[DEOC] NWREC 2024 Call for Proposals - proposal tips and reminders

[Neal, Vanessa]

Hi DEOC Fam!

Please consider putting in a proposal for the upcoming NWREC conference, happening February 21-23, 2024. Please also forward to your teams, departments, and folx in other Commissions.
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Did you get our previous email calling for proposals<https://form.asana.com/?k=9GrfcYqqHogLGRKRRObGEA&d=39101053554055> for the NWREC/AREDI 2024 conference? Can you believe we’ve already received several proposals?  We think you’d be great, and we’d really love to hear your ideas on presentations!

This is our fifth year of NWREC, and our second AREDI conference. Collectively, we’ve attracted nearly 400 participants each year, and we know that the thing that makes both NWREC and AREDI successful is YOU!

We’re so excited to hear your ideas for presentations that we thought we’d share some suggestions from previous participants on how to make your proposals (and sessions) pop:

Putting ideas into practice

-        Topics with a strong action component: Not just theory, but some tangible calls to action or action steps participants can take after leaving your session.

-        How to stay engaged in equity work: Let’s face it, this work is haaarrrdddd. Participants want to know how to stay engaged, stay active, and take care of themselves while doing this work.

-        Practical and Applicable tools: Do you have an equity lens check list? A meditative strategy? A way to disrupt microaggressions in the moment? We’d love to hear them!

-        A session that allows for people – particularly white people – to practice disrupting problematic situations and behaviors.

-        A session that allows people of color and culture to come together collectively to engage in joy, rest, meditation or any other supportive practice to nurture our communities

More time for processing material and information

-        When crafting your proposal, consider ways to help your participants re-center emotionally before ending your session.

-        Consider offering time during the first few minutes of your session to allow participants to collect items that might help them ground themselves if difficult emotions come up during your session. Take time to ground participants before and after the heavy material, and offer them tools to re-center or ground themselves during the session as necessary.

-        Make sure your material is digestible – the conference is an intense few days of learning and can be both intellectually and emotionally challenging. While we encourage you to present rigorous material, we also encourage you to find balance between high-level learning and emotionally supportive material.

Want to use breakout rooms?

-        If you use breakout rooms in your session, consider giving participants more time than you might initially consider. It takes time (especially in virtual land) to build trust and rapport in a breakout room and to engage in deep, meaningful conversation.

-        Give clear guidance on the purpose or function of the breakout room.

-        Be mindful, whenever possible, of giving people of color and culture opportunity to connect with each other, and for white folks to talk to other white folks. Sometimes, depending on the session, it might be worthwhile to have people self-select into breakout rooms based on their own identities

We hope these suggestions are helpful in crafting your presentation proposal. We really are very excited to see what sessions are proposed this year and can’t wait to see you all in February!

More information is available at our NWREC website<https://www.clark.edu/campus-life/student-support/diversity-and-equity/equity-conference/>.  It includes timelines, an FAQ, and further recommendations.

As always, please let us know if you have any questions – our team is here to help at nwrec at clark.edu<mailto:nwrec at clark.edu>!

Good luck,

NWREC Planning Team

nwrec at clark.edu<mailto:nwrec at clark.edu>
NWREC Planning Team
Organizer,
Northwest Regional Equity Conference




Thanks,

Vanessa

Vanessa C.K. Neal (she/her)
Vice President of Diversity, Equity & Inclusion/
Diversity and Equity Officer
Clark College, Office of Diversity, Equity & Inclusion (ODEI)
Mail Stop: TGB 121
Phone: 360-992-2757
Email: vneal at clark.edu<mailto:vneal at clark.edu>
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