Annual Conference Workshop FAQs

All proposal submitters and/or lead trainers will receive an e-mail in mid-November regarding the status of the proposal.

• Contact your workshop trainers so that everyone knows that the workshop has been accepted and review the terms of acceptance (included in the online form) with everyone on the team.
• Submit the online workshop acceptance form by December 15th, 2011, and keep a copy for your records.
• Watch your e-mail for announcements.
• After you submit the online form, e-mail trainingservices[at]nafsa.org with any changes to your workshop team (trainer's name, institution, contact information). Training teams are listed online and continually updated as the conference approaches.
• Start planning! Visit www.nafsa.org/ac12presenters for suggestions on scheduling conference calls with your team and sharing documents.

It is the policy of the ACC (Annual Conference Committee) that you may serve as a trainer at no more than one preconference workshop at the annual conference.

The workshops will be held at the George R. Brown Convention Center in Houston, TX with the exception of the workshop which is held off site at George Bush Intercontinental Airport. The location and room number of your workshop will be provided to you before the conference and will also be listed in the conference program booklet available at the registration desk in the convention center.

Preconference workshops will be offered Sunday May 27 - Tuesday, May 29, ending at 12:00 p.m. on Tuesday, May 29. The date and time of your workshop is provided on the online workshop acceptance form and in the acceptance notice email. Workshops are scheduled based on room availability and the flow of content. Workshops are only rescheduled in extreme cases.

Workshop rooms are set up with an LCD projector and screen, flip chart and set of markers, a podium with a microphone, and lavalier and/or handheld microphones. NAFSA does not provide laptops for PowerPoint presentations. Refer to the copy of your workshop acceptance form to review any additional audiovisual requests you may have made. Note: Requests made after the confirmation form is due may not be honored.

Workshop rooms will be set with round tables with 8-10 chairs at each, plus a materials table for trainers.

There will be a mid-morning and a mid-afternoon coffee break on Sunday and Monday. There will be a mid-morning coffee break on Tuesday. Lunch is not provided. We will provide you with information before the conference on the nearest place to find lunch during the break.

Each workshop is listed in the conference registration brochure and also in the conference program booklet, which every attendee receives on site. Additionally, full workshop descriptions, training teams, and trainer bios are listed on the NAFSA Web site prior to the conference. We are also planning targeted e-mail promotions from NAFSA's marketing department. You are encouraged to promote your workshop within your own professional network.

It depends on attendance. Maximum registration for most workshops is set at 60 participants. You will receive the count of preregistered participants after the close of online registration in early May. Since participants are able to register for each workshop up until the time the workshop begins, you should add 10 -15% to this number to accommodate possible on-site registrants. We encourage you to print on both sides of the paper in keeping with NAFSA's green efforts.

No. Please ship your materials and handouts to your hotel to pick up upon your arrival. If you need to make copies, there are photocopying centers located within and nearby the George R. Brown Convention Center. Check with the Hospitality Desk on site.

No. Workshop materials will not be posted online. Only session handouts will be posted online.

Visit Stanford University's Copyright and Fair Use site for more information.

Yes. An electronic form to request visa support will be available on NAFSA's Web site in January. Requests for visa support cannot be accommodated after May 4, 2012. Please check with your local Canadian U.S. Consulate to allow sufficient time for visa processing. Your request for a letter of invitation to attend the NAFSA Annual Conference does not guarantee that you will receive a visa.

If you only wish to participate in the workshop and not take advantage of any of the other conference offerings, you do not need to register for the conference. The preconference workshops take place prior to the conference opening on Tuesday, so it is possible to participate only in a workshop without registering for the conference. We can ensure that you receive a "workshops only" badge so that you may access your workshop room. However, as you may already know, conference registration offers access to many quality programs and networking opportunities. A "workshops only" badge will not allow you entrance to the Expo hall, or any Tuesday afternoon sessions.

• Notify the workshop lead trainer and NAFSA staff. E-mail trainingservices[at]nafsa.org with the change as soon as you know about it so that the online trainer listings are up-to-date.
• Work with the workshop lead trainer to find a replacement trainer, if appropriate.

Yes. The list will be e-mailed to you, including participant e-mail addresses, after the close of online registration (May 4, 2012). You may use this list to contact your participants; for example, to survey their experience level and expectations of the workshop.

The volunteer registrars at the NAFSA Annual Conference receive a discount; they are not attending the workshop for free. Their role is to take attendance at the beginning of the workshop and verify participants' e-mail addresses for evaluation purposes. Registrars can also note whether participants complete the entire workshop or not. The registrar must return the final participant roster to NAFSA staff, noting any changes to the roster.

Workshops are subject to cancellation if the minimum number of 20 participants is not reached by the end of early bird registration on April 23, 2012. Please advise your workshop team to make their travel reservations after this date if their travel is dependent upon delivering this training. If the attendance for your workshop is below the minimum, you will be contacted during the week of April 16th.

Tips and suggestions for successful workshop planning and delivery are posted in the Presenting and Training Guide. Lead trainers will receive periodic e-mails in the months leading up to the conference with links to specific resources to strengthen your workshop.

Please encourage workshop participants to fill out the online evaluation they will receive from NAFSA. Participants evaluate each workshop online, via a Web-based process that includes two stages:

1. An initial evaluation questionnaire is sent to participants via e-mail approximately one week after the conference asking for feedback on the workshop's presentation, objectives, materials, and trainers.
2. The second evaluation questionnaire is sent to participants via e-mail about three months after the conference asking for feedback on the workshop's impact on their duties and responsibilities.

In July, following the conference, you will receive a detailed report summarizing the initial results of the participant evaluations of your workshop.