Jan. 26, 2021
Michael Hood
NACA Membership Development Manager
Let’s be honest and vulnerable for a moment. The ongoing health crisis has thrown higher education into a tailspin and everyone is having to be more reactive than proactive now more than ever. Campus-based professionals are being asked to do more with less and staple programs and conferences all over the country are having to change course or be cancelled in order to mitigate the ongoing COVID-19 threat.
With NACA’s flagship experience, NACA® Live, needing to pivot in order to ensure members safety, it has now transformed into a virtual format with several innovative, intentional, and exciting changes to become Virtual NACA® Live. We here on the staff recognize the need to adapt and stay ahead of the curve as well. This is why we are excited to introduce our brand-new registration options for campuses around the country so they can maximize the conference impact without depleting the budgets. Virtual NACA ® Live has a new registration option for school delegates to purchase unlimited passes for the cost of 10 delegates: $2,999 for member schools or $4,319 for non-member schools.
This is a great way for institutions to split the cost between different departmental or student organizational budgets, which would allow them to increase the number of people that they can normally send to a conference.
For instance, a Student Activities department could work with their Fraternity & Sorority Life, Residence Life, and Multicultural Programming (just to name a few) departments to purchase an unlimited pass and bring all of those student leaders and professional staff to this conference. This could be value add to any department looking to provide on-going education and development to their student leaders/workers and staff in a co-curricular manner, source programs, speakers and general entertainment, hear from ground-breaking keynote speakers, cultivate a network of peers outside their campus community, meet one-on-one with NACA associate members in the exhibit hall and so much more!
Who is Virtual NACA® Live ideal for?
Student Leaders:
- Fraternity and Sorority Life Councils and Organizations
- Student Organization Executive Boards
- Student Governments
- Residence Hall Associations
- Programming Boards
- Orientation Leaders
- Sports Team Leaders
- Student Workers
Professional Staff:
- Graduate Student Staff
- Residence Life & Housing Assistants
- Student Government Advisors
- Orientation, New Student, and Family Programs Staff
- Programming Board Advisors
- Fraternity & Sorority Life Staff
- Multi-Cultural Affairs Staff
- Veterans Affairs Staff
- Faculty & Senior Administration
The Unlimited Pass can create the following unique opportunities for your campus:
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Shared Collective Experience for student leaders and professional staff who can continue the conversations and increase the impact on your campus long after the conference is over.
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On-going Professional Development for student leaders and professional staff members with intentional and quality educational programs and engaging experiences.
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Untold Impact on your campus. Since there is no capacity limit on attendees with the Unlimited Pass, there is no telling who might be positively impacted by the conference. Maybe it helps the quiet student leader find their voice or provides direction to the graduating senior on what they should do next.
Virtual NACA® Live is designed to be a great way to engage student leaders and professional staff who could benefit from learning more about programming, leading, marketing, and networking during the pandemic who may not otherwise be able to access educational and professional development.
Hear from Those Who Have Already Bought the Unlimited Pass
“Not only does the Unlimited Pass allow us to make participation a part of the onboarding process for the executive members of our programming board, but this also provides a unique opportunity to include committee members in the experience! Additionally, the Unlimited Pass allows us to extend the offer to participate not just to our programming board, but also to campus partners we work most closely with, and their student leaders.” -Adrian Carpenter, Elon University (NC)
“The pass is allowing us to send more delegates to the conference than we have been able to send in the past. Usually, we are restricted to only attending regional conferences, and I am excited about the platform for NACA Live this year. The online accessibility combined with the financial flexibility of the pass make attending this conference a great option for our school and students. -Emily Morris Kemmerer, Willamette University (OR)
“The reason why we chose to go with the unlimited membership for this year's event was because we have a little extra money in our budget this year due to the programming, we can offer to our students this year. Our board is part of SGA and we thought we would give all the students in the area and advisors an opportunity to attend and even count towards their weekly hours for pay.” -Christine Uphoff, University of South Florida Sarasota-Manatee
“My supervisor and I felt that the unlimited pass would be beneficial, but also extremely important during the time of Covid. With less programming happening on campus, we are constantly looking for ways to keep our students engaged in meaningful and safe ways. The unlimited pass is great for us because it will allow all of our programmers and Greek Leaders on campus access to the educational sessions, showcases, and everything else NACA has to offer.” -Tia Fuhr, Augustana College (IL)
“NACA Live being virtually this year, allows an opportunity for my students, other students within my institution, and colleagues within other departments to see how virtual programming can play a major role with our student’s mental health. Hopefully, students and colleagues that attend will be able to speak up in those meetings determining if funding is necessary for these fun activities. I would argue they are not only necessary, but they are critical to our students’ well-being.” -Amanda Kuster, University of Wyoming (WY)
“We hope that being able to share this experience with more students on campus will inspire and empower students beyond our programming board to further develop their leadership skills and learn about services they can utilize that the associate members provide. We are excited that we have campus administrators who are eager to participate and learn more about NACA and how our campus benefits from being a part of this association. We hope everyone from our campus community who will be introduced to or reconnected to NACA through NACA Live Virtual will reinvigorate the spirit of collaboration, innovation, and the value of creative campus programming to increase student engagement. =Jamar Whitfield, University of North Carolina Charlotte
“With NACA being one of the top-tier professional associations for campus activities, we felt that this would be an excellent opportunity for other campus departments and our student organizations. The showcases and educational sessions could provide insight into how to host and what is available during this COVID-19/Virtual world.” -Jarrick Brown, Texas A&M University - San Antonio
What to Expect with Virtual NACA® Live?
Virtual NACA® Live will be debuting several new showcase categories and sponsored activities. These new categories will allow schools to preview and interact with programs and speakers virtually, as well as to find turn-key technological solutions.
- 50+ Educational Sessions & Featured Workshops
- 36+ Hours of Programming
- Keynote Speakers
- Peer Networking Opportunities
- Trending Interactive Programs
- Make & Take Hours
- Tech Demonstrations
Michael Hood serves as the membership development manager for the National Association for Campus Activities. Prior to joining the NACA staff, Hood served in roles at 5 higher education institutions and a national speaking agency.
