NACA 2013 Part 4

Dinner with Daryl

MPTC Student Senate with Daryl 'Chill' Mitchell

On the last night of the 2013 NACA Northern Plains Regional Conference, the MPTC Student Senate members sat down to dinner with one of the showcasing speakers. His name is Daryl ‘Chill’ Mitchell. You may have seen him in movies such as 10 Things I hate About You playing Mr. Morgan or in the 1990 movie, House Party. In 2001, he was in a motorcycle accident leaving him paralyzed.  I like when the performers and speakers at conferences sit at the tables with the students, because it gives us a chance to learn a little more about them.

Early that day, I went to the two last educational sessions. The first one was about collaboration. Student Senates and other clubs on campuses sometimes work with each other to host an event that’s mutually beneficial. There are different stages of working together from networking, coordinating, cooperating, and collaborating, to integrating. It can be difficult working with others when you are sharing space, resources, and responsibilities. But, it can be a great experience as well!

The last educational session I attended was about planning and creating promotional videos for campus events. The presenters explained a timeline to follow so the video gets completed in time to advertise the event. We were then broken down into groups and given an event to promote. There wasn’t time to make an actual video, but we did brainstorm what we could do and shared it with the rest of the groups.

The CAMP crowd

Saturday was also the last day to watch showcases and visit the entertainment booths to get more information about acts we’d like to bring to MPTC. As a group, we all went together this time so we could find out which acts we all liked.

Lisa, Sam, me, Alex, Bob, Becca, Amanda and Joey

Because people had homework and other responsibilities to get back to, we left really early Sunday morning so we could be back in Wisconsin at a decent time. I had a paper to finish writing for my Computer Essentials class. I also wanted to consolidate all the notes I had taken during the conference and go through my collection of promotional items from the swap so I could share that information with the rest of the West Bend Student Senate members during the next meeting. I came back with some great ideas I was looking forward to sharing and hopefully implementing as soon as possible.

I highly recommend joining Student Senate and attending these kinds of conferences. When else in your life will you get this kind of opportunity to learn, be entertained, and bound with your schoolmates in just five days?


Incase you missed it, check out the rest of my NACA experience:
Read NACA 2013 Part 1: Crossing the Boarder
Read NACA 2013 Part 2: The Conference Kicks Off
Read NACA 2013 Part 3: The Great School Swap

NACA 2013 Part 3

The Great School Swap

Each school that participates in the school swap sets up a table with their “Swag”—things like t-shirts, cups, key chains, magnets, pins, or anything else they give away at events. On Friday, MPTC participated in the school swap at the 2013 NACA Northern Plains Regional Conference.

For the swap, a few members stand at their school’s table while others walk around carrying their school’s stuff to swap. They go to the other tables, and if they see something they like, they ask to swap some of their own stuff for the other school’s stuff. We collected a ton of items, enough for all three MPTC campuses to come back with a large bag to share. There were a few t-shirts and a magnet I really liked from other colleges’ events. I’m bringing back the items for the West Bend Student Senate to see so we can get some fresh ideas on giveaways and designs.

Throughout the day we had three showcases, one of which was a lecture showcase. There are a couple of speakers I’d like to bring to our campus. We also had a chance to speak with the acts, both the ones showcasing and ones that weren’t part of the showcases, during something they call CAMP where you can go booth to booth asking questions and getting information about booking.

I went to two back-to-back educational sessions early that morning. The first one was about retention, recruitment, and involvement on two-year campuses. I got some great suggestions from this session for Student Senate recruitment and getting Senate members to participate. The second session was about event publicity. The presenters and attendees had a wide range of advertising ideas, both online and print. They stressed the importance of being descriptive when advertising for an event. People want to know what they are going to see or they might not go to see it.

Even though I saw a lot of great acts, my favorite part of the day was the school swap. It was exciting, a little chaotic, and much more fun than I thought it would be.


Incase you missed it, check out the rest of my NACA experience:
Read NACA 2013 Part 1: Crossing the Boarder
Read NACA 2013 Part 2: The Conference Kicks Off

NACA 2013 Part 2

The Conference Kicks Off

My NACA items

I was handed a drawstring bag containing a booklet listing all the events for the weekend, a pass with my name on it, meal vouchers, and a bag of magic tricks at the conference center when the Student Senate members and I registered for the 2013 NACA Northern Plains Regional Conference on Thursday. The theme of the conference this year was magic, and they called it AbracaNACA.

The first event was the conference kick-off featuring Breaksk8. They are a group of break-dancers who perform on roller skates. You may have seen them on a previous season of America’s Got Talent. The same day we had two showcases featuring musicians, comedians, and poets.

I also went to the first of five educational sessions. The educational sessions are my favorite part of conventions like these because oftentimes you learn tips from other college students. You can learn what works well for them and relate to the difficulties they have.

MPTC magnetic clothespin

For each session you get to choose from a list of topics that may interest you. I went to one about Pinteresting on small campuses. If you didn’t know, Moraine Park Technical College has a Pinterest page, so I felt this topic was relevant. The student presenters explained how they use this social media tool to list different event ideas, team-builders, and to promote their crafting events. They showed us how to make a decorative magnetic clothespin, and we got to make one for ourselves that very day.

Each night of the conference had a special late night event. Thursday night was a live karaoke band. It’s like regular karaoke but better because you get to sing with a band and not prerecorded music. Four of us from MPTC wanted to go on stage and perform, but the event was only an hour so we didn’t get a chance to do it. We got to see some really talented amateurs, though!


Incase you missed it, check out part 1 of my NACA experience:
Read NACA 2013 Part 1: Crossing the Boarder

NACA 2013 Part 1

Crossing the Border

View of the convention center from my hotel room

It was an early April morning (if you consider 9:30 early) on a Wednesday when we gathered at the Beaver Dam campus with our luggage and headed across the Wisconsin border.

NACA stands for the National Association for Campus Activities. I went on a five-day trip with Student Senate members from all three Moraine Park campuses to the 2013 NACA Northern Plains Regional Conference in Minnesota. The purpose of the conference is to view entertainment acts, check out activities, and participate in educational sessions. College students who attend bring back to their college information such as acts they’d like to book for future campus events and share tips they learn in the educational sessions.

Sam and me at dinner on Wednesday night

Wednesday was a travel day since it takes a few hours to get to St. Paul. We stopped in Tomah for lunch on the way, and by the afternoon, we were at our hotel across the street from the convention center.

The conference didn’t start until the following day, so after dinner at a restaurant across the street, the rest of the night was free to do whatever we wanted to do such as working on homework or going for a walk. A few of us spent time in the pool and hot tub since it was probably going to be our only chance to do so. Once the conference started, it was supposed to be non-stop, from 9 in the morning until midnight (or later). And it was.