From 88 Degrees to 12 Degrees in a Day

Faithful readers will recall that, last fall, I attended a national conference in Harrisburg, PA and returned professionally invigorated and enlightened. I just had a similar experience, attending two national conferences--and making a presentation at one!--in Orlando, FL. An overview (replete with links for your further edification):

Sat., Mar. 31

• Fly out of Dickinson on Great Lakes Airlines to Denver, CO, and fly out of Denver on Ted Airlines to Orlando
• Drive a rental car (a PT Cruiser) from Advantage to Marriott's Orlando World Center Resort and check in
• The girls were sleeping when I left the house at 5:45 A.M., but they had sent with me a stuffed animal each along with a note: "Take us along and remember Suzanna, Abigail, and Hillary." I set the toys and the note on the stand by my king-sized bed and looked at it each night as I stood on the balcony of my 15th-floor room and enjoyed the Orlando skyline.

Sun., Apr. 1

• Drive to International Plaza Resort and Spa to attend the pre-conference sessions of the Association for the Tutoring Profession (ATP) conference [approximately 160 attendees for a conference held in a half-dozen rooms]
• Return to the Marriott and take a shuttle to Gaylord Palms Resort to attend the opening of the 2007 joint conference of the American College Personnel Association (ACPA) and the National Association of Student Personnel Administrators (NASPA) [approximately 9,200 attendees for a conference held at two separate hotels/convention centers]
• The keynote speaker at tonight's opening was former Vice President Al Gore, whose presentation on the global climate crisis was similar in content to his recent documentary An Inconvenient Truth. He has a great presentation style--very funny, personable, self-deprecating, and comfortable, even before our gigantic crowd. Afterward, the entire grounds of the Gaylord were laid out with delicious food for our reception and many stations of entertainment and activities.

Mon., Apr. 2

• Back to the International Plaza for ATP sessions on hosting a campus fair on college study skills and working with international students in a college learning center
• I won a door prize: a coupon redeemable for a free trade title from Houghton Mifflin.
• I gave my first presentation at a national conference (see this and this): "A Return on Your Investment: Tapping Already-Trained Tutors to Train New Tutors." It went well and was well received. Each presenter was given five tickets for the drawing for door prizes, and we were each told to distribute them at our presentations however we saw fit. I saw fit to stop occasionally and award a ticket to someone who could tell me one accurate thing he/she knew about North Dakota (this stemmed from my having been barraged with inaccuracies and misconceptions about our state each time someone asked me where I was from). I awarded people who knew the state capital, the mascot of the University of North Dakota, the location of the Enchanted Highway, the presence of many Mongolians at Dickinson State University, and the generosity of North Dakota to its Grand Forks citizens after the Red River's flooding in 1997.

Tue., Apr. 3

• Remain at the Marriott for ACPA/NASPA sessions on assessing campus advising and tutorial services, preventing international students' academic dishonesty, teaching freshman initiation courses with a strengths-based approach, and determining the key factors underlying student success
• This evening, the vice president for student development at our university treated me and a few others from DSU to a supper at Hawk's Landing Steakhouse and Grille, where we had appetizers (crab cakes, mushrooms, beef medallions, scallops), cocktails (me: whiskey neat), delicious meals (me: yellow-tailed snapper in lobster sauce over sautéed fennel with asparagus in hollandaise sauce), and dessert (me: key lime pie).

Wed., Apr. 4

• Check out, return the rental car, and fly from Orlando to Denver to Dickinson
• A colleague from DSU happened to be on my flights both ways, so he was good company during layovers and on the rides to and from the airports. A third colleague joined us between ACPA/NASPA conference events for meals and socialization, and a fourth colleague joined me and the first on our flight back to Denver.
• It was 88 degrees Fahreheit in Orlando when I left and 12 degrees in Dickinson when I returned tonight. Still, despite enjoying the conferences, the food, the weather, and the good company in Orlando, it's good to be home.

P.S. A week from Friday, I fly to Denver, CO to present at my second national conference! Watch "Pensive? No, Just Thinking" for more details forthcoming.