National Communication Association #NCA2011 (Post 5/5) - Walking Around Conference Exposition Halls!

Readers,

I always enjoy strolling around the exposition hall and interacting with the book publishers. This year was special for TWO reasons: I discovered the workbook that I edited over the summertime and my friend Lora and I met with an editor about a book proposal.

Here's a copy of the workbook. We use the workbook in our Fundamentals of Speech, Public Speaking, and Business and Professional Speaking courses.

The exposition hall is always full of freebies and conversation! During my first NCA conference in San Diego, I accepted the preview books with gratitude (and regret when I boarded the plane and had to pay for luggage that was over the weight limit). Now, I scan the book ISBN or cover with my RedLaser app OR I take a picture of the literature with my iPad to avoid walking and flying with more paper that I actually need.

Quick Question - How do you navigate conference exposition halls?

Sincerely,

J. Edwards

Millennial Professor - Jennifer T. Edwards, Ed.D.

Become a fan of Millennial Professor on Facebook - http://goo.gl/gnN41

National Communication Association #NCA2011 (Post 5/5) - Making Your Conference Round Table Presentation Attractive!!!

Readers,

Today, I had TWO conference round table presentations! Both of the presentations were focused on technology (specifically Google Docs).

Presentation 1 - Utilizing an Interactive Activity to Enable Stakeholders to Discover Innovative Ways to Re-frame their Negative Perceptions about Stakeholders

Presentation 2 - Utilizing Google Documents to Write a Training and Development Guide for Local Non-Profit Organizations and Small Businesses (Service Learning)

Usually, when I visit round table sessions, the presenter's display is very dull. This year, I decided to integrate the following elements on my table:

1 - Business Cards

2 - A Note Card with a QR code and link to the activity on Google Docs.

3 - Copies of the Actual Activity

4 - My iPad for additional explanations.

5 - Candy! I knew that my students could spare a few pieces! :)

I've discovered that people like to LEAVE your table with SOMETHING in their hand to remind them about your presentation! :)

How do you make your presentations more appealing?

Sincerely,

J. Edwards

Millennial Professor - Jennifer T. Edwards, Ed.D.

Become a fan of Millennial Professor on Facebook - http://goo.gl/gnN41

National Communication Association #NCA2011 (Post 3/5) - Traveling to Academic Conferences with Posters...

Readers,

My first presentation for the National Communication Association Conference was a competitive poster presentation on Google Documents! I was super excited about this presentation, because Web 2.0 technologies are my passion!

Here is the only negative aspect of a poster presentation... YOU HAVE TO TRAVEL WITH THE POSTER! Unfortunately, it seems that most airlines require passengers count the poster tube as one of two pieces of their carry-on luggage. Since today's airline passengers usually carry all of their luggage on the aircraft, this additional piece of carry-on luggage might place a wrinkle in someone's luggage plans (no pun intended).

So, a few years ago while attending and presenting a poster the annual meeting for the Council on Undergraduate Research in Odgen, UT, I decided to adopt a new approach... I decided to use pieces of paper to create my poster presentation!

This approach enabled me to adapt my poster to the space provided and to add neat details at the bottom of the poster to appeal to my potential walk-though audience members. I always place a business card holder and poster note card at the bottom of each of my poster presentations.

Here's a question for you! - How do you make your poster presentations unique?

Sincerely,

J. Edwards

Millennial Professor - Jennifer T. Edwards, Ed.D.

Become a fan of Millennial Professor on Facebook - http://goo.gl/gnN41

National Communication Association #NCA2011 (Post 2/5) - Pre-Conference Prep!

Readers,

This has been an amazing week so far! Before attending a conference, I have to prepare my students for my temporary disappearance from campus. To help them through this "transition", I still keep my virtual office hours during each and every conference.

Do you keep in contact with students when traveling to conferences?

Sincerely,

J. Edwards

Millennial Professor - Jennifer T. Edwards, Ed.D.

Become a fan of Millennial Professor on Facebook - http://goo.gl/gnN41