to participation in one preconference workshop. Additionally, many national leadership committee meetings are held in the days prior to the annual conference. Leaders who hold national office should note that serving as a trainer in a workshop may create a schedule conflict with these leadership meetings.

Number of Presenters

Generally, the number of content leaders/presenters listed in a proposal should reflect the needs of the format selected.

Preconference workshops: a four- to seven-hour workshop should have a minimum of two presenters, and not more than four. Eight- to 10-hour workshops should have a minimum of two presenters, and not more than five.

General conference sessions: concurrent conference sessions may be led by a single presenter or, for panel discussions, as many as three (plus one moderator). Please keep in mind that these sessions are just 60 or 75 minutes in length, and too many speakers will dilute the learning impact for audiences.

Seminars: one to two presenters are suggested for the longer seminar format. Seminars generally must be highly interactive and therefore are not suited to the panel discussion approach. The exception would be limiting a panel to a portion of the overall seminar to introduce a variety of topic-focused viewpoints to the audience. There should be a high level of interaction between presenter(s) and participants regardless of the number of presenters.

Posters: poster sessions are most effective when no more than three individuals present one poster.

Inclusion of Government Presenters

In order to streamline the requests for speakers from government agencies, NAFSA staff members will coordinate official invitations to representatives of specific government agencies. If your proposal would benefit from the participation of a government representative, please indicate this in your proposal.

Timeline for Accepted Proposals

If your proposal is accepted, you will be expected to comply with all submission deadlines for session materials. Failure to do so may jeopardize the continued inclusion of your session in the conference program.

Honoraria, Travel, and Conference Registration

Costs associated with attending the NAFSA annual conference are the responsibility of the individual speaker. Workshop trainers are reimbursed a portion of their costs for lodging, meals, and materials as outlined in the budget section of the workshop proposal form. Presenters and workshop trainers are not provided with honoraria or registration discounts based on their listing in the program.